Risky Love

by Stacey Kennedy

  He finally opened his eyes, and she sucked in a harsh breath at the raw emotion flaring there as he said, “They found her alive.”

  CHAPTER 2

  The motorcycle roared beneath Rowan as he tore up the streets, weaving in and out of Manhattan traffic. He’d given Alex the helmet, and she clung to him, only releasing him when he parked the bike outside the hospital. He waited for her to get off then put out the kickstand and cut the ignition. Rowan heard Alex drop the helmet next to the bike before she followed him as he ran to Mia.

  It came as no surprise when he found his good friend and FBI agent, Wes Fanning, a lanky, tall man with dark brown hair and dark eyes waiting for him. Wes, a man that Rowan served with in the military, held his hand up. “Just breathe, Rowan. Let me tell you what’s happened.”

  Rowan’s heartbeat thundered in his ears. “Is Mia okay?”

  Wes nodded. “She’s just with the doctor now.”

  A smidgen of the tension released from Rowan, causing his hands to tremble with the adrenaline coursing through his veins. “Where did you find her?”

  Wes glanced at Alex, obviously considering how much he wanted her to know. Rowan pulled her in tighter, and Alex’s heart tripped at his bold statement. Wes finally nodded at Rowan and then explained, “A couple was driving down the road not far from where the last victim was found and saw Mia stumbling around.” The last victim had been left like a disturbing piece of art in a farmer’s field miles away from Manhattan.

  Alex gripped Rowan’s forearm, either to comfort him or due to her own shock, but it didn’t matter why, he appreciated her closeness. She’d been a big reason he’d been holding it together. She was a constant sense of strength, never letting him give up in the weak moments he thought he’d never see Mia again. “Did she escape?” she asked Wes.

  “No, the bastard drugged her before he let her go,” Wes reported. “I’m guessing so she couldn’t lead us back to him.” A pause. “The hospital wanted to call your parents since they’re Mia’s emergency contact, but I asked them to hold off until you got here.”

  “Thank you,” Rowan said. He’d been protecting his parents from Mia’s disappearance, knowing he’d find her. They deserved to know, but he wanted Mia to decide how she wanted to tell them, on her terms. Rowan forced the images of what Mia had went through from his mind, but he felt his control slipping. “What room is she in?” he asked, needing desperately to see Mia for himself.

  “You can’t see her yet,” Wes said. But his friend’s gaze flicked to the right, telling Rowan exactly where they were keeping Mia.

  Rowan would thank Wes later for breaking protocol. Wes never made a move to stop Rowan as he stormed into the room, having no idea what he’d find. Long days and nights, fighting to find Mia, and there she was, lying in the bed, all soft, blond hair and blue eyes, just like their mother. Only she had bruises covering her face, her arms, every visible inch of bare skin.

  Rowan had known rage, but he never knew this level of rage. Lewis was a dead man. Rowan didn’t know how or when he’d get the chance to kill him, but that death—Lewis’s blood would drain at Rowan’s hand.

  Mia’s eyes widened. “Rowan?” she said softly.

  “You shouldn’t be in here,” the doctor began.

  Rowan shoved the doctor aside, his eyes only for his broken sister. “Jesus. Mia.” He went to her side immediately, taking her into his arms. He heard her breath hitch and then felt her hard sobs before those filled the air too. She clung to him, and he did not let go, not for anything or anyone.

  He vaguely heard the doctor mutter, “I must insist you give Ms. Hawke time to rest.”

  “He’s her brother,” Alex said firmly. “Give them time.”

  Rowan didn’t know what happened after that, but he sensed the room grow quiet. He held Mia tight as she wept, crying because she was finally safe as well as grieving for what happened to her. “I’m here,” he said, his gaze falling onto Alex at the end of the bed. “And so is my friend Alex. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.” Alex watched with a mix of relief and sadness, which he understood. She had lost her sister, Lena, who overdosed and died when Alex was just a teenager. She had tried to find Lena when she’d gone missing and failed. Rowan knew that’s why Alex was the best hacker out there now. All to ensure no other families felt what she did. “Thank you,” Rowan mouthed to her. For never stopping. For holding me up. For keeping me strong until this very moment.

  A tear slipped down Alex’s cheek as she gave a soft smile.

  No matter that the killer had let Mia go, Alex had been there by Rowan’s side every step of the way. He would never forget that. He would never forget how she impacted his life those five years ago in Paris, and the impact she was still creating now. She made him feel alive.

  Mia began to stir in his arms, and when she looked at him again, even beneath the dark circles and the pain visible there, he saw the strength in her. A strength Lewis could never break. “Mom and Dad?” she asked.

  “They don’t know,” Rowan explained. “Wes asked the hospital to wait to contact them until I saw you. I didn’t know if…I wanted it to be your choice, I—”

  “Did the right thing,” Mia interjected softly. “I need…” Her voice blistered as she clung to Rowan’s black T-shirt. “I don’t know what I need, but it’s not them hovering right now.”

  Rowan couldn’t let Mia go, afraid if he did, she’d vanish again. “Tell me what I can do for you.”

  Mia’s breath hitched into a shudder. “Just…just stay.”

  Rowan did one better. He climbed on the bed next to her, took her into his arms, and she settled her head against his chest. She felt thinner, and Rowan didn’t let his mind wander to the reasons why. He hadn’t yet thought about what Mia had likely went through, but as she lay against him, he took note of the rope burn on her wrist, the bruises near them. He studied those marks. Every indent. Every discoloration of her skin. He’d allow those images to fill his mind when he had his gun cocked at the man who brutalized her. Once he had 100 percent confirmation it was Lewis, the man would pay for everything he’d done to Mia.

  When Mia’s soft elongated breaths filled the silence, he glanced down, finding her asleep. Rowan looked at the door again, discovering Alex still watching them closely. How long had she been there waiting? Still by his side. He gestured to the chair next to the bed. “Come sit.”

  She quietly came over and took a seat. “It’s good you’re here. I suspect she needs this.”

  Rowan nodded, not even sure what to do next. Christ, his whole focus had been to get Mia home, but this was not the Mia he had lunch with before she went missing. He had to do everything right for her. But what those steps were seemed hidden behind his rage and absolute relief Mia was safe. “This was a turn I was not expecting. Why would he release her?”

  Alex shrugged. “Lewis must have felt the noose tightening.”

  “Yeah,” Rowan agreed. “It is the only reason he would let her go. He’s never left a victim alive.” Mia’s soft snores filled the air, and Rowan assumed if she’d slept at all while captured, it was her body giving out on her. “But his plan has failed.”

  “How so?” Alex asked, crossing her legs.

  “This changes nothing,” Rowan answered, letting all the fury fill his voice. “I will never stop hunting him.”

  Alex didn’t even pause. “And you won’t be alone.”

  Christ, he should want that. Having Alex close had meant more to him than his life since they’d left each other in Paris, but he hesitated. He let his head fall back against the wall and with Mia back in his arms, he didn’t feel the need to hide anything. “This is not your life,” he said. “Hunting serial killers. The danger that presents. That is what I do, not you.”

  “Actually, you’re wrong,” she countered. “This is exactly what I do. Sure, it’s not usually involving a serial killer, but I do hunt people.”

  “Not people who will do”—he gestured at his sister�
�s injuries—“this.”

  Alex’s eyes narrowed as they searched his. “Whatever you’re thinking, Rowan, stop it. I told you, I’m all in on finding this fucker. He’s still got one other woman in his grips, and I’m your best shot at finding him. I’m not leaving you. We’re in this together.”

  He held her stare for a long moment. This incredible woman who once turned him so inside out that he ran from her. Now, he no longer wanted to run. He saw into the dark bowels of life. Alex was a bright spot he was determined to make permanent. “Are we in this together?”

  Color rushed into her cheeks. She glanced away for a moment before looking at him again. “Rowan, I—”

  The door swung open, and Rowan stiffened, his muscles seizing to unleash his wrath as Carl Lewis entered the room.

  Alex slowly rose and turned, placing herself next to Rowan, with her back to the wall.

  “I’m aware my timing is terrible,” said Lewis, entering the room, as cool and collected as he always was when he appeared at a news conference.

  Rowan’s arms instinctively tightened around Mia, keeping her safe and far away from this animal. Lewis’s hard stare swept over Rowan then Alex before he looked at Mia with pity. “I’m so very glad to hear of Mia’s safe return to you.”

  Rowan had to swallow the rage rising in his throat and keep himself from lunging at Lewis. Until Alex slid a hand on his shoulder, and a warm comfort washed over him. Her touch reminded him he needed to play the game smart. Lewis had a brilliant mind; they needed to be smarter to catch him. Rowan couldn’t bring himself to say anything in response, so he gave a firm nod.

  Mia stirred then, and Rowan clamped his arms around her, waiting for her to lose it at the sight of the man who brutalized her. She slowly lifted her head and then looked right at Lewis.

  He gave her a tender smile. The motherfucker. “Hello, Ms. Hawke,” Lewis said in a gentle, soothing voice. “I’m FBI Director Lewis.”

  “Hello,” Mia said in a sleepy voice.

  Rowan caught Alex’s brows furrowing with the same confusion of his own. Why didn’t Mia recognize Lewis?

  Lewis took a step closer toward the bed, shoved his hands into his pockets, and jingled his keys. “Under normal circumstances, I would never be here, but with a woman still missing, I’m afraid I must press the matter. Is there anything you can tell me that will bring us closer to finding her?”

  Rowan let the prick come, hoping if he got close enough that Mia would recognize him. By scent. By familiarity. By anything. Then Rowan could kill him.

  But Mia didn’t even flinch, relaxing more into Rowan’s hold. She looked up at Rowan, and he gave a soft nod for her to speak. Maybe her memories were blocked. If she spoke, perhaps she’d remember Lewis, then.

  “I was kept underground somewhere,” Mia explained with a slight quiver to her voice, and Rowan tightened his arms around her when she began trembling. “I couldn’t tell you where. Just that I was underground.”

  “And what of the person who took you there?”

  Alex snorted, outright snorted.

  Lewis lifted an eyebrow at her. “Problem, Ms. McCoy?”

  She covered herself by rubbing her nose. “Sorry, it’s the smell here; it’s terrible.”

  Lewis’s eyes narrowed enough for Rowan to know that Alex got under his skin, though it was gone so fast that if he hadn’t been looking closely, he would have missed it. Lewis’s mask of concern was put firmly back into place when he addressed Mia again. “You couldn’t identify him or her?”

  “Him,” Mia said, her voice squeaking slightly, the harsh memories obviously hitting her.

  “Enough.” Rowan locked his arms around her trembling frail body, wishing he could erase these horrible memories from her mind. “That’s enough for now.”

  Mia gently pushed him away with the little strength she had. “No, it’s fine. There’s another woman there. I heard her. I got out of my cell one night and tried to run, and I heard her. But he…he caught me before I made it out.”

  She glanced up at Rowan with wet eyes, and he wrapped her in his embrace again, holding as tight as he thought she could endure. “You were brave, Mia. So damn brave.”

  Her voice hitched. “He wore a mask, like one of those Baphomet goat masks that had a voice changer.”

  “You couldn’t identify him, then?”

  Rowan pressed his back against the bed, breathing past his muscles quivering to make Lewis regret ever abducting Mia. Not only were the images filtering through his mind making his chest heave, but Lewis exposed his motivation for this visit. The man wanted them to see Mia didn’t recognize him. And he wanted to know for himself if she’d out him.

  Mia shook her head. “No, I couldn’t recognize him.”

  “Now we’re done,” Rowan stated firmly.

  The contained rage in his voice slipped free. Lewis either didn’t notice or didn’t care, and he nodded. “All right,” he said, and paused, as if he were considering his next steps. Rowan knew Lewis had a plan coming in there tonight, and he’d have a plan going out. Lewis was a methodical killer; he’d know every single step he took before he took it. The man’s gaze fell to Mia again. “If you think of anything, please contact me directly.”

  “Yes, of course.” Mia yawned.

  Without another look at him or Alex, Lewis turned and left the room.

  And Rowan again considered all the ways to kill him.

  CHAPTER 3

  A minute after Lewis left, the nurse returned and changed Mia’s IV bags to get her the fluid and food her body needed, and she scooted Alex and Rowan out of the room. At the end of the hallway, Lewis stood with the doctor. The worst part about all this was, in his sick and twisted mind, he probably got off on coming there. It made Alex’s hunger deepen to catch him. She felt Rowan stiff and tense next to her, his anger cascading out of him, but soon another person drew her focus.

  Ryder. He strode past Lewis and inclined his head; they’d met before many times, as Ryder did a lot of security work for politicians. Friends of Lewis’s. His dirty-blond hair was shaggy around his ears, and his strong green eyes were firm on Alex as he approached. He wore his typical Blackwood Security uniform of a black shirt and khaki military pants. “What is Lewis doing here?” he asked when he closed in.

  “He came to speak to Mia,” Alex told him.

  Ryder’s mouth firmed into a thin line as he looked at Mia’s hospital room door. “Any development there?”

  “She didn’t recognize him,” Rowan told him.

  Ryder’s brows shot up. He slowly looked at Alex. “It’s not like you to be wrong about a suspect.”

  “I’m still putting my money on Lewis,” Alex answered in an instant. That deep tug in her chest believed the killer was Lewis. She glanced down the hallway again, finding the man leaving the hospital. He’d made his point by telling them he could still get to Mia, and Alex didn’t doubt he hoped this would get them off his scent. It wouldn’t. “Mia said her captor wore a Baphomet goat mask that had a voice changer.”

  Ryder considered that. “It would be hard for her under stress to think of things such as body shape. The last thing we want to do is grill her now.”

  Alex agreed with a nod.

  “There’s the tattoo,” Rowan offered.

  Alex shook her head. “Lewis is smart enough not to leave DNA evidence on his victims. I highly doubt the bastard would ever show them his tattoo.” Even if Mia hadn’t been sexually assaulted, the bruises and rope burn were enough to suggest she had gone through hell.

  A nurse strode by, and Ryder moved out of her way before he said to Rowan, “After hearing of Mia’s return, I made some calls. I’ve got a treatment center for traumatic stress recovery waiting for her arrival. It’s the best in the country, and I’ll put one of my guys on her while she’s there.” Another nurse headed into Mia’s room as Ryder went on, “I’m aware of the sensitive nature we’re dealing with here, so I’ve arranged for a private flight to take her there. Only drawback is w
e have to leave in an hour. That’s the only time we could catch the flight.”

  Rowan stared at Ryder. Hard. “Why would you arrange all this for us?” he finally asked.

  Alex knew the answer. Her. Her heart melted, and she threw her arms around Ryder. “Thank you.” He did that for her. To help her friend, and that was just the type of man Ryder was. Beyond loving to those he cared about.

  Ryder hugged her back and then leaned away. “Don’t place me on a pedestal too high. The treatment center is in San Francisco. Rowan’s not the only one who wants to keep a close eye on someone.”

  Alex smiled softly. Of course, Ryder wanted her close. He hated this mission from day one, especially not being involved, until Alex knew they couldn’t do this without him.

  “Thank you does not seem adequate.” Rowan offered his hand to Ryder, his expression a mask of warmth and gratitude. “You need me, I’m there. Any place. Any time.”

  Rowan acknowledged the sealed promise with a nod and said, “Keep Alex safe while she’s with you and that’s enough for me.” To Alex, he asked, “What is your plan going forward?”

  “It’s time to go home,” she said, and then felt Rowan tense next to her. She moved closer, her hand brushing his. “I’m not saying we’re going to stop hunting this killer, whether that be Lewis or not, but we’ll be safer doing that in San Fran than here. I’d really rather not have another attempt on my life.” She had the stitches in her neck that Rowan did himself to prove it.

  Ryder added, “You can use my headquarters and my team. It’s time to put an end to this.”

  Alex slid her fingers in Rowan’s, drawing his intense stare to her. “And you’ll be closer to Mia while she begins her recovery.”

  His mouth twitched. “You don’t need to convince me, McCoy.” She got the feeling he wasn’t only talking about working the case out of San Francisco, but just being there with her. “Whenever you go, I go.”

  Her heart skipped at that loaded statement. Thick silence filled the space with a hundred questions and impossible answers. Rowan slowly grinned, like he had it all figured out as he slid an arm around her shoulder then looked at Ryder, a very possessive move that Ryder took notice of with a lift of his eyebrows. Alex’s cheeks warmed as Rowan went on. “Where do we meet you?”