Dangerous To Love
Page 143
Gwen shoved her dad back before he could finish his threat. She jumped into the back of the ambulance just as its siren roared on again. Gwen scooted over so she wouldn’t get in the way of the EMTs and then…
“I love you…” Chance’s hand reached for her. “My…Gwen.”
She wrapped her hand around his. The ambulance lurched forward.
“Won’t go…anywhere…” Chance told her, even as his eyes drifted closed, “without you.”
“You’d better not,” Gwen said. Because she didn’t want to imagine the rest of her life, not without him in it.
* * *
By the time the ambulance rounded the corner, Will Hawthorne already had his phone out. He knew where the ambulance was headed—and it just so happened that he was on the board of that hospital. So his phone call was immediately put through to the emergency room director, and he started barking orders. “When Chance Valentine comes in, he’s to get the best care, you understand? That man will not die. Anything that my daughter wants, anything she needs for his care, you give her immediately. You put your best doctors in there with him and nothing can go wrong, do you hear me? Nothing. My daughter wants that man healed and—”
“They’ll take care of him, Will.” Faith’s soft voice came from right behind him.
His shoulders stiffened. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Will snapped into the phone. “And he’d better already be back in surgery by then.” He hung up his phone and turned to face Faith.
Her gun was holstered, her hands folded over her chest and her eyes—still beautiful enough to break me.
“You should really learn to ask nicely for things instead of always barking out your orders,” she told him. Her voice was mild, but there was sympathy and worry in her eyes.
He stepped closer to her. “You saved Gwen.”
“I did my job.”
He took another step. “You saved my daughter. Anything you want, you have. I know you’re up for a promotion, I can make that happen, I can make—”
Her hand lifted and touched his chest. “I was doing my job, and you don’t need to make anything happen for me. I do that for myself. Always have. Always will.”
Yes, she did. Just one of the many things he admired about her.
“Chance is the one who took the bullets for her, and from what I can gather…he’s also the one who shot Daniel Duvato.” She pointed to the right, toward the man who’d been strapped in the back of another ambulance, a man under police guard.
Two more ambulances roared up to the scene.
Will kept his gaze on Daniel Duvato. “Will he make it?”
“Maybe. Hard to say at this point. Chance wasn’t exactly looking to spare the guy when he pumped his bullets into Daniel.”
If Daniel lived and Chance didn’t…
“But he won’t hurt your daughter again, that’s for sure. Because if he does survive, he’s going straight to jail.”
Another team of EMTs rushed by. This time, they were carrying Devlin Shade on a stretcher. Devlin saw Will and called out, “Chance! Gwen! Are they all right?” His shirt was covered in blood.
“Gwen is,” Will yelled back. I don’t know about Chance.
Devlin blanched. The EMTs secured him in the back of the ambulance.
“So much pain,” Will said as his gaze swept the scene. So much…Why?
And then he saw the last victim. Ethan Barclay was being wheeled out of Wicked. At first, Will thought the man was dead. Then he saw Ethan’s arm moving. Will rushed toward him. “Ethan!”
Ethan’s head turned. His eyes were too bright, almost feverish. “M-my fault…” Ethan muttered. “Didn’t know…br-brother…”
“What?”
The EMTs forced Will back.
“H-he was…brother…”
The sirens were screaming again.
Will stood there a minute, feeling lost. No, feeling as if he were trapped in hell. Because he remembered another time, another night when violence had torn his world apart. That night, he’d arrived too late. His wife had been gone.
His daughter had stared at him with stark, terror-filled eyes. For weeks after that, Gwen had woken screaming in the night.
Weeks…
Faith touched his shoulder. He flinched away from her.
“You can’t control everything,” Faith told him, her voice carrying no further than his ears. “You just can’t.” Her fingers curled around him. This time, he didn’t back away.
He’d run from Faith before, because he’d known that she could do so much better than him. A bitter, control freak of a man with too many enemies to count. But, right then…
He pulled her into his arms. Held her tight.
“Thank you,” he told her.
Will felt her soft nod.
And he knew he owed Faith, far more than he’d ever be able to repay.
Chapter Thirteen
Gwen paced in the hospital waiting room. Paced again and again—the same circular path around the little room. As soon as the ambulance had arrived, Chance had been wheeled away. He’d gone to surgery and she’d sunk into her own hell.
She’d watched as the others were brought in—Dev, Ethan, and Daniel. Damn Daniel. Cops had followed him back into surgery and he’d been cuffed to his gurney. She’d seen him, and rage had poured through her. Gwen had lunged toward him, ready to kill him right then and there.
But Lex had appeared. He’d pulled her back. He’d wrapped his arms around her and held Gwen until Daniel had disappeared—and until her control had come back.
Lex had told her that Sophie was in the same hospital. She’d been attacked—no doubt, by Daniel, too. Though Gwen didn’t understand why Daniel had hurt them. It was all still a tangle to her, and she couldn’t work out the knots because she was too worried about Chance. She needed Chance. Her steps became faster. More frantic.
How long were the doctors going to take? How long?
The surgery doors swung open. Gwen stopped pacing. She stopped breathing.
The doctor took off his mask. “He’s all right. Chance Valentine is in recovery right now. He’ll be coming out from the anesthesia soon, and…” The doctor’s gaze slipped toward Gwen’s father. “He can, um, have one visitor.” The doc’s stare shifted to Gwen. “Just for a few minutes, ma’am, but you can go back.”
She nearly tackled the doctor in her haste to get back there. The scent of the hospital—antiseptic, cleaner—filled her nose as she hurried back to the recovery area. The nurse pointed her toward Chance’s area, and then she saw him. Hooked up to so many machines. Looking so pale, lying so still. Her heartbeat stuttered in her chest. “Chance?”
His eyes were closed, but his breathing seemed strong. Deep and even. She inched closer to the bed.
“Chance…the doctor said you are going to be all right.”
The machines beeped.
She reached for his hand. For some reason, she’d expected him to be cold to the touch. He wasn’t. He was so warm. So very warm. Her Chance.
She bent near the bed and brought his hand to her lips. Gwen kissed his hand. “We’re both okay, Chance. It’s over. The police have Daniel in custody. We can…we can try for our future now. We can do it.” You just need to get better. Be strong for me.
The machines beeped. That beeping was reassuring. Constant. Steady.
Gwen kept talking to him. “I should have told you I loved you sooner, right? I knew for a long time. I knew before last Christmas. Why do you think I followed you out onto that balcony? It wasn’t just desire, though…yes, you are hot.” She smiled. But then the smile vanished as fast as it had appeared. “I’ve loved you for a long time. I tried to stop, but that didn’t really work out for me. I tried to move on, but then I realized…other men weren’t you. No one else is quite like you. Stubborn and strong and…so everything that I want. You know me well, Chance, better than anyone else, so I guess part of me always thought…you had to know how I felt. You had to see that I loved you.”
She kept talking to him. Promising him a Christmas together. Promising that they’d get a tree. That in the summer, they’d take a trip. Maybe go to some exotic island and spend the days naked together on some beautiful beach. “We can do anything,” Gwen told him. “As long as we’re together. Any dream we want, we can have.” She swallowed. A thick lump wanted to fill her throat. “I just need you. I need you to open your eyes. To be with me.”
A soft knock came from behind her.
“Miss…”
Gwen looked over her shoulder. A nurse stood there.
“I’m sorry,” the woman told her softly, “but your time is up. You’ll be able to visit with the patient again later, I promise.”
Gwen rose. Her hand still held his. She turned away, her fingers beginning to slide away from Chance’s hand.
His fingers tightened around hers.
Gwen’s breath caught. Her gaze immediately flew to Chance’s face. His eyelids were opening.
“Any…thing…” Chance managed, his voice rasping. “Told you…anything…for you…”
She shot back toward that bed. Kissed him. Ignored the wires and beeping and everything else.
“Never l-leave you…” Chance whispered. “Always…my Gwen…”
She kissed him again. She tasted her own tears. And she tasted happiness.
A life together. That was what they’d have. A future.
Love.
* * *
Five days later…
“You know you shouldn’t be here,” Faith murmured to Chance. “You just got out of the hospital.”
“I’m fine.” Well, actually, he was fucking pissed. He stared through the one-way mirror, his gaze locked on the face of Daniel Duvato. Daniel had gotten out of the hospital the day before, too. The guy was pale and currently handcuffed as he sat at the small table in the interrogation room.
Daniel wasn’t alone. Ethan Barclay stood across from him.
Daniel hadn’t asked for a lawyer. He’d just asked to speak with Ethan.
“They’re brothers,” Faith said.
They didn’t look like brothers. The two men appeared to be nothing alike.
“At least, that’s what we pieced together,” Faith continued as she cocked her head and studied the two men. “Seems Ethan’s father stepped out on Ethan and his mom. The guy got a young waitress named Donna Duvato pregnant. He kept her on the side for years…but he let it be clear to little Daniel that the boy wasn’t part of his real family.”
Right. Because that kind of shit didn’t screw with a person’s mind.
“From all accounts, Hank Barclay was one straight asshole.” Faith’s voice had hardened. Her arm brushed Chance’s as she stepped closer to the glass. “The guy abused Ethan and his mother for years. Daniel had no idea just how twisted the bastard could be.”
Chance wasn’t so sure of that. “Maybe Daniel was just more like dear old dad than Ethan was.”
Faith glanced at him, surprise flashing on her face. “Maybe.” She nodded as she seemed to consider this. “Maybe he was…”
Then Ethan started talking.
* * *
“You killed Jena Parker,” Ethan said as he stared into Daniel’s eyes. Daniel Duvato. The man had been working for him…for years. Daniel had been his driver, his body guard, the bouncer at his club…Ethan had trusted the guy implicitly, and Daniel had been working to destroy him all along.
Daniel laughed. “Do you remember when she accused you of cheating on her? See…I’m the one who told her you did that. I thought she’d dump your ass for good, but the dumb bitch just took your sorry self right back. She was even still planning to marry you.”
Dumb bitch. Ethan’s hands clenched into fists. His stitches pulled. He had so many stitches now, thanks to this asshole. More than he could count. He turned me into a monster.
“So yeah, I played with her brakes.” Daniel shrugged. “Not my fault she drove too fast, though…that was all on her.”
Sonofabitch.
“And Marjorie?” Ethan forced himself to ask. “You killed her, too?” The detective—Faith Chestang—had told him to get a confession from Daniel. If the bastard wanted to talk, if he wanted to dig his own grave, then Ethan was supposed to let him.
Daniel’s laughter came again. “She never even saw me coming.” He shook his head. “I’d heard you and Sophie talking about her. I knew where she’d went. I just had to bide my time and wait…wait for just the right moment to slip away and go after Marjorie.”
Sophie. The pain was there, knifing through him. This bastard had gone after her, too.
“You had a partner,” Ethan said this with quiet rage. “Someone was helping you all along. There’s no way you did this on your own—”
“Why? You think I’m not smart enough to pull this off? You think you’re the only one with brains?” Hate hardened Daniel’s face. “This was all my plan. Sure, I got my buddy Carl to drive the van for me, paid him a few hundred, but that was just so I would have a ride waiting. Because I was too clever to get caught at Gwen’s place. Everything else…all fucking me.”
And there was the last of his confession. All tied up in a neat bow. Did the guy even realize he’d just sent himself to prison? Did he even care? Or was he really that fucked up in the head?
“Sorry about Sophie,” Daniel said suddenly. He actually sounded like he meant those words. “I liked her, but, after that last car ride, I realized she had to go. You’d always be happy, as long as she was there. Always have a family…with Sophie. So I killed her.”
This time, Ethan shook his head. “Sophie isn’t dead.”
Daniel’s face went slack with surprise.
“She’s not dead. She was in the same hospital you were. She recovered fully.” He crept closer to the table. The rage inside of him was bubbling up. He’d gotten the confession. Now…I want to know why. “You’re my brother.”
A brother he hadn’t known about. Not until he’d gone into Wicked five days ago, and Daniel had attacked him. The bastard had been screaming about how unfair life was…how Ethan needed to see what it was like to have no one, nothing.
“He fucked my mother.” Daniel’s voice shook with his own fury. “Then he treated us like shit for the next fifteen years. We lived in poverty. We had nothing. And he’d come over, he’d screw her, then go back to the perfect life he had with you.”
Ethan stalked closer to his brother. “You’re so damn clueless.”
Daniel glared at him. “I’m not the one who didn’t see me…right there, all those years. You didn’t know, you didn’t—”
“You were the lucky one. He came home to us all right. Only to beat the hell out of my mom. She was his punching bag. So was I. I was the one he hit again and again and—” Ethan glanced toward the glass. “Turn off the recording!” he yelled. “Nothing else is on record! I’m done.”
He waited, knowing Faith would do as he’d asked. After all, he’d stepped into hell to get this confession for her.
He waited…
Then he grabbed his brother’s head and slammed it into the table. He figured he’d have less than a minute before the cops had to come in.
“He hit us again and again,” Ethan whispered into Daniel’s ear. “Until I stopped him. Until I fought back and I killed the bastard. I made him suffer before he died. Just as he’d made me suffer.”
He put his hands around Daniel’s throat. Tightened them. Daniel started to gasp.
“If you ever come after me again, I’ll do the same to you
,” he promised. “So you’d better pray they never let you out of jail…because if they do…brother,” Ethan spat, “you’re as dead as our father.”
The doors flew open. Faith stood there, glaring at him. “Let the perp go!”
Daniel was struggling to breathe, and Ethan wasn’t letting him go.
Faith shook her head. “You know he’s not worth it.”
“I’ve got friends in prison,” Ethan muttered into Daniel’s ear. “Maybe you won’t survive very long…” Then he let Daniel go. He sucked in a deep breath. Straightened his shoulders.
Ethan headed toward Faith. She glanced down at his shirt. “You must have popped some of your stitches,” she said, voice expressionless. “You’re bleeding.”
The pain had been worth it. He passed by her and found Chance standing in the hallway. The interrogation room door shut behind Ethan, and the two men measured each other.
“I’m sorry,” Ethan finally said. “For everything that happened to Gwen. I never wanted her hurt.”
Chance nodded. “I know.”
Ethan swallowed. “You love her.”
Again, Chance nodded.
“Gwen deserves to be happy. Treat her well.” He kept his spine straight as he strode forward.
Chance stepped in his path.
Hell.
He waited for the punch that had to be coming.
But Chance said, “Don’t let what that bastard did…don’t let it destroy you. We can all be more than our pasts. So much more.” Then Chance turned around and left.
Ethan’s shoulders sagged. I want to be more…But, some days, he just wasn’t sure if he could be.
* * *
The snow was falling again. Chance stood outside of Gwen’s apartment, the snowflakes drifting down on him, and he thought about the twists and turns a life could take.
When he’d been in the hospital, Gwen had stayed by his side. Every moment. And every time he’d looked into her eyes, he’d realized just how damn lucky he was.
Gwen loved him. Truly loved him. She knew he wasn’t perfect. She knew he had a darkness inside. Knew just what he was capable of doing.