by Cynthia Eden
He looked away from Jasmine. He hadn’t seen Elizabeth since he’d woken up. Saxon knew Victor had her in protective custody, with a guard always close by.
“Ah,” Jasmine murmured, a wealth of understanding in that word. “Now I understand.”
No, she didn’t. Because he didn’t even understand. He glanced back at her. She’d returned to Drake’s side. Their fingers linked together.
“I guess you have to figure out,” Drake murmured, obviously sharing some kind of weird psychic-connection with his new bride, “if she’s the kind that you want to fight for or the kind that you let go.” He looked down at Jasmine. “Because I sure as hell could never let you go.”
No, the guy hadn’t been able to walk away. He’d done anything, everything, for Jasmine.
Because he loved her.
“I don’t love Elizabeth,” he said. The words came out hollow. “How could I love someone I just met?” She’d made him happy, yes, given him incredible pleasure. Driven him to distraction. Had him wanting to fight the world to protect her but—
“She’s better off without me,” he muttered.
“Ah, Sax,” Jasmine sighed his name. “You know I can always tell when you lie.”
***
“Am I under arrest?” Elizabeth asked softly.
The man across from her shook his head.
Her breath came out in a low rush. “Then is there a particular reason why you’ve been holding me here for the last day?” Because it sure felt like an arrest to her. When she’d finally broken out of her stupor and tried to surge into that hospital after Saxon, she’d found cops on their way to get her. Three uniformed men had closed in, and they’d taken her from that hospital, even though she’d fought them.
Maybe punched one in the jaw.
She’d just…wanted to see Saxon. To make sure he was all right. So she’d gotten a little out of control. Keeping her locked up after that little episode had hardly been necessary.
“This isn’t legal.” They hadn’t put her in a cell. Instead, they’d given her an office to crash in. Made sure she had plenty of food. Access to a bathroom. But she hadn’t been able to leave.
Because she had a guard wherever she went.
“I know my rights,” Elizabeth continued when the young cop before her just kept staring back into her eyes. “I want to go home.” Back to the place where this nightmare had started. It seemed like a lifetime ago—she’d been heading to her apartment when those goons had grabbed her. She’d fought, lost her shoes, and found herself thrown into the back of their vehicle. They’d put a hood over her head and tied her up. When that hood had finally come off, she’d found a gun pointing at her.
I was in The Blade then. Saxon came in the door and asked for an hour with me.
“How is Saxon?” Elizabeth whispered.
He opened his mouth to speak.
And that was the same instant that the door to that little office opened.
Her gaze immediately swung to the left, and when she saw Victor standing there, Elizabeth surged to her feet. She was across the room in an instant, and her hands fisted around his shirt. “Saxon! Is Saxon all right?”
Victor’s gaze cut toward the cop. “Take a break.”
The guy hesitated. “But I’m her shift guard—”
“And I’m here now,” Victor pointed out, his voice carrying a lethal softness, “so take a fucking break.”
The cop’s Adam’s apple bobbed and he hurried for the door.
Elizabeth kept her death grip on Victor’s shirt. The agent looked tired, with deep shadows under his eyes. His hair was mussed, and tension was evident on the lines that bracketed his mouth. “He’s not dead,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t you say that he is.”
The door shut behind the cop. Victor looked down at Elizabeth’s hands. Carefully, his fingers curled around hers, and he slowly pushed her back a bit. “I’m sorry you were held here, but when I found out that I had a turncoat on my own team, I couldn’t take chances.”
“Saxon.” Why wasn’t he just answering her?
His jaw hardened. “Saxon Black won’t be working your case any longer.”
“Is he alive?” Because she’d had to wash his blood off her fingers. Had to watch it slide down the drain in that little bathroom down the hall. Then she’d cried. Cried until she’d thought her whole body would break.
He risked his life for me. A stranger…who gave up everything.
Victor’s gaze cut toward the wall on the right. There was an observation mirror there. One that threw their own reflections back at them, but let other cops view them from the other side. She’d seen plenty of those one-way mirrors on TV shows. She knew the deal.
“I don’t care who is watching,” Elizabeth said. “I have to know.”
Victor brought his mouth close to her ear. His lips brushed against her as he breathed, “He survived, but he’s dead to you…and everyone else.”
Happiness surged through her at that one word…survived. A choking sob burst from her, but then…
He’s dead to you…and everyone else.
She didn’t understand. Her head turned. Her gaze held Victor’s. “Why?” His words weren’t making sense to her, not at all.
But Victor stepped back.
Her hands wrapped around her stomach as a strange, scared tension seemed to course through her veins.
“I’m here to offer you a choice, Ms. Ward.” His words were emotionless, and so was the expression on his face. She was sure that sympathy had flashed in his gaze before, but there was no sign of any softening from him now.
She locked her trembling knees. “What kind of choice?”
“All of my intel shows that Luther Bates still has a hit on you.”
She could feel the blood draining from her face. She’d feared this—how could she not? But actually hearing those words from Victor had her heart stuttering in her chest.
“Gary won’t be the only one who comes after you. Luther Bates—hell, even in jail—he’s still a man with a whole lot of power.”
“B-but my parents have been dead for years. No one came after me before…no one knew—”
“Because you were in Europe. Out of sight…safe, until you came down to Miami, and someone recognized you.”
The sick feeling in her stomach told her that he was going to say—
“I’d wager that someone was Wesley Locke. He figured out who you were because he’d been on Luther’s payroll before. He sold you out, but I’m guessing the guy didn’t realize he’d wind up dead, too.”
Her lips felt numb as she said. “He…he told me to run. Right before he died—those were the last words he said to me.”
“If you’re trying to get away from Luther Bates, you have to run far and you have to run fast.” His voice deepened as he said, “I will do everything in my power to get that hit order rescinded. If Luther will call off his dogs, you can have a chance at a normal life.”
A chance?
“But Luther is a twisted sonofabitch, a man who believes in the eye for an eye mentality. He thinks your family ruined his life, so his goal…it seems to be taking your life.”
It hurt to breathe. “I don’t…I don’t hear choices from you.” More like just really sucky news. At least Saxon survived. Saxon is going to be okay! She’d just never be seeing him again. Her hand rose to rub at the growing ache in her chest.
Victor exhaled on a rough sigh. “You can stay here, in this town, and face the risks that are going to come your way. I can give you some guards while I go to talk with Luther Bates…”
She waited.
“Or you can get the hell out of Miami,” he said bluntly. “Disappearing before worked for you, and it can work again. I’ve got pull at the Department of Justice. I can get you a new start. A new name, someplace else to live. You can vanish, and just start over again in a different town.”
She took a step back. “I just got here.” She’d just gotten used to her routine, just made new friends. She’
d been working on the hospital fund-raiser so she could—
“I think if you stay, you’ll die here.”
Elizabeth flinched at those cold, blunt words. Obviously, Victor didn’t believe in pulling his punches.
“And I need you,” he added. “Gary Warren wanted to eliminate you…hell, he risked everything to take you out—blowing his cover at the FBI and coming straight to battle me—so that means there was something special about you. Something he didn’t want you telling me…”
“There’s nothing special,” she said, her words hoarse. “Not a damn thing about me.”
“When your parents were killed, you might have seen him. You might have known something that could link him to their deaths—something that could blow his cover. So he went hard after you. He tried to take out two federal agents in order to get you.”
And he’d killed all of those people when he hunted her? But…Gary had looked familiar to her. “I’d seen his face before,” she mumbled. “I-I think I had, anyway.” Her hands slid back to her sides. Every breath she took felt cold in her lungs. “But I can’t remember when! Or where.”
“Maybe you just need some time to think about your past.”
Why would she want to do that? The past hurt, but then, so did the present. She turned away from him and paced toward the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her, an image of a woman who looked far too fragile. They’d given her new clothes, a t-shirt and jeans, and she looked…lost. Too pale, hair tousled, eyes far too big.
I don’t want to be lost.
“My choice,” she paused, licked her dry lips, then said, “is to stay here with a guard…and keep living my life.”
He was silent behind her, but she could easily see his reflection in the mirror. In contrast to her, he was big, tan, muscled. Dangerous. Solid.
“Do you think this Luther Bates will call off the hit on me?” Elizabeth asked.
He started to shake his head. She saw that faint movement, but he seemed to catch himself. “I’ll talk with him.”
So…no. He didn’t think Luther was going to back off.
“And if a guard stays with me, then that person…he or she would be at risk, just like Saxon was.” Saying his name hurt. How was it possible for one man to get to her this way? She’d known him for such a short time, but now, everything seemed different. She wasn’t even looking at the world the same way any longer.
Because I know the world isn’t safe now. I know danger is out there. It’s always been out there, and I was just stumbling around in the dark without a clue.
“The agents know the risks that they face.”
She kept staring at that mirror. Who was on the other side? “I’m sorry, but I don’t actually trust your agents.” How could she? “Seeing as how one of them tried to kill me, and, by his own admission, he murdered my parents.” The pain was there, waiting to open up and swallow her, but she couldn’t give in. Not yet.
Elizabeth made herself face Victor. “There is a third choice, you know. Maybe I should disappear on my own. I did a good enough job of it before.” She hadn’t been afraid, not once, while she’d been in Europe.
But Victor gave a negative shake of his head. “That’s not going to work.”
Why not?
“Luther was being hauled to jail the last time you got on a plane and left. He and his men were doing damage control. You slipped away at the perfect time.” His lips thinned. “They know about you now. You won’t be able to get away, not without help.”
He wasn’t getting it. “How am I supposed to trust any agent you send to me?” How was she supposed to trust anyone?
Silence. “You trusted Saxon.”
Pain knifed her in the gut. “And I nearly got him killed.”
“His job.”
She stormed toward him. “And my life.” Her breath heaved out. Dammit, this couldn’t be happening. It shouldn’t be happening. “I don’t want another guard. I don’t want to look at people, every single day, and wonder…who is a killer—who’s coming after me now?”
“You won’t have the resources to vanish on your own. If you try it, then you’ll be tracked down. You’ll slip up. Use a credit card that can be linked to you. Call the wrong person. You’ll be found, and then you’ll be dead.”
It sounded like she might be a dead woman no matter what. Elizabeth swiped at the tear that had trickled down her cheek.
“What will it be?” Victor asked her.
There was no choice, and Elizabeth knew that Victor had realized it all along. “New name. New place…and no agents on my trail.”
“You’ll get a handler, someone to check in with…someone to make sure you’re safe. I’ll personally vet him for you—”
Her laughter cut him off. “Didn’t you do that before?”
“You will be safe,” he promised her.
Then he turned and left her. Her chin stayed up and her spine remained straight until the door shut behind him, then, when she was alone…the pain took over.
She turned to stare at her reflection and saw the fresh tears on her cheeks.
***
Fucking no.
Saxon’s hand was on the glass that separated him from Elizabeth. She was there, dammit, she was crying, and he felt as if Gary was shooting him all over again because the pain was so hot and—
“Well…she’s made her choice.”
Victor’s voice came from just a few feet away. Saxon didn’t look back at the guy. He couldn’t take his eyes off Elizabeth. “You didn’t give her a damn choice.”
“Sure I did. She could keep her old life here, and probably die here, too, or she could go somewhere and become someone brand spanking new.”
His wounds hurt. He was supposed to still be in the hospital, but he’d dragged his ass out of bed because he’d needed to see Elizabeth once more.
“You’re becoming someone new, too,” Victor murmured. “Guess you’ll both just move right on…”
No, he wasn’t moving on. “Who is her handler going to be? How the fuck do you know you can trust the guy?” And would that guy have intimate access to Elizabeth?
Yes. Shit. He would. He’d be there, her closest contact day and night. The guy she called if she got scared. The man who’d help her if she needed anything—
“I’m going to get Elizabeth set up. I’ll be working her case personally.”
Elizabeth looked as if she were staring right at him, her gaze boring through the glass.
“I’ll take care of her,” Victor assured him. “Don’t worry.”
She was in pain right then. Crying without making a single sound.
Then her lips moved. He stiffened. Wait…did she know he was there? Because it sure looked like she’d just whispered…
I’m sorry.
His hand fisted near the glass.
Thank you for saving me.
“I’ll make sure she gets set up in a safe location.” Victor’s tone seemed so confident. “Then I’ll go after Luther Bates.”
They’d already covered this. “You don’t believe the guy is going to call off the hit.”
“I won’t know anything for sure, not until I talk to him.” Victor’s voice grew louder as he closed in on Saxon. “It sure would be nice if I could have someone in the field who would keep an eye on her, until I got this shit sorted out. Someone who could protect her when I wasn’t there. Because, Witness Protection is good and all…as long as no one finds the witness.”
She wiped her hands over her cheeks. Squared her shoulders once more.
And she even managed a weak smile.
She knows I’m here.
“You whispered something to her,” Saxon said as he replayed that little scene in his mind. “Something I couldn’t hear.” He sure hadn’t liked how close Victor had gotten to Elizabeth. It had looked like the guy was kissing her. Friend or no friend, brother or not…Saxon had felt jealousy burn in him.
Victor’s hands had been on her skin. His mouth had been touching her
ear. That shit had made him see red because Saxon could still remember what it was like to drive into the hot silk of her sex. Because she was crying—for me.
He wasn’t sure anyone had ever actually cried over him before. His mother sure hadn’t cared about him. She forgot me the minute I walked out of the door. No, she’d actually forgotten about him long before that—when he’d still been in the house and days would pass without her even speaking to him.
But Elizabeth, a woman he’d met just days before…she cried for him. She’d risked her life for him.
“I told her that you’d survived, but that you wouldn’t be seeing her again.”
She had paced back across the room and sat down. As he kept watching, the door to that room opened, and the fresh-faced cop returned.
“And I told her…” Victor continued quietly, “that you were dead to her and everyone else.”
Saxon’s head jerked as he turned to glare at his friend.
“You’re free and clear now, buddy,” Victor said as he slapped a hard hand on Saxon’s shoulder. “So tell me…how the hell are you enjoying that freedom?”
Saxon’s eyes narrowed even more on Victor. “Fucking asshole.”
Victor smiled at him. “I’ll be moving her by dawn. I figure you’ll need a bit longer to recover before your transfer.”
She’d just be—gone?
Victor released him and turned away. “Maybe it will all work out,” Victor said as he walked toward the door. “Maybe she’ll vanish into suburbia. Marry some accountant or banker and have two point five kids.”
That would mean she had to sleep with the damn accountant.
She cried for me.
“I hope you enjoy your new life,” Victor said. He opened the door.
And Saxon heard himself say… “Wait…”
When Victor swung back with a smug smile on his face, Saxon knew he’d played straight into the guy’s hands.
But I can’t let her go.
Not now. Maybe not ever.
***
Two hours later, Victor entered another interrogation room at the Miami police station. When he opened the door, Tracy Adams jumped to her feet and ran toward him.
“Victor, you’ve got to let me explain—” She grabbed his arm and her nails bit into his skin. “I didn’t know what Gary was doing, I swear, I didn’t!” Her breath heaved out. “I’m a good agent. I’d never turn on the Bureau!”