Reclaiming His Bride (DiCarlo Brides book 3) (The DiCarlo Brides)

by Tullis, Heather

  He screamed and the gun went off—much louder than on the television shows, despite the silencer. Lana didn’t know what he hit, but it wasn’t her, so she threw herself at him, trying to get to the door, but he recovered quickly, grabbing her and slamming her to the floor.

  “You’re going to pay for that.”

  “Room 432?” Blake said. He checked the guest screen again. “There’s no one registered in that room.” He looked at Joel, Joel looked back and they rose quickly and headed out of the room.

  “Someone opened the door for her,” Joel said as he shut the office behind him. He grabbed his radio and contacted the other security officers on duty, telling them to meet on the fourth floor. “Did you notice that’s in the wing where all the trouble occurs?”

  “Yeah, but my dad—really, that’s ridiculous.” Blake couldn’t consider it, surely this was a joke—his father wasn’t happy about things, but he wouldn’t actually hurt Lana, would he?

  “Is it?” Joel broke into a jog and yelled to some guests to hold the elevator.

  Lana felt as if her lungs were being crushed from his weight on top of her. “Please, I’m going to have a baby. You wouldn’t kill a helpless baby, would you?”

  “I told you, the babe is half yours—enough reason to keep it from being born. I’m sorry my son is going to suffer, but he’ll get over you eventually. Tell me, did you get pregnant on purpose to tie him to you?” He grabbed her shoulders, pinning her to the floor.

  “No.” She clenched her teeth and wriggled, hoping to get out of his grip.

  “Admit it. He saw through you. He wanted out and you got pregnant to tie him to you, to make him miserable the same way your father went out of his way to make me miserable.” His hands tightened, digging into her skin.

  “No. I didn’t try to get pregnant. It was an accident, one we’re both thrilled about. And Blake wasn’t going to leave me. He loves me.” After the way he had worked to get back in her good graces, she had to believe it.

  “Right. That’s why he was too ashamed of you to tell his own family that he’d gotten married.” He grabbed her hair, yanking on it to lift her head, then slammed it back on the floor. “Tell me the truth.”

  Pain ricocheted through her head and she yelled out her agony. “I didn’t trap him. I was trying to get a divorce. He wouldn’t let me. He loves me.” But Royce’s words about how he had help from someone who wanted his good opinion scratched at her mind.

  “Liar.”

  He slammed her head against the floor again and Lana felt everything go fuzzy.

  Blake and Joel vaulted out of the elevator doors and ran for the room Lana had entered. Joel released his handgun from its holster under his arm with one hand and pounded on the door with the other. “Open up. It’s security.”

  There was nothing from the other side of the door, so Blake slid the master keycard into the lock. The light turned green and Joel wrenched open the door, holding his gun in front of him.

  Someone gasped in shock from down the hall, but Blake’s focus was on the room.

  The door opened to reveal his father sitting on Lana’s back, holding a gun to her head. He looked up at the two men, his eyes wild and angry. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll kill her.”

  “Dad, what are you doing?” Blake couldn’t believe it. His gaze riveted on Lana’s head where the gun barrel made contact. A trickle of blood ran down her forehead.

  Royce’s eyes were unfocused when he looked up at the doorway. “I’m fixing this. We’ve been under their thumbs too long, son.”

  “Put the gun down, Mr. Bahlmaan,” Joel commanded in his best no-nonsense tone. “It’s over now. I’m a very good shot.”

  “Me too. Do you think I could miss at this range?” He stared at the two men, a manic grin on his face. “Go on, try it.”

  Joel’s voice was calm and hard. “If you hurt her, you’ll be dead before you could draw a breath.”

  “Listen to him,” Blake said, terrified that she was already dead. She wasn’t moving. “Let her go. Is she okay?”

  “She’s fine, just passed out.” Royce smirked. “It’s all right, son. I’m going to fix everything, put it back to the way it was before the DiCarlos ruined our lives.”

  “She’s not ruining my life, Dad. She is my life. I love her.” Blake took a step closer, but stopped when his father’s expression hardened. “Don’t take her away from me.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying. She and her family are the cause of everything bad. They took you away from me, ruined what we had.”

  Blake moved just a few more inches, but he was still too far away to do anything to protect Lana. “No. You ruined it, not George, certainly not Lana. You did.” He had never thought about it in those terms, but it was true—he would have been grateful if his parents had given him even half the love they had showered on Donald, but they hadn’t. It was their indifference and disapproval despite every effort he had made that had ruined things between them

  Royce’s face twisted with anger. “I did not. You’re an ungrateful son.” He lifted the gun to point it at Blake, but the second the gun was pointed away from Lana, Joel got off a shot, which pierced his hand, making him drop the pistol. Royce’s gun went off when it hit the floor, shooting him in the thigh.

  Before Royce could react, Joel was on him, pinning him to the ground beside Lana. He radioed for backup and told one of them to contact the police and to get an ambulance for Lana. And as an afterthought, he requested a second one for Royce.

  Blake fell to his knees beside his wife and cradled her into his arms. He saw her chest rise and fall and felt relief wash over him. She was alive. She was still alive. Now if she would wake up.

  Lana woke to the sound of voices talking around her. Sirens were blaring and she was dizzy. Her head felt like someone was pounding it with a hammer. She tried to open her eyes, but only managed to flutter her lashes a little.

  “She’s coming around. Lana, do you remember what happened? Wake up and join us,” a female voice said.

  She thought for a moment, but her head was fuzzy. “What happened?” She forced her eyes open a crack, despite the way the light hurt her head even worse. They went over a bump and she groaned as the pain intensified. “Are we in an ambulance?”

  “Yes. You fainted for a few minutes. We’re taking you to the doctor. Your husband is really worried,” the woman said.

  Lana closed her eyes again. It was easier. “Blake? Where’s he? Is he okay? Was anyone else hurt?” She couldn’t remember what happened. Was it a car accident?

  “Blake is fine. He’s in the front seat with the driver and will be able to talk to you when we reach the hospital,” a masculine voice soothed. “There was one other injury, but he’ll live.” He muttered under his breath something that sounded like “unfortunately.”

  The closest ER was twenty minutes away, and by the time the ambulance arrived, Lana was feeling clearer headed. Bits and pieces of the encounter came to her, but Lana was still confused and upset. Were they memories or just bits of a dream she was remembering? She remembered what Royce had said—that he had someone on the inside and it should be obvious who.

  She pushed that thought out of her head. No way was Blake responsible for what had happened that night—or anything else. It just wasn’t possible. But she couldn’t completely forget it, either.

  Blake was waiting when they pulled her out of the back of the ambulance. “Hey, honey, how are you?”

  “Been better,” she said, trying to smile, but didn’t think she managed it. They rolled her into the ER and a nurse took over immediately, asking her the same questions they had asked in the ambulance, hooking her to their machines and poking at her. Blake stood in the corner of the curtained space, an anxious expression on his face.

  “Who are you,” a nurse asked him.

  “I’m her husband. Is she okay? Do you know she’s pregnant?”

  “Yes. We’re going to check her out, but she seems to be impro
ving. I need you to wait in the other room, Mr. Bahlmann.”

  He looked at Lana. “Can I have just a second?”

  There was a commotion as another ambulance crew brought in his father. A deputy walked alongside the gurney as it passed their curtained cubicle. Blake turned to look as the cot rolled past, but then focused on his wife again. There was anger and hurt in his expression when his gaze left his father, which morphed into concern when his gaze landed on her again.

  “Okay, you can have a minute,” the doctor said. “They’ll be taking her in for the MRI soon. Don’t wear her out. I have to take care of this other guy.” He walked away muttering about trigger-happy people.

  Blake took Lana’s hand. He pressed back the hair from her face, holding her cheek with his palm for a long moment, ignoring the nurse who was still bustling around them. “Hey, sweetie. How are you?”

  “Better than I was a few minutes ago. Still a little muddled, but it’s coming back.” She rubbed her face against his hand, soaking up the comfort of his presence.

  “When I walked in there and found him like that.” He choked up and tears rose in his eyes. “It scared me so much. I thought I was going to lose you for real this time.”

  “Me too. But other than a pounding headache, I think I’m okay. Really.” She covered his hand with her own, offering comfort to him as well.

  He kissed her forehead. “I’m so glad. I love you so much.”

  “I love you too, honey.”

  The nurse set a hand on Lana’s leg. “All right. They’re ready for you. Let’s see what’s going on in that head of yours.”

  Blake stepped back and watched them roll Lana out of the room. Lana looked back in time to see a tear fall onto his cheek.

  When Blake slouched into the waiting room a minute later, he found half of the family already gathered there. “What? Is this all? You’d think everyone would be here by now,” he joked.

  Joel stood and gave his arm a squeeze. “Rosemary and Delphi will be here in a few minutes. They just called. We decided it was best not to call Cami until we know more. No reason to completely ruin her honeymoon when there’s nothing she can do. Dirk in engineering will stay on call at the hotel until one of us gets back there.”

  “Good. Thanks.” Blake was glad someone else was handling these issues because he couldn’t right now.

  Sage wrapped Blake in the hug he’d desperately needed. “How is she?”

  “Awake and remembering at least some of what happened. They think she’ll be okay.” He held her for a moment, then released her to accept a hug from Jonquil. “I’ve never been so scared.”

  “But she’s going to be fine. Just take a deep breath and try to relax. No need to start worrying before we know what’s going to happen.” Jonquil grabbed his hand and urged him into the chair next to hers. “How about your dad? Have you heard anything?” Her question was tentative, like she wasn’t sure if he’d rather be asked or have the issue ignored.

  “He’ll live,” Joel said harshly. “I didn’t hit anything vital and he didn’t lose too much blood. Unfortunately.”

  Sage sent him a look of censure, but didn’t correct him. She wasn’t big on violence—even though she recognized it was sometimes necessary.

  “You didn’t kill him,” Blake said. “I know you hit what you aim at, so why didn’t you?”

  Joel stared at him for a moment. “He’s your father. Love him or hate him, I thought you’d prefer him alive, so I did my best to make sure he wouldn’t be using the gun on anyone instead.”

  It took a few minutes for Blake to decide how he felt about that, but after a moment, he realized he would probably be glad, one day. He nodded. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Blake and Joel recounted what they knew for the others and then Rosemary and Delphi rushed in. “Where is she? Is she going to be okay?” Rosemary asked.

  Blake reassured them as best he could, accepted more hugs, and started the waiting game all over again.

  It didn’t take that long for the tech to finish the MRI and for the doctor to come back in, but it seemed like an age.

  “Mr. Bahlmann, if you could speak with me in the hall?” he asked when he finally came in.

  Blake stood but shook his head. “They’re all family. Her sisters and stuff.” He gestured around him. “You can tell me in front of them.”

  “Fine. Your wife has a concussion and her skull has some hairline fractures. There doesn’t seem to be any swelling around the brain though, so it should be fine. We want to keep her overnight for observation, but she should be able to go home in the morning.”

  Relief poured into Blake, though skull fractures didn’t sound great. “And the baby?”

  “He seems to be doing fine. We’ll get Lana settled into her room and then you can go in and visit her.” He tugged on his stethoscope. “I understand the other patient is your father?”

  “Yes.”

  The doctor’s brows lifted slightly at the way Blake bit off the word, but he made no comment. “He’ll be fine. We got the bullet out of his thigh and my colleague is stitching him up. The deputy will be taking him to the jail in a few minutes. He’s asking for you.”

  Blake couldn’t believe the nerve of his father, after he’d nearly killed Lana and their unborn son. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

  Surprise registered on the doctor’s face.

  Blake scowled. “He tried to kill my pregnant wife. Forgive me for not caring if he wants to talk to me now.”

  The doctor nodded and his expression smoothed out to unreadability. “I’ll let him know.”

  “Has someone called my mother?” Blake asked before the doctor left the room.

  “The deputy said they’d take care of it.”

  Blake nodded and thanked the man. He was twisted up inside, not sure what to think. He was glad his dad would live, but mostly because he wanted to take some down-home revenge of his own. How could his father have done this to them—to Lana?

  “Hey, everyone’s fine. Take a deep breath,” Sage said. She squeezed his arm reassuringly.

  “That boy who died isn’t fine,” Blake said. He’d understood just enough of his father’s rants before the ambulance had taken him—strapped and cuffed to the bed—to know that he was responsible for everything, at least on some level. Blake couldn’t understand why he hadn’t even considered his father as s suspect—how could he have been so blind? The man hated the DiCarlos, it should have been obvious.

  “No, that poor boy isn’t fine. But that’s out of our hands now,” Joel said. “This isn’t your fault, so don’t even go there.”

  “Do you read minds now? Is being married to Sage rubbing off on you?” Blake asked. He rubbed a hand down his face. “I don’t know how to deal with this.”

  “Focus on another part of it. Obviously your dad had help,” Joel pointed out. “He couldn’t have done it all himself or we would have seen him around. Who else does he know who might be part of this? Someone on staff who works at the hotel, most likely.”

  Blake nodded. A new focus. Maybe that would help. “I have no idea. I don’t know of anyone else who might know him.”

  “Would his cell phone show calls to his partner?” Rosemary asked.

  “And is there anyone from the staff who’s from Atlanta?” Jonquil asked.

  “Um, Vanessa in housekeeping.” Delphi raised a finger to get everyone’s attention. “She’s from Atlanta.”

  “She’s not Southern,” Blake dismissed the suggestion. “Surely you’ve heard her speak. She sounds like she’s from Jersey.”

  “No, she’s not from Atlanta originally, but she lived there for a few years. Do you think she might have worked in your dad’s hotel?” Delphi suggested.

  “One way to find out.” Joel pulled out his phone and called Harrison, asking him to check on her work history. He hung up. “He’ll call back in a few minutes. Meanwhile, I’m going to have a chat with the deputy.” He leaned over and kissed Sage
goodbye, then headed out.

  The silence stretched for a full minute before Blake stood. “I’m going to see if Lana’s settled so we can visit her.” One thing at a time. If he tried to take it all in at once, his head might explode.

  Once Lana was released from the hospital, Blake checked on her compulsively every hour—even though there were a hundred and five things that needed to be done at the hotel after the previous nights’ events, and she said she was perfectly fine. Vanessa’s cell number had been found on a burner phone in Royce’s rental car. It was enough for the detective to bring her in for questioning. The rest of the story came out before morning.

  Blake let Joel handle all of the legal things, happy with updates as they came through so he could focus on Lana and damage control at the hotel. After doing a final walk-through of the facility to calm and reassure the staff and guests, he returned to his suite. He sat on the sofa, one leg stretched out across the cushions, and Lana lay against him while they pretended to read. He rested a hand on her stomach, wishing the baby were old enough for him to feel it move. Despite what the doctor said, he felt the need for reassurance at his son was still alive.

  Lana was making noises about getting ready for bed when there was a knock at the door. She sighed. “It better be important for them to come at this time of night.”

  Blake stiffened as he assisted her to stand and then walked over to check the door. He hoped it was Joel, and that he had something specific to share.

  Joel entered with Sage at his side. His expression was unreadable, but Sage looked anxious. Her eyes moved between Lana and Blake.

  “Sorry to interrupt at this time of night,” she said. “Do you have a few minutes?”

  “Of course,” Lana said. She shifted the pillow and blanket she’d been using to the side and gestured to the now-empty space. “What’s going on? Do you have more news?”

  “Yes,” Joel said as he moved to the sofa. He didn’t say anything else while everyone got settled. “I just heard form Detective Carlson. They’ve found evidence on several of the other incidents that we’ve reported this year including a remote control that we think they used to turn the lamp on and off in one of the rooms. Formal charges have been filed against Vanessa and Royce. Vanessa insists a third person was involved in the computer stuff, but she doesn’t know who.”