by Lacey Silks
Wright checked his iPod, moving his finger over the touch-screen to scroll. I lowered the hood over my forehead just enough so my gaze could follow him as he passed in front of the window where I sat.
My mouth opened. Up to this point I’d held onto a glimmer of hope that perhaps the identical voice was that of someone else. That by chance the deep and exasperated tone belonged to just another New Yorker. But it didn’t.
The man was definitely David Wright. As he neared, I noticed that his cheeks sagged and his skin was blotched with drizzles of age spots. And his eyes, even from the side, still held evil, hate, and determination.
And all desire for the vengeance that I once sought returned. I imagined the shots I’d fired today flying straight for his forehead. Rage began to swim against the current in my veins, fighting to keep me strong, demanding to do something, anything.
I lifted my phone to my ear, wanting to call Tristan, but I never dialed. The coward from thirteen years ago that I’d promised I’d never be again, slowly began to shy away. If I didn’t settle this now, I’d continue living in fear and I’d remain a piece of nothing who couldn’t save her mother. I could no longer pretend he didn’t exist; and I didn’t want to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life.
Was this my chance to get Wright? I couldn’t just kill him in the middle of the street, of course, but I couldn’t lose him either. I slid out of the booth, zipped up my jacket, and walked out the café, following the direction I’d seen him leave. Two minutes later I spotted the gray-haired man step inside a convenience store. I watched him from across the street as he paid for something and then came back out and lit a cigarette. I spun around to face away from the bastard and looked for him in the reflection of a storefront window. The snow fell harder. The thickening white flakes made it difficult to keep him in focus. The smell of a cigarette paralyzed me, and then in the window I saw him standing next to me.
With caution, I lowered my hood and adjusted my scarf upward, covering my face. He turned to the right and kept walking.
I don’t think he saw me.
I finally exhaled, and then followed him down the stairs into the subway heading north. My legs shook underneath me but I pressed harder, determined not to let him escape from my sight. He turned the corner, and a scrap of paper fell out of his pocket. In rush, I picked it up without looking and kept running after Wright.
Gripping the handrail, I hurried downstairs toward the tunnel, nearly losing my footing. The sound of an approaching subway echoed. Within seconds, the screech of brakes and a gust of wind flew past me. I paced along the platform just as the train door opened. Three cars down, Wright stepped inside with his back turned to me. I ran toward his section, but didn’t go in. Instead, from less than ten feet away, I watched his back. This was all too much. I couldn’t just go in the same car with him. I had no plan. What would I do if I went in? What would he do? Would he even recognize me?
As much as I wanted to beat him up until he passed out, I couldn’t. Now that I knew he was here, I could use the information to ambush the bastard and finally settle a debt. Storming in after him now would only get me arrested and in deeper trouble than I wished to be. After all, Wright had police connections. The door closed and I let go of the breath I was holding.
A subway approached from the opposite direction right behind me and the wet piece of paper I’d picked up flopped against my palm. I finally flipped it up to look at it. The air stilled, the fast wind howling between the tunnels disappeared. I felt like I’d just stepped into a deep freezer. What at first I thought was a photograph of me was actually a copy of my mom’s picture of when she was young. I couldn’t believe the resemblance. After all these years, she was still on his mind. Or was she?
And just before the train left, Wright turned around and looked right at me with a deadly smirk. He wasn’t shocked to see me holding the photograph. In fact, I was now sure he’d dropped it on purpose. Wright knew exactly who I was.
CHAPTER 14
The train left.
I stood there with my back flat against the wall.
First ring.
I thought Tristan had said he’d taken care of Wright. Had he lied? No, Tristan would never jeopardize his family’s safety. What was the scum doing here?
Second ring.
I should have killed him that day up in the mountain, when Tristan gave me the opportunity to shoot him. Instead I cowered. I lived with the pledge I’d been taught at the force seared into my heart: Police officers don’t shoot to kill unless their life is in jeopardy. And even if with Wright alive I’d feared for my life, at that moment in the mountains, with Tristan’s arm around me as I aimed the rifle, that fear hadn’t seemed so important.
But he’d vowed he’d take care of Wright. I never expected Tristan to murder someone, but his promise to make Wright disappear was worth more than gold. Was this all a coincidence?
Third ring.
“Allie?” Tristan asked in a whisper.
He must have silenced his phone. I’d never call his cell while we were both in the office, so the surprise in his voice was what I’d expected.
I lowered my tone as if the man who’d assaulted my mother and killed my father and unborn sister was nearby. “He’s here.”
My voice shook audibly, and so did my hands and legs. I shuffled my feet along the wall, never breaking my back’s connection with the tiles until I found a bench. A homeless man tucked his feet in so I could sit.
“Where are you?” I didn’t have to specify who. Tristan knew.
“Eighth and Broadway.”
“Don’t move. I’m coming.”
Five minutes later Tristan rushed down the steps of the subway, almost slipping on the wet ceramic.
I didn’t budge because I simply couldn’t. So many questions were racing through my mind I wasn’t sure exactly where to begin. How did he find me? And why the charade of me following him? What was he planning? Did he know I worked for Cross Enterprises? What if he was making sure I would be alone, stalking me up until now like a ghost? I had to think like an obsessed maniac to figure out his plan. Could I?
“Allie, look at me – you’re safe. I’m here.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I’ve already alerted my men. Come, let’s get back to the office.”
But my body couldn’t respond. I wanted it to, but every single one of my limbs stiffened as if solidified in concrete.
“Allie, please, baby. Look at me.” But nothing he said resonated; it was all just a long piercing buzz of blending sounds pitched an octave too high for my liking. He brought my face higher to look at his eyes. And at that moment it was just me and Tristan. The crowd of people in the tunnel ceased to exist. I concentrated on his eyes and his lips as he was saying something. Feeling the gentle urge in the pressure of his hand, I blinked twice and found my ears were working again.
“We need to leave. I’m sorry you saw him. My men reported to me that he’d left his residence on the west coast two days ago, but I didn’t think he’d show up here.”
“You knew where he lived?”
“Of course I did. I know what he eats, drinks, and shits. This man is not supposed to be on this side of the country. We’ve planted a bug on him to alert us if he crossed this state’s border, but it never went off. Allie, I promise you he’ll be out of here within hours. But for now, you need to come with me. Please?”
Tristan crouched in front of me, rubbing my hands with persistence as if trying to bring that small part of me back to life. I wanted to ask Tristan to kill Wright. I wanted it done now; but instead I whispered, “Okay.”
Tristan took me under his arm, covered me with his coat, and we left. Upstairs, he removed his shoes and suit jacket. I sat on the couch in his office as he made one phone call after another, including one to my mother saying that Julian would pick her up and drive her to his parents’ place. She was to pack for a trip. Where was she going? Tristan’s mouth formed a straight line
most of the time. His sharp moves around the office with his phone glued to his ear had me worried. The usually perched lips I loved to kiss resembled a twig. I’d never seen Tristan so demanding and short with others. But I guessed somebody had dropped the ball. It didn’t sound like he wanted to know who, either, only for the work he’d asked for to be done flawlessly. Tristan unfastened his tie and opened a closet at one end of his office.
“We’re taking Peg with us to Austria.” He’d finally lowered his phone. “So long as I don’t know his whereabouts or figure out why he came back, you’re both under my constant watch.”
Except I already knew exactly why he was back—for me and my mother.
“Okay.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I wondered why Austria of all places. We were supposed to leave in a week for the wedding, of course, which I wasn’t really in the mood for, but shouldn’t we be hiding in an underground bunker instead? And why was everything so blurry and confusing? My hands began trembling on their own, and I slid them under my thighs. Tristan changed his pants into jeans and pulled a sweater over a white undershirt. Oddly I was still wearing my coat.
“The house near Vienna, Gabe’s house, is off the grid. It’s the one of the properties not connected to Cross Enterprises or the family. And since we need to be there soon anyway, it just makes sense.” He came to crouch in front of me again. “I’m going to use the bathroom. Will you be all right for a moment?”
I felt my head move up and down on its own.
When he stepped into the bathroom, someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
At least the automated part of my brain was working. As soon as Laura peeked in and saw me, she ran to my side.
“Are you all right?” She knelt down in front of me. Gosh, I must have really been a mess.
“No.” I shook my head. And I wasn’t sure how I found my voice around my friend, but I was glad it returned. “You know those past ghosts you mentioned once? They’re back.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“I don’t think so. Tristan’s working on it. We’re leaving for Vienna earlier than anticipated.”
“Take as much time as you need. I’ll handle the files. James has some time as well. You just keep well and keep safe.”
“Laura?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for helping Mercedes.”
“It’s my job. Besides, I can’t let you reap in all the rewards,” she teased. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in crime.
“That case,” I said, leaning toward her. My instinct returned. “Marissa’s closed file. Can you have another look through it? See if I missed something? Try to investigate the man who bought her and let me know what you find.”
“I will. Hey, everything will be okay.” She passed me a fresh mug with coffee, one she’d apparently made in the lunch room and I hadn’t noticed until now.
“Thank you.” But my heart was pounding an SOS, urging me to get my mother and run straight to the airport. Get as far away as possible from the bastard, and quickly.
Perhaps leaving for Vienna now was a good idea. I needed time to get the strong Allie back.
CHAPTER 15
The sound of the plane’s engine hummed in my ears. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the consistent spin of the wheezing air in the turbines. Then I imagined myself out there, on the wing, wind pressing my cheeks flat and flapping my hair. Its coolness would slowly freeze my skin so I wouldn’t have to feel anything. I hoped filling my mind with useless thoughts would keep away the one person I didn’t want to think about. It had been twelve hours since Wright had seen me, and the tension in my muscles hadn’t eased. At this rate I’d be sore the moment I let go of the stress.
During our flight Tristan stayed by my side. Julian and Kendra would keep their original plans and join us in a few days. If Kendra wanted to make it to the wedding, leaving her program a week early wasn’t an option. We didn’t tell my mother about Wright and explained the early departure as an opportunity for a vacation. But my mother knew me better than anyone, and it wouldn’t take long before she suspected an ulterior motive.
Tristan’s squeeze on my hand brought me back to the cabin, and I opened my eyes, turning my face to him.
“You need to relax, Allie. You’re safe now. And I’ve just been told he’s out of the state.”
“How?”
“His tracking device is back on. It was a system glitch.”
“It broke coincidently when he was in New York?”
“Yeah, I thought about that as well. He’s not going to hurt you, baby.” He kissed my hand.
“How did you keep him on the other side of the country?” I asked.
“He was reassigned to overlook a precinct in California. They gave him a well paid desk-job any veteran would kill to get. No questions asked. We thought that’d be enough to keep him there, but the bastard showed up in New York instead.”
“He has connections.”
“I know.” Tristan’s fists tightened, and this time I unwound his twisting fingers.
“You’ve done everything you could,” I said.
“Allie, I’m sorry. You just mean everything to me. I can’t let him near you ever again.” He shook his head.
Wright’s sudden appearance had frustrated and perhaps scared Tristan as much as it had me. I could only imagine the guilt he felt after failing to keep his promise of making Wright disappear.
“I know you won’t. I trust you.”
And that was true. If there was anyone in the world who could keep David Wright away from us, it was Tristan Cross. I leaned my head back.
“I should have shot him that day in the mountains.” My muscles tensed further.
“No, you shouldn’t have. Allie, don’t worry. He won’t come near you again. I’m pretty sure it was a coincidence he found you.”
But Wright could find a needle in a haystack if he wanted to. And Tristan was just saying all that to make me feel better. Being in this business, we knew that coincidences like these only meant trouble; in truth, they were never coincidences at all.
Tristan shook his head sideways as if he were disappointed in himself. “Wright was supposed to stay on the West coast and to never set his foot in New York State.”
“Oh, my God, he knows I live in New York.” My heart pounded and everything inside me began to shut down again.
“I don’t know how he found out. His reassignment had nothing to do with you or me or Cross Enterprises. There was no tie that could lead him here.” Tristan untied my clenched fingers and slowly began massaging my palm. It felt good. Like that night he had blessed me with a full body massage.
That’s right, Allie. Think about that night, not Wright. My own thought only brought the bastard back to the fore.
“He came here for me.” I said, acutely aware at how tense Tristan became at my convincing statement.
“Perhaps he was trying to find where the order came from and why, then bumped into you.” Tristan’s hand moved higher up my arm, as he began to unwind my muscles there. His fingers kneaded like a professional’s.
“With over one and a half million people in Manhattan, he bumped into me?” I said with sarcasm. I knew Tristan was just trying to make me feel more comfortable, but I had a feeling nothing would make me more comfortable than seeing Wright’s dead body myself. “Wright is calculating. He must have known the this had something to do with me or my mother.”
“Maybe we’ll get more information when we’re in Vienna. I’ll get in touch with a friend in California. He can dig deeper into this.”
“I hope you’re right.”
He brought myself against him, holding tight. Kissing the top of my head, he said, “I will die before I let him ever hurt my family.”
I snuggled into Tristan. I couldn’t think about Wright anymore. If Tristan said we were safe, then I believed him. The bastard would eventually slip and get what was coming to him, Tristan would mak
e sure of that. I tightened my hand around Tristan’s. The rhythm of his heart and steadiness of his rising and falling chest became my new focal point. I let the sounds carry me away, focusing only his pulse and the air that fed his lungs.
* * *
Gabe and Sam’s house was like the castle of all chalets and cabins. If I’d thought our home in New Jersey was big, well, then this was suitable for a wedding where all the guests could stay instead of in a hotel and enjoy amenities some inns didn’t even have. Little did I know, the plan was to have the entire family stay here.
We arrived late at night, after ten their time, but to us it was only afternoon. After a quick tour of the house, we settled in our bedrooms. By midnight our hosts had gone to bed, and I was still wide awake.
“I don’t think I can go to sleep.” I looked out the window, admiring the picturesque view of the mountains. Winter must had started some time ago because I’d never seen this much of snow in one place. Its whiteness reflected upward, lighting everything from below. And even though it was night time, seeing the brightness made my internal clocks disagree that much more.
Tristan pointed down to the steaming pool. “Want to go for a dip?”
“Yes!” I whipped around and then ran to the suitcase to grab my bathing suit.
“Ahh, you don’t need that.” Tristan took it out of my hand.
I yanked it back. “Yes, I do. I’m not skinny dipping when my mother is in the house. Not to mention, we’re the guests here.” Even if I knew my mother was already settled in her room, engrossed in another romance novel, it didn’t make me feel any more comfortable. She’d packed a bag full of books, and I made a mental note to perhaps try to get her to switch to an ebook reader.
“Gabe and Sam are like family,” Tristan growled in desperation.
“All the more reason to keep our clothes on while outside of this bedroom.” I started changing. From the way Tristan kept looking at me, I wished I’d packed a one-piece instead of the tiny bikini. Could you swim in a snow suit? It would take all my strength to resist him in that pool and he knew it. Had I already lost this battle? That enticing scar of his lifted, and the surge in my veins pushed toward my heart, which also began pounding. What was I thinking when I complied with Tristan’s request to bring beach-wear? Especially since my belly started popping out further every day.