Truth or Consequences

by Sharon C. Cooper

  “Wiz, I should have been in that house with her. I should have been there, dammit!” Malik wanted to hit something or somebody. The rage roaring through his body was about ready to explode, and Lord help the person in his way when it did. “I fucked up. I can’t believe—”

  “Tree, you’re going to have to stop blaming yourself. There’s no way you could have known that someone was in that house. Instead of you beating yourself up, save it for the bastard who did this.”

  “Yeah, this shit just got personal.”

  Wiz stood and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “That leads me to the other reason we’re out here. It’s time we got to the bottom of whatever the hell is going on, and end it.”

  Wiz’s tone held Malik’s attention. The wicked I’m-going-to-fuck-you-up tone that he only used when anger was brewing inside him. The tone he only used when he was staring down an enemy, and the tone he only used when he was ready to fight.

  “I’m listening.”

  “Between the information I dug up and the ramblings from our boy Street, I found Alonso Black, a.k.a Lawyer Man. The mastermind behind My Child Adoption Agency. With the help of your woman, we’re going to find the missing babies. Then, we’re going to make Lawyer Man pay for the lives he’s ruined.”

  “For what Natasha has been through these last few weeks, I will do anything I have to do to make the person responsible … pay.”

  “So I guess it finally happened.”

  “What?” Malik asked.

  “You fell in love.”

  Malik lifted his hands to the top of his head and released an exhausted breath. He wasn’t going to deny it … hell, he couldn’t. “I don’t know how or when. All I know is that when I saw her lying on that floor unconscious … I couldn’t breathe. It was as if something huge was standing on my chest, squeezing my heart.” He lowered his arms and bent at the waist, his hands on his knees as that suffocating feeling draped over him again. “I cannot lose her.” Seconds passed. Malik stood upright, finally able to catch his breath. He swiped at his eyes, forcing himself to breathe in … and out. In … and out.

  “Well … damn.” Wiz stood near him, wonder covering his features. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

  They turned to see Layla running out of the building. “You need to get in here quick. Natasha’s awake and she’s pitching a fit, asking for you.” Malik and Wiz rushed behind her into the hospital.

  They turned a corner and traveled down another long hallway.

  “Natasha has a concussion,” Layla finally said. “When you see her, don’t freak out. The side of her head looks worse than it is. Thankfully, she has no broken bones and no internal bleeding. The nasty gash in the back of her head is going to take some time to heal, though.”

  Malik heard what she said, but the overwhelming need to see Natasha, to be near her, was drowning out Layla’s words.

  His steps slowed as they approached a door where Stan was standing guard. However, what snatched his attention were the sobs filtering into the hallway. Natasha’s sobs.

  “What the hell!” he roared, ready to knock the door down if he had to. “What are they doing to her?”

  Wiz and Layla grabbed hold of him before he could plow through the door.

  “Hold up, man. You can’t go in there like this,” Wiz said.

  “He’s right. If you’re calm, she’ll calm down,” Layla added. “And if you can’t get her to relax, we’re going to have to sedate her. Natasha hates taking medication. Actually, considering she’s been out of control since she opened her eyes, they’ve probably already given her something.”

  Malik drew in a slow breath, trying to release some of the tension battling inside him. It wasn’t working. Nothing was going to help until he saw Natasha with his own eyes.

  “You guys can release me now,” he said in a low grumble. “I just need to see her.”

  “One more thing,” Layla said, still holding on to his arm and trying to pull him closer. He met her eyes and they stepped away from the door. “Malik, whoever did this scared her pretty bad. She’s terrified that someone is trying to kill you.”

  “Where is he?” Natasha cried. The blood pressure machine beeped like crazy. Her head felt so heavy, as if it would roll off her shoulders and crash to the floor. She never had a migraine that hurt this much. “P–please, I need to … to see him.” She wanted to scream the words, but they barely came out.

  “Dr. Lockham, you have to calm down. He’s here, we’re trying to locate him,” the attending nurse said, speaking softly and trying to keep Natasha from climbing out of bed.

  I’ll kill him. The words of her assailant rang loudly inside her head. She had to see Malik, had to make sure he was okay. It was all her fault someone was after him. All he was trying to do was find the babies and get answers regarding Halsey’s death … for her.

  The door crashed open, and though her eyesight was a little blurry, she knew it was him. “Malik.” Tears of pain and relief worked their way down her cheeks. Sobs gripped her body and her shoulders shook uncontrollably. Her whole body ached, but as long as he was there, as long as he was alive, she knew she’d be okay.

  He stood at the foot of the bed for the longest time. Through the tears and the throbbing in her head, she noticed the worry lines etched across his forehead and his clenched jaw, a sure sign that he was trying to control his emotions.

  She tried to sit up, but she couldn’t. The frustration ignited more tears. “I can’t—” she cried, and as if suddenly being shaken out of his trance, Malik hurried to the side of the bed.

  “Hey baby.” Malik cupped her cheek and kissed her lips. “I know they say doctors make the worst patients, but damn, girl, you might be taking it to the extremes. Relax. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere.”

  She would’ve laughed, but she didn’t have the energy. She had to tell him what her attacker said. “Malik,” she murmured, struggling to speak.

  “Shh, I’m right here. Don’t try to talk. Get some rest.”

  “He … he’s going to kill me … you.” Her eyes drifted closed and she fought against the darkness trying to consume her. “You have … to stop. No more … questions.”

  A short while later, Malik slowly processed Natasha’s words. Someone wanted them to stop asking questions about the adoption agency. Meaning Malik was getting close to the truth.

  Layla walked back into Natasha’s room. “She finally settled down?”

  Malik didn’t answer.

  Layla checked the monitors near the bed, now beeping at a balanced rhythm; a nice change from when he had first walked in. Being near her, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest, the peacefulness on her face, was all that mattered to him at the moment.

  “I can tell you really care for her,” Layla said, standing next to him, both of them staring down at a sleeping Natasha.

  “I would give my life for her,” he heard himself say. Aside from his mother, he had never spoken those words, or felt that way about another woman. And there had never been a woman who totally consumed his heart.

  “She deserves some happiness. I have a feeling you both do.” Layla touched his arm and left the room.

  Malik pulled the chair that was sitting near the window closer to the bed. He wasn’t sure how long they planned to keep Natasha in the hospital, but he had every intention of being there as long as she was there.

  He sat in the chair and reached for her hand, squeezing it gently. “I’m going to get whoever did this to you,” he whispered, kissing the inside of her wrist. “They will pay.”

  Malik, slumped forward in his seat, rested his forehead on the bed and closed his eyes, still caressing Natasha’s hand. If only I hadn’t let you go into the house alone. He would never forgive himself for not being there for her.

  Malik lifted his head when he heard a soft knock and the door swung open. Wiz walked in.

  “How is she?”

  Malik sat back in his seat, stretched his arms to
the ceiling, and yawned. He’d been up almost twenty-four hours with no foreseeable sleep in the near future.

  “I still haven’t seen the doctor, but based on what Layla told us, she’s going to be fine.”

  “Were you able to talk to her, ask her any questions about the attack?” Wiz leaned on the narrow, rolling table at the foot of the bed, looking as tired as Malik felt.

  “She said someone is going to kill her and me if I keep asking questions.”

  Wiz stood up straight. “Hmm, I guess we’ve rattled somebody’s cage.”

  “I didn’t get a chance to ask you earlier, but did you or Sheldon find anything at the house? Fingerprints? Anything?” Malik rubbed his hand over his head, exhaustion slowly settling in.

  “We’re thinking that the perp hadn’t planned on being in the house when Natasha arrived home.”

  Malik tilted his head. “Why do you say that?”

  “There were messages for her on both bathroom mirrors.”

  Malik’s body stiffened. “What type of messages?”

  “Pretty much the same thing she said.” Wiz moved over to the window and stared out into the darkness. “You either back off or she dies. You both die.”

  Malik gripped the arms of the chair, his teeth clenched in an effort to remain calm. “You already know I’m not backing off, and whether Natasha likes it or not, she’s going to have around the clock protection. We are going to find this asshole and whoever else is involved, and make them pay.”

  “We need to talk about the next steps regarding Lawyer Man, but are you sure you want to have this conversation in here?” They both looked at Natasha.

  “I can’t leave her, man. I don’t know how to explain it, but I need to be wherever she is.”

  “You don’t have to explain it to me. I’d feel the same way if Olivia was the one lying in that bed. Grab that chair.”

  He pointed to the seat Malik had just vacated and they went to the small round table in the corner of the room. Malik assumed being chief of staff had its perks, considering the room was almost twice the size of a regular hospital room. The soft butter color on the walls and the tranquil landscape paintings strategically placed around the space made it one of the better hospital rooms he’d ever been in.

  “I have a plan, but to get things started, we’re going to need your protégé, Travis.”

  “Travis?” Malik cast a doubtful look at his friend. Travis was a sharp kid, but the operative word was kid. “Why? No, hold up. I have him watching Street. You’re going to have to use someone else.”

  “When you hear what I have to say, you won’t mind that I already had Stan pull Travis off that assignment, and replaced him with someone else.”

  Malik folded his arms across his chest. He trusted Wiz with his life and knew that if he made changes at Supreme Security without letting him know, he had to have a good reason. The team knew that Wiz, Victoria, or Stan were the go-to people if ever he wasn’t around.

  “So what’s your plan for Travis?” he finally asked.

  “Lawyer Man, Alonso Black, is one of the partners at Kent, Schuster & Black. When I looked into the law office as a whole, it checked out fine. No illegal dealings from what I could tell. So I did a little digging. What I found on Black is going to trip you out.”

  Malik leaned forward, his elbows on the table. No matter how often he worked with Wiz, his ability to dig up a person’s deepest secrets never ceased to amaze him.

  “He’s a widow. His wife died years ago and Black was devastated. From what I understand, he worshiped this woman who was ten years his junior.” Wiz stretched his long legs, ran his hand over his low cut hair, and sighed. “Now ask me how she died.”

  “Man, just tell me.”

  “Giving birth. She died giving birth.”

  Malik’s mouth gaped open. “Get the hell outta here.”

  Wiz nodded. “I’m not kiddin’. They had a daughter. Rumor has it that Black gave the baby up for adoption when he found out his wife cheated on him. The baby wasn’t his, and supposedly, it was never determined who the baby’s father was.”

  “Oh damn,” Malik murmured, shaking his head. He couldn’t imagine that type of hurt, betrayal.

  “I couldn’t find any record of the kid or the adoption. Though I have found information that leads me to believe the underground adoption agency kicked off around that same time.”

  “We still need proof that he’s behind this baby stealing operation.”

  “That’s where Travis comes in at.” Wiz leaned forward. “Stan was right about him. He does remind me of you about fifteen years ago.”

  Malik wasn’t in the mood. Almost daily one of his people said something along the same line. He himself had already agreed that there were some similarities.

  “He has a way with women.”

  Malik narrowed his eyes and frowned. “What does that have to do with Black?”

  Wiz grinned, which was something he didn’t do too often. Between the two of them, Wiz was the nice one, yet more intense and slower to smile.

  “Black has been ill for the last few months and spends most of his time on his estate in Schaumburg. He happens to have a hot live-in personal assistant who is around Travis’s age.”

  Wiz laid out his plan to have Travis get friendly with the assistant, while obtaining information. All they needed to know was where Black kept his files.

  Malik shook his head and chuckled. He’d seen Travis in action a few months ago when he took him to Vegas on a case. Based on what Malik witnessed from his protégé, Wiz’s plan might actually work.

  “How much does Travis know?”

  “Only what he needs to.” Wiz stood and stretched. “I have some other things in the works, but I assure you, we’re getting close to all the answers.”

  “Good, because I’m not going to rest until someone pays for what they’ve done.”

  Natasha squinted against the stream of light shining through the window. It felt like she’d been laid up for days when in actuality it had only been hours, or at least she thought it had only been hours.

  Her gaze slid to Malik, who was sitting in the chair next to the bed. His head rested on her mattress, his light snoring filling the otherwise quiet in the room. She wondered why he’d slept in the chair when someone had brought in a cot for him, or at least it looked like a cot. Still battling with blurriness, she wasn’t positive.

  Natasha lifted her hand to touch Malik, needing to feel him, wanting to kiss him. Her hand stopped mid-air, remembering the night he pulled a gun on her. Now she could smile at the memory, whereas then, he’d scared her half to death.

  She laid her hand on his baldhead, caressing the smoothness of his skin. She loved him so much it felt as if her heart would explode inside of her chest.

  He moaned and then jerked awake, grabbing her hand with the speed of light. She gasped. Optimal reflexes probably were a requirement for being a SEAL, but he always caught her off guard.

  The corners of his lips lifted, revealing the sexy grin that always turned her on, and he kissed the back of her hand.

  “Hey,” he murmured, his sleep-filled voice sounding sexy, his intensely dark eyes appearing exhausted. He stood and his lips pressed against hers, gently covering her mouth. After thoroughly greeting her with a kiss, he lifted his head.

  “Hi,” she said on a sigh. There was a time she would’ve been hesitant to kiss him before brushing her teeth, but now all she wanted to do was to taste those sweet lips of his. “You didn’t have to spend the night.”

  “Yeah, actually I did,” he kissed her again, “because you’re here.”

  When he said things like that, a warmth flowed through her body and straight to her heart. He always came across so rough and tough, but he was the sweetest, gentlest man she’d ever met.

  He stood and lifted his long arms above his head, his muscles bulging with each move. He leaned against the side of the bed, his hand cupping her cheek. “How do you feel?”

  S
he felt like she’d been run down by a truck and dragged a block, but instead of telling him that, she said, “I’m all right. Maybe I’ll be able to leave today.” She squinted up at him, the ache in her head growing stronger by the minute.

  He shook his head. “No, you’re not. Your doctor wants to keep you under observation for another day. And though I would love to take you home … with me, I have to agree with him.” His fingers caressed her cheeks and kissed her forehead. “I will never forgive myself for letting you go into the house alone.”

  “Malik, it’s not your fault.” She curled up on her side and reached for his hand, holding it close to her chest. Having him near relaxed her, similar to cuddling up with a teddy bear. She could tell by the unconvinced expression on his face that no matter what she said, he’d still blame himself.

  “What happened when you went into the house?”

  Natasha told him how the lights wouldn’t work, and her surprise at the bathroom door being closed. The more she talked, the more intense he became, anger bouncing off of him in waves.

  “He shoved me into the wall and before I could react he … he …” She swallowed, remembering how he’d rubbed up against her backside, his erection evident.

  “He what?” Malik growled. The low guttural noise sounded more like an animal in wait than the gentle giant she’d fallen in love with. “What the fuck did he do?”

  She glared at him, giving him one of the looks her mother used to give them when they had done something she didn’t approve of. “Don’t curse at me.”

  He withdrew from her grasp and backed away from the bed, running his hand over his head.

  “I’m sorry, but every time I think about you in there alone with some fu—” He stopped and slowly released a breath. “Finish telling me.”

  “Not if it’s going to make you upset.”

  “Natasha … please. I have to know what happened.”

  She closed her eyes against the sudden queasiness attacking her body. “He dragged me into the kitchen.” Her still-closed eyes fought her increasing discomfort. “He said he would kill me, and then he’d kill you if you didn’t stop asking questions.”