by Brynne Asher
“You were right to feel threatened. We have inside intelligence that says you’re considered a liability by the MacLachlan family, and therefore, a target.”
Well, shit. It’s one thing to assume I might be unsafe, but to have it confirmed by the FBI who has inside intelligence? That’s another level of scary.
“When Byron Murray was killed, things changed and we’ve lost our ears. We have other sources of intel, but feel those will be gone soon, as well. We don’t currently know where Weston MacLachlan is. He fled yesterday and can’t be traced by either his phone or car. He has business associates all up and down the east coast. We assume he’ll reach out to some of them for help, but I need to advise you to take extra precautions.”
“I’ve got her covered,” Grady announces. “He knows she lives and works here, along with a second job at a nearby senior center. I’ll get you the address before you leave.”
Agent Gordon gives me his business card. “You took quite a fall, we saw it on the film. It’s good to see you’re okay. I’ll be in touch.”
“Thank you.” I stand and Grady gives him the information he needs. When he finally leaves, I turn to Grady. “This has to be over soon.”
“It will be.” Grady takes my hand and pulls me to the stairs.
When we get to the main tasting room, Mary, Bev, Addy, Evan, Van, and even Morris, are crowded around the bar. When we get closer I see what they’re all looking at. The crowd parts and a sleepy but happy Clara is sitting there holding a bundle of pink blankets with baby Kate peeking out the top.
“Awwww,” I drawl and get closer. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to visit you in the hospital. Did you just get home?”
Clara smiles. “Yesterday. The hospital is so much more relaxing than my house. I tried to fake complications so I could stay longer, but they were on to me and kicked us out.”
Everyone laughs, and after being around her boys at the Christmas party, I don’t blame her for trying to spend extra time in the hospital.
“She’s perfect.” Jack beams as he looks down at his newborn before announcing, “I think we’re done having kids.”
Clara more than enthusiastically agrees. “Oh, we’re done. You’re making an appointment to get snipped, sooner rather than later.” Little Kate stretches, arching as she starts to wiggle. “We’d better get going. We left the boys at home with my parents and she’ll be ready to eat soon.”
We all say our goodbyes after they pack up the baby and all her necessities. After hanging out most of the morning with Grady’s sisters, then eating a late lunch with Grady in the tasting room, followed by my first ever interrogation by the FBI, the day has flown.
I guess Grady is done hanging out, because he takes my hand and we leave, following Clara and Jack out the door. He turns back to me and his face is serious when he says, “I have something I want to show you.”
When he starts driving toward the exit of the vineyard, I ask, “Where are we going?”
Grady fists his steering wheel, but doesn’t look at me as he turns left onto the two-lane highway. “Not far.”
He didn’t lie. We barely drive a half-mile when he turns onto another lane which is surrounded by a slatted white fence. We’re hardly off the road when Grady approaches a security gate and rolls down his window to punch in a code.
“Um, where are we?”
He looks back to me and smirks. “Across the street.”
I narrow my eyes instantly. “I know that.”
The gates open in front of us and Grady drives through rolling pastures, mixed with patches of woods and tree lines scattered about. Even though everything is dormant and brown, I imagine how pretty it would be lush and green, or better yet, colorful in the fall. As we come up a hill, a large home sits at the top. It’s not a typical Virginia colonial. It’s decorated in stone with crisp white trim to match the slatted fence surrounding the property, dark gray siding, and a dark stained front door and shutters.
“Seriously, Grady.” The suspense is wearing on me. “Are we here to visit someone?”
He ignores me, turns off the engine, and climbs out of the SUV. I follow suit, because I’m curious, but I also don’t like him ignoring me.
He doesn’t wait, but jogs up the steps ahead of me and goes straight to the front door.
“Grady,” I call for him again, but he’s now at the door handle and pressing more buttons on an electronic lock.
Finally, he turns to me as he opens the door and gestures for me to enter first.
I stand where I am and demand, “What’s going on?”
He still says nothing and reaches for my hand, pulling me through the threshold.
What I find is stunning.
And empty.
I take a few steps, barely glancing at what would be an office with French doors, flanked by a formal dining room across from it. I keep walking, the heels of my boots echoing on the dark hardwoods through the vast, empty space. I move until there’s nowhere to go because I’ve reached the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the property that appears to go on forever. The way the home is situated on the rolling hills, there’s no other structure or buildings in sight besides the enormous barns that match the exterior of the house we’re standing in. Off the back of the house is a stone patio, and down another few steps, is an inground pool covered for winter.
Thinking I know exactly what’s going on here, I turn slowly, vaguely taking in the spacious family room with stone fireplace that’s open to an oversized kitchen. My eyes land on Grady standing in the center of the room. His stance is wide and his arms are crossed. But unlike me, who’s taking in the details of our surroundings, his focus is solely on me.
“Are you thinking about buying this place?”
Chapter 25 – You Saved Me
Grady –
“Well, are you?” she asks again.
I narrow my eyes, studying her but don’t answer. Instead, I ask, “What do you think?”
She frowns slightly. “Of this empty house or you acting weird?”
I shake my head. “Maya.”
She mirrors my stance and crosses her arms, but smirks in the process. “Because I think it’s weird that you’re acting so weird.”
I drop my head and study the floor in front of me. How do I even begin?
When she gets tired of waiting, her voice sounds frustrated. “Grady?”
I exhale and pull my hand through my hair as I look to her. She’s dropped her arms, impatient for an explanation.
“I was in the Army for four years,” I state.
She looks perplexed. “I know. You told me.”
“I was a Ranger assigned to Special Warfare.”
She tips her head and frowns. “Um, okay.”
I started, I can’t stop now. “Right before I left the Army, I was recruited to Delta Force.”
Really confused, she sounds like she’s playing along when she responds. “I assume that’s an honor?”
I raise my brows and make an understatement. “Yeah. Delta Force is not for the weak.”
“Grady.” She sighs. “You brought me across the street to an empty house for a reason I still don’t know, and now you’re speaking in riddles. There are moments when I feel I know you well, but right now I have no idea what you’re getting at.”
I decide to just say it. To get to where I want us to be, she needs to know. “My recruitment to Delta Force was a big deal. I caught the attention of a secret group and was recruited to contract overseas for our country and allies. For the past ten years, I was paid to eliminate threats. And I did. I eliminated a lot of them.”
> “Right,” she agrees, impatiently. “You told me you worked in security.”
I relax my features and try to gauge her reaction. “I guess a certain security was obtained as a result of my work. But no, security is a cover for what I really did.”
I try not to let it affect me, but a hint of hurt bleeds through her features. “I don’t understand.”
“Terrorism, cartels, organized crime. You name it, if a country or organization couldn’t manage it, someone like myself was hired to take care of it.”
She crosses her arms protectively and takes a step back. “Take care of it?”
“Yes,” I confirm. “To eliminate the threat. A threat they couldn’t handle on their own.”
Her face falls and she whispers, “Wait. You mean if it couldn’t be dealt with legally?”
I put a hand up to stop her thoughts. “More like they couldn’t handle it legally in a timely manner. Sometimes the threat outweighs the time it takes because the system is slow. Especially if the system is corrupt.”
“What are you saying?” Her face is etched with uncertainty and I fucking hate it. She didn’t look this way when she found out I beat my dad so bad I put him in intensive care and he never woke up. Not when I threatened to kill the guy on the tarmac if he didn’t let her go. Not even when I slid that ring on her finger.
I don’t answer, but try to explain. “You know how I grew up—what my sisters and I dealt with for years. The day I walked in and saw my drunk-ass and high-as-a-kite father wailing on Gracie, I’d had it. She was so little, not even crying because she couldn’t. She was half out of it from his blows, curled into herself, barely whimpering. I fucking lost it, Maya. By that time, I was big and ten times stronger because of football. When the police showed up, I was covered in his blood. I swear to you, it’s the only time in my life I’ve lost time. One second I walked into the house to find my baby sister cut, bruised, and bleeding, and the next, I’m sitting on the floor by my lifeless father.”
“Grady,” she whispers, and takes a step toward me, but this time I put my hand up to stop her.
“He died two days later in the hospital—the same hospital Gracie was recovering in. I was never charged. It was reported as self-defense. Gracie was evidence enough, all the questioning they did after the incident was only procedure. Detectives told me if I hadn’t done it, the cops who showed up would’ve wanted to. They made it clear I did nothing wrong.”
“You didn’t,” she softly agrees.
“I know.” I take a breath, wanting to finish more than anything, yet finishing could mean an outcome I dread. “Three months later I joined the Army. Besides football and protecting my sisters from our dad, I found something I was good at. But just weeks after I was recruited to Delta, they showed up on my doorstep with an offer. As soon as they laid it out for me, I signed and never looked back.”
She pulls her lip between her teeth and doesn’t say a word.
Damn that lip. I need to make her understand.
“Maya,” I pause and take a breath. This could close the door on our future for good, but I’ll do everything I can to put a wedge in it. I can’t lose her. “I was a paid assassin for a secret organization for ten years.”
That made her release her lip. Right before she takes another step back.
“Assassin?”
“Yes. Terrorists, insurgents, cartels. I worked solely overseas, never in the US.”
“You were paid to kill people?” Her eyes are big but I can’t tell what she’s thinking.
“Bad people,” I insist. “The worst.”
I see her chest rising and falling quickly, but she says nothing.
“And Maya,” I add. “I was good at it.”
She frowns deeper.
“Until I wasn’t.”
This surprises her. “What do you mean?”
“A while back, I got a call from Raine that Gracie wasn’t doing well. She was in her last year of college, quit going to classes, and she couldn’t sleep. She was hardly eating. The girls got her to a doctor. She’d fallen into depression. After we got her into therapy, we found out it wasn’t only because of our fucking father, but me killing him because of what he did to her. Her head was fucked up, and for some reason, she was feeling guilt.”
“But.” Her words come quick, and if possible, she defends me to me. “That wasn’t anyone’s fault. It sounds like he could’ve killed her if you hadn’t stepped in. You saved her.”
I soften my voice and take a step closer. “I know. But seeing Gracie have to deal with that? She was in a bad place and it fucked with me. Knowing what I did might’ve caused her to slip away from us? I didn’t recognize it then, but it messed with my head, too. It consumed me and I got careless. Crew and Asa saw it, tried to warn me, but I wouldn’t listen. That’s when Crew took it into his own hands and got us out.”
Her eyes grew big. “Crew and Asa do what you do?”
“Yeah, but not anymore,” I correct her. “We’re all retired and now train others to do what we did. That’s what’s happening on Crew’s property.”
“Oh. So, you’re retired from um … assassin-ing?” she asks, her face is screwed up as if it disgusts or perplexes her. I’m not sure which.
“Yeah. But I got antsy, thought I wasn’t ready to retire. Looking back, I needed something to focus on. Gracie was in therapy and getting better, but I still carried that guilt. I thought work would give me some focus. I went back and got myself in trouble. I’d be dead if Crew hadn’t been there to save my ass.”
“That’s when you were hurt?” she guesses.
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t very long ago,” she points out.
“Seems like another lifetime since I met you.”
She shakes her head and looks to the side out the big windows toward the back of the property, but she doesn’t appear to be actually looking at anything. She’s thinking and unfocused.
I don’t like it.
“Maya?”
She looks back to me.
I lower my voice. “I’m not him.”
She frowns.
I keep on. “My assignments were to take out targets who would’ve caused mass destruction through terrorism. Or who’ve killed, or made the order to kill, just so they could take over drug territory. I’ve taken out rebels who’ve raped women and children just to—”
“Okay!” She holds her hand up. “You’ll never have to convince me of that. I know you aren’t him. But why are you telling me all this now?”
I tell her the truth. “I love you.”
Her eyes widen and she breathes, “What?”
“You saved me.”
“Grady, I—”
“You did. Didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Thought I needed to work as long as my body would let me. I never thought to want more, let alone search for it. Then I was captured, tortured, and almost killed. When I came home from that, I was lost. My only refuge was watching a woman over the surveillance system when she ran. I’d wait for you, baby. Everyday. I’d wait, and when you showed, I’d get lost in you.”
She pulls that damn lip into her mouth again as her eyes well.
“Who knew when I barely survived the depths of hell, my path would lead to you.”
Her hand comes up and she swipes a tear from her scraped cheek. “Why now? Why are you telling me all this now?”
“Because you’re wearing my ring.” I take a step, only a couple feet separating us. “Even though things might’ve happened in the wrong order, you deserve to know everything. I want you to know who you’re spending the re
st of your life with.”
She swallows hard as another tear escapes.
“Because of you, I’m ready. I’m done with you seeing how that ring feels on your finger. It means something. I should tell you it means you’re mine, but fuck, Maya, you don’t even know it, but you’ve got me. You standing right here in this empty house—you’re holding my heart, baby. It’s yours. I want our life to start and I want it to start here.” I point to the floor. “And I want it to start today.”
She doesn’t look away as she tries to blink back her tears. I can’t take it another second—I need to touch her.
Closing the small distance between us, I don’t stop when I reach her. Putting my hands low on her hips, I move her backwards into the kitchen, and she doesn’t try and stop me. When I get to the marble island, I put my hands to her waist and sit her on the counter so I can look her straight in the eyes.
Her hands instantly come to my chest and I slide my palms up the inside of her loose dress to feel her skin on mine.
“You know everything there is to know about me. Everything. If I need to, I’ll take that ring off your finger and ask you properly, but baby, I need to know that you’re in. If you aren’t, then I need to know what to do to make you in, because I’m not letting you go.”
She wraps her boots around my waist and pulls me to her while shaking her head. “You’re not taking my ring off.”
I slide my hands up to grip her ass and press my cock in between her legs. “It’s my turn to ask what you mean.”
Her face softens into the expression I fell in love with when she asks, “Do I know everything about you now?”
“I have never told anyone about my work. Not even my sisters. No one knows what I’ve done but you, and I know I couldn’t ask you to be with me forever without you knowing.”
She gives me a small smile as if she’s relieved. “You might’ve been a tough Delta whatever and traveled the world taking out bad guys, but you’ll have to wrestle me to the ground to get this ring off my finger.”