KATE: MADISON KATE #4

by James Tate

  Seeing her handed over to the EMTs was surreal and such a relief that my knees buckled and I sank to my ass on the lawn. Steele said nothing, just sat down beside me and tucked his arm around me in comfort.

  Kody stayed with the EMTs—one of whom I recognized from the night before—and talked to them as they set the woman up in a bed and inserted an IV line. No doubt she was badly in need of fluids. Who knew when Dave had last fed or watered his captives? No fucking wonder the other woman was dead.

  "Do you want to wait in the car while we finish this?" Steele's tone was soft. His lips pressed a kiss to the side of my head, just below my bullet graze.

  Normally, I'd have sucked it up and stuck it out because we were a team. All for one and one for all. But something about finding a live victim had rattled me so much harder than all the death I'd witnessed in the last few months. So I nodded silently and let him escort me over to the car where we'd left it in the street.

  "Here," he said as I slid into the passenger seat. He handed me his phone. "Hold onto this; call Kody's phone if you need us for anything, okay? We'll try and make this quick."

  I nodded, promising I'd be fine, then locked the doors as he jogged back to Dave's house. Or his victim's house, anyway.

  Anxiety and impatience started setting in only a few minutes later, and I found myself shifting around in my seat like I had ants in my pants. In an attempt to calm my nerves, I turned on Steele's phone and pulled up an internet browser.

  My stomach knotted painfully as I typed in the address of the house and added the surname I'd seen on an envelope in the kitchen. It only took a minute of browsing results to find what I was looking for.

  The pretty blonde from the pictures was Samantha Clarke, a twenty-nine-year-old seamstress. Her husband, forty-one-year-old David Clarke, was a former FBI agent who'd retired several years ago after a knee injury that’d left him with walking difficulties.

  I chewed at my lip, wondering if Samantha was the woman who'd lived or the one who'd died.

  It took another hour before the boys were done. They returned to the car looking grim and exhausted. None of us spoke on the drive home, but as we passed through our front gates I cracked.

  "What will happen now?" I asked in a hollow voice.

  Steele glanced over at me from the driver's seat. "We documented everything we found. The neighbors have been informed that there's been a gas leak in their street and not to come home tonight. Sampson will take care of the rest. By morning, there won't be a shred of DNA or evidence left."

  "Sampson's still alive?" I asked, genuinely relieved. I had been so worried about Archer the night before that I hadn't given a second thought to what had happened to the rest of our security team.

  Kody snorted a laugh. "He's basically indestructible, babe. If it weren’t for him and Gill, as well as James and Steinwick, I doubt we'd have all made it out of that ambush alive last night."

  "Gotcha," I murmured. "What about the woman? Is she going to be okay?"

  Steele gave a shrug. "Only time will tell. She was in pretty rough shape; it'll be awhile before we can speak with her, I'd think."

  I nodded my understanding. What more could I really expect? Besides... what would I even say to her, given the chance? Sorry my psychopathic serial-killer, stalker uncle held you captive and...

  Yeah. Maybe not.

  But at least she was alive. That was something, wasn't it? We'd saved one of his victims. Yet all I could think about was how many more we'd failed for taking so long to stop him—how many other women he might have killed in the years he'd stalked me and my mom.

  How the hell was I ever going to get past this?

  * * *

  The woman we'd saved was, in fact, Samantha Clarke. A week later she'd recovered enough to speak with Kody—posing as a police officer—and she filled in the remaining blanks.

  The dead woman was her sister, Janette, who'd come over to check on her and been taken by Dave. He'd done horrific, nightmare-inducing things to both of them over the course of the last year, but he'd stopped feeding them a few weeks ago. Samantha told how they'd been thrown occasional scraps and given water, but then all of that had dried up about five days before we found them. Dave hadn't returned, and her sister had died two days before we found the house.

  I hadn't gone to speak with her myself, aware that she'd seen my face on that wall facing her cage for every waking moment of her captivity. Seeing me now wasn't going to do her any good. The information Kody relayed was vague at best, and it was abundantly clear he was sparing me the details.

  For that, I was thankful.

  Less than twenty-four hours after Samantha was discharged into the care of her cousin, we found out she'd killed herself.

  42

  The process of healing took some time and a healthy amount of therapy for me. Unlike the boys, I wasn't used to all the violence, death, and destruction. It plagued my dreams to the point I would wake up screaming and thrashing, even with one of them sleeping beside me. After a few weeks, I'd admitted to myself—and to them—how scared for my own sanity I was becoming. After that, they'd sourced me the very best therapist in the state, and with her help, I was slowly healing.

  Archer had needed more time in the hospital than he'd been happy with, but we’d given him no option to decline. The bullet wound in his side had chipped a fragment of bone from his rib, which had started causing complications, and I wasn't risking his health over his stubborn pride.

  There’d been no way in hell he could make his fight and had to forfeit. That, I guessed, was the thing pissing him off the most.

  To my surprise—in a good way—after a few weeks, the guys started taking turns accompanying me to therapy. Not to babysit me, but to participate. It was weird, but every damn time it made my heart happy. They were invested in this relationship and in my wellbeing. But more than that, they recognized the need for themselves to grow and heal along with me... They put their big dick energy aside and welcomed positive mental health changes.

  Not to say they suddenly became choir boys, hell no. But every damn day our bonds grew stronger and tighter until I could barely remember what it felt like to be without them, criminal activities and all.

  The first weekend of summer, Archer woke me up early and announced we were going for a vacation.

  It was out of the blue enough that I sat up with a confused frown. "Vacation? Where to?"

  His answering grin was all mischief. "Wait and see, Princess."

  I scowled back at him. Surprises were not high on my list of favorite things these days. "Sunshine..."

  He silenced my sleepy protests with a long, lingering kiss that made my heart race. "Pack a swimsuit, baby girl. Or don't." His wink was pure sex, and a wave of desire rippled through me. "Come on, it's a long drive, and I promised we'd be there for lunch."

  I frowned again. "Promised who?"

  He just kissed me again, then reached over and flicked Steele in the forehead to wake him up. "Come on, metal dick. We're leaving in half an hour."

  Steele flipped him off without opening his eyes, but Archer just smirked and headed out of my bedroom.

  I thought for sure Steele had gone back to sleep again, but the second the door closed, his arm snaked around my waist and he dragged me back under the covers with him.

  "Mmm, good morning, Hellcat," he mumbled into my neck as he kissed my warm skin. His hands roamed over me, slipping under my sleep shirt and gripping my waist.

  I grinned as he ground his hard dick against my ass. "Max... you heard the boss. We gotta go in half an hour."

  "I heard him," he replied in a sleepy voice. His fingers hooked into my panties and tugged them down my legs. "Half an hour. So let's be quick, or I'll end up sharing you when he comes back to yell at us."

  A low chuckle bubbled from me as he coaxed my legs open. "Don't need to tell me twice."

  As it turned out, it was closer to an hour before we left the house. Steele and I used every second of that half
hour, then still needed to shower and pack our bags for this mystery vacation.

  Or rather, it was a mystery to me. Steele clearly knew where we were going because he helped me pack and discarded anything remotely dressy or formal. So that was my clue. Wherever we were going, it was going to be casual and comfortable the whole time.

  It already sounded perfect.

  We took one of Archer's black, bulletproof Range Rovers, and the boys gave me the front passenger seat. My phone rang before we'd even been on the road for five minutes, and a flash of anticipation raced through me as I looked at the caller ID.

  "Leon," I answered, knowing he was the only one who’d call from a secured network. "How'd it go?"

  "All sorted," the computer-genius mercenary told me. "I've emailed you with the three candidates I'd pick and earmarked my top choice. Up to you, though; it's your company to run."

  I let out a long sigh of relief, feeling one less worry weighing me down. The past weeks had been a whirlwind of legal bullshit, red tape, and borderline nasty discussions with the board of directors at Wittenberg. Just eight days earlier, though, a court in Pretoria had officially signed off on my claim of ownership over one of the world’s largest companies—and diamond mines.

  I was no idiot; I knew damn well that the sheer volume of money Archer had been able to throw at the case had fast-tracked it through the legal system a hundred times quicker than it could have been done otherwise. But even so, my nerves had been on edge every time I had to speak with the suspicious, judgmental old men on my company board. Not to mention their flesh-eating lawyers.

  Leon's help had been the relief I so badly needed. He'd felt so guilty about not catching Dave in his security sweep that he'd offered me a freebie—something I'd happily taken him up on when I took an instant dislike to the man who'd taken over from Kruger as interim CEO.

  I was in no position to run a company I knew nothing about. But I'd be damned if I kept a misogynistic old fuck in charge. Especially one who talked to my tits for our entire Zoom call and insulted me with every second word. Nope. No way in hell.

  Ideally, I wanted someone in charge who I could trust, at least for a few years until I learned enough to become involved myself. In lieu of that, though, I wanted someone I could potentially grow to trust. Someone who would look after the interests of my family's company, not just line their own pockets. That's where Leon had come in. He'd run an extensive audit of the entire company's management team, and then looked further abroad to competitors.

  "Thank you, Leon," I said with a sigh. "I really appreciate your help."

  He just scoffed. "It wasn't a favor, MK. I owed you, big time. Anyway, get your legal team onto whichever of those candidates you like best. They're all poach jobs from direct competition, though, so maybe a personal touch might work in your favor."

  I grinned and thanked him again before ending the call.

  Archer gave me a curious look before returning his eyes to the road. "Good news from Leon?"

  I nodded and opened my email to see who he'd picked out. I had been keeping up with his whole investigation, which had started weeks before the company had been officially handed over to me, so I was already familiar with who I thought he might have chosen.

  "Knew it," I said, reading the names of the attachment files out loud.

  Steele whooped. "You suckers owe me fifty bucks each."

  I looked up from my phone, turning to peer at him in the back seat. "You three taking bets on my future CEO now?"

  Archer rolled his eyes, but Kody was the one who replied. "Steele guessed Leon would give you three female options; Arch and I thought he would throw one dude in just for variety."

  I snickered a laugh, already pleased with the options Leon had chosen. "Well, he got a good read on what I wanted, that's for sure." I hit forward on the email and sent the files over to my new legal team, asking them to start drafting an offer of employment to the woman Leon had marked as his favorite.

  That done, I tucked my phone away to enjoy the drive to our mystery vacation spot with my guys.

  "So, when do you guys wanna tell me where we're going?"

  The three of them all grinned, Kody catching my eyes in the mirror.

  "Wait and see, babe," he told me. "Otherwise it's not a surprise."

  I huffed and reached out to turn the stereo on. With music filling the car, I settled into my seat, and Archer's hand rested on my knee while he drove. It was all kinds of blissful, and I decided that maybe I didn't mind surprises so much after all.

  Half a day of driving later, we pulled into a driveway lined by gorgeous old oak trees. I shot Archer a curious look, sitting up a bit straighter in my seat. He wasn't giving away shit, though. Neither were the guys in the back, but they were carefully watching me for my reactions.

  The driveway wound down the side of a hill, then opened up at the bottom to reveal a stunning wooden house. Or more of a lodge than a house. It was enormous but breathtakingly beautiful, with multiple peaked roofs and an abundance of windows.

  "This is gorgeous," I murmured, trying to take it all in as Archer parked next to several other cars. "Is it a hotel?"

  Kody snickered, and Archer shook his head.

  "No." Archer unbuckled his belt and climbed out of the car. He came around and opened my door before I got to it, then offered me his hand to step out. "It's a house." He paused then, and the other guys joined us there as we looked up at the majestic mountain lodge.

  "Our house," Steele added, and my jaw dropped.

  "What?" The question was more of a shriek than a word, but they got the idea.

  Kody's arm wrapped around my waist, and I leaned into his side without taking my eyes off the house. "Remember, you told us about your perfect house? The one you wanted to move to when our lives were less dangerous, somewhere to get away from the violence and prying eyes of Shadow Grove?"

  "Y-yeah?" I was totally dumbstruck. They’d bought us a house? Like... for all of us?

  Steele took a few strides forward, opened one of the huge wooden doors, and turned to grin at me. "We've been searching for the perfect one ever since that conversation," he told me, proud as fuck. "The owners of this one took a little convincing, but about two weeks after Dave, they agreed to sell. Welcome home, Hellcat."

  "If you hate it, we can keep looking," Archer added in a low voice. "We just wanted to surprise you."

  I shook my head in stunned disbelief. "You definitely managed that." I finally tore my eyes from the house to look at each of my guys in wonder. "It's perfect," I told them with heartfelt honestly. I didn't even need to look inside to see if it ticked my boxes. It was perfect because they’d chosen it.

  "Well, that's not all," Kody announced with a wide smile. "Come on; we have another surprise for you."

  They urged me into the foyer, then hurried me through the expansive, open-plan kitchen without giving me a chance to look around properly. It didn't take long to figure out what they were so excited about, though.

  The gorgeous, sunny family room opened out on the other side of the house to reveal an enormous, sparkling mountain lake.

  "Holy shit," I gasped, my jaw dropping as I took in the scenery. The lake was surrounded by rolling hills and tall peaks, and not a single other house was in view. It was like our own private slice of paradise.

  They’d really nailed it. Every single detail.

  "And it snows here in winter," Archer whispered in my ear as I stood there, totally dumbfounded. "That lake will ice over, and the road in will become totally snowed over. We could be trapped up here for months with no contact to the outside world, if we wanted."

  A shiver of excitement rippled through me, and I let out a small moan.

  "It's fucking perfect," I whispered. "You guys are blowing my damn mind right now."

  Movement down near the water grabbed my attention, and I squinted against the sun glare on the water. "Is that—"

  "Surprise." Kody laughed. "Come on." He linked his fingers thr
ough mine and pulled me out of the house. A short staircase from the balcony took us down to a sloped lawn dotted with lovely shade trees, and at the water's edge a gazebo held a barbeque and some comfortable outdoor lounges.

  Along with our friends. Everyone I cared about seemed to have been invited, including Bree with her huge belly and Dallas with his fresh Timberwolf ink.

  Happy tears stung my eyes as I hugged her tight, and she just laughed back.

  "You look so freaking good," I said, letting her go again.

  She just beamed and shrugged, her hand rubbing her belly. "Yeah well, I have you guys to thank for that. Dallas has had a whole lot more time to spend with me now that he's out of the Wraiths."

  My old friend met my eyes over his fiancée's head, and we exchanged a private smile. When we'd approached Zed about getting Dallas out of the Wraiths, he'd needed proof of loyalty. Dallas had delivered that and more, spending weeks hacking the Wraiths’ accounts and uncovering paper trails to show they'd been stealing from the Reapers.

  Then, after so many Wraiths had been complicit in the attack on me, Dallas had taken matters into his own hands and killed Charon in his sleep. After that, he’d needed the Timberwolves protection more than ever, and Hades had provided it.

  None of us had even known he'd done it until Cass had called for a meeting with Archer to discuss the change of leadership in the Wraiths. Skate—stupid name—had stepped up into Charon's role and been given stern warnings not to step out of line or he’d meet the same fate as his predecessor.

  With a knowing wink to Dallas, I moved on to greet everyone else that had turned up. Constance hugged me like I was her own granddaughter and gave her nod of approval that I was still wearing the D'Ath family ring. Ana was with her, and they looked happier than ever.

  Steinwick, Anna, and James were working the barbeque together, and the sight of our stuffy butler in pineapple-printed board shorts and an apron that had cartoon tits on it was enough to kill me laughing.

  "Whatever you're cooking, it smells incredible," I told the three of them with a wide grin.