by Cynthia Eden
Bree glanced back at Sarah. “Then my nightmares changed. Did he really say those words to me so long ago? Or did I imagine them?”
“I don’t know. I doubt we’ll ever know. But I think your dreams mean something else.” A slow exhale. “I think they mean that you suspect—deep down—that he’s close to you now. He’s with you. Someone in your life. He’s there. You just have to unmask him.”
If that jerk really was in her life…
“I haven’t told you anything that you didn’t already know,” Sarah continued. “But sometimes, it helps to hear the words from someone else, doesn’t it?”
Bree hadn’t let go of his hand. “Why hasn’t he killed again?”
“He may have killed other people. But he isn’t functioning as a typical serial killer. If there even is such a beast.” One elegant brow rose. “You are his obsession, Bree. It started when you were young. Somehow, he found you. Locked on you. He saw your parents as a threat, so he eliminated them. There haven’t been any other threats to your affection, so he hasn’t needed to act again.” Now her stare focused on Bree and Kace’s joined hands. “If you two stay together, he will act.”
Jax cleared his throat. “Sarah means he’s gonna try and kill you, Kace.”
Kace just laughed. “Let him.” Bring it.
“No.” Bree’s sharp response. “I won’t let that happen. I need Kace.”
Not nearly as much as he needed her. “Give us something here,” Kace snapped. “Something to work on. A way to bring the bastard out.”
“You want him to come out? Really?” Sarah smoothed her already smooth skirt. “Get married. Forge a permanent tie with Bree. Do something to set him off. He’ll come, though you might not see him coming until it’s too late. Is that a risk that you really want to take?”
He didn’t want to take any risks where Bree was concerned.
Sarah’s face was focused with intent. “I want to go back over your life, Bree. This is what we need to do…you need to make a list of the men in your life—men in your life now. We need to see if those men ever lived in the same city you did before you came to New Orleans. If they ever visited the cities you lived in previously. If they had any ties to your job. If you came upon them in a setting that, at first, seemed like chance, but then later, that same man showed up again in your—”
“I met Grayson Wesley at a bar over a year ago.” Her voice was wooden. “I turned around, and he was watching me. He bought me a drink. I-I slept with him. I don’t usually sleep with strangers but I’d just finished a case that wrecked me. I’d found a missing girl, too late. A fifteen-year-old girl who’d been abducted and killed. When I saw her, when I saw the blood on her body, it just—” Bree stopped. “I wanted a night to forget. I was working on that case provisionally while I finished my training at Quantico. It was my first time to see the kind of work I’d really be doing. The first time to see that I wasn’t going to always stop the bad guys. Not like I’d planned.”
Sadness flashed on Sarah’s face. “Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how hard we try.”
Bree inclined her head in agreement. “I needed to forget. Grayson gave me the chance to do that. I thought I’d never see him again. Then I walked into a workshop on profiling at Quantico, and he was there.”
“Did you feel like…Grayson knew who you were before the two of you met in the bar?”
If Grayson was the bastard who’d done this to her…
“He looked as shocked as I was when we faced each other in the workshop, but he covered his surprise faster. Then he stayed away from me. I stayed away from him. Until…this case.” Her tongue slid over her lower lip. “Grayson was the one to request me. I thought it was a chance to prove myself. He sent me to work undercover at Fantasy.”
Jax gave a rough laugh. “Let me guess, the bastard was dead set on proving that Kace was the killer, huh? And I bet he didn’t like it when you started fighting for the man you were supposed to destroy.”
No, the prick hadn’t liked it. And Kace sure as shit didn’t like him. “We have a past, Grayson and I. We go back to the early days here in New Orleans.”
“Grayson’s FBI,” Bree murmured. “It couldn’t be him.” But she didn’t sound certain.
“We need to analyze your life,” Sarah urged her. “Go back over everything. Grayson sticks out right now, yes, but sometimes, it’s not the obvious person. Sometimes, the things we see…the things we think…a good killer will twist reality. A good hunter will make you not even realize you were ever his prey, not until it’s too late.”
***
“Marry me.”
Bree stiffened. They were back at Kace’s house. She’d spent the day with Sarah, pouring over details, going back as far as she could to try and find links in her past with the man who’d killed her parents.
She slowly shut the refrigerator door. “Say that again. Because it was very much not the dream proposal that every woman longs to hear.”
His jaw was locked. “If Sarah is right and this prick will come out if we get engaged, marry me.”
He wanted to put a giant target on his back? “Okay, I get that you’re trying to help me, but I’m not marrying you so that you can lure out a killer.”
He stalked toward her. Took her hands in his. “Then marry me because you love me.”
And still put a target on his back? Bree shook her head.
His bright gaze narrowed. “You love me. You—”
“Of course, I love you. Despite this seriously shitty proposal. And, FYI, I expect so much better next time. Like…I want flowers and champagne and maybe even a riverboat involved in this thing.”
His brows raised.
“But I’m not going to risk you. Sarah and I have this. We’re working on finding him. We will find him.” She hadn’t felt this hopeful in…well, ever. Because she had something to fight for. Kace. A life. She wasn’t going to be afraid any longer. “Kace—” Her phone rang. Dammit. She yanked it out of her pocket. “Hold the thought.” Karin’s face appeared on the screen. She swiped her finger over the screen even as she put the phone to her ear. “Karin, what’s up?”
“Get down to the station—Abby Johnson is dead.”
Her lips parted, but no sound emerged.
“The guards found her in her cell. Looks like she hung herself with a bed sheet. Shit.”
Strangled. Just like her victims.
“I need you down here, Bree. Now.”
“On my way.” She hung up the phone and found Kace watching her with an intense, worried stare. Bree rolled back her shoulders. “Karin thinks Abby killed herself. She used a bed sheet and—I have to go. I’m sorry. Karin wants me there now.” She rushed around him.
His arm looped out and curled around her waist. He pulled her close. “I love you.”
She could feel his warmth and strength pouring into her. “I love you, too.”
“Come back to me when you can.” His lips brushed her temple.
“Always.” She grabbed her keys and her gun and headed for the front door. As her fingers closed around the doorknob, Bree glanced back. He’d followed her, and Kace stood just beyond the stairs. His eyes were stormy. She wanted to go back to him. To hold him. “Yes.”
His brow furrowed.
Abby was dead. A person’s world could change in an instant. Blink, and you might lose everything. So why not grab for happiness while you could? “I’ll marry you, but I still want a redo on the proposal.”
A faint smile curled his lips before she left him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Abby’s body had been lowered to the cell floor. The sheet had been removed, and Bree could clearly see the blue and red band of bruises that covered her throat.
“Happened sometime around eight p.m., judging by the lividity,” the tech said. She lifted one of Abby’s fingers. “That’s…odd.”
Bree leaned closer. Abby’s pinky finger was also red and blue. Swollen.
“She broke her finger?” Karin said
.
Now Bree was looking at both of Abby’s hands. The ring finger on her right hand was swollen, too.
Holy shit. Those could be defensive wounds. “Who was the last person to see her?” Bree demanded.
Karin blinked. “Ah, I need to check the log, but…I think maybe her lawyer came to see her earlier in the evening?”
Bree was already hurrying toward the guard’s desk. He gaped at her when she grabbed the log, but, sure enough, only Abby’s lawyer’s name was written there. Susan Hall. She slammed the log shut. “Did anyone else come to see Abby this evening?”
The young guard’s eyes widened. “Just…just the agent…he flashed his badge. Said he had to see her.”
Karin’s footsteps thundered forward. “What agent?”
***
“You got here faster than I expected,” Kace said as he opened his door to Dominic Grant. The guy stood on his porch, his shoulders hunched, and his face tense.
“You shouldn’t have called me.” Dominic was sweating. No big surprise there. “Does…hell, does Bree know?”
“Know that you’re a gambling addict who sold out the FBI? Yes, have you forgotten already? She was there when I dropped that bombshell.”
“I meant did she know you’d asked me here.” Dominic licked his lips. “I thought we were even on those old debts. After I gave you the information that you needed…”
Kace backed up and motioned Dominic inside. “We are even.” He shut the door then turned his back, aware of Dominic following behind him, but the other man drew up short when he caught sight of Remy.
Remy lounged on the sofa in Kace’s study, a whiskey in his hand. When he saw Dominic, Remy gave a toast. “Guess it’s a party now.”
“Hardly,” Kace muttered. Then he waved his hand between the two men. “I believe that you’ve met. Probably in an interrogation room some place.”
“I-I can’t talk with him here,” Dominic said as he raked his fingers over his face. “We need to be alone. Now.”
“You can’t talk with him here?” Kace faked a look of mock surprise. “Why the hell not? I mean, you’re both FBI agents.”
Remy choked on his whiskey.
“Oh, sorry, was I not supposed to know that?” Kace gave his right-hand man a very cold grin. “I’m afraid I knew from the beginning. Dominic here—he was very helpful, you see. He let me know that I couldn’t trust you. He came to me, offering to sell out FBI agents who were working on my case, in exchange for the forgiveness of some gambling debts.”
Remy’s face mottled with fury.
“Wait!” Dominic cried. “Wait just a minute—”
Remy surged to his feet. “You knew what I was? All along? You—”
Kace shrugged. “Keep your enemies close…” He turned his back on Remy as he stared at Dominic. “And those you want to kill…even closer.”
Dominic’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened—
“Grayson Wesley grew up in New Orleans. He lived here when Bree’s parents were being murdered in North Carolina. I know because I kept an eye on the bastard. He hated me as much as I hated him. So even though I’d love to wipe him off the face of the earth, he’s not the man I need to kill.” He pulled the gun from beneath his leather jacket. “You are, Dominic.”
“Kace!” Remy’s voice broke with shock. “What are you doing?”
“I know what you did, Dominic. I put the pieces together. I put the pieces together because Bree talks in her sleep. She doesn’t always remember her dreams, though. I think because they’re too painful for her. But do you know what she said last night? In her sleep, she turned to me and she whispered…thorns.”
Dominic pulled down the sleeve of his coat.
“I noticed your tattoo the other day. Interesting design, with the rose and the thorns wrapped around it.”
Dominic whirled and marched for the door. “This is insane. I’m not—”
Kace grabbed the bastard and threw him against the wall. Then he put his gun under the guy’s chin. “I’m not insane, but thanks for asking. I’m just a pissed as all hell man who will do anything for the woman he loves.” He jabbed the gun harder into his prey.
“Kace…” Remy was right behind him. “He’s a federal agent. You don’t want to do this.”
“I do. I want to do it very much. I want to squeeze this trigger, and I want to blow his brains out. Boom.” He smiled at Dominic. Sweaty Dominic. “There’s not going to be some long trial. I’m not putting Bree through that. Your life is going to end now.”
Kace felt a gun shove into his back.
“Let him go,” Remy snapped. “I can’t let you do this!”
“Remy, I didn’t ask you here to stop me. I asked you here to be a witness.”
“He’s crazy!” Dominic yelled. But the SOB’s fingers were reaching for his gun.
So Kace grabbed those fingers with his free hand, and he broke them.
Dominic howled as his left hand dropped to his side.
“Jesus, Kace!” Remy cried out. “Let him go, now! Don’t make me do this!”
“He killed Bree’s parents. He’s stalked her for years. The fucker met her when he was at her high school doing some drug safety talk. He picked her out of a crowd and then he destroyed her life.” Because Kace had made the connection. Bree had been focused on Grayson but as soon as she’d said Thorns…He’d started ripping into Dominic’s past. With the right money changing hands, it had been easy enough to get what he needed.
He hadn’t told Bree, though…
Because he didn’t want the blood on her hands.
“There’s no way he did that.” Remy’s gun stayed pressed to Kace’s back. “He’s FBI.”
“An FBI agent who sold you out. Who was ready to risk a dozen other agents, too. He offered to give me anything I wanted, as long as I made his debt disappear. You see, he’s had a hard time holding his shit together over the last few years. Ever since he wrecked my Bree’s life.”
“He’s lying!” Dominic’s voice cracked. “Get him away from me! Shoot him, shoot—”
“If he shoots me from this angle, the bullet will probably just go into you, too.” Kace gave him a wild smile. “And I’ll still squeeze this trigger. Boom go your brains.”
“You’re a sick fuck! You’re—”
“I’m going to marry Bree. She loves me. And she said yes.”
There it was. He saw the flicker in Dominic’s eyes. The tell that he’d wanted to see. The evidence hadn’t been concrete, but it had been enough to push Kace to act.
His phone rang, but he didn’t answer it. He didn’t look away from Dominic. “You don’t have her any longer. She’s not alone. She’ll be with me. Always.”
Dominic’s head gave a slow shake.
“Kace…” Confusion thickened Remy’s voice. “What’s happening?”
“You’re a witness,” Kace said again. His finger tightened on the trigger. His phone had stopped ringing.
“You can’t kill a Fed in cold blood!”
“I’m Kace Quick. I can do anything I want.” And he wanted to pull the trigger. “Admit it,” he snarled at Dominic. “Tell me what you did. Tell me!”
But Dominic’s eyes had gone cold. Hard. “You’re crazy. You assaulted a federal agent. You belong in a cage. Just like the one that bitch Abby is in.”
Abby…
Kace’s phone rang again. And…shit, that ring tone. Bree?
His head jerked down.
And Remy acted. He yanked Kace back and tossed him across the room. Kace hit the desk, the sharp edge cutting into his side, but he didn’t drop his weapon. He surged right back toward his prey.
Remy was positioned in front of Dominic. Remy’s gun pointed at Kace. “I can’t let you do this!”
“It’s not about letting me. It’s—”
Dominic shoved Remy forward. He yanked out his gun, and, using his non-broken right hand, Dominic fired.
Kace had grabbed for Remy. He took the guy down, but not in time. He heard
the thud as the bullet sank into Remy’s shoulder. “Dammit!” Kace looked up.
Dominic was smiling. And he had his gun aimed at Kace’s head. “You won’t marry her.”
Fucking hell. Kace had his gun, too. But would he be able to lift it and get a shot off in time?
“I didn’t wait this long so that she’d wind up with you. I found her. Beautiful Bree. I knew she was meant for me from the first moment. She was smiling at me. Asking all kinds of questions. Her gaze was on me. I got her message. I understood. I followed her home. Saw her fight with her parents. I went to them when she left…I killed—”
The front door crashed open. “Kace!” Bree yelled.
Dominic stiffened. Then he fired his gun. He shot it right at Kace even as Kace tried to get his weapon up. Too late. Too late.
Dominic’s bullet had lodged into his chest. He felt muscles and bone explode. He tried to call out to Bree but—
Dominic fired again.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Kace!” Bree ran toward the thunder that had to be a gunshot. She burst into Kace’s study.
Blood on the floor.
She could see it pooling near his body. Too much red near Kace’s still form. And Remy was right beside him. Remy lay crumpled near Kace, and Remy’s eyes were closed. Kace was—
Dead. Dead. They’re dead. Mom and Dad—
No, this wasn’t her parents. This was Kace. Remy.
Her past and present were blurring together.
She started to run forward, but instinct kicked in, and instead of running to Kace, Bree whirled around—and she found Dominic backed into the corner of the study.
His eyes were wild. “Bree! Oh, God, Remy shot Kace! Just shot him! I came to talk with Kace. He called me…shit, I’ve got some gambling debts, and I told him Remy was an undercover agent!” His words tumbled out in a mad fury. “When Remy found out that Kace knew the truth about him, the guy went crazy! He shot Kace. I-I tried to help. I fired at Remy, but it was too late. It was—”
“Drop your weapon.” She had her gun trained on him.
Dominic blinked, as if surprised to see that he still had his weapon. He was holding it with his right hand, which was weird because the guy was a left-hander.