BELONGING: Hope, Truth And Malice (Beauty 0f Life Book 3)

by Laura Acton

  Available Soon

  July 18

  Grand Citadel Hotel – Dan’s Room – 10:30 p.m.

  Lexa gently kissed Dan’s lips again as his breathing steadied. She softly massaged his head, aware now that it brought him comfort. Her insides were a jumbled mix of emotions, but one thing she knew without a doubt, she was done resisting the attraction she felt towards her teammate Dan Broderick. Life was too fleeting to not take some risks. But Lexa knew this was a huge risk and if it went badly it could destroy them both. But if it went good.

  She stopped that thought in its tracks. Lexa wasn’t ready to even begin to think about it beyond the right here and right now. Because right here and right now it seemed so right and just what she needed—what he needed.

  A light knock on the door and Heather’s voice softly calling out had Lexa pulling back from Dan. She saw his eyes were a smoky shade of blue and slightly unfocused. Lexa smiled at the effect she had on Dan. When his arms didn’t let go of her, she whispered quickly, “Heather’s coming in.”

  Dan reluctantly released Sexy Lexie and felt bereft at the loss of her against his chest and lips. He also missed the feel of her fingers on his head. It was a feeling of long ago, but different. Something deep inside him craved that touch—like he craved Alexandra McKenna.

  His sapphire blue eyes focused on Lexa’s hazel eyes as his nurse entered the room. He was scared—though he’d never admit that to anyone. He was scared of what was to come. Dan wanted Lexa—wanted her fiercely. He was glad that she was willing to take a risk for him, but fate always took those he cared about away. He wanted to care for her—he was attracted to Lexa and it felt so right with her in his arms, but everyone he cared about died. If he let himself care, would fate just end up screwing with him again?

  Dan didn’t get to ponder that question long as Heather came over and spoke to him, “Well, it’s nice to see you awake, but really you should be sleeping. How’s your pain level?”

  “I’m okay. Patch took care of that before my shower,” Dan responded.

  Heather Barkley looked from Dan to Lexa and by the expressions on their faces she got a strange feeling she’d interrupted an important discussion. But she ventured forth, “Well, if you need any relief, you just let me know. Would you like anything to eat or drink?”

  “No, thanks.” Dan looked at the nurse then said, “Gotta make a little trip.” He tried to push himself up and clenched his jaw as his muscles protested. Going one-on-one with Basto hurt like hell. Dan had been at a disadvantage against the former middleweight boxing champ gang leader, both in size and with a gunshot wound to his right arm. Recalling Ripsaw’s strategies had saved his ass—that and Aaron, too.

  If not for Aaron Plouffe, he’d be dead. Basto would’ve killed him—with his own gun no less. Another pain, one which wasn’t physical, sliced through Dan. Aaron died saving him and there was nothing he could do to save Aaron. His mind thought it was ironic that one Plouffe had tried to kill him for years and yet he was alive today because of another Plouffe. A small groan slipped out as he used his right arm to try and push himself up.

  At Dan’s groan, Lexa and Heather both moved to assist Dan to sit up and then to stand. They watched him slowly walk to the bathroom.

  When the bathroom door closed, Heather turned to Lexa. “If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. How he’s up and walking right now with all his injuries just boggles my mind.”

  “Well, Dan certainly isn’t the average man,” Lexa stated.

  Heather nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re right—he’s Dantastic. It’s nice that he has so many people that care for him. It’s truly terrible what that man did to him in the ICU. My friend said Donner called Dan a murderer and accused him of putting you all at risk and putting blood on your hands. That disturbed man threw such horrible words at Dan. I hope he didn’t take any of it to heart.”

  Lexa softly said, “We’ll make sure he doesn’t.”

  Heather smiled. Yeah, this team was one of the rare ones.

  Dan opened the bathroom door to find Lexa was still in the room and he gave her a small smile. He was glad she was still here, but he hated to appear weak in front of her. When he got to the bed he tried to position himself without any help. Dan clenched his jaw when a hiss of pain escaped as he tried to use his left hand to help him scoot to the middle of the bed.

  He reluctantly acquiesced to the fact that he needed their help to get situated in a comfortable position. His little trip wore him out and he found his eyes feeling heavy as sleep beckoned him. Once he was lying against a boatload of pillows that propped him up so breathing was easier, he softly said, “Thanks.”

  Lexa smiled as she placed a pillow under Dan’s left hand so his sprained wrist was elevated slightly. She sat on the edge of the bed and her fingers began to lightly brush through his hair once more. “Get some sleep now. You have a long day tomorrow with the NRB interviews and Aaron’s funeral.”

  Dan nodded and simply closed his eyes. He wasn’t looking forward to either of those, but at least the NRB interviews wouldn’t be with Donner—Dick was dead. Dan knew he’d have to sort out his feelings about the man that committed suicide in front of him. Donner might be as much a victim of the events of Sara’s death as he was. But for now, he shelved those thoughts, allowed himself to relax, and drifted off to sleep with the feeling of Lexa’s fingers lightly massaging his head and the memory of her lips on his.

  Heather noted the small upturn of Dan’s mouth when Lexa touched him. She went to sit down and left Lexa at the bedside. Heather picked up her book and took another glance at the bed. That team was really, really, close.

  It made her happy, but also caused her worry. In their line of work, things happened—she was worried what would happen to everyone if anyone of them were to die in the line of duty. It would devastate that team. Heather sent a little prayer up that Alpha Team never had to experience that kind of loss.

  Lexa continued to massage until she heard Dan’s soft regular breathing. It felt good to be able to do something for Dan—to give him a small modicum of comfort. She rose and turned for the door. “Goodnight, Heather.”

  “Goodnight, Lexa.” Heather smiled as she thought, It was sweet how Lexa helped Dan get to sleep. It was very touching.

  Grand Citadel Hotel – Main Suite – 10:40 p.m.

  Lexa closed Dan’s door behind her and then looked to the desk, ready to pull Loki away from the computer if she had too. If the team let him, Loki would work himself to the bone trying to find evidence that proved Major Plouffe’s crimes against Dan.

  When she didn’t see Loki at the desk, she scanned the room. A soft smile settled on her lips as she found Loki curled up on one of the couches near Bram. His laptop was on the table in front of him.

  She turned to find the General coming out of the other bedroom that connected to the suite. Lexa was surprised yet again how much Dan took after his father. The General was muscular and had the same rugged good looks and golden blond hair as Dan. Although he looked a bit more relaxed in his t-shirt and sweats he was no less commanding than when he was in his uniform. The General actually intimidated her a bit if she was being honest.

  The General appeared to be just as complex as Dan and both father and son were so good at keeping their emotions hidden. Seeing the tears in the General’s eyes today had been hard. Lexa could see the General cared for Dan and it wasn’t her place to judge the man, but whether or not it was—she did.

  Lexa was angry that Dan had suffered so much because this man had essentially abandoned him. His misguided way of protecting Dan ended up causing Dan so much more pain—much like her own father.

  Knowing that she was unfairly applying her feelings for her own father to Dan’s father didn’t change the fact that they were similar. The General had ignored Dan in an effort to protect him, but in doing so subjected him to greater harm.

  Her own father abandoned her solely because she wanted to be a cop. Her father sa
id he wanted her to be safe and gave her an ultimatum—be a cop or be his daughter. He just didn’t understand her need to help others and her father caused her so much pain by cutting her off from all her family. The churning in her stomach forced Lexa to push away those thoughts—none of that helped in this situation.

  William saw Lexa and quietly said, “I don’t think you ought to wake Loki. He looks comfortable and he can sleep right there. There are blankets in the other room if you want to get one for Bram and Loki.”

  “Yeah, I think I’ll let him sleep here. He’s exhausted.” Lexa headed into the other bedroom and grabbed two blankets. She returned to the main suite and first covered Bram. She was truly glad that Dan had reached out to Bram for help when he woke up today.

  She wasn’t surprised it had been Bram—Dan had connected with him first, after all. Abraham De Haven had a fatherly vibe. It probably came from the fact he had four small daughters and Bram wasn’t afraid to let his soft side show. He was like a giant teddy bear and his soft blue-green eyes always showed he cared.

  Lexa knew she’d always find shelter in his arms. Not that she allowed it often, but on the rare occasion when things overwhelmed her, Bram’s hugs and soft spoken words provided her the solace that she needed.

  She moved over to Loki and unfurled the second blanket and laid it over him. She noted that Loki looked a bit like a little boy in sleep—a little brother. Heck, she knew how to handle big brothers—it was nice to have a little brother to watch over. She realized now that Dan was one year younger than Loki. They both looked so young sleeping.

  She brushed the errant lock of black hair from Dante’s face. If he would cut his hair a bit shorter, perhaps the wayward lock of hair wouldn’t keep flopping down. But a part of her didn’t want him to cut it, it was part of his charm and it gave him something to do when he got nervous talking to Tia. Lexa sighed, Tia and Loki seemed so right for each other. Perhaps one day Tia would give up her rule about dating cops and give Loki a chance.

  As Lexa straightened up and turned to go to her room, she thought, at least Tia and Loki wouldn’t face the same hurdle as she and Dan would. Tia was a dispatcher, so there was no rule keeping them from dating. But for her and Dan, protocol clearly stated that there was to be no fraternization between TRF teammates. She was taking a huge risk—this team was her only family now.

  Grand Citadel Hotel – Dan’s Room – 11:00 p.m.

  William entered the bedroom, set his gun down on the nightstand, and then looked over at his son. Daniel simply amazed him. His son was so strong and resilient. He nodded and smiled to Heather as he turned to sit down on his bed. The fact that she had taken his coffee away still surprised him. She was a caring woman and he was glad she was watching over Daniel at night.

  As he lay down, William tried to clear his mind of all the painful details he’d learned in the past two days. William wondered if Daniel would ever forgive him and if they could ever reestablish a father son relationship. If Daniel couldn’t—then so be it, he deserved the pain that would come from his actions and inactions. But William fervently hoped that Daniel would reconnect with his mother. Yvonne was innocent in all of this—he hoped Daniel would see that and reach out to his mother.

  He also hoped that Daniel would reconnect with the rest of the family. Daniel could use all the support he could get. William also wondered if his brothers, nephews and the rest of the family would ever forgive him for what he allowed to happen to Daniel. If only he’d taken a different course of action. If only he’d questioned Daniel why he was always in the field at Christmas, instead of just assuming it was because Daniel wanted to be promoted faster.

  If only he’d seen that his son was not him. That had been the path William had taken—he’d eschewed downtime to ensure that he got maximum exposure to further his career. Sure, his father, General Arthur Broderick, wanted him to excel and had begun his training young, but it had meshed completely with what William himself wanted. Being a General had been his dream from the time he was a little boy.

  It was the reason he married later than his brothers. Mark was nineteen when he married Kimberly. Erik was just eighteen when he married Ann. Ryan beat them all—he married Connie when he was just sixteen. However, William had been more interested in rising quickly in rank and didn’t marry Yvonne until he was twenty-nine.

  That had been the best decision he’d ever made. Quite frankly, he wondered sometimes what she saw in him. They were so different. She was all light and joy, while he was darker and somber. He was the luckiest man on this earth. Yvonne brought so much joy and love into his life.

  Sadly, in return he’d caused Yvonne so much heartache. He knew he didn’t deserve her, yet at the same time he knew that he wouldn’t survive without her. She carried his heart in her hands. Without Yvonne, his life wouldn’t be worth living—he’d be a shell of a man.

  As he drifted to sleep, William called out in his mind to his wife, Help me Yvonne. Help Daniel—keep hope, keep the light burning. Daniel may return to us.

  July 19

  Grand Citadel Hotel – Main Suite – 2:00 a.m.

  Loki was drawn out of his sleep by a pinging sound coming from his laptop. Wearily he rubbed his eyes as he sat up. He had set several convoluted searches running then sat down on the couch waiting for Lexa. He didn’t remember falling asleep.

  The blanket that slid off him made him smile. Lexa was so sweet—she was a great friend. Who would’ve ever thought he’d have a girl for one of his best friends? Not him, he was so awkward with girls—women he corrected. Girls he was just fine with—Bram’s little Emilie was the best.

  As he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, Loki reflected on the evidence amassing against Major Plouffe. He was definitely at fault for the non-stop deployments. He covered up the behavior of the unit that left Dan in the field. There was definitely a link between Murphy and Plouffe. They’d even mapped Dan’s injuries and found that a high percentage of them were when Dan was assigned to Murphy’s unit, even before Murphy was in charge of it.

  But so far, they’d come up empty on any connection between Plouffe and Pletcher or the stolen mail. Although they knew that Plouffe was responsible for many things, the General couldn’t give them a reason why Plouffe would target him and Dan aside from the fact that he’d dressed down Plouffe a few times. The General didn’t like the Major and perhaps it was mutual—but the team figured there had to be more of a reason than just simple dislike.

  That was one of the questions Loki was trying to find an answer to with his searches. What started this whole mess? His computer pinged again, alerting him that one of his searches was finished.

  Loki focused his tired eyes on the screen and read the results twice then exclaimed, “Holy shit! The General’s gonna rage when I tell him this.”

  “Tell him what?” Bram asked with a groggy voice.

  Loki jumped, nearly falling off the couch. “Don’t do that. You scared the crap outta me. Didn’t know anyone was still awake.”

  Amused, Bram said, “I could say the same thing. Your yell woke me from a dead sleep. So, what’s up?”

  Loki was looking nervously between Bram and his monitor. “Well I was running a deep search and found something that’s bad, real bad. Maybe I should wake the General.”

  Always pragmatic, Bram suggested, “If it’s something urgent that he needs to deal with right now, I would wake him. But if it’s just more bad news, like this whole affair, then I suggest you let him sleep and we can deal with it later. I also suggest that you get some sleep. We all need to be sharp and clearheaded at the funeral later.”

  Loki considered what Bram said and although it was really bad, there wasn’t anything the General could do about it because it was in the past. Waiting a to tell him wouldn’t have an impact. “Sorry I woke you. Okay. It can wait. Would rather only have to say it once anyways and Dan needs to hear it also. I don’t want to wake him. Dan really needs the rest. He looked like the walking dead tonight. I guess I
need some more rest myself.”

  Bram chuckled at the description of Dan. “Yeah. Though, I personally think he resembled Frankenstein. Just glad to see him up and somewhat functional after all this. I doubt I could do that.” He noticed the blanket and said, “Thanks for the blanket.”

  Loki grinned. “Wasn’t me. Probably Lexa.”

  Yawning deeply, Bram said, “Night.”

  “Night,” Loki said catching the yawn. He saved the results of the search, sent a copy to Bransworth, the CSIS liaison who was compiling all the evidence, then lay back down to get a few more hours of sleep.

  Grand Citadel Hotel – Room 666 – 5:00 a.m.

  Awoken by a sound, Major Nigel Plouffe realized his phone was ringing. He looked at the number and didn’t recognize it, but answered anyway wondering who the hell is calling him at this hour.

  “Hello,” he said in a groggy voice as a yawn escaped.

  “I’m here as requested.”

  “Ah, so you arrived. Good, good. The funeral starts at three this afternoon. I expect you to be in place well before that.”

  “Not a problem. I procured the rounds you requested.”

  “Great. I’m glad you were able to acquire those. Hard to get, but I expect they’ll be needed and they’ll do the job even if he is wearing a vest.” Plouffe smiled at the thought of armor-piercing rounds. There’d be no miraculous survival with those.

  “I expect half payment up front and the remainder once completed. Do you want a headshot or a heart shot? My preference is a headshot, but if you want center mass, just tell me.”

  Plouffe laughed. “I don’t really care your choice, but a headshot would ensure the toy soldier is gone for good. I’ve transferred half already. You can check your account.”

  “I assume you used the encryption. I don’t want this traced. I like my day job. It affords me the opportunity to engage in my hobby undetected. If you mess that up for me, you just might find yourself in my scope.”

  Anger infused itself into Plouffe’s voice as he stated, “No, it’s not traceable. I’m not a fucking idiot. No one will ever find it.”