Trust

by Sherri Hayes

  Before I knew it, Agent Marco came trotting toward our car. He looked over his shoulder and then motioned for us to get out of the vehicle. I got out first and then went to help Brianna. Her fingers dug into my arm even through the fabric of my thick coat.

  “Follow me.”

  I kept Brianna close as we followed Agent Marco across the snow-covered lawn and up the steps of the courthouse. He had to flash his badge more than once before we finally entered the building. Once inside, he took us upstairs into a room very similar to the one we’d waited in the day before.

  “You might want to have a seat.”

  “That’s okay. We’ll stand.” I’d had enough of all the cloak and dagger. “Are you going to tell us what’s going on?”

  He glanced down at Brianna, but she wasn’t looking at him. “Roughly twenty-five minutes ago, Ian Pierce was shot.”

  Brianna tensed.

  “How?”

  “We don’t know much yet.”

  I was getting frustrated, and Brianna was clinging to me as if I were going to disappear at any moment. “What do you know?”

  “Pierce was on his way into the courthouse when a man shouted his name and fired. The guards returned fire on the shooter, and he was hit. So was Pierce. Both men have been taken to the hospital.”

  Wrapping my other arm around Brianna, I kissed the top of her head. “Did either of them survive?”

  “I don’t have that information. Not yet.”

  As much as I didn’t like not knowing, yelling at Agent Marco for not being able to tell us more wasn’t going to help matters. “Will you let us know when you hear something?”

  “Of course.” He paused. “Will you two be all right in here for a while?”

  I nodded. “We’ll be fine.”

  He opened the door and stepped back out into the hallway, leaving Brianna and I alone in the room. I guided us over to the corner and removed both our coats since I had no idea how long we’d be waiting. It took some effort on my part since neither of us wanted to release our hold on the other.

  Once we were both free of our coats, I dug out my cell and called Logan. “Hello?”

  “It’s me. We found out what’s going on.”

  “What? I asked one of the cops, but no one will tell me anything.”

  Pulling over a chair, I sat down, positioning Brianna on my lap. Her head gravitated to my shoulder, and I traced patterns lovingly down her arm with the tips of my fingers while I spoke. “Someone shot Ian. He and the shooter have both been taken to hospital.”

  “How—”

  “Agent Marco found us. We’re in a room on the second floor of the courthouse, waiting.”

  “What do you need us to do?”

  “Nothing at the moment. Right now we’re just waiting.”

  Logan let out a frustrated breath. I knew exactly how he felt. “Call us if you need something. We’ll stay here for as long as they’ll let us.”

  “Thanks.”

  My next call was to Ross. The conversation was almost identical to the one I’d had with Logan. It was amazing, the fierce protectiveness Brianna brought out in those around her.

  “I hope he’s dead.” Brianna’s voice was muffled since she had her face pressed up against my neck. I could feel every breath she took, and I could feel her heart beating against my chest.

  Resting my head on top of hers, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I couldn’t help but agree with her. “So do I, sweetheart. So do I.”

  Chapter 48

  Stephan

  We were all walking around on eggshells for the next three days. The shooter turned out to be the father of the first young woman Ian had taken nearly five years ago. There was no note, no explanation as to why he’d suddenly snapped. He’d been shot three times in the chest and was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital.

  Ian didn’t make it so easy. The bullet hit him in the chest and pierced the bottom of his lung before getting lodged in between two of his vertebrae. He was on life support in critical condition, and we were all holding our breath to see whether or not he got better or worse.

  The media was camped outside the front of my building again. It was worse than before, if that was possible. Security had already removed two guys who’d thought they could sneak inside the building through the parking garage.

  Ross, Jade, and Lily were near-constant visitors in our home. They all helped keep Brianna busy and not thinking about Ian and whether or not he was going to survive. Brianna had been shy at first with them, unsure how they were going to treat her now that they knew more details about her captivity. Jade and Lily had quickly put her mind at ease, though, by hugging her and dragging her in front of the television to watch a chick flick. The three of them sat huddled together eating junk food for hours.

  Brianna’s nightmares persisted. The only thing I found helped was when she lay with her head directly over my heart. Hearing my heartbeat steadily in her ear was the one thing that lulled her to sleep. The problem was that when I drifted off to sleep myself, one of us inevitably moved. Her nightmare would return and so would the screaming. Needless to say, neither of us got much sleep.

  The two of us were lying on the bed watching a movie Saturday afternoon, Brianna’s head resting on my chest, when the main phone rang. I kissed her forehead and jumped up to answer it. “Hello?”

  It was the front desk. “Mr. Coleman, there’s an Agent Marco here to see you. Should I send him up?”

  I glanced back in the direction of my bedroom where Brianna was waiting. “Yes. That will be fine, but give us ten minutes, please.”

  “Will do, Mr. Coleman.”

  “Thanks.” Hanging up the phone, I ambled back into my bedroom. Neither one of us had bothered getting dressed yet. “We need to put some clothes on. Agent Marco is on his way up.”

  “Ian?” She fisted the blanket in her hands, and I could see the pulse pounding in her neck.

  I strolled over to stand in front of her, and one by one, I pried her fingers from the blanket. “I don’t know yet. All I know is he’s here to see us, all right? Let’s get some clothes on and find out what he wants.”

  “Okay.”

  Bending down, I brushed my lips lightly over hers. “Good girl.”

  I threw on some clothes, leaving my feet bare, and then went with Brianna to her room so she could do the same. She was already on edge, and knowing Agent Marco was on his way up to deliver some type of news wasn’t helping with her anxiety level. Twice she dropped the bra she was attempting to put on, because she was shaking so badly. I ended up having to help her with it, or else she wouldn’t have finished in time. As it was, the doorbell rang right as we were walking out of her room.

  Brianna stood close to my side as I opened to door to Agent Marco. “Come in.”

  “Thank you.”

  He stepped inside, and I closed the door behind him. “Can we get you anything to drink?”

  “No. Thank you. This shouldn’t take long.”

  I nodded and motioned for him to have a seat on the couch.

  With a grace that contradicted his size, he lowered himself down on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. I guided Brianna over to my chair and situated her on my lap, readying myself for whatever news he came to deliver.

  Luckily he didn’t make us wait. “I received a call from the hospital about an hour ago. Pierce developed a blot clot, and had an aneurism early this morning in his brain. They rushed him to surgery, but they were unable to stop the bleeding in time. He was pronounced dead at just after eight this morning.”

  Brianna sucked in a lungful of air and fisted my shirt in her hands. “He’s . . . he’s dead?”

  Agent Marco nodded. “Yes.”

  “What happens now?” I had to know, and so did Brianna.

  “For you? Not much. There’s some paperwork that has to be done on our end, but we can’t very well try a case when the defendant is no longer living.” Then to my
surprise, Agent Marco directed his attention to Brianna. “You did good the other day, by the way. My one piece of advice? Don’t let that bastard win. Get your life back any way you can. Live and grow and be strong. Don’t let him keep you a victim. Be a survivor.”

  I smiled and kissed Brianna’s temple. “We’re working on it.”

  He smacked his hands down on his knees and stood. “Good. Now, I need to go prepare for a press conference.” Halfway to the door, he stopped and pivoted back in our direction. “I might suggest you hold a press conference of your own, Mr. Coleman. After your testimony, people are going to have questions.”

  Without giving me time to respond, he headed back toward the door, and within seconds he was gone. I remained where I was, cradling Brianna in my arms.

  “People are going to hold it against you that you helped me, aren’t they?”

  I answered her honestly. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Will you hold a press conference?”

  “I need to talk to Oscar first, and the board, but it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. The foundation relies on donations, and what’s happened could put a bad taste in the mouths of some of our donors.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m not.”

  We sat there comforting each other until our stomachs began demanding we feed them. I knew there would be fallout, had expected it. The potential cost was worth it in my opinion. Agent Marco was right, however, a press conference might help with damage control.

  After we ate lunch, I called Oscar and told him about Agent Marco’s suggestion. He agreed it was a good idea, so I called a board meeting for Monday morning, and Oscar was going to arrange for a press conference immediately following. This meant that I would have to leave Brianna, which neither she nor I was thrilled with.

  “Can I come with you?”

  “You want to come with me to a board meeting?”

  She looked down at her shoes. “But it’s about me.”

  I walked over and tilted her chin up. “No. It’s about me. About what I did.”

  “To help me. To save me.”

  Curling my fingers at the base of her neck, I hugged her to my chest. “You need to stop feeling guilty about this. It was my choice, and I don’t regret it for one moment.”

  She circled her arms around my waist and sighed. “I want to help you. Please, let me help you?”

  Sighing, I leaned back and looked into her eyes. I knew what she was asking. Brianna would defend me against anyone, including the throng of people outside that scared her to death.

  Closing my eyes, I rested my forehead against hers. When I opened my lids again, meeting her gaze, hers eyes were almost pleading, and I realized that on some level she needed to do this. Not only for me, but also for herself. “All right.”

  Brianna breathed out a sigh of what felt a lot like relief. Did she really think I would say no after she pleaded with me like that?

  “There are conditions, though.” I gave her a stern look.

  “Okay.”

  “You are to stay by my side at all times holding my hand. If things begin to get too much for you—if you reach a seven or higher—you are to squeeze my hand twice, like this.” I reached for her hand and demonstrated. “The minute we go outside, people are going to start shouting questions at us. At you. You are to ignore them. At least until we get to the press conference.”

  She nodded.

  Sighing, I pulled her back against my chest. I was not looking forward to Monday.

  Brianna

  The strange thing was, Monday morning felt more normal than the previous three weeks had. Neither of us slept much on Sunday night. But then again, neither of us had gotten a good night’s sleep all week—all because of my nightmares.

  Stephan tried to help. He’d sacrificed a lot of his own sleep so that I could rest. I don’t know what it was about hearing his heartbeat that chased the nightmares away, but it was the only thing that worked. He would lie there reading a book or watching television while I drifted off to sleep, fighting off his own need for slumber so that I could get some of my own.

  There were bags under his eyes as he got dressed in his usual suit and tie on Monday morning. I made us both breakfast, and we sat at the kitchen table eating. Normal. The only difference was that this morning, I was going to the office with him. He’d picked out one of the dresses I’d worn to have dinner with his family once. The press conference was going to be in the lobby of the foundation, so we didn’t have to worry about the weather. That was good, because according to the news, we were supposed to get three or four inches of snow before nightfall.

  He worked beside me to clean up after breakfast and then helped me into my coat. “Are you sure about this? You can still stay home.”

  “I’m sure. I want to do this for you. For us.”

  Stephan smiled, but his eyes were full of worry. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

  We walked hand in hand out the door to the elevator. The moment we stepped off, into the parking garage, a camera flashed. Another reporter had breached security.

  Just as that thought occurred to me, Stephan turned to shield me from the cameraman as much as possible, and two burly men—security—came rushing through a side door and practically tackled the trespasser. He kicked and screamed. Not about them attacking him, but because once they had him on the ground, one of the guards took his camera.

  Stephan didn’t wait around to see what happened next. He ushered me into his car, and we wound our way out of the parking garage.

  As soon as we pulled out onto the street, I realized I’d underestimated the amount of media attention today’s press conference was going to receive. When I’d moved back in with Stephan, there’d been roughly ten reporters hanging around his condo building. Today, there were at least fifty. I saw logos for every news outlet in the Twin Cities, plus all the national ones. My stomach began to do flip-flops, and not in the good way it did when Stephan walked into a room.

  I reached for Stephan’s hand, needing reassurance, and he laced our fingers together, squeezing. “We’ll be home by lunch.”

  “Promise?”

  He smiled and kissed the back of my hand. “Promise. And when we get home, we can cuddle up in bed and stay there for the rest of the day.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at that. Spending the rest of the day in bed with Stephan sounded perfect to me, and I knew from experience it wouldn’t only involve watching movies. There would be sex as well. Stephan didn’t like for me to wear clothes in his bed, so he rarely did either. The two of us naked together in his bed was pretty much a guaranteed avenue to sex.

  Rounding the corner, Stephan drove into the parking garage for The Coleman Foundation. I hadn’t gotten a good look at the front of the building, but I had to imagine the scene was probably similar to the one outside his condo. We were the big news of the moment.

  Stephan parked the car in his spot, which was thankfully not far from the elevators, and helped me out. We held hands as we rode up to the top floor that housed his office and the boardroom.

  The elevator doors opened, and I saw Jamie. She looked up and smiled. “Good morning, Mr. Coleman.”

  “Good morning, Jamie. Is everything set for the meeting this morning?”

  “Yes, sir. Everything’s in the conference room.”

  “Wonderful. I’ll be in my office. Once everyone’s here, come get me.”

  Stephan steered me into his office and shut the door. Before I knew what was happening, he had my back pressed up against the door, and his mouth was covering mine. It was totally unexpected, but I responded eagerly. A kiss from Stephan was always welcome.

  He plunged his tongue into my mouth and lapped possessively against my tongue, my teeth, and the inside of my cheek. I dug my fingers into his arms and held on.

  When he pulled back, he was panting, and so was I. “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not. I needed that.”

  I smiled, happy I
could give him what he needed, even if it was only a kiss.

  “Come. I want to hold you for a while before we have to go face the sharks.” I had no idea if he was talking about the board or the press conference to follow.

  We were only able to spend about ten minutes cuddling on the couch before there was a knock on the door. Jamie stuck her head in. “Everyone’s waiting in the conference room, Mr. Coleman.”

  “Thank you, Jamie.”

  The board meeting went about as well as could be expected. Some of the members wanted Stephan to step down, resign. Others, while not approving of his actions, felt that asking him to walk away from the foundation, which was essentially his family’s charity, was a bit harsh. All of them, however, were afraid of the media backlash.

  By the end of the meeting, it was decided that Stephan would take a leave of absence. I could tell this decision wasn’t what he really wanted, but everyone felt it was best for the foundation if he took a backseat for a while—at least until the media frenzy died down.

  Stephan and I made our way downstairs to the press conference. The moment the elevator doors opened to the lobby, there were shouts of both our names and questions.

  “How did it feel to buy another human being, Mr. Coleman?”

  “Brianna, is Stephan forcing you to be his girlfriend?”

  I stiffened and edged closer to Stephan’s side. He squeezed my hand and walked forward. Thankfully there had been a barrier set up with a stand and microphone for the press conference. Stephan stepped up in front of the microphone, and as if by magic, the room grew quiet. The only exception was the sound of cameras flashing. There were no shouts of questions, though. Everyone was waiting to hear what Stephan had to say.

  “Thank you all for coming. I know there has been a lot of speculation lately regarding my activities in relation to the charges and trial of Ian Pierce. Earlier this week, I took the stand at Mr. Pierce’s trial for the prosecution. Much of what I said on the stand has already been publicized, so I won’t reiterate it here today.”