She was still—understandably—fired-up mad at him. Real fear gripped him as he considered the fact that she might never get past her anger. And he would only have himself to blame.
Sirens screamed, law enforcement descended. Mike’s fury rivaled Summer’s as he glared at David. “We don’t need this, David. All this attention isn’t a good thing. We need to get out of here before the cops start asking questions.”
David nodded. The trial was so close, he couldn’t start being stupid now. Or more stupid than he’d already been. He looked at Summer. “He’s right, getting out of sight isn’t a bad idea.”
Summer bit her lip and glanced around. “Fine.”
David breathed a small sigh of relief. She had a hot temper sometimes, but she wasn’t an idiot.
Together, with the marshals flanking them, they started to move toward the store, then David stopped. He stared at the young man who’d been shot and ignored Chase’s prodding to hurry it up. “Pauli … ,” he whispered.
“Who’s Pauli?”
“A good kid.” He shook his head. “What’s he doing involved in this mess?”
“We’ll figure it out later, now go,” Chase ordered.
They moved to the store David had forced his way out of. Holding the door open, Chase Tollison glared at him. David glared right back. Summer moved past the marshal and David thought he caught a glimmer of respect in the man’s eyes before he shuttered them.
Once inside the store, Mike and the other marshals ushered David and Summer to the dressing room.
Mike looked around. “No windows. One entrance, one exit. We should be good for a short time.” He got on the phone to make arrangements for another housing situation.
Summer’s wounded stare cut him to the core. He should have done so many things differently. He thought he’d have more time. “I’m sorry.”
Tears flooded her emerald eyes. “I am too, David.”
He knew she wasn’t apologizing. They both knew she had no reason to be sorry. None of this was her fault.
Mike lowered his phone and said, “We’ve got a new location. A car will be here shortly. We’ve emptied the shop and it’s secure as of this moment. The car will pull up to the delivery entrance in about twenty minutes. Be ready to move.”
David registered Mike’s words, but his attention stayed on Summer. “I know you’re hurt and angry and you have every right to be, but you’ve got to put that aside for now and come with us.”
She jerked and flushed. “I need to go home. Marlee needs me.”
“You really think you’d even make it home before someone grabbed you?”
Summer sank into the chair abandoned by the dressing room attendant. “No. I probably wouldn’t.” A fact that had her glaring lasers at him again. “I can’t believe my life has turned into some action adventure movie.” She stood and paced to the end of the dressing room, then back. “Tell me everything. I want the whole story. Every last teeny, tiny detail.”
FRIDAY
8:30 P.M.
Summer saw David swallow hard. “Every detail, huh?”
He shifted on the dressing room bench and she noticed how pale he looked. Upon closer examination, she could see the strain running after her had taken on him. He looked wiped out and ready to drop. Tough. She pushed aside the sympathy trying to spring up. She needed some answers. “Is everything about you a lie?”
He flinched, dropped his head back against the wall, and closed his eyes. She didn’t ask him again. He’d either tell her or not.
But he had about two seconds to decide before she walked out of the store.
And into the hands of the men who’d just tried to snatch her from the sidewalk in front of the hospital. She settled in for a wait.
Her phone buzzed for the hundredth time since she’d been cut off from talking to Marlee. Her sister had probably called out the National Guard by now. She had no choice but to talk to her. Summer grabbed the device from her front pocket and pressed the green talk button. “Hi, Marlee.”
“Are you okay?” The screech hit her highest decibel level yet and Summer winced.
“I’m fine. Take it down a notch, will you?”
“Well, what do you expect? What happened? Tell me—”
“Marlee, I’m fine.”
Her sister stopped her tirade. “Okay. Good.” She sighed, then blurted, “Oh! I almost forgot. Nick needs you to cosign his loan for that little trailer on the lake. Do you think you could meet him at the bank at four o’clock next Friday afternoon?”
Summer ground her teeth. David’s words came back to haunt her. “One day you’re going to regret all you do for them.”
“They’re my brother and sister, Kyle,” she’d argued. “What am I supposed to do? Turn them away when they need help?”
“They’re leeches and they take advantage of your giving nature without a second thought. Take my word for it and run while you can.” His bitterness hadn’t made sense to her at the time and she’d just ignored the warning.
Now, she wondered if Marlee was even in touch with reality. A sick feeling engulfed her. Had she done this? Molded Marlee into this needy, clingy creature? Or was she giving herself too much power? Marlee had a mind of her own.
“Marlee, I’ll deal with that later. I’m in Charlotte, North Carolina, remember? Three hours away?”
“What are you doing there?”
“Kyle’s in the hospital.”
A pause. “What happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Is he all right?”
“For now.”
Marlee lost interest. “What should I tell Nick?”
Summer almost couldn’t find her voice. Marlee’s blatant selfishness and lack of concern for her and David spoke volumes. Sadness engulfed her. “I’m not even sure when I’ll be home or when I’ll be able to talk to you next. Tell Nick I’ll call him when I can.”
A pause. “You said you were okay.”
“I’m okay for now—”
“And Kyle is with you.”
She frowned. “Yes.”
“So you have time for him, but not for me. When is it going to be my turn, Summer?”
Really?
She almost said something like having more time on her hands in the near future—after she left her lying husband—but the truth was, she wasn’t even sure she’d tell Marlee a word of what had happened. Although she supposed she’d have some explaining to do when she announced her upcoming divorce. Bitterness sliced through her.
First her father; then Joshua, her lying ex-fiancé; now Kyle.
David.
Whoever.
“Did you hear me? He’s in the hospital!” She couldn’t help raising her voice. The whole conversation was beyond ridiculous. “I’ve got to go, Marlee, I’ll call you later.” She hung up with her sister still sputtering in her ear. Weariness settled on her shoulders as she powered the iPhone down and slipped it into her purse.
She looked at David.
He’d listened to her side of the entire exchange. Shock stood out on his face. “You hung up on her.”
“Yes, I did, what of it?” she snapped. Then winced. Just because she was finally admitting to herself her sister’s true colors didn’t mean she had to turn into a shrew.
Although the knowing look on his face made her want to smack him. But she couldn’t. This latest conversation with Marlee had just switched the light on for her. She forced the three words from her lips. “You were right.”
“I’m sorry.” Real sympathy shone in his gaze. “I didn’t want to be.”
“You warned me. How did you recognize it and I couldn’t?”
“Experience.”
“Who?”
“My brother.”
“Your real brother or the one you made up?”
His lips tightened, but he said, “The real one.”
“You guys ready to move?” Mike asked from the doorway.
David’s face shuttered, hardened to a
granite look Summer had never seen there before. A tremor ran through her.
Who had she married?
As he took a gun from Mike’s outstretched hand and slipped it into a shoulder holster with only a faint grimace indicating he still felt the pain from his accident, she not only wondered who she’d married, but what.
She looked at Mike. “You arm your protectees?”
Mike grunted. “Not typically.” He shot a glare at David. “But then he’s not a typical protectee. He says he either has a gun or he goes out on his own.”
She lifted a brow at David. “So you carry a gun?”
He studied her. “I’m former special forces. I was an Army Ranger, Summer.” He returned Mike’s glare. “And I didn’t have a weapon with me when Corbin Hayes showed up. If I had, things might have been a little different.”
“How?”
“Don’t guess we’ll ever know. Doesn’t matter now. I’m not going to be caught without a weapon again.”
She gaped. She’d known he was in the military, but had no idea about the rest. “But all of your Air Force medals and—” She remembered the Army tags from the box.
“Part of my cover. It’s obvious I’m military, so instead of trying to cover that up, we just decided on a different branch.”
“That’s why you never talked about it,” she murmured. “I thought it was because you had bad memories or something.”
His eyes flattened. “I do.”
She eyed the gun. “And all of our trips to the shooting range?”
“Just staying sharp. Keeping my skills up and ready.” He paused. “And making sure you were comfortable with using a gun in case you ever needed one.”
“Unbelievable,” she whispered.
“Let’s go, people. Everyone get your vests on.”
Summer gulped as she watched David velcro the bulletproof vest in place. Then it was Summer’s turn. David helped her, then Mike’s rough hand on her arm propelled her toward the back entrance of the store and into a black Chevy Tahoe. She shook her head as she clipped the seat belt around her.
David settled in beside her. Too close. She shifted to attach her left hip to the door. He didn’t miss her movement but said nothing even though his lips tightened. Mike slipped in on the other side of David and slammed the door shut.
Adam slid behind the wheel and Chase took the passenger seat. “Let’s get out of here.”
Through the black tinted windows, Summer just noticed another SUV in front of them. She glanced back and saw another behind. She looked at David. “Are you the president or something?”
Mike snickered.
David sighed. “No, I’m not the president.”
“He’s a guy who’s going to put mob boss Alessandro Raimondi away,” Adam said. “Right now, David’s more important than the president.”
“Raimondi? The one who wants the laptop that I didn’t know existed until this morning?” Had it only been this morning? She felt like at least a week had passed since her ominous visitors had rocked her world.
“Yes.”
Darkness covered the city. Summer closed her eyes against it all, wanting to shut everything out. And right now, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to talk to God.
Guilt flooded her. Mentally, she knew she should be on her knees praying for his guidance and protection, but right now, she was just too tired, too confused, and just plain too stinking angry.
11
In the hospital trauma room, Alessandro Raimondi stared down at his nephew’s gray face. Nineteen-year-old Pauli Greco. His sister’s youngest boy. Her baby. The child she wanted kept out of the business.
The child who was now dead because Raimondi had allowed him to take part in an assignment he hadn’t been ready for. Pauli’s eavesdropping and subsequent demand had led to him being a part of the plan. But why he’d been allowed to come along didn’t matter.
“I should have said no,” Raimondi whispered.
“You didn’t have a choice.” Pauli’s twenty-nine-year-old brother, Agostino, drew in a ragged breath and pushed aside tubing and trash left behind by the doctors and nurses. Symbols of failed efforts to save Pauli.
“About some things, I have no choice. This life I lead, I had no choice about.” He touched Pauli’s now cold cheek. “Him? I had a choice about.” Sickness swirled in his gut. First Georgina and now Pauli. Fury burned a hole in his chest. His nephew’s heart no longer pumped blood, but every beat of Raimondi’s cried out for revenge. David Hackett. Just thinking the man’s name nearly brought on a migraine. “I want him dead.”
“Not without suffering.”
“Oh, he’ll suffer.” They fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts and grief. Raimondi rubbed a hand down his cheek. “We’ll get him tonight. And if we don’t, we’ll get those he loves.” He pursed his lips. “Hayes said there was a picture of two children on their dresser. Find out who they are. We may need to use them.”
“Noted. How are you going to find Hackett?”
“I have my ways. Don’t worry. It will be done. By tomorrow morning, Summer and David will be dead.”
“What about the laptop?”
“We’ll have that too.”
Agostino nodded and rubbed his eyes. “Mama is going to be inconsolable. She’ll never forgive either of us for allowing Pauli to go with us. Especially after what happened with Georgina …”
Raimondi heard the rough grief in Agostino’s voice along with the subdued rage. “Yes. That’s why she can’t know how he died.” His sister loved Raimondi’s daughter, Georgina, like her own. She’d birthed four boys, but Georgina was the daughter of her heart. And David Hackett had dealt Georgina a crippling blow. Raimondi’s heart seethed.
Agostino’s eyes jerked up and met his uncle’s. “You think you—we—can keep it from her?”
“We have to. This is my fault. I should have stopped this. Kept him safe.”
“He insisted on being a part of it. He was a man, able to make his own choices.”
But Raimondi shook his head. “It won’t make a difference to your mother. All she will know is that her baby is dead.”
A pause fell between them. Then Agostino asked, “What will we tell her then?”
Another long pause, then Raimondi looked up at his nephew. “We tell her that he’s dead because David Hackett gunned Pauli down in cold blood.”
Agostino frowned, and for a moment Raimondi wondered if he would argue, but soon the young man’s brow smoothed, his jaw hardened, and he gave a short nod. He leaned over and kissed his dead brother on the forehead, then turned on his heel and strode through the double doors.
12
SATURDAY MORNING
5:00 A.M.
David clenched his teeth against the shafts of pain shooting through his ribs and slowly turned over on the bed to look at the clock. Adam had handed him a pill bottle and told him to take one for pain. He couldn’t do it, couldn’t take a chance and dull his senses when he might have to run at any time, might have to protect Summer.
He’d lived with pain before, he could do it again.
When they’d arrived at the safe house last night, Summer had said, “I’m tired. I can’t take anymore. We’ll talk tomorrow.” Then disappeared into her bedroom.
Should have been their bedroom.
David sighed and sat up with a wince. Five in the morning. He might as well give up on trying to sleep. He leaned back against the headboard and dropped his chin to his chest. Lord, I did what I thought was the right thing at the time. When I married Summer, I wasn’t a Christian, but I’m a different man now. I know there are consequences to actions and I’ve made some pretty rotten choices. Please don’t let the fallout be disaster. Again. And spare Summer no matter what else happens.
As he often did, David thought of Ron, an older man who’d saved his life last year—in more ways than one—and wondered where he was.
David grabbed the remote from the end table, shifted on the bed trying to find a comfortab
le position, and finally gave up. He clicked the small flatscreen television on and found a national news channel.
His door creaked and he grabbed his weapon, aiming it.
Adam stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
David let out a breath and lowered the gun. “You trying to get yourself killed?”
“No, I saw the light under your door. Figured you were awake.”
“You forget how to knock?”
“Sorry. Didn’t want to wake anyone else up.”
David gestured toward the chair in the corner and grimaced at the movement. “Have a seat.”
Adam sat. “You should have taken one of the pain pills.”
“Would you?”
Adam shrugged. “Maybe. If I had a couple of superior marshals guarding me.”
David almost smiled. “No you wouldn’t.”
“True enough.”
The reporter on the television caught his interest and David upped the volume. “And in New York, a murderer with a connection to the Mafia is set to go to trial in just under three weeks. Sam Gilroy was caught on video shooting and killing one of his employees, Carl Hyatt. Mr. Gilroy’s partner, David Hackett, was thought to be in the building at the time of the murder since his car was seen in the parking lot early that Saturday morning. However, Hackett has been missing since Sam’s arrest a little over a year ago.”
A picture of David from a little over a year ago flashed on the screen. He’d had dark black hair then, not the reddish blond he now sported. And he’d had a goatee and mustache. David reached up to rub his clean-shaven face.
“Sam’s trial is big news,” he muttered.
“It’s the Mafia connection.”
“Have they said who the judge is going to be for the trial?”
Adam gave a slow nod. “Judge Parker Holland.”
“Holland. Figures.”
“Yeah, he seems to draw a lot of the Mafia cases.”
David hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, he does.”
Adam must have noticed his reticence. “What is it?”
“Nothing really.” David took another hard look at the TV. “He has a good reputation for being fair and honest even though those connected with the Mafia seem to get too many breaks, if you ask me.”
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