Falling into You: A Falling Stars Stand-Alone Romance

by A. L. Jackson

  His fingers beat on the windowsill like he could tap out the anxiety.

  “Hell, yeah, she is. She’s probably all good and just doesn’t want to talk to this jackass. I mean, I wouldn’t want to talk to you, either.” I watched Rhys’ brow lift with the consequence of what I’d done as he looked at me through the rearview mirror, injecting the truth of it with a shot of humor.

  It was kind of fucked up that I hoped the asshole was right.

  That she’d disappeared because she couldn’t handle the truth of what she’d seen.

  Fact I’d known where her sister was. Had kept it from her in this skewed, distorted sense of loyalty.

  That devotion real.

  But at what cost?

  In the end, what had it done?

  Even if he was right, I definitely didn’t need his shit right then.

  He’d actually fuckin’ shoved me to the ground when I’d told him what was going down, unable to believe what I’d kept from him.

  What I’d unknowingly gotten Lily involved in.

  How I’d come so close to getting Violet condemned.

  Royce had grabbed hold of him. Told him to save the anger for those who deserved it. That we didn’t have time right then. More important matters were at hand.

  Because Rhys might be spouting it now—that Violet was just pissed and giving me the cold shoulder and was focused on trying to find her sister—but the three of us knew that wasn’t the case.

  Our spirits wouldn’t let us rest with that.

  Besides, Kade hadn’t heard a peep from her, and I knew if she had the address, she would have shown. He’d kept us updated, letting us know the neighborhood where he lived had remained completely still.

  It’d been almost three hours since anyone had heard from Violet. That would have given her plenty of time to get there.

  I glanced at the clock.

  Counting down.

  My foot to the floor as the truck sped down the two-lane country road.

  It was the only place we knew to go.

  Trees whipping by. Bright rays of sunlight strobing through the branches as we blazed underneath.

  Royce wiped the sweat that was gathering on his temple, dude antsy as fuck.

  Me feeding him, him feeding me. “When I set out to take down my stepfather, had no clue how far this bullshit went.”

  “Evil has no bounds.” The words were grit.

  He grunted an incredulous laugh. “Funny how that bastard had acted like he was the king. That everyone bowed to him. And it turned out he was nothing but a puppet.”

  “Never meant for you to get in this deep,” I said as I swung a glance his way.

  “Always have been in this deep. I just didn’t know it.”

  I gave him a tight nod, and I glanced at Rhys who shouldn’t have even been there. Asshole had jumped in the fucking truck when we were getting ready to take off.

  “Don’t give me that look, bro. I know what you’re thinking. You two are in deep? You can bet your asses I am, too. That’s just the way it is. If I were in something, would you turn a blind eye? Let me go it alone?”

  I didn’t say anything.

  He jutted his chin. “That’s what I thought.”

  We fell into silence as we blew down the road, the anxiety shouting so loud it drowned out everything else. My heart roared and thundered as we finally made it into the small city that was about two and a half hours outside Dalton that we’d made in two.

  I barely slowed as we drove beneath the underpass of the freeway and the two-lane road opened to four lanes. The endless green fields gave rise to buildings on each side.

  Stores and offices.

  Apprehension lighting me up, I tried to keep myself in check as I followed the directions on my phone, considering I’d only been there once and it’d been in the dead of night.

  We took the first turn into the family neighborhood.

  Quaint and quiet.

  Lawns fronting each modest house with kids playing on the street.

  That only ratcheted my anxiety ten times higher.

  Royce itched.

  “Hate this bullshit,” he rumbled. “Needs to end.”

  I made another right and came to a stop at the curb in front of the small house.

  Silence took us over while we sat on the street and stared at the stilled structure.

  Innocuous.

  White bricks with a gray shingle roof.

  A sidewalk cut right through the middle of the manicured lawn and led up two steps to the front door that was painted black.

  Two planters on either side spilled over with pink flowers.

  If you didn’t know any better, you’d think a little old lady lived there.

  So Kade might be in his 50s, but he was straight ‘don’t-fuck-with-me’ ex-military.

  When we’d set into motion the plan to get the girls out, Danica had known her father would step up and keep them safe.

  My eyes scanned for anything amiss.

  Pulse thumping so hard I could feel it beating in my ears and battering my chest.

  Nothing seemed out of place, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel it. That I couldn’t sense this wickedness that rode in on the breeze.

  Royce exhaled a harsh breath.

  Dude felt it, too.

  “Her truck’s still not here,” I said, stating the obvious. The one hope I’d had was she’d show.

  I cranked open the door and stepped out under the Kentucky sky. Sweat slicked my flesh, this anxiousness that ripped through my senses, every single one of them on overdrive.

  I tucked my gun in the waist of my jeans as I let my attention skate over the lot.

  Birds sang in the full trees and the drone of cars echoed from the main streets in the distance.

  Royce stepped out, too, same as Rhys, and the three of us slowly started up the small sidewalk.

  Stomach tight.

  Everything feeling…off.

  Intuition told me we were walking straight into a trap.

  But I’d walk into a thousand of them if it meant getting Violet back. If it meant protecting these women.

  Decoys.

  Distractions.

  Whatever the fuck we had to be, that’s who we’d be.

  Royce’s phone bleeped, and he pulled it out before he gave me a nod. “Casile has secured a team. They are coordinating now. He’ll be here by three himself. Warrants are being issued as we speak.”

  “Thank fuck.”

  I knocked on the door, two times fast and three times slow.

  On the other side, there was movement, the rustle of a drape at the window before metal scraped as locks were disengaged. Then the door cracked open an inch, two chains still keeping it secure as Kade peered out to take us in.

  His gray eyes were hard and fierce, dude worn and burly. He jutted his chin. “You clear?”

  “We’re clear.”

  He looked behind us again before he worked through the rest of the locks and edged the door open a fraction.

  The second we stepped inside the gloomy house, he worked back through the locks and then turned to look at us. Could almost see the weight of a thousand lives riding on his shoulders.

  “She hasn’t shown?” The question grunted from my throat on a vicious plea.

  His head shook. “No, Richard. I’m sorry. She hasn’t.”

  I scrubbed a palm over my face, and I started to pace, only to stall when I felt the movement in the hall.

  Horror and misery.

  It bound and shook and filled the room with dread.

  Slowly, I shifted around.

  Liliana Marin stood in the archway.

  Stringy black hair tied in a twist.

  Face still thin but so much healthier than the night I’d brought her here.

  Eyes the same color as Violet’s staring me down. Though they’d been dimmed. The hope and joy drained from the depths that had once sang of mischief and playfulness.

  My fault.

  My fa
ult.

  That old agonized guilt wailed and screamed.

  Knowing there was nothing I could ever do to take it back.

  No way to erase her scars.

  Only thing I could do was give her this.

  Freedom.

  Pray to God in it would be a future.

  “Have you heard anything?” she begged.

  My lips trembled at the side. “No.”

  She pressed a hand over her mouth, and she dropped her head, trying to subdue the sob that ripped up her throat. “Oh god. Richard, I can’t—”

  I surged forward. “We’re getting her back.”

  She looked up at me. “What if we don’t?”

  My spirit howled, refusing to even contemplate the idea, and those nerves were scattering over me again when my phone buzzed. I hurried to check it.

  Unknown: Told you I was gonna end you, bitch. That I was gonna end you and all your friends.

  Panic seized me when I read the words, and my widened eyes flew to Royce and then to Kade before I rushed for Lily, shouting, “Get down!”

  I dove at her, wrapping my arms around her waist.

  We toppled to the floor, and I scrambled around to create a shield.

  The window at the front of the house shattered as a spray of bullets flew through, same as the one in the kitchen in the next room.

  I reached around to rip out my gun.

  I was wrong.

  We hadn’t been walking into a trap. It was an ambush.

  A crash banged against the front door. Wood splintered and the chains creaked. Kade whipped around with his rifle drawn.

  Royce pushed his back up against the wall, his gun drawn as he started to angle down the hall. “Where are the rest of the girls?” he hissed.

  “Back room,” Kade growled.

  Rhys was behind him, both of them heading toward the back room to protect what we’d always wanted to save.

  These innocent women who’d been stripped of it.

  The front door busted open at the same second a man burst through the window.

  Gunshots rang out.

  Deafening.

  Me pulling the trigger and fucking hating it, but still knowing this was the duty I’d promised myself to.

  The promise that I would stand up and fight.

  That I would protect.

  No matter the cost.

  The guy went down in front of me, falling face-first to the floor. Blood pooled around him, saturating the white carpet.

  Lily screamed.

  Horror and fear.

  “I’ve got you, Lily. I’ve got you. Just stay down. Don’t move.”

  I looked to Kade who’d taken down the man who’d kicked in the door, and he angled his head that way and pressed himself tight to the wall as he peeked out, clearly anticipating there would be more.

  Two guys came rushing in just as I was climbing to my feet.

  Kade fired.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Three times.

  They fell.

  And I was gasping, trying to see through the storm of agony and chaos that filtered through the air.

  But all that air was gone when the dust cleared, and Violet was suddenly there.

  Her body pinned against the monster who dragged her inside with a gun pushed up under her chin. An arm locked around her chest as she struggled to find footing. Her hands clawing at his arm.

  Thunderbolt eyes found me in the turmoil.

  Terror.

  Sheer, absolute terror.

  So gutting that I felt it stab through the middle of me.

  The girl whimpered, and then she choked back a sob when she saw Lily behind me on the floor.

  I’m sorry, she mouthed.

  My head slowly shook.

  In caution.

  In encouragement.

  In this stunning determination that we were going to overcome this.

  Our love was too big for those who wanted to steal it.

  Two more men entered through the window, and I could feel another approaching from where he’d come in through the kitchen.

  I straightened, gun drawn, turning slow, and Kade was doing the same as we were surrounded on all sides.

  “You see what happens when you make the wrong choices, Richard Ramsey?” the bastard sneered, wrenching Violet closer to him, glaring at me from over her shoulder. “You were offered the world. Everything you could ever want. Money. Fame. Fortune. Your every fantasy.”

  I wanted to spit.

  Curse that fucking twisted thought-process. These sick bastards who used and abused and debased.

  He huffed the air from his nose like I was the one who disgusted him. “And you had to go and make a mockery of it. Now we’re going to have to take it from you.”

  Violence skated across my flesh.

  Singeing.

  My hand trembled on the trigger, and I gulped, trying to keep aim, Kade tracking behind me.

  He kept glancing at me, and I wondered just how many of these motherfuckers he could take out if I made a move.

  If I just started running straight for them.

  A decoy.

  A distraction.

  As long as Violet and Lily got to safety it would be a small price to pay.

  He gave me a slight shake of his head.

  A warning.

  It was too risky.

  “And then there’s the small matter of your brother-in-law. He started this entire shitshow by staging his ridiculous coup on Fitzgerald. He should have stayed in his lane. Shouldn’t have rocked the boat. But I guess he didn’t know how high those waves he was making were going to go. He was never going to get away with this. Just like you weren’t.”

  I scoffed out a laugh. Biding time. Praying for backup. “You think it’s not already done? You think the records aren’t already sitting on the prosecutor’s desk? Right this second, there’s a warrant being issued for every fuckin’ one of you scumbags. Every asshole who took part in those parties. Every person who participated in getting those women and men to that house and everyone who kept them there. The dealers. The traffickers. The lowlifes on the street all the way to that piece-of shit, Lester Ford, sitting at the top thinking he’s the ruler of the world. Know he owns those ships. Ones that come into port. Know how deep his affiliations go.”

  Every crime.

  Every atrocity.

  Stretching across the globe.

  I kept my voice even. Knowing one misstep and it was over. Any one of these cocksuckers could fire and it was done. Only thing that stopped it from happening was Kade who kept his aim trained between the assholes on either side of me.

  Apparently the three guys lying on the floor were proof enough that he might just be a better aim than them.

  Could hear the rustle of something at the back of the house. Wanted to cover it. Cover it for Royce and Rhys who I knew were getting the other five women to safety.

  “Everyone in between. Including you.” I let the taunt roll out with that, wanting his anger directed at me.

  He laughed a menacing sound. “You think we don’t own every judge? Every prosecutor? Every cop? You are nothing. Just like Karl Fitzgerald and Cory Douglas were nothing. This is so much bigger than you. Now tell me where the rest of the girls are, and I won’t have to shoot.”

  He shoved the barrel of his gun deeper under Violet’s jaw, making her head rock back and the air rasp from her lungs.

  Toes barely touching the ground, she whimpered and squeezed those eyes closed like she could shield herself from the deranged depravity that dripped from this monster.

  My wife.

  My wife.

  My heart banged at my chest.

  Wanting to get to her.

  To erase the space.

  Wrap her up and take her out of here.

  That energy whipped through the room and banged against the walls.

  Begging to be filled.

  To be heard.

  “If we’re nothing, then just
go.”

  Except I knew every person in this house was a threat to them. Possessing too much information for them to let a single one of us walk.

  Knew if he didn’t put a bullet in Violet’s head, he thought he was taking her with him, and that was not going to happen.

  “Where the fuck are the rest of the girls and your little boyfriend, Royce? Boss wants him, too. Prick cost him over twenty million. He’s got quite the debt to pay. It’s not going to be pretty.”

  That was right when a dog started barking from a neighboring yard and the sound of a helicopter echoed in the distance.

  Coming closer.

  Closer and closer until it was so loud there was no mistaking it was low and hovering overhead.

  The asshole’s attention snapped toward the window. The rest of the bastards surrounding us did the same.

  A frisson of nerves and uncertainty.

  It gave us one second.

  One second to our advantage.

  I looked for a clear shot when Lily was suddenly on her feet and running around me.

  “Lily, no! Get down. Get down.” I shouted it. Fucking begged it.

  Violet wailed, those eyes going round in stark, utter terror. David Jacobs shifted Violet to his side, holding her around the neck, while he stretched out his arm and fired.

  In an instant, the house was nothing but pops and cracks. A blister of bullets and shells. Shattering glass and splintering wood.

  Lily rocked back before she stumbled forward. The momentum fully knocked Violet free of David’s hold.

  I pulled the trigger.

  What felt like a hundred times.

  Same as his was being pulled with his gun aimed at me.

  Crack. Crack. Crack.

  Shock. Shock. Shock.

  He went down.

  So did I.

  I dropped to my knees.

  Too fucking stunned to feel the agony.

  My hands went to my abdomen, fingers covered in blood.

  Footsteps rushed and pounded, chaos and dust and debris.

  Smoke.

  A haze.

  Thunderbolt eyes staring down at me. Tears streaming down that gorgeous face. Desperate hands searching. Pleading. The girl weeping over me.

  And I was swamped in it.

  Violets and grace and the good.

  My fairy girl.

  Her hands were on my face.

  Magic.

  Magic.

  Safe and whole.

  The one thing in this world that ever mattered.