by Leroux, Lucy
She didn’t anymore. Rivera had quietly recovered his switchblade from her at the docks.
Gonzalo didn’t have a gun. C’mon! There was no way she was sitting here doing nothing, but she wasn’t stupid. She needed something.
The syringe!
She knelt, then crawled around the floor in search of it, but there was no sign. In desperation, she went through Gonzalo’s pockets. She came up with a single empty backup syringe, still in its wrapper.
Putting her hands on her head, she wracked her brain for other ideas. Maybe she could find something else to use in the hall or one of the other rooms—a loose walker or an IV pole. One of those would make a decent battering ram, provided it still wasn’t attached to a patient.
She hurried to the door, kicking the bottle of Gatorade on the way. It had landed on the floor in the scuffle.
Juliet straightened and picked it up, caught by a sudden idea.
Chapter Forty-Two
“Drive faster!”
Jason ignored him, focusing on the road as he whipped around the corner. “Enough. We’re going as fast as humanly possible.”
“The hell we are. You should have let me drive.”
“If you wanted to drive, you shouldn’t have traded in the Mustang.”
Ethan braced himself as his partner whipped around the corner. “I can’t believe you didn’t give Juliet back her phone.”
Jason grunted. “Again, not my fault. Someone must have misplaced it in the command center. Besides, I had to watch over you. Otherwise, Alvaro might have taken an unplanned dip in the harbor. We might have never recovered the body.”
Ethan covered his face with his hands. “Just drive.”
“We’ll get there in time. Try Carter again.”
“He’s not picking up.” But Ethan lifted his phone to try again. Jason turned another corner before braking hard.
His arm shot out to brace himself on the dash as his head whipped forward, giving him whiplash.
“What the—”
The road in front of him was a parking lot.
“Back up.”
Jason twisted to look behind them. “Can’t. We’re already blocked in.”
“Fuck.” Ethan slammed his hand on the dash. “Pull up here,” he said, pointing.
“Ethan, that’s not a lane. It’s the sidewalk.”
“Yeah. Park.” The hospital was six blocks away. “We run from here.”
Jason shook his head, but he did as Ethan asked, jumping the curb and pulling the car up on the raised concrete. The vehicle’s front grill stopped a few short feet from the nearest table of a sidewalk café.
People started shouting. Jason whipped his shield out, waving it at the nearest irate customer. “We’re going to get in so much shit for this.”
Ethan got out, ignoring the clamor. “We’ll deal with it later. Start running.”
The shouts faded in the distance as their feet hit the pavement.
Please let Juliet be all right. Please.
* * *
Juliet had searched her entire floor and the one above it without success. Tears blinded her, but she scrubbed at them ruthlessly in case anyone stopped or called attention to her.
She needn’t have worried. Nothing made a person turn away faster than the sight of a crying woman.
Taking the stairs, Juliet headed down to the floor below. She emerged to see a different color scheme on the walls, one that included painted teddy bears and ducks.
She was in the maternity ward.
There wouldn’t be many places to hide here. Juliet didn’t know much about American hospitals, but she assumed the babies would be the one thing they guarded more closely than the drugs.
The waiting room…
OB/GYNs met the mothers for checkups on this floor, didn’t they? It would have a waiting room—maybe one with a few toys to occupy those children while they waited for their appointments.
Tension filled her chest as she walked down the hall with measured steps. She stopped, spotting a sign for the space she was looking for.
She peeked around the corner.
Luna.
She drew back, flattening against the wall. Her chest felt like she might explode. Juliet was torn, wanting to charge like a kamikaze, but she wasn’t sure her legs would even support her.
Bracing herself, she risked another peek. The woman with Luna—Carla, presumably—was turned away from her. She was checking her phone as if willing it to ring. Luna sat at a little table painted in bright primary colors.
The expression on her little girl’s face would haunt Juliet as long as she lived. The toddler was drawn, unsmiling. She also looked tired and scared.
If Luna was tired, she would cry or scream until she was changed or put to bed, whichever she needed. If she wasn’t doing either, it was because someone had taught her to be afraid to.
Suddenly, Juliet’s legs weren’t weak. Rage propelled her across the waiting room floor, uncapping the syringe as she went. She grabbed Carla’s head from behind, jabbing the needle in her neck.
Carla gasped and began to struggle, swearing in English. Juliet pushed the syringe deeper into the woman’s neck. “I wouldn’t move. You don’t know what’s in this needle, but I do.”
Sensibly, the woman stopped struggling.
Juliet smiled at Luna, tears in her eyes. “Hi, baby.”
Luna rushed over, hugging her knee. “Mommy.”
Her heart couldn’t decide if it was swelling or breaking open.
“Mommy missed you,” she cried, staring down at her little girl. “I’m right here with you, and we’re going to find Ethan.”
Juliet turned her attention back to the kidnapper.
“What is it?” the woman hissed, straining to see the syringe. It was long enough for her to spot the bright green and yellow liquid.
What sounded bad enough?
“It’s cancer drugs,” Juliet said, making it up on the spot. “But since you don’t already have cancer, it’s going to give it to you instead. That’s what chemotherapy drugs do—they’re poison.”
Without further hesitation, she depressed the plunger on the syringe, then shoved the woman away.
“Hey,” Carla yelled, grabbing her neck.
Juliet ignored her, picking up Luna. She crushed the little girl to her chest, but Luna didn’t complain.
Across from her, Carla raised a gun.
Juliet faced the weapon with her heart in her throat. “If you shoot us, you’ll bring everyone running,” she said. “They’re searching for you. But you’re not going to shoot. You’re going to run down to the ER so they can flush your system. You only have a few minutes left before the drugs do permanent damage.”
The woman’s face creased as she hesitated. But the sight of the syringe on the floor with its trace of almost-fluorescent liquid convinced her.
Carla ran away, disappearing down the hall.
“Luna, baby.” Juliet sobbed hysterically now. She pressed her lips all over Luna’s face, rocking and hugging her.
“Daddy!”
“What?” Confused, Juliet wiped her eyes. But Luna wasn’t looking at her.
“Over here.”
Juliet whirled around. “Ethan!”
He looked like an angel in his jeans and white t-shirt—the warrior kind who came from Heaven to kick the devil’s butt.
Jason stood behind him, bent over and trying to catch his breath. But she didn’t get a chance to ask them where they’d come from before Ethan wrapped his arms around both her and Luna.
“Did I miss the action?”
“You can find the bad guy—or girl, in this case—in the ER, probably asking for dialysis or for her stomach to be pumped.”
Ethan drew his head back in confusion. “Never mind. You can explain later.”
Always averse to being ignored, Luna reached up to touch his face with grubby little fingers.
Ethan laughed, but it caught in his throat like a sob. “Hey there, Little Moon.
I missed you.”
“Hi, Daddy,” she said, slapping his face in her enthusiasm.
This time, Ethan did sob. He took Luna in his arms, kissed her head a few dozen times.
When he was done, he turned to Juliet. “I didn’t train her to say that. Really, I didn’t. The babysitter called me her daddy in front of her a few times, and I thought the truth was too complicated to explain. That’s why Luna is confused.”
Juliet put an arm around his neck, resting her weight against him. “Oh, she’s not confused. Not at all.”
Epilogue
Ethan made a big smacking sound, pretending to smooch the smelly owl puppet that was Luna’s current favorite toy.
The little girl giggled, grinding the owl’s face into his nose. “More, Daddy.”
I need to throw this toy in the wash. Luna dragged it everywhere. It had acquired a very particular and not altogether pleasant scent. But he grinned, then kept kissing as loudly as he could.
Fortunately for him and Juliet, the toy Luna had chosen as her supreme ultimate must-have-at-all-times plaything was machine washable, and it could be found in bulk at Ikea. He and Juliet had half-a-dozen more waiting in the closet. The minute Luna’s back was turned, he was going to swap this puppet for a clean one.
And the guys said parenting would be hard, he smugly thought, tickling his baby.
Sure, being a dad wasn’t always easy. There were good and bad days. Potty training had been no picnic, but it was going much better lately. That ear infection last month had been damn rough, too.
At least Luna had stopped having nightmares. For weeks after her ordeal, the little girl had woken up screaming and crying every night. She had been impossible to calm down. It had gotten so bad that Ethan had crashed on the couch for a few days to let Luna sleep with Juliet.
But the sleepless nights hadn’t ended until he’d gotten into bed with them both. His presence had finally soothed the little girl back into the sense of security and safety she needed. It was something all babies deserved to have, and Ethan was going to make sure she never had to go without it again.
Luna was the daughter of his heart and soul. Even if he and Juliet never had any biological children of their own—and he planned on at least two more—Ethan knew he had been blessed. He was a father.
His sleep was a lot easier for another reason as well—everyone who had hurt Juliet and Luna was in jail.
Despite rumors to the contrary, the video of Alvaro commuting murder had been proven authentic by experts on both sides of the border. It had been more than enough to put him and his lieutenants away. The Mexican authorities had been chipping away at his miniature empire ever since.
The bigger shock had come when Juliet—or rather, Julietta Diaz—had reclaimed her name and her life.
“You’re worth how much?” he’d asked after she’d met with her father’s lawyers.
North of thirty-five million dollars? What did that even mean? He couldn’t wrap his head around the sum.
Juliet’s small smile had been sad. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not keeping it. Not most of it, anyway,” she said, cuddling against him on the couch after the meeting. “I’m only holding onto enough to finish law school and settle my family’s affairs.”
“What are you going to do with the rest of it?” he asked. “Give it to charity?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure which one. I want to make sure I use it wisely, where it will make the most difference.”
Ethan had wholeheartedly agreed with Juliet’s decision to give up her millions. Despite the size of his government salary, he felt financially secure. His apartment venture was starting to go well. Last month, the first tenants had moved in. The investment was still far from being in the black, but it was starting to pay dividends.
Despite the fact money wasn’t an issue, Juliet had decided not to give up Luna’s legacy. Regardless of Alvaro’s claims to the contrary, she was the child of Daniela and Xavier Acevedo—at least on paper. As such, the little girl had inherited her legal father’s rather sizable fortune.
“I don’t feel right taking it from her,” Juliet explained. “I may not have gotten along with my sister or been close to Luna’s father, but their money is hers now. Xavier inherited most of it in any case. I don’t think it’s dirty. She should decide what to do with it once she’s old enough.”
The lawyers had set up a trust for Luna, one which would allow her to go to any school she wanted to. As for the rest of the cash, she would get it when she was twenty-five—ample time for Ethan to teach her the value of hard work. By the time she was able to access her fortune, she would have the knowledge to handle it.
Also, he and Juliet had blocked Alvaro’s request to have Luna’s DNA tested—and they always would. That evil man would never be allowed to have a tie to her.
“Can have more cookie, Daddy?” Luna asked, interrupting his trip down memory lane by tugging on his sleeve. She gazed up with hopeful brown eyes.
“Sorry, Little Moon. I shouldn’t have given you the first once.” Ethan sighed. “Your mother is going to kill me when she sees your dress.”
As if on cue, Juliet hurried into the living room, her dark hair cascading down her back in stylish sable waves.
A hot flash coursed through his body at the sight of her red dress. A midsized diamond solitaire winked in the light next to a platinum wedding band. He had put both of those on her last month—to his everlasting satisfaction.
Ethan forgot what he was doing. He was too distracted by watching his beloved wife move. The red figure-hugging tailored number wrapped around her body like a second skin. Curves that should have come with a warning label glowed against the backdrop of the dark wood paneling.
Lord have mercy. The outfit wasn’t even revealing. Juliet could have worn it anywhere.
And the eyes of every man in the room would follow her. But they did that regardless of what she wore. Ethan had already had to teach more than one man a quiet but firm lesson over touching what was his.
Juliet reached up to her ear, putting on one of the diamond earrings he had given her for her birthday. “Are we ready?”
Ethan blinked, giving himself a little shake. “Uh, almost.”
He gave her his most winsome grin before helping Luna to her feet.
Juliet’s face fell when she saw the front of Luna’s gold-embroidered gown. “Oh, Ethan. This is why I said no Oreos.” She groaned. “And she got your sleeve, too!”
Ethan grimaced at the mark on his sleeve. He picked Luna up, then started to carry her out of the room. “I’ll change us into something else. Two minutes. I promise.”
“Hurry. We can’t be late. It’s her big day!”
Five minutes later, he was dressed in a fresh shirt. Luna wore a less stylish but much safer black velvet dress. They hustled out to the car, and he only had to break the speed limit twice to get to the judge’s chamber in time.
Making someone a citizen should involve more pomp and circumstance and less paperwork, he thought as he signed document after document.
“That’s the last one,” Judge Kenisha Washington pronounced after Ethan and Juliet worked through the stack. “Luna is officially a naturalized United States citizen. Congratulations!”
Applause broke out from their small audience. Jason and Maggie were there, of course, but so were Patrick and Thalia Tyler as well as Sergei and Eva Damov with his godson, Ethan Thomas. Even Rivera was there with his latest girlfriend. Donovan Carter was back overseas on yet another Doctors Without Borders mission, which was the only reason he wasn’t.
“Yay!” Maggie squealed, waving a tiny American flag in front of Luna. The little girl took it, adorably shaking it just long enough to take a picture. Then she jabbed it back in Maggie’s face, almost taking her eye out with the pointy end.
Laughing, Ethan confiscated the flag, signaling to Maggie she should step back. “We’re still not done.”
“No,” Juliet agreed, pressing into his side. “We still hav
e to do the most important part.”
They turned back to the judge, who laid out a final set of papers. She handed Ethan a pen with a gracious nod.
Bending, he began to sign the adoption packet.
Luna was already Juliet’s. The authorities in Mexico had granted Juliet custody right after they dismissed the warrant Alvaro had falsified for her arrest.
Normally, naturalization and adoption procedures took a lot longer. It might have taken years before they got settled. But Ethan was a highly decorated FBI agent with a sterling service record—that…and he’d made friends in high places.
Finally, Ethan reached the last page. He signed with a flourish, returning the judge’s pen before taking Luna from Juliet’s arms. “Come to Daddy, Little Moon.”
She was too small to understand why his voice was so scratchy. Wrinkling her nose, she carried on being adorable.
Juliet wiped her eyes before hugging him and pressing a hot kiss to his cheek. “I can’t believe it’s finally official.”
He threw his free arms around her, pressing her to him. “Better believe it, Mrs. Thomas. We are officially a nuclear American family.”
She laughed with tears in her eyes.
“That’s enough of that,” Jason interrupted, handing her a tissue. “We have a party to get to.”
Hours later, long after the celebration bash at the Caislean was over and Luna hand been put to bed, Ethan hustled his new wife to their bedroom with a bottle of wine and two glasses.
Sometimes, their coupling was fast and rough out of necessity. Having an active little girl made them make the most of what time they got. But tonight, he wanted to take his time.
Ethan waited until Juliet had finished her glass before kissing the nape of her neck, unzipping the back of her dress and pushing it down to the carpet. Her lingerie followed in short order while she helped him strip.
His mouth drank in her skin, feasting. Her little whimpers fueled his hunger. He lay her on the bed and drove into her wet heat, caressing her with his cock and hands.