by Lexi Blake
“Other girl?” her father asked.
“Yes, I can count. You walked in with two women and two men. I see Nikolai, your precious daughter, and the CIA agent. Where is the lovely Asian girl?”
“She’s from California,” Fain shot back.
“Semantics,” Helena replied. “Where is she?”
Hayley glanced back and sure enough, Kayla wasn’t where they’d left her. The stairs were empty. But she was almost certain Kay hadn’t come down with them. “She went to the ladies’ room.”
Fain moved in behind her. She was surrounded by men with guns.
“Kay’s serious about her makeup,” Fain offered. “I’m sure she got lost or something. She’s amazing eye candy, but she has no sense of direction.”
Helena snorted, an oddly elegant sound. “I’m sure. I know a trained operative when I see one. You, go and do a sweep of the office. Be careful. She’s pretty but deadly.” Helena waved a hand at one of the guards with her and he promptly trotted up the stairs. “Now, I’ll take the key and the girl.”
Nick’s gun came up and suddenly there were five or six guns pointed her way. Hayley found herself squished between Nick and Fain, but neither man could completely cover her. They were caught in a circle of guards, neatly flanked by Helena’s men.
She held on to Nick’s waist, terror starting to well inside her. She couldn’t lose him like this. She couldn’t lose him at all. Not when she’d finally found her way back to him.
“Hayley doesn’t know anything,” Nick said, his focus on Helena, but Hayley didn’t doubt he knew what they were up against. “If you want to talk, you’ll let her go and then I’ll have a conversation with you. You know no one knew Desiree better than I did. You can have the key and me. Let my friend take her out of here and then I’ll make sure you get what you want.”
“No.” Hayley opened her mouth to make her case, but Ezra threw an arm around her waist, pulling her back toward him.
“Keep quiet,” Ezra whispered. “Let him do what he needs to do. Don’t make this hard on him.”
She wasn’t going to make it hard. She was going to make it impossible for him to martyr himself. “I’ll go with you if you let the rest of them leave unharmed.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Nick insisted. “She knows absolutely nothing and she no longer has the key. She wouldn’t know what to do with the damn thing even if she still had it. Your best bet to survive this is to let Hayley leave with Mr. Fain. Do you really want to deal with the Agency?”
Helena sighed as though she couldn’t possibly care less. “I think the Agency will burn him. They don’t care about their operatives. If he disappears, they’ll hire another one just like him. And don’t invoke your boss’s name. I’m not afraid of them. I know how to avoid the real predators of this world. Besides, once I get that video, I won’t have to work anymore.”
“What kind of video?” Despite the horror of the situation, Hayley found herself curious.
Helena’s lips curled up. “The kind that someone will pay an enormous amount of money to keep from leaking to the press. I happen to be one of the last people left on earth who actually knows what’s on that video. There’s only one other, and he’ll be hearing from me soon. He’s been looking for it for a very long time. He’ll reward the woman who brings it to him.”
“You know where it is?” She couldn’t quite stop asking questions. Maybe she shouldn’t. Kayla was somewhere. She wouldn’t be hiding and she wouldn’t have run and left them behind. Kay was up there and that meant she was planning something. Hayley might not know the woman as well as Nick, but she knew enough about his team to know they wouldn’t ever leave one of their own behind.
So Kay needed time and space to work.
“Hayley, I need you to let me handle this,” Nick said, his voice tight. “Please be quiet.”
Unfortunately, she knew what Nick’s only goal was. He wouldn’t think about anyone else until he’d gotten Hayley out. Hayley had to think for the team, had to keep Helena talking to give them all some time.
Including her dad.
“I want to know. I think I deserve to know what’s on that video because I’m the one who suffered the most,” she shot back. “I want to know what I’ve been suffering for.”
“Your backside’s going to suffer,” Nick said under his breath.
She was absolutely sure it would, if they survived this. She was certain at some point she would find herself over his knee, and he would take out some frustration on her ass before ripping off her clothes and taking her hard and fast in a desperate attempt to prove to himself she was still alive and safe.
He loved her. It was different this time. This time he’d chosen and he wouldn’t go back. She could feel it. All she had to do was believe.
Believe in him. Believe in herself. Believe that she hadn’t gone through all this hell to die in a random warehouse in Rio.
“You can see it for yourself,” Helena said. “I’ll take you to the storage center. I worked with Desiree for years. I know all her secrets. I knew her. The place might have moved, but the accounts did not. I figured out how she’d left her ultimate personal data. Silly, sentimental fool. That surprised me. The one thing she ever did that surprised me. She protected it with that stupid necklace. Come with me, Hayley. I’m interested in you. I’ll show you.”
She wasn’t walking away and letting them kill her boys. And her girl. They were a team and Kayla wasn’t ready to move or she already would have. “I want to see it. I want to know what Des had. She left it all to me. Did that bother you?”
It was a good bet that Helena had some sort of relationship with Des. Des hadn’t done simple relationships. Des made everyone think they were special. She’d needed everyone to be obsessed with her or she hadn’t trusted the person.
Helena lips curled up, but her eyes told the real tale. They were cold. “Not at all. You were her cousin. I understand family.”
Ah, but she had some info poor Helena didn’t have. “She wasn’t any blood of mine. Tell her, Dad.”
She saw the way her father’s body went tight, his shoulders straightening out.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sweetheart,” her father said. He turned toward her, his eyes widening in that way that let her know he was in.
They’d had a language no one else understood. Poker language. He’d trained her in it. When he looked at her like that, he understood the game. He would back her.
Her father had been a bastard, but he’d been hers. Her dad. He got her. He knew what she needed. He would aid her bluff.
Time. They needed time.
She stepped away from the men protecting her, putting her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. Sometimes distraction was the best bluff. “Oh, you don’t know? Because I know. Do you think I’m that stupid, Dad? I figured out your con. You, ass. Why didn’t you bring me in? Were you conning me, too?”
Her father brought his hand up, a righteous finger pointing her way. “I never once conned my own daughter. How dare you even accuse me.”
“Step back.” Nick moved in front of her.
Chaos. Sweet, sweet chaos. It was exactly what they needed. She could see it in Helena’s eyes. They were tight, her body caving in on itself like she didn’t know what to do. Everyone else was looking to her and she wasn’t sure how to move forward.
Yes.
Helena didn’t want to kill her so she made herself a big old target. She moved toward her father.
“You never conned me? Do you remember my childhood?” Staying out of Nick’s and Fain’s hold wasn’t easy. Thank god she’d kicked off the heels. “You conned me every single time we met.”
“I didn’t con you ever, girl. You were my daughter and I treated you like gold.” His face had gone a nice shade of red and Hayley had to wonder how much of it he meant and how much he wished were true. “Don’t you dare talk about cons.”
“My childhood was one long con,” she accused. She could se
e the way Nick was easing up behind her. The guards had no idea what to do. They were glancing around, trying to figure out what Helena wanted them to do. “You lied about Des. You told me she was my cousin.”
Sometimes truth was the best distraction.
Her father’s face went grave. “Cons can go wrong. You need to remember that the con has a heart too, and sometimes the game gets confused. Life isn’t black and white. It’s so, so many shades of gray, baby girl. You were loved. I know you had trouble, but you were loved, and I wouldn’t have stayed around someone who couldn’t love you. Not anyone I would have brought you close to.”
Hayley stopped, Desiree’s own words coming back to her in a flood of revelation. She’d memorized that letter Des had written.
I never could help myself. I had to put my fingers in every single pie I could. I had to stir up trouble where there was none. It was one thing Nicky and I completely disagree on. He wants peace in his life and I think that sounds like the most boring thing ever. The only time I ever wonder if I’m missing something is when I’m with the two of you. Somehow time seems to slow down and the world seems like a softer place when you’re in the room. Especially when Nick is there, too. Did you know in all my life, I never found anyone who made me so aware of what’s missing inside me as you? That should have made me hate you, Hayley. Instead it made me love you. If…well, we both know that wouldn’t have worked, but that “if” has defined my life for some time now.
Tears suddenly blurred her eyes as she made the deep and certain revelation that somehow Desiree had loved her. Desiree had loved Nick. Though her heart had been twisted and scarred, she’d still loved them.
Her father had loved her.
Ariel had told her that love was stability. Maybe she’d had more stability than she’d thought. Maybe it was time to forgive herself for her insecurities. Maybe it was time to grab life and love and happiness with both hands and promise to never let go.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. In that instant, she chose. She chose to believe that it was Kayla in motion, that she would win.
And that she had things to say.
“I love you, Dad.”
A loud crack split the world and Hayley watched as the first guard, the one nearest to her, went down easy. A second shot slammed through the room and then time seemed to speed up.
She heard Nick shout, but she was watching her father. His body stiffened, his spine going straight, and a red stripe bloomed on his chest.
He stared right at her and took a step toward her. “Hay…love you, girl.”
Before she could reach him, she was tackled from behind. Nick pressed her against the floor as the bullets started to fly. He covered her, not exposing an inch of her skin. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see. What had happened to her father? She’d been so angry with him, but now she knew she could forgive him. She could move on.
“Stay down, dushka,” he whispered in her ear.
And then his body jolted in a terrifying way. Once. Twice and then again.
“I love you, Hayley. Stay down. Don’t move.”
But she was starting to panic because something warm and wet ran onto her arm. Blood. Not hers. Precious blood. Nick’s blood.
Please. Please. Please. She tried to force him off her. She could hear a war raging all around them, but he wouldn’t move. He wouldn’t leave her. He was dying above her and he wouldn’t save himself.
He would give it all up before he would leave her.
Hayley felt a jolt and used every single bit of energy she had to shove Nick off her. She shouted and screamed and didn’t give a single damn that all around her was death and blood and pain. Nick mattered. He didn’t even know.
She felt something against her forehead. Something cold and metal.
“Don’t move or I’ll kill her.” Helena was standing above her. “Come downstairs, bitch, or your friend is done. Same for you, asshole. Come out from wherever you are. I might be alone now, but I still have the upper hand.”
So Erza had made a move. He’d gotten away and he and Kayla had taken out the others. None of it would matter if Nick died. Hayley could see the blood on his white dress shirt. She wasn’t sure where the bullets had gone in, but one was definitely in his belly and another higher up. How much could his body take? How long would he survive?
He was so still.
She glanced to the side and saw what she hadn’t before. Her father was on the ground, his eyes staring up, blood creasing his mouth. Her father. She’d mourned him before. She would have to again.
God, she couldn’t mourn Nick.
She didn’t have time and there was a gun to her head.
Nothing mattered if Nick didn’t live. Risk. Des hadn’t been afraid to take a risk. She’d been a badass bitch with more personality problems than Hayley could imagine, but sometimes love meant excusing those things in favor of the best qualities of another human being.
What would Des do?
She would fight to the fucking end. She would risk it all for the big play—to win what she loved.
Hayley threw her head forward and then back, catching Helena right in the pelvis and sending her foe reeling back.
Kay would take care of her.
Hayley leaned forward, hearing another volley of gunfire but not caring about anything except Nick. He was bleeding and she needed to stop it.
His eyes opened as the gunfire seemed to stop. “Love you, dushka.”
She shook her head, tears streaming. This couldn’t happen. Her whole soul revolted against the idea. “No. No. You don’t get to leave me.”
“Kayla, we need a bus and I’m going to have to get her out of here.” Ezra had blood on his shirt, but he was calm. His eyes strayed to her father’s body. So much regret was in that stare.
Kayla was on her cell phone, talking into it and asking for help. She hung up and walked in. “I’ve got a bus coming for him. Get her out of here. Interpol is looking for her. She can come to the hospital later, but this is going to be a crime scene. They’ll check into all of us and I would rather make sure her cover is secure. Nick wouldn’t want less.”
Hayley shook her head. She wasn’t leaving him. She dropped to her knees, trying to get her hands on him. “Nicky, baby, you have to hold on. I won’t leave you. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you.”
God, she wished she knew how to say it in Russian.
He couldn’t seem to lift his head, but his eyes found hers. His clear, perfectly blue eyes. “Ya lyublyu tebya.”
Ezra pulled her away, ignoring how hard she struggled against him. He rushed her out the door, but Hayley’s heart stayed with Nick.
As Ezra carried her out into the night, she prayed it wasn’t the last time she saw her love.
* * * *
One week later, Nick sighed and rubbed his cheek against Hayley’s as she helped him into the conference room. He was so tired, his body aching, but none of it mattered because he was home. Finally. He’d spent the night before in his own bed, cuddled up to her.
Hayley was safe and all felt right with the world.
Ian Taggart looked up from his file. “Dude, you look like shit without a spleen. It’s like you died.”
He started to give boss number two his happy middle finger, but his girl got there first.
Hayley stared Taggart down. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, take your ass somewhere else. Am I clear?”
Charlotte applauded along with Penny and Kay. He thought he heard one of them whisper something like “one of us.”
Taggart frowned but then ruined it with a wink. “Your girl is mean, Nick.”
His girl was perfect. So freaking perfect. He could still remember that moment when she’d looked down at him, her eyes crystal with tears, and he’d felt her love. She’d begged him not to leave her and he’d promised he wouldn’t. He’d told her he loved her, but he’d promised himself he wouldn’t die. Not on her. She needed him.
When he’d w
oken up in the hospital, she’d been there, asleep at his bedside, her hand holding his. His surgery had been touch and go, but he was going to be okay.
“I’ll have to disagree with you, boss. My girl is quite nice.” He smiled Taggart’s way because he’d definitely softened toward the man. After all, it had been Ian who had introduced him to Ezra Fain, and that CIA agent had gotten Hayley out of The Palace before the authorities could nab her. Ezra had taken care of her while Kayla had explained things to the authorities. Ezra had convinced the ambassador to step in and help sort through the confusion. Ezra had been the reason Hayley could come to the hospital and see him through his recuperation. The Brazilian government now believed that Nick and Kay were private investigators attempting to find a missing person—Hayley’s father. They’d gotten caught in a small gang war, and after promising to keep the story out of the press, the police were happy to let them all go. After all, they had given the police the chance to take down an infamously illegal gambling ring. It was all over the press and they were happy to look like heroes.
The man hadn’t been home in two months, but here he was waiting for the debrief.
Hayley wouldn’t let go of his hand. His sweet sub wasn’t about to let her Master fall. He could have told her that she was his strength and nothing would stop him now. He allowed her to help him sit, though he felt stronger than he had in days. He felt good. He felt right.
“How are you feeling?” Damon sat at the head of the table. “You made the flight all right?”
He had because he’d had Hayley there with him the whole way, taking care of him, loving him. “It was perfect. Don’t worry about me physically. The doctors took good care of me and I have an appointment to follow up. I intend to follow all their instructions. I’ll be at a desk for about six weeks, but I’m going to recover and it’s all thanks to Hayley and Kayla and Ezra.”
He wouldn’t call him Fain again. He would call him Ezra or brother. He wished Ezra was here, but he’d faded off like the ghost he was after ensuring Hayley was safe and that her life was given back to her.