She really should put an end to this fling before it dealt her heart a fatal blow.
But when her phone rang and his handsome, smiling face filled her screen, she knew she couldn’t walk away from him. Not yet.
They spoke for a few minutes and made plans to have dinner together. Melissa felt as if she was glowing from the inside out every time she thought about Antonio. There was plenty going on around her, more than enough unpleasantness, but having something to look forward to in her personal life put all the rest into perspective.
With all the talk of work-life balance, maybe it was more about outlook and emotions than a true balance of actual hours on a calendar. It scared her more than a little that she enjoyed his company so much. Yet she didn’t feel dependent on him. More like supported, encouraged. Of course, by their own agreement, whatever they were doing was more of a fling than the start of a lasting commitment.
Regardless, determined to enjoy the interlude, she was in a good mood when she reached the county jail. Thankfully, there seemed to be a distinct lack of media presence in the area surrounding the prison. She didn’t want Everleigh to mistake this for some kind of feel-good publicity stunt.
Inside, she checked in with the guard and was told Everleigh was nearly through processing. A few minutes later the woman walked out wearing dark jeans, black ankle boots and a purple long-sleeved T-shirt with the Howlin’ Eddie’s logo from the bar where she’d worked. She had a coat over her arm and a simple, small black purse. Her short, blond hair had grown out and she had it tucked behind her ears.
Melissa wondered what she would do first now that her ordeal was over.
“Mrs. Emerson?” Melissa stepped up, her hand extended. “Chief Colton.”
“I know who you are,” Everleigh said, a wary edge in her hazel eyes. “My lawyer said he was sending a cab.”
Melissa lowered her hand and refrained from sharing an opinion about the public defender. “I’m not here to harass you.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I wanted to see you and personally apologize on behalf of the GGPD.”
“My lawyer said something about a problem with the evidence.”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t discover the issues earlier.” Melissa opened the door for Everleigh. “Again, my apologies. I hope to regain your trust, in time.”
Outside, Everleigh looked up to the sky. The door clanged shut behind them. Tears sparkled on her lashes when she turned to Melissa. “It’s hard to care about what happened to me when Gram is still locked up. Is there anything you can do for her?”
“It’s out of my hands.” Melissa was getting tired of saying that. “The DA hasn’t made any decisions about your grandmother’s case, but I can assure you the community is rallying around her.”
“Really?” Everleigh’s eyes brightened for a moment and then her gaze fell to the pavement. “I can’t believe she did that. Your family must be furious.”
“Actually, no. The baby’s mother wants Hannah released.” She smiled a little. “Again, it’s up to the DA.” She watched the cab pull into the parking lot and walked over with Everleigh. “I won’t keep you any longer. Take care of yourself.”
What a mess, Melissa thought as she drove back toward town, followed by the patrol car. She hoped common sense would prevail in the DA’s office and Everleigh’s family would find a way to heal.
Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She used the hands-free option to answer the call from the station.
“Chief, we found the black car.”
Finally, a break. She flipped on her emergency lights. “Where?”
“In the employee parking lot at the hotel.”
Her heart dropped to her stomach. Orr was after Antonio after all. She sped up and hit the siren. “I’m on the way.”
The press conference would have to wait. Everything would have to wait—she needed to get to Antonio as soon as humanly possible.
* * *
Antonio headed downstairs and out into the courtyard he’d been working on recently. The day was bright, as sunlight danced across the snow-covered landscape. And the temperature was cold enough he really should’ve brought his coat and gloves. He didn’t plan to stay long, he just wanted a moment to himself and a breath of air, no matter how cold.
He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and walked the narrow path the groundskeeper had cleared. In the summer, flowers bloomed within the circle of the low boxwood hedge. It was a knotted pattern he’d seen in an English garden on his honeymoon. He and Karen had decided they’d re-create the garden when they had a house and yard.
It had taken him years to work up the courage to build it here, but this was for her. A promise kept. When his mother had seen it, she’d asked why it was so easy to keep a promise to his dead wife and so impossible to make any kind of commitment to a new woman.
He’d given her some flippant reply about keeping dates and not breaking hearts. His mom, missing nothing, tapped a finger to his chest and told him that Karen would want him to find love again.
Loving again terrified him. The next right woman, if she was out there, would understand that he couldn’t be open to that kind of pain again. Losing Karen and their growing family had all but destroyed him. If he took another chance and history repeated itself, he’d be no good to anyone in his family or his business interests. Too many people relied on him, on his ideas, his insights, and the jobs his hotels created. That’s why he didn’t cut corners and that’s why he was happiest on his own. Until now…
He hunched his shoulders against a gust of wind and turned around, coming face-to-face with Orr.
The man was bundled up in a basic blue parka, his hair hidden by a knit cap and sunglasses over his eyes, a colorful scarf wrapped around the rest of his face. The outerwear didn’t conceal the way he carried himself or the aggressive stance. This was definitely Orr.
No one else had cause to aim a gun at him. The threatening gun was no match for Antonio’s rising fury. His mind raced, calculating how to put an end to this ordeal.
“I guess I’ll tell my security team they can stop searching for you,” Antonio said.
“They’ll forget about me once they find your body. Everyone will want to know why the most eligible bachelor in Michigan killed himself.”
Antonio’s pulse hammered. “You can kill me, but that story won’t fly.”
“It will,” Orr countered. “You’re consumed with guilt for killing Wendy.”
“You did that,” he said, scrambling for a way out of this.
“No, you let your control issues and jealousy ruin a friendship and end her life.”
Curses raced through Antonio’s mind. His cell phone was in the office. He couldn’t call for help. He’d chosen the most remote courtyard to wander through and his hands were stuffed in his pockets. No way to make a move without drawing notice.
He took a step, shifted one hand. “Let me call someone for you, Drew.”
“Hold it.” Orr aimed the gun at Antonio’s chest. “You’re not making any calls. You’ll sit right here in the snow and shoot yourself. With my help.”
“Get out while you can,” he said. “I’ve increased security across the property.” He had to drag this out until the next patrol came through. “Everyone is looking for you now.”
“Not everyone,” Orr sneered. “And when I leave, they’ll have all the evidence they need to pin two murders on your sorry ass. Wendy and your pretty cop friend.”
Antonio’s thoughts crystallized. He was not letting this maniac hurt Melissa or anyone else. “When exactly did you lose your mind?” he challenged, taking a step closer. Orr held his ground. “How can I do anything to the chief if I’m dead in this garden?”
“The elements will make it hard to determine time of death,” Orr said. “I’ve done some homework. You set a trap for the chief, then came here and,
full of remorse, shot yourself near the ashes of your wife and baby.”
How did this useless, false friend even know about that? Antonio’s vision hazed red. “You expect me to lie down and let you stage a suicide? No one will believe it. You need to turn yourself in.”
Orr’s lips twisted into a sick imitation of a smile. “Why? The world is about to know I’m innocent and you’re the killer.”
A big boom sounded nearby and a plume of black smoke pierced the clear day. “Huh. That was early,” Orr said. “Should’ve watched that tutorial one more time.”
The explosion gave Antonio the window he needed. He threw himself at Orr and took the man down into the hard, icy hedge. The gun flew out of his hand, landing out of reach and sliding across the cleared walk.
Antonio, with the advantage, punched at Orr’s face. He knocked away the sunglasses and reached for the scarf, planning to use it as restraint. Orr bucked Antonio off him and rolled, throwing elbows and fists in a wild attempt to get free. He got to his feet, but Antonio caught the hem of his jeans, and Orr went down, face-first this time.
With a scream, he rounded on Antonio, kicking as he scrambled backward, toward freedom. Antonio curled away from one kick aimed at his gut, taking another in the shoulder. He rolled up to his feet, but his shoes slipped on the icy ground and Orr got up and over the low wall. Antonio gave chase, shouting for help from anyone nearby, but Orr had planned his escape well. He jumped into an idling pickup truck and floored it, driving away on the service road. This time, Antonio had a clear view of the license plate. He repeated it over and over as he ran back toward the hotel.
One of the surveillance cameras should’ve caught a good view of Orr’s face during the fight. If not, there was another one where the access road met the cross street. He looked around the courtyard, torn between picking up or leaving everything where it was.
He had to leave it, but he also needed to get someone out here in a hurry to bag the signs of the fight. What a time to forget his phone.
On the other side of the hotel, he could see that plume of smoke and he heard the sirens now. Was anyone even in the security office, monitoring the cameras? Antonio wanted to blame Orr for his clever tactics, but the only reason the bastard knew when and where to exploit the system was because Antonio had trusted him too quickly.
He blew into his hands and noticed the evidence of the fight. Maybe he had somehow gotten Orr’s DNA on him, but he doubted it—he hadn’t scratched his former associate with his nails. He picked his way across the cleared path to the door, relieved to see one of his security guards jogging toward him.
“Sir, are you okay?” Charles asked.
“Alive is better than just okay,” Antonio said. “I don’t have my phone on me, so can you please call the police?”
Charles pulled out his radio and made the call.
“Tell them my attacker was Drew Orr and he left in a dark green pickup with Illinois plates.” Antonio recited the plate number, waiting for Charles to repeat it for the emergency dispatcher. “He threatened the chief of police.”
“The chief is on-site, here,” he assured Antonio before relaying the warning to the dispatcher. He lowered the radio. “What happened to you?”
“Orr was hoping to frame me for a bunch of crap and fake my suicide. What’s that about?” He lifted his chin toward the black smoke.
“Car explosion,” Charles said. “We noticed a black car matching a BOLO in the employee lot and reported it. The police were pretty sure it was the car you described during the drive-by shooting on Saturday night. Not sure why it blew up.”
His blood chilled, and it had nothing to do with being outside in the January afternoon. “Was anyone hurt?”
“No, sir,” Charles replied. “One of ours was in the car, unconscious but alive.”
“One of ours,” Antonio echoed. “He’s okay?”
“Yes, sir.” Charles shuffled his feet. “When they opened the door to check on him, a charge blew under the engine. Other than the smoke it was mostly noise.”
“Hell of a diversion,” Antonio muttered. Melissa had asked him about Orr’s skills, but there was no way he could’ve predicted something like this. “Let’s block off the area and—”
The security guard’s radio crackled a moment before he saw Melissa striding up. Emotions surged too fast and high for him to name them individually. The general theme was relief that she was safe and he was alive to appreciate it, underscored by a current of gratitude, desire and the softer sense that she was here. Right here, within reach.
Her face was pale, her gaze sharp, as she approached. All that motion and intensity came to a quick stop when she entered the courtyard. “Are you okay?”
“Nothing a bag of frozen peas won’t cure.”
Her gaze swept over the scene and he knew she saw it all. The gun, the scarf and sunglasses, the flattened snow from the fight, the footprints leading to the wall.
“He left in a green pickup truck. Got the plate number this time,” he said.
Her eyes locked with his and he didn’t know whether to step back or close the distance between them. He could sense the fire blazing under the calm exterior.
Much as she’d done at the wedding reception, she gave directions to everyone present, including him. “I’ll take you to the hospital.”
“I’m fine,” he said, though it was obvious she wasn’t interested in his opinion on his health.
“Come on.” She turned, clearly expecting him to follow.
He didn’t want to be anywhere else, so he obeyed without comment. It took all his willpower and focus to not wrap her up and kiss her in the sheer joy of being alive.
CHAPTER 13
Melissa didn’t trust her voice, didn’t believe the first questions out of her mouth would be the slightest bit professional. As they walked to her vehicle on the other side of the hotel, she called in the K-9 teams, giving orders for them to sweep the area for Orr. He’d been waiting out there somewhere and she wanted his hiding place. But she wanted to touch Antonio, to clean his battered knuckles and the cut over his eye herself. Now that he was warm, the swelling had set in. The bruising was sure to be colorful.
He was wet from the snow, his slacks plastered to his long legs, his sweater torn. Must’ve been one wild fight.
Time seemed to slow and everything snapped into sharp focus. She was in love with Antonio. This wasn’t mere attraction or lust or a relationship she could explore after the crisis passed. She was in it, living it. Her breath backed up in her lungs. She loved him. Now she had to figure out how to deal with it.
At the intersection where the main hotel drive met the street, the light was red. She gripped the steering wheel tight in her gloved hands. “Tell me what happened,” she said, tackling the official work first. “Why were you out there without a coat? It’s January.”
He reached over and covered her hand with his bare one. She stared at those raw scrapes, looked past them to admire his lean hands. It was all she could do to keep from lacing her fingers with his. The offered comfort and connection were so tempting, so dangerous to her peace of mind. She couldn’t deny wanting to feel those hands gliding over her skin again.
“I was worried about you, too,” he said. “That explosion, the smoke.”
“Not a scratch on me.” The light changed and he pulled back so she could drive. She missed his touch immediately. “Don’t make me read this in a report, Antonio.”
“I needed some air,” he began. “Only meant to go out for a few minutes.”
She listened, questions taking shape in her mind as he walked her through Orr’s approach, his threats and the fight that ensued.
“Wait,” she said as they pulled up at the emergency-room entrance. “You stepped closer to an armed man who has killed before.”
“So you believe me now?”
She shook h
er head. “I’ve never really not believed you. We just couldn’t prove his connection to the Paxton crime scene.”
“Right.”
“I’m not going to tell you how to run a hotel, so don’t tell me how to be a cop.”
“Right,” he repeated.
“You need medical help.”
“For agreeing with you?” Antonio had the audacity to chuckle. “This isn’t a concussion talking,” he said. “Orr is a serious threat.”
“I’m aware.” The GGPD had to get him into custody before anyone was seriously injured. She hopped out of the car and came around to open his door. “Let’s get you checked out.”
“This isn’t necessary,” he said, keeping his seat. “I can deal with it at the suite.”
She leaned across him and unbuckled the seat belt, took his chilled hand and tugged him just enough to get out of the car. “It helps the case if we get your injuries, minor or otherwise, documented.” She could rattle off the growing list of charges she planned to bring against Orr as soon as they found him.
Antonio and the security guard who had been trapped in the car when the explosion happened were the only patients in the ER at that time. Melissa didn’t have a long wait, but it was enough time for her to start second-guessing their dinner plans and her presence in his secure suite.
Just when she was working out how to postpone and move to a different safe location, he was wheeled out into the waiting room, a mildly annoyed expression on his lean face and a trio of butterfly bandages over his eyebrow.
It hit her then, at the worst possible moment, that she might easily have found him dead in that courtyard. Only the combination of Orr’s desire to trash Antonio’s reputation and Antonio’s quick thinking had saved him.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense January 2021 Page 41