by April Hunt
“All of which we have.”
Rebecca Steele brought her wine to her lips and locked her sights on her daughter from over the rim. “Determined individuals don’t wipe their hands of things when the slightest obstacle steps into their path. Tell me, Cade, did Grace tell you about the circumstances around her Defection?”
Grace stiffened in her seat. “He knows—”
Rossbach cut her off. “I believe Mother Rebecca’s question was made to Cade.”
Grace snapped her mouth shut, but her hands fisted in her lap. Beneath the table, Cade unobtrusively slid his hand over her knee. “I know why she was sent to the Reconditioning Center, yes.”
“The worst thing a member of the flock can do is deny another a chance at their New Dawn,” Rebecca stated coldly. “But I can’t say that my daughter’s downfall came as a shock. By that point, she’d already pushed the boundaries of our rules for years, and with every disobedient behavior, her own New Dawn became further and further from reach.”
“I was a child,” Grace announced.
“Age is not an excuse, Grace. Those who study societal patterns can see distinguishing characters as far back as infancy. You, my dear daughter, are destined to push away the things that matter most in your life. Isn’t that what happened between you and Cade nine years ago?”
Cade froze, and next to him so did Grace.
They’d expected New Dawn to look into their past, but the glint in Rebecca’s cold expression told him that wasn’t where she’d gotten the information.
She confirmed it when she looked him dead in the eye. “How did you describe it during your Enlightenment, Cade? That she goes through the motions of life while always waiting for the other shoe to drop? I’m gathering that to mean that she never fully commits herself to any one thing or person.”
“And whose fault do you suppose that is?” Grace snapped.
Her mother laughed. “Mine? Are you really trying to pin your shortcomings on me? I’m not the one who Defected. I’m not the one who let my obstacle veer you from your path.”
“And what exactly is my Obstacle, Mother?”
“Yourself.”
Rossbach cleared his throat, breaking the sudden silence. “It’s not too late to conquer your self-destructive ways, Grace. But it will take sacrifice.” His gaze flickered over toward Cade and back. “In order to begin your life anew, you must shed the old.”
A cold feeling settled in Cade’s stomach. “What exactly are you proposing she shed?”
“Everything from the Outside…starting with the imposters who’ve called themselves her family for the last seventeen years.” Rossbach drilled his dark gaze into Grace. “Only we, the Order, can put you on your path. To believe otherwise would be foolish.”
Grace’s chair screeched as she pushed it back and stood. “Those imposters gave me everything I wanted in life and more. And they did so without degrading me or attaching conditions. They didn’t want me around because of what they could get me to do for them. They brought me into their family because they loved me.”
Grace’s mom scoffed. “Everyone’s actions are fueled by a system of wants and desires. It’s human nature.”
“You’re right. But what makes the difference is whether or not they’re driven by love…or greed. I’m pretty sure you’re very much familiar with the second motive. So you can take your offer to help me find my New Dawn and you can tuck it…because I already found mine. And they’re my family. My real family.”
Grace stalked out, slamming the door behind her.
Rebecca Steele didn’t look the least bit shocked, or flustered, as she turned toward Cade. “If you care for my daughter as much as you claim, you’ll make sure she changes her mind.”
He slowly got to his feet and glared at the woman across the table. “I wouldn’t get her to change her mind even if I could.”
“That’s a true shame.”
Fuck it. He and Grace were leaving in a matter of hours. “If you never had any intentions of being a real mother, then you should’ve left her with the woman who was more than willing and able to do the job.”
“Am I to guess that you mean my late husband’s sister? I can only imagine what Grace’s fate would’ve been if I had dropped her on the Steeles’ doorstep all those years ago. Cindy could barely handle the four ruffians she birthed herself, much less an insolent, disobedient child such as Grace Ann.”
Cade’s knuckles cracked as he fisted his hands. “There isn’t a day that passes that I’m not thankful for her stubbornness. That gorgeously hard head of hers is the only reason she became the incredible person she is today, despite having you as a role model.”
“That is quite enough!” Rossbach stood, red-faced and livid. “You will show Mother Rebecca the respect that she deserves!”
“I am.” Cade ignored the string of angry shouts as he slammed the door behind him.
It was way past time they got the hell out of this shithole.
And it was way past time that he made sure Grace knew just how serious he was about their future together.
* * *
Grace wasn’t sure whose ass she wanted to kick more: hers for falling for her mother’s divide-and-conquer tactic or her mother’s for being deviant enough to think of it. Rebecca Steele’s talent for smelling blood in the water had gotten better through the years, and at the mention of Grace and Cade’s past, she’d sniffed the first drop.
At the mention of Grace’s family, she’d smelled a damn feast.
Her mother could attack all she wanted. Grace had years and a hell of a lot of training to let most of the worst roll off her back. But come at her family?
That had struck a nerve.
It was either get up and leave or whip out the badge and handcuffs and ruin any chance of putting a whole lot of bad people behind bars. For now, she needed to count on Cade to make the peace and move on to the next phase of their plan—to find a legal reason for her to whip out her badge and handcuffs. Or at the very least, to gather enough information for a judge to give her one.
Grace grabbed the tactical bag from beneath the bed and tossed it onto the mattress. She’d barely checked Magdalena’s ammo clip when the knock came.
“Grace?” Sarah’s voice sounded muffled through the door. “Hey. I saw you walk across the courtyard, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You looked upset.”
Crap. It wasn’t as if she could play asleep. She’d literally walked through the door a minute ago.
Tossing the bag back beneath the bed, Grace schooled her expression and opened the door. “Sarah. Hey. No, I’m fine.”
“You didn’t look fine.” Sarah looked genuinely concerned. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m here. You don’t have to be a Rec resident in order for us to talk.”
This so wasn’t the plan—at least not for another hour, until after they checked out Rossbach’s mystery door, but Grace couldn’t pass up this opportunity. “You’re right. It’s been a pretty rough day, but I don’t want to keep you from Simon. I know you haven’t seen each other in a while.”
“Actually, I was taking a little breather from Simon when I saw you.”
“A breather? Why? Is everything okay?” Because if the jerk did anything to hurt her there’d be an opening in Rossbach’s Elite Guard.
“Everything’s fine. He’s just been a little different since last night.”
“Different how?”
Sarah shrugged. “Not really himself. He mentioned not being able to finish an assignment, and I think it’s bothering him. We’ll figure it out, and if we can’t we’ll go to remediation with Father Teague. But I didn’t come here to talk about me and Simon. Something’s bothering you.”
More than she knows. Grace prayed she wasn’t about to make a terrible mistake.
She opened the door a little wider. “Want to come in from the cold?”
“Definitely.” Sarah smiled and kicked the snow off her boots before stepping inside the one-room cabi
n. “So what’s got you in a funk? Men troubles? Female troubles? Or—”
“Maternal troubles.”
Sarah nodded in understanding. “So I’m guessing tonight didn’t go as either of you had hoped.”
“You know about tonight?”
“I knew your mother planned to invite you over for a heart-to-heart talk. I’m sorry that it didn’t go as either of you had hoped.”
Grace snorted internally. “My mother doesn’t do heart-to-hearts. We’ve never been close, but after my father died and she relocated us to Sanctuary—and Father Teague—she’s disappeared completely.”
“I’m sure it was difficult to have your life uprooted as a child, but she did it all for you. To give your life a purpose. To give you a supportive, devoted family.”
“I had that—after I Defected from the Order.”
Sarah’s mouth dropped open, her surprise too acute to be fake. “Defected? I don’t understand. Father Teague sent you on your journey to find your New Dawn…to confront your Obstacles.”
“No, Sarah. I left after being sentenced to the Rec for not helping Todd torture his own father. I ran for my life…and for my humanity.”
Grace struggled to keep a rush of emotions at bay. It was the first time she’d said those words aloud, but they needed to know how far gone Sarah Brandt really was. They needed to know if she was a danger to others…or just to herself.
Emotions whipped through Sarah too fast for Grace to identify them all. “If Father Teague doled out punishment, then it must have been justified.”
“Punishment for not harming another person? Do you know how that sounds?”
“It sounds like he cared for Todd’s future, and you, as his friend, should have too.” Sarah’s chin lifted as she threw a hard glare at Grace. “You cannot blame others for your shortcomings.”
“I did what I did because I cared. I wasn’t about to sit by and watch Todd become a monster, and there was no way I’d let Rhett Winston become a victim. They were family, Sarah. Can you stand there and tell me that you’d be able to do that to your parents? To your father?”
“Our family is made up of those we choose to bring into our lives…not a household that we were born into.” Sarah’s mouth twisted into an angry snarl. “Father Teague and Mother Rebecca are my true parents—the people listed on my Outside birth certificate can go to hell for I care…and they soon will.”
Sarah’s tone chilled Grace to the bone.
She meant every word.
“You’re right about family being the people you choose to surround yourself with,” Grace agreed. “They’re the ones who want nothing but the best for you. Who support you in everything that you do.”
“Exactly.” Sarah nodded emphatically.
“But real family asks for nothing in return but your love. They sure as hell don’t ask you to harm others or put yourself at risk for their own personal gain. You can still step off whatever path Rossbach has put you on, Sarah,” she suggested gently. “You don’t have to become his puppet.”
“Puppet?” Sarah stalked closer, her green eyes—which were a lot like her father’s—hardened. “You don’t get it, do you? If I help Father Teague reach his New Dawn, I’ll finally be more than someone’s trophy. I’ll be his pride.”
Grace’s stomach twisted into a knot. “What did he ask you to do, Sarah? And how high is that cost?”
A slow, cold smile slid onto her face. “It doesn’t matter. The only thing that does is that in helping him find his New Dawn, I’ll also be getting mine. And there’s no one on this planet that’s going to stop me.”
Wrong.
Grace was.
Slipping her hand to the small of her back, she slowly eased Magdalena out from the band of her pants. “I’m really sorry to hear you say that—you have no idea how much.”
Sarah Brandt’s gaze dropped to the gun. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Like you, I’m doing what I have to.”
And then she’d hope that Cade could undo the kink she’d just put in their plan.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Cade couldn’t get back to his and Grace’s cabin fast enough, and not just because he wanted to make sure Grace was okay after the scene with Rebecca and Rossbach.
They needed to get their asses moving. Pronto.
He took the steps to the cabin two at a time and entered the cabin. “Don’t hate me, but I may have—fuck-and-me.” Cade blinked, and when the sight in front of him didn’t disappear, he didn’t know whether to laugh or curse again.
Grace paced the room while a gagged Sarah Brandt sat on the floor, handcuffed to one of the bed’s legs. The younger woman squirmed and shouted, the noise muffled.
“And here I was about to apologize for mucking up our plans.” Cade smirked.
“You’re laughing? Seriously?” Grace looked livid and more than a little freaked out.
“What would you like me to do? We can’t exactly put this shit back in the box from which it came. I’m sure you have as much a reason for veering away from the plan as I did.”
Grace stopped pacing. “What do you mean? What did you do?”
“Voiced my displeasure with Mother Dearest and probably bought myself a year in the Rec if we don’t hustle our asses. We need to get into the basement sooner rather than later.”
Grace looked from a narrow-eyed Sarah and back to him. “And what are we going to do about her? We can’t take her with us.”
“I could always check out the mystery door myself.”
“No.”
“But—”
“No.” She drilled a finger into his chest. “What happened to that whole we-stick-together thing?”
He palmed her hips and guided her closer. “I still mean it. But if things don’t go our way I’d rather be the only one to get caught. That way you can still get Sarah out of here.”
“Very noble of you, but that won’t work. Because if they catch you, who do you think they’re going to go look for next? And I may be able to bench press my own weight, but Sarah’s not exactly a helpless toothpick. I’d never be able to drag her to the rendezvous point on my own.”
“Then we leave her here and swing back on our way out.” Grace didn’t look sure about the suggestion and, hell, neither was he. He pinched her chin between his fingers and nudged her gaze to his. “I’m tactics guy, remember? It’s all good. It’ll probably take Rossbach at least an hour to calm your mother down enough to start thinking about punishments. By the time she does, we’ll be long gone.”
A string of muffled squeals drew their attention to Sarah.
Grace cursed. “Fine. But we can’t let her sit here out in the open like this.”
“Pretty sure the sink has some pretty hefty piping underneath it.”
Five minutes later, they’d secured Sarah to the bathroom’s plumbing and Cade had shrugged into his PC camo. “Give me a full fifteen minutes to get the night guard out of the PC headquarters and disable the cameras. From that point, we’ll have maybe ten more until James gets an alert. We can’t dawdle.”
“No dawdling. Got it. I’ll be at the back door waiting for my invite inside. And our bug-out bags?”
“I put them into position earlier this morning when making rounds.” The supplies were hidden around their possible extraction routes. All they had to do was grab and go, and if anyone eventually found the spares, it wouldn’t matter. They’d be gone.
“Then I guess we’re all set.”
Before stepping into the field where shit had the potential to get real damn quick, Cade always shared a good-luck fist-bump with his team. It was a superstition that he’d started way back in Basic. But he didn’t want to bump knuckles with Grace.
He paused at the door and spun her into a kiss. He’d meant it to be quick, but the second his mouth covered hers, his body and brain had another idea. Her hands slipped around his neck, and her pink tongue flicked out, brushing against his.
He gro
aned. “You’re killing me.”
“You’re the one who initiated it, so that’s on you.” She reached behind him and opened the door, letting in a rush of cold air. “Go. Your fifteen minutes starts now.”
Cade hustled over to the PC post, and as he’d expected, the place was deserted except for one lone twenty-something kid sitting in front of the security feeds.
“Hey. Adam, right?” Cade asked. He kicked the snow off his boots and hung up his coat.
“Fuck.” The PC guard startled, his feet dropping to the ground with a heavy thud. “You scared the hell out of me, man. I didn’t even hear you come in.”
Or see him walk through the front door.
Cade chuckled. “Sorry about that. Guess it’s a side effect of Ranger training. But, hey, thanks for picking up my slack. That was a real solid thing for you to do. I owe you one.”
“Uh…what?”
“My post.” Cade nodded to the screen. “I’m still in that needing-to-impress phase, and I couldn’t have done it if I’d missed my shift.”
“I think you’re confused. This is my scheduled night.”
“Nope. Trust me, I’d much rather be hanging out with my lady. Maybe you never got the updated schedule?”
“Updated? I didn’t know they changed it. Maybe I’ll give James a—” The kid reached over for the phone.
“If you don’t want a whole night off, I’ll head back, but I don’t think it’s worth waking James. He wasn’t in the best mood earlier today.”
“Shit. Yeah, no. You’re right. I don’t know how I could’ve missed a night off, but I’m all for it.” The kid stood eagerly. “Thanks. I owe you one.”
“Don’t thank me. Just doing my job.”
The kid hightailed it from the building. Cade waited a solid minute after the door closed and sat at the computer hub. Thanks to watching Liam perform his keyboard magic more times than he could count, it wasn’t difficult to take the videos offline. One screen flickered off, then another. Before long, all the cameras showed black-and-white fuzz.