RELENTLESS: An Option Zero Novel

by Christy Reece

  Liam took off running to his car. Ferante was dead and Aubrey was going back to LA unprotected? No way in hell this was a coincidence.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  LAX

  Los Angeles, California

  The two-hour-and-twenty-minute flight from Missoula to LA had given Aubrey plenty of time to think. By the time she arrived at the airport, she was sure she had made one of the biggest mistakes of her life. What if this was all a ruse to get her out in the open?

  Her rational mind told her she was being ridiculous. Ferante’s death had absolutely nothing to do with Becca being fired from the film. The man was dead, so there would be no threat from him anymore. It was just one of those odd coincidences that happened from time to time. She was silly for even imagining the two were related.

  The more intuitive part of her brain told her to beware. The fine hairs on the nape of her neck added to her concern. Paranoia wasn’t altogether a bad thing. Not when it came to staying alive. It was something she’d gotten used to, but somehow with Liam, she’d let her guard down. She had been safe and secure and felt no danger. That feeling had disappeared.

  If she’d had more time to think about things, perhaps she wouldn’t have rushed to LA. That couldn’t be helped now. The plane was landing, and she was here whether she should be or not.

  Becca was to meet her in baggage claim, and as the plane was barely five minutes late, she was likely already there waiting.

  Grabbing her carry-on from the overhead compartment, Aubrey followed the rest of the passengers off the plane and into the airport. She gave herself a stern lecture as she made her way to baggage claim. She was surrounded by hundreds of people. No one was going to try anything here. And why would they? Ferante had been the only threat. He had known she would expose him, so he had threatened her. Now that he was out of the picture, she was safe.

  But why didn’t she feel safe?

  She spotted Becca standing in the middle of baggage claim. Even though people passed by her, she seemed to be in another world, her expression dulled by sorrow. She looked lost and forsaken. Aubrey’s heart broke for her. Her cousin had worked hard for this chance. Being the daughter of a famous director could only take you so far. To advance further and get the big, life-changing roles, talent and hard work were the most important components. Becca was a gifted actress, dedicated to her craft. Why on earth had she been fired from a part that seemed tailor-made for her?

  “Becca!” Aubrey called out.

  Startled, Becca lifted her head and gave her a brilliant smile. She ran toward Aubrey, and the closer she got, the more fragile the smile became. By the time she was hugging Aubrey, the smile was completely gone, and tears were streaming down her face.

  “Oh Becca, don’t cry, sweetie. We’ll figure this out, I promise.”

  “I know…I know,” she sobbed. “I just wish I knew what I did wrong. No one will tell me anything. It’s like it’s some big secret. But it shouldn’t be if it involves me. I should be told why.”

  “Did you talk to someone else?”

  Becca pulled away, wiped her eyes and delicately blew her nose with a tissue. “No…not really. I tried to discuss it with Jensen, but he blew me off. Apparently since I’m no longer the star of the movie, he doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.”

  Aubrey swallowed a groan. No only had her cousin been fired from her dream role, Jensen Riggs, an up-and-coming actor and Becca’s co-star in the movie, had broken up with her. Even though they’d only had a few dates, and getting her heart bruised was nothing new for Becca, coming on the same day she was fired from her dream role would be a bit much for anyone.

  “I knew it wouldn’t last,” Becca was saying. “We’d only been out a few times, and he wasn’t all that much fun to be around, but to have him treat me like I wasn’t important to him anymore because I’d lost the role...” She shook her head, and the tears increased to a steady flow. “It was just too much.”

  “I know. But don’t you worry. We’ll get this straightened out, and you can tell Jensen Riggs to get lost when he comes crawling back to you. Which he will.”

  “My career is over, Aubrey. I just know it is.”

  Aubrey snorted. “When pigs fly.”

  Her cousin didn’t laugh as she’d hoped. The despair in her eyes broke Aubrey’s heart. Ignoring the people milling around them, she held Becca’s shoulders firmly and said, “Listen to me. Remember when we were five years old? Remember the promise we made to each other?”

  Sniffling, Becca nodded. “We promised we’d never lie to each other.”

  “Exactly. So believe me when I tell you this. You are one of the most gifted actors I’ve ever known. There is no way your career is over. This is just a little bump in the road, nothing more.” Aubrey shook her slightly. “I promise you, Becca.”

  “You really believe that, don’t you?”

  “With all my heart.”

  Smiling once again, she linked arms with Aubrey. “Thank you for coming. You always make me feel so much better.” She turned to the exit. “Come on. I managed to park out front, but if I don’t move soon, I’ll get a ticket.”

  The minute they stepped outside, Aubrey had that uneasy feeling again. Unable to explain the oddity to Becca, who knew nothing about the issues she’d been dealing with, Aubrey did her best to act normal as she carefully examined their surroundings. There were dozens of people around. Families hauled their luggage into vans, business people stood in line, waiting for cabs, couples stood around chatting. No one looked the least bit interested in them.

  She settled into the passenger seat of the Audi Q5 and buckled up. As Becca slowly steered out of the parking space and into the stream of traffic, Aubrey continued to keep her eyes out for any hint of a threat.

  Just as Becca turned onto Century Boulevard, Aubrey’s phone rang. She glanced at the readout and felt a wave of calm wash over her. Liam might be thousands of miles away, but just knowing she was about to talk to him lessened her stress level.

  “Hey,” she said softly.

  “Aubrey, where are you?”

  The tension in his voice told her what she had suspected. This could be a trap.

  “I’m in LA. Becca just picked me up at the airport.” And then, before he could tell her himself, she said softly, “I screwed up, didn’t I?”

  “I don’t know. What I do know is I don’t want you to take any chances. Tell Becca to drive to the nearest police station. I can be there in a few hours.”

  “Okay. I—”

  “The man that’s been watching over Becca just texted me. He’s about five cars behind you. He’s going to follow you to the police station.”

  Relieved to know they weren’t completely alone, she said, “Thank you, Liam. I’ll tell—”

  A black SUV cut in front of the Audi. Becca managed to avoid rear-ending it. Traffic was heavy, as usual, and aggressive drivers were the norm, but that had been a little too close for comfort.

  “What’s that guy’s problem?” Becca muttered.

  Her heart beating faster, Aubrey kept an eye on the vehicle as she said softly to Liam, “Hold on.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “An SUV almost drove us off the road. It’s dark so I can’t see what kind of—”

  “Find a police station,” Liam barked. “Now!”

  “Okay. Okay.” She glanced at her cousin. “Becca, I know this is going to sound weird, but we need to—”

  She didn’t get to finish her sentence. The SUV came back over into their lane. Becca jerked the steering wheel to the left. The SUV rammed into the side of the Audi. Becca screamed as their car left the road and flew over the railing. Airborne, Aubrey saw tops of trees and flashing lights in a massive whirl of colors and sounds. She heard Liam’s voice in her ear but couldn’t comprehend the words.

  Metal scraped and squealed against metal, bent and broke. The world went upside down and then ended on an earth-shattering thud as tortured, mangled steel lande
d with a hard, definitive crash.

  She heard herself scream Liam’s name and then knew nothing more.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

  Los Angeles, California

  Pulling into the hospital parking lot, Liam slid into a visitors spot, and for the first time since the crash, took a moment to himself. For twelve hours, he had done nothing but concentrate on getting to Aubrey. He had bribed, coerced, threatened, and shouted until he’d figured someone at some point was going to lock him up. Thankfully, Ash and OZ came through for him.

  The call to Aubrey had gone dead seconds after the wreck. He had pictured every terrifying frame in his head. They’d been run off the road, hit a guardrail, and then plummeted into a ravine.

  Getting a private jet readied and able to fly straight to Los Angeles from Bogota should have been impossible. And though he’d had to wait over an hour for the plane to arrive and be readied, he’d been in the air much sooner than should have been possible. Miracles were like that, and since meeting Aubrey, he realized they happened much more frequently than he’d ever recognized.

  On the flight, he’d learned multiple things. Becca had been life-flighted, her injuries serious and life-threatening. Aubrey’s were comparatively minor, and she had been transported by ambulance to the same hospital.

  When she’d arrived at the hospital, he’d been able to talk with her briefly. A doctor was checking her over, and though she was in shock and had said only a few words to reassure him she was fine, she was gloriously alive, and that had been an answered prayer.

  Becca, however, hadn’t been as lucky. She had multiple fractures, head trauma, and severe blood loss. They’d been able to stabilize her, but her condition was critical.

  After talking with Aubrey, reassuring her he was on the way, and telling her to stay with the bodyguard, he’d called Malcolm Pitts, the man who had been assigned to watch over Becca. Giving the man a piece of his mind had done nothing for the situation. Pitts hadn’t offered much more information than Liam already knew. A dark colored SUV had slammed into Becca’s Audi, running her off the road. It hadn’t stopped, and no one had been able to get a license plate number or description of the driver.

  It was a dead end for now.

  After talking to Pitts, he’d put in a call to Serena. Though she was in Germany with the team, she had been able to give him a brief update, which had been both frustrating and eye-opening.

  “I still don’t have a lot, Liam. I saw nothing in Aubrey’s parents’ background that looks the least bit shady. Her dad, Matthew Starr, was a well-respected English professor at a local community college. Her mom was a high school biology teacher. Their standard of living was commensurate with their income. No arrests, not even a parking ticket. Aubrey was a typical only child. A little spoiled but basically a good kid. She got good grades, was never in trouble. She was on the swim team and was the star of several school plays.”

  As much as he wanted to know these things about the woman he loved, they weren’t pertinent. On top of that, he had some massive guilt for having her family investigated without telling her what he was doing. It had made sense at the time, but maybe all of this could have been prevented if he’d told her what he suspected. Serena’s next words had confirmed his fears.

  “Her uncle, on the other hand, there’s something off about him.”

  She hadn’t had much, but it was enough to prompt a deeper dive, and it gave Liam something to focus on during the long flight to LA.

  Syd Green would be arriving in LA soon. He’d been informed he would receive a police escort from the airport, having been told it was a courtesy because of his celebrity status. Whether Syd believed that was the truth, Liam didn’t care. He had only two priorities right now. Making sure Aubrey stayed safe and having a very candid talk with her uncle Syd.

  Exiting his vehicle, Liam stayed aware of his surroundings. No one should know he had any connection to Aubrey, but he was discounting nothing at this point. It was obvious that this was bigger than just Ferante and his sick perversions. How far it went and who was involved, he didn’t yet know. But he would keep digging.

  Twelve years ago, Aubrey had been targeted. Not a chance abduction, but a well-planned, well-coordinated event. But why? He was going to find out.

  The elevator rang, announcing the third floor ICU unit, and the door slid open. Aubrey was there, looking both devastated and heartbroken. She had a bruise on her chin, a small bandage on her forehead, and her right wrist was wrapped in gauze. Her eyes were red from crying and filled with tears the moment their gazes met. He stepped out of the elevator, and she was in his arms in an instant.

  “Thank God you’re here,” she whispered against his chest.

  Liam closed his eyes as the magnitude of his feelings for this woman overwhelmed him. He had loved her from that first moment in a dark, damp prison cell. He would love her forever.

  Pressing a kiss to her head, he asked, “How’s Becca?”

  She shook her head and let loose a sobbing sigh. “I think she’s just holding on till Uncle Syd gets here.”

  “Come on. Let’s go sit down.”

  He gave a nod of dismissal to Malcolm Pitts who’d been standing a few feet from Aubrey. Thankfully the man didn’t seem to want to stay around and offer more excuses. Liam was in no mood to hear them. He waited until Pitts had disappeared before leading her to a private corner of the waiting room.

  As soon as they were seated, Liam said quietly, “Tell me.”

  “I messed up so badly, Liam. It’s my fault. All of it. If I had taken the time to think, I never would have come here. On the same day Ferante is killed, Becca gets fired. Whoever’s responsible knew she would call me, and I would come running. I put her in danger.”

  She was in no way responsible, but telling her that would sound like platitudes and empty words. Once her uncle arrived, they would get to the truth. Until then, he would steer around the responsibility factor and get the facts.

  “When did you know you were being followed?”

  “I didn’t. I was on alert, though. The two-hour plane trip gave me time to think. By the time we landed, I knew I’d made a mistake.”

  “Did you say anything to Becca?”

  “No. Maybe I should have. She was just so upset. She’d gotten fired, and then the guy she’d been dating dumped her. I didn’t know how to tell her that all of it might have been just a ruse to get me out in the open.”

  “Telling her wouldn’t have prevented anything. No one could have predicted this.”

  “I just don’t understand. I didn’t have anything concrete on Ferante. Not really. And now that he’s dead, the threat against me should be gone. Shouldn’t it?”

  He didn’t understand all of it either, but now wasn’t the time to tell her that her uncle was knee-deep in some kind of coverup. He needed something concrete before completely destroying the image she had of the man she’d loved and trusted all her life.

  “Tell me about the accident.”

  “We were on Century Boulevard. It was raining, just a steady drizzle, but enough to make the streets shiny and visibility a little difficult. Becca wasn’t driving fast. Everything seemed normal. She was in the middle lane, and this dark SUV veered into our lane. I couldn’t tell much about it. It was dark and rainy, making it hard to see.

  “Becca managed to avoid him…I think she blew her horn. She just thought he was a reckless driver, I guess. Anyway, it veered over again, but this time he hit the front fender of Becca’s car. She lost control and hit a guardrail. I think the car rolled a couple of times before it landed at the bottom of a big ditch.

  “I don’t remember much after that. When I woke up, I heard Becca moaning. I somehow ended up in the backseat. I managed to climb over and Becca…” She swallowed hard twice before she continued, her voice thick with emotion. “She was upside down. I couldn’t see her face. She was saying something.”

  “What was she say
ing?”

  “She said Jensen.”

  “Who’s Jensen?”

  “The guy she’s been seeing. The one who broke up with her.” Tears filled her eyes. “He must have meant more to her than I realized.”

  “Aubrey?”

  Liam turned to see a disheveled-looking middle-aged man striding toward them. If he hadn’t expected Syd Green to show up, he wouldn’t have recognized the man. The few times Liam had seen him on television and in photos, Syd Green had looked both elegant and supremely confident. This wild-eyed man with mussed hair and a ravaged expression bore no resemblance to the famed director.

  “Uncle Syd!” Aubrey jumped from her chair and ran into her uncle’s arms. “I’m so sorry.”

  They held each other, and while he was one hundred percent sure that Syd Green was involved in whatever this shit was, there was no doubt in Liam’s mind that the man was grieving.

  After several moments, Green backed away and asked thickly, “Where is she?”

  “In ICU. They asked me to step out for a few minutes. They said they’ll let me know when I can go back in.” She glanced behind her and said, “This is Liam Stryker.”

  Liam met Green’s eyes, and while there was no indication the man knew about his suspicions, his gaze went guarded and wary.

  Before either man could speak, a nurse appeared in front of them. “Are you Becca Green’s father?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Green said huskily.

  “You’ll want to go in now.”

  The urgency in her tone, along with her words, left no one in doubt that time was running out on Becca’s life.

  Green quickly followed the nurse while Aubrey turned in to Liam’s arms with an agonized sob.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  They sat in the Bereavement Room, which was basically a small alcove off of the rest of the ICU waiting room. Aubrey’s entire body ached with grief. Every single molecule felt the pain of loss. Becca, her best friend since they were barely able to walk, was gone. She hadn’t woken from her coma, and though the nurses assured them she knew her loved ones were there, Aubrey didn’t believe it. Becca had been gone only moments after the wreck, her body just hadn’t known it.