by Janie Crouch
Just like they’d done to him when they’d killed his Natalie. Omega thought the battle had started with him when Damien had gone after SWAT member Ashton Fitzgerald and his lover, Summer Worrall. But it had really started seven years ago with Damien’s wife’s death in an Omega raid on his home.
Natalie had been his most prized possession. She’d made him the envy of all his friends when she’d married him. He could still picture her beautiful face, her long blond hair, her beautiful blue eyes. The classic American beauty. And she’d been his. Only his.
Until Omega took her life.
And now they would pay. One loved one at a time. And then when they knew the agony of love lost, Damien and the mole, Mr. Fawkes, would destroy Omega for good. Mr. Fawkes had his own political agenda, but Damien didn’t care much about that.
A text came to Damien’s burner phone. He knew it had to be one of two parties. Either Mr. Fawkes or the Trumpolds, the people who wanted to kill Zane and Caroline.
Mr. Fawkes.
Wales and Gill are still alive after the plane crash. Jon Hatton and Lillian Muir are going with them from Big Bend to CC.
Of course Jon Hatton would go with his friends to Corpus Christi, even with his own wedding coming up next week. After all, Zane and Caroline meant so much to Jon. They meant a lot to many people at Omega Sector.
That was why this entire plan would work. If Omega didn’t care, killing the couple in Texas wouldn’t make any difference.
Now he had another call to make. To Nicholas Trumpold. Brother of the late Paul Trumpold, the man who had attacked and raped Caroline Gill.
Damien had spent considerable time over the last few weeks convincing Nicholas and his sister, Lisette, that their beloved brother had been framed. That Caroline Gill had lied about the attack and Zane Wales, as an officer of the Corpus Christi PD at the time, had helped frame Paul.
That the police department had been so desperate to make the public think they had put the serial rapist terrorizing the city behind bars they’d looked the other way at evidence that would’ve exonerated their brother.
None of that was true, of course. Paul Trumpold had been a psychopath intent on hurting women. The hospital photos of the women he’d attacked told a story of sick violence and desire for their humiliation. Trumpold, about to be caught and arrested, had then attacked Jon Hatton and his fiancée, Sherry Mitchell, and nearly killed them both.
But Paul Trumpold’s siblings, who had idolized their big brother, had been easily convinced of their brother’s innocence.
They’d just wanted to believe it so badly. That he couldn’t possibly be the monster he’d been made out to be. Paul had died early in prison and hadn’t been around to tell them anything.
The falsified documents Damien had created, making it look as if Caroline and Zane had both lied about the entire situation, had just sealed the deal. From there it hadn’t taken long for Damien to convince the Trumpold siblings to get revenge on their brother’s behalf.
Of course, they had no idea that them taking revenge would also suit Damien’s purpose—it would tear at a piece of Omega.
Omega knew Damien was behind the attacks on their loved ones. Heaven knew, he’d left them enough clues, a whole wall’s worth. They even knew about Damien’s ability to change his appearance. To make himself look like someone completely different every time he stepped outside. That was what had kept him ahead of law enforcement, and all their facial recognition software, for the past year, since he’d escaped from prison.
Sometimes he went out with no disguises on whatsoever just to mess with them. It was fun to hear about them scurrying around trying to find him like ants.
But now he had a business call to make. He dialed Nicholas Trumpold’s number to give them the news that Zane and Caroline were still alive.
“Hello, Damien.”
“Where are you, Nicholas?”
“We’re outside of Big Bend, if that’s what you’re worried about. After we sabotaged Wales’s plane and led them back to it, we didn’t stick around.”
“I’m sorry to inform you that Mr. Wales and Ms. Gill made it out of the crash alive.” Damien wondered how the other man would take the news.
Silence for a long moment. “Good.”
“Good?” That wasn’t what Damien had been expecting to hear.
“Lisette and I discussed it. That we had been rash in our decision to kill Wales and Gill and make it look like an accident.”
It sounded like the Trumpolds were having second thoughts. Damien had very little patience for people who deviated from the plan.
Especially when those people were expendable in the overall strategy like the Trumpolds. But Damien kept his patience. “Nicholas—”
“What I mean by that is that if Zane Wales and Caroline Gill had died in either the rappelling accident or the plane crash we set up for them, then the world wouldn’t know the truth about our brother. Wouldn’t know they lied.”
Damien’s eyebrow rose. Interesting. “That’s true.”
“So it’s good that they made it out alive. Lisette and I have a new plan.”
“And what is that?”
“We’re going to get them to confess. To state publicly what they did and clear Paul’s name.”
There was no way in hell that was ever going to happen, but Damien kept that knowledge to himself. “They’ve kept it a secret for over eighteen months now. I don’t think they’re just going to confess.”
“Lisette and I have already talked about that. We’ll force them to confess.”
“Sounds painful.” Damien smiled.
“I’m sure it will be.”
Evidently Paul hadn’t been the only psychopath in the Trumpold family. Sounded like Nicholas was pretty excited about the thought of torturing Zane and Caroline. To get them to confess to something that was completely untrue.
Damien grinned. It was unfortunate for the Texan couple. But it worked just perfectly for him.
* * *
FORTY-EIGHT HOURS after Zane’s plane had crashed, they made it back to Corpus Christi. Caroline had barely had time to say hello to Jon and Lillian at the ranger station before she was immediately whisked off to the local hospital just outside of Big Bend. An X-ray and MRI had shown that she had no breaks or fractures and that Zane had done a pretty damn good job getting her joint back into the socket.
The doctor gave her a prescription-level painkiller and sent her on her way, calling her very lucky.
Caroline already knew that. Not just because they’d survived the crash, but because of what had happened afterward between her and Zane.
Their lovemaking had been downright fantastic. Not just the physical aspect of it, although that had been awesome too, but the fact that for the first time since the attack Caroline had just felt normal.
Maybe not actually normal, since they’d been in an overhang on the middle of a cliff surrounded by a storm after surviving a plane crash. But normal as in Caroline and Zane.
Not rape survivor Caroline. Just Caroline.
And it had felt amazing.
In all possible ways.
She knew it didn’t solve all the problems, particularly the fact that they had someone trying to kill them. But damned if Caroline didn’t feel better than she had in months.
Zane had made love to her like he used to. Like he wasn’t afraid she would break or run screaming. She peeked over at him from where she sat in the passenger’s seat now, his strong arms gripping the steering wheel, easing them through Corpus Christi traffic. They’d just come from the police station.
“Captain Harris looked pretty giddy to have you back.” She couldn’t help but tease him. They’d dropped Jon and Lillian at the department so Jon could brief Harris and the other officers about what was going on. Harris, once h
e’d heard about Zane’s plane, had told him the only logical thing—given the circumstances—was for Zane to be reinstated as law enforcement.
Kill two birds with one stone: Zane needed temporary employment, and Corpus Christi needed one of their best detectives back on the job.
Zane grimaced. “I thought he might actually break out into a jig when I said I would come back temporarily.”
“He never filled your detective position, you know. Hemmed and hawed about budget cuts, but we all knew he was hoping you would return.”
She saw his fingers tighten on the steering wheel. “I don’t think Harris or anybody else should put too much faith in me. Not only am I rusty, I wasn’t at the top of my game when I left.”
Caroline studied him. She’d lost so much in the attack, but Zane had lost a lot too. The difference had been that her wounds were visible and she’d therefore gotten all the help and support she’d needed.
Had Zane gotten any help or support? Would he even have accepted it if anyone offered? Knowing him, probably not.
“Airplane,” she said to him.
“What?” He glanced at her before looking back at the road. “Wait. Is there a reason why you’re using your safe word? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m fine. But you need a safe word. Have you ever thought of that?”
“What?”
“Okay, maybe not a safe word. But you know how I had to almost force you into treating me normally in the ravine? When we—” She floundered, unable to get the words out, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed.
He glanced at her again, eyebrow raised. “Had incredibly awesome sex?” He reached out and grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers.
She flushed but grinned. “Yes. That. It wasn’t until I demanded you treat me normally that you did it.”
“Okay, I still don’t understand what this has to do with me needing a safe word.”
“You don’t need a safe word. But you do need to force yourself to start treating you normally.”
He glanced at her with one eyebrow raised. “I’m pretty sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But he did. She knew he did. “I’m pretty sure you do. Enough, Zane. Just like you had to stop treating me like I was broken, you have to stop treating yourself that way.”
He let go of her hand, making it look like he needed both of his on the wheel, but she knew him well enough to know that he didn’t like to think she might be right.
“You have to admit what you lost in the attack, Zane.”
“I lost you.”
“You lost more than that. You lost your faith in yourself. Your confidence as a law enforcement officer. Things were taken from you in my attack too.”
Zane scoffed. “Oh, boo-hoo. Compared to what you lost, who gives a rat’s ass what I lost.”
“It’s not a damn competition, Zane. Nobody gets a trophy for losing the most.” Her voice was rising. His was too.
But she didn’t mind fighting with him. It was just more proof that he wasn’t holding back.
“I know that.” He slid his fingers through his hair in a frustrated gesture. “But I also know that what I lost was nothing compared to what you did.”
“And I had people lining up down the block to help me. To talk to me. Do you know that Grace Parker, the top psychiatrist at Omega Sector, has been counseling me?”
“No.” He glanced at her again. “I assumed you had someone you talked to, but I didn’t know it was someone with Omega.”
“She’s the best there is. I love her.”
“I’m glad you have someone. That’s important in a situation like this.”
“Exactly.” She paused for just a minute. “Who do you have, Zane? Who have you talked to?”
He didn’t answer, just stared out the windshield.
“This was too big to tackle on our own. For either of us,” she said quietly. “Even now.”
“Well, I’m fine. People have different ways of coping. You talked to a shrink. I—”
“Ran away from a job you loved and moved to the outskirts of town so you would never have to run into me or any of your colleagues unless you wanted to.” Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow at him.
“Just leave it alone, Caroline. I did what I thought I had to do.”
Knowing what he thought, how he blamed himself for her attack, Caroline understood that. But it was time for a change.
“Do you still feel like it’s what you have to do? Even after what happened between us at Big Bend?”
“I feel like right now we need to focus on keeping Damien Freihof and whoever he’s working with from carrying out their plans to kill us. The rest can wait.”
“You’re avoiding, Zane.”
“I’m working on keeping us safe.”
Caroline had meant to tell him where her new town house was, the one she’d moved into just a couple of months ago. But she realized Zane already knew.
“You know where I live.” Her tone was accusatory.
“Yes.”
“I only moved there six weeks ago.”
He shrugged. “I knew when you moved. I’ve always known. I knew when you moved to the place before that. And the other. I knew when you moved out of your parents’ house. Although I wasn’t surprised at that.”
“I couldn’t live there anymore. None of us ever wanted to set foot there again. They sold it.”
“I don’t blame you. Don’t blame them.”
“Then the other places... I just had a hard time. Tried living with a roommate, and that didn’t work. Moved on my own. Tried a second-floor apartment. Just trying different things to see what worked for me.”
“And this new place?”
“I’ve come to discover it’s not really the place that makes that much of a difference. It’s my frame of mind. Sometimes I have no problem for days or even weeks. But then sometimes...” Caroline shrugged. “The other night when we saw each other at the Silver Eagle, I was there because I couldn’t force myself to go into my town house alone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I have good days and I have bad days. That would be true for you too if you came back to law enforcement, you know. You would have some bad days. But some would be good.”
“Give it a rest, Caro. I’m already temporarily reinstated.”
“Maybe I miss your white hat.”
“You hated that hat. Knocked it off my head every chance you got.”
Only so she could run her fingers through his hair, but she didn’t have to tell him that. “Well, now I miss it.”
He pulled up to her town house. “I’m not leaving you here, by the way.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“That’s great. You can take care of yourself with me at your side. Keys.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I just want to get into some different clothes. We can fight about this later.”
She tossed him the keys and he opened the truck door before turning back to her. “Wait here. Just in case.”
He drew his gun from his belt holster and moved into the town house. Just a couple minutes later he came back out.
“Okay, looks like we’re clear.”
Entering her town house was quite a bit easier with Zane by her side, she had to admit. But even then she felt compelled to do her normal safety routine as soon as she walked in.
She looked at him. “Um, airplane.”
He immediately stepped closer, face concerned. “What’s going on? How can I help?”
She wanted to kiss him for knowing the perfect thing to say without even thinking about it. She knew he took her seriously without wanting to fix it himself.
“I have a process. Something I do every time I come home. I n
eed to do that now, if it’s okay.”
He looked relieved. “Sure.”
“It’s a little weird.”
“Does it involve you getting naked and dancing in the middle of the living room?”
She smiled. “No, sorry.”
“Damn it. Whatever, then. Do your boring little weird thing.”
Caroline began walking around the living room, running her fingers along the bottom of each of the windowsills where they met the apron—the little ledge sticking out. By the time she got to the third one she knew Zane had to wonder what exactly she was doing, but he waited patiently.
After she’d checked all the windows she walked to the back door and crouched down. She looked toward the bottom of the door and froze at what she saw. “Zane?”
“Yeah?” He was to her in a second. “What’s going on?”
“Someone has been in my town house.”
Chapter Twelve
Zane immediately had his sidearm out again. He’d already checked her small place pretty thoroughly.
“There’s no one in here now, that’s for sure. How do you know someone has been in here?”
She showed him a piece of clear tape she’d put at the bottom of her back door. Immediately he realized how it worked. The tape was unnoticeable when the door was closed, covering both the door and frame. But if the door opened, the tape came unstuck from the door frame.
Very simple but very effective. It was what she had been checking for at each of her windows also.
“I always have this on the back door and windows.” She grimaced. “It’s one of the coping mechanisms Dr. Parker and I came up with.”
He put his gun away. “To know if someone has been in the house?”
“About eight months after the attack I started waking up at night terrified someone was in the house with me. That was the second time I moved into a place that had as few windows as possible.” She shrugged. “The tape was a simple method that allowed me to know for sure, to convince my terrorized mind at three o’clock in the morning that no one could possibly be inside.”
He reached over and yanked her into his arms, thankful when she didn’t stiffen or pull away, as emotion nearly overwhelmed him. Her words broke his heart and yet made him so damn proud of her at the same time.