Forbidden Legacy

by Mari Carr

  Tasha shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” She opened her jacket to reveal the small gun she had concealed there. “I do.”

  Harrison turned for one last look at the screen, just in time to see Alexis kick Ryan into the computer. It crashed to the floor. The man recovered quickly and wheeled on her in fury.

  “Tasha, get there in one.” With that, Harrison left the conference room and raced down the corridor to his office as if his life depended on it.

  Because his life was in that room.

  And she was depending on him.

  Chapter Ten

  Michael could feel Tasha prodding at his back, trying to pass him. He wouldn’t give way. He had one goal right now and that was to tear the man in Harrison’s office apart with his bare hands.

  When they reached the end of the narrow, dark corridor, Michael slid the panel open. He heard Ryan’s raised voice, heard Alexis cry out. There wasn’t time for stealth.

  He rushed into the room just in time to see Ryan draw a gun from his pocket. When the man saw Michael coming at him from the left, he grabbed Alexis and used her as a shield. At the same moment, the office door slammed open and Harrison entered from the right of the room.

  Michael’s heart beat so hard he feared it would burst as Ryan lifted the gun to Alexis’s head.

  Gunner and Tasha had come into the room as well and they stood next to him. For one brief moment, no one moved, no one spoke.

  Then Ryan laughed.

  Harrison held his place by the office door. “You find something funny?”

  Michael wasn’t sure where Harrison found the strength to remain so cool, but it had a calming effect on him, allowed him to stop panicking and start studying the room, their options.

  “Your entrance was very exciting. Worthy of a Hollywood action movie, but it was all for nothing. I have what I came for.”

  “And what’s that?” Michael hoped by drawing Ryan’s attention back and forth between them, someone would find an opening to pounce. Tasha was moving in incrementally tiny steps toward the desk.

  Ryan tightened his grip on Alexis and she gasped. “Stop moving, bitch, or I’ll kill her,” he yelled at Tasha. “I already owe you one for fucking up my plans in Chicago.”

  “What did you come for?” Michael repeated, trying to take Ryan’s attention away from Tasha. He knew Harrison had a special fondness for the young woman and his friend would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.

  “Information,” Ryan said. “Your whore may have broken the computer so I can’t send it out, but I’ve got what I need on that thumb drive. I’m now in possession of the names of every single one of your perverted members. When I reveal to the press the disgusting way you all choose to live your lives, you’ll be ostracized, cast out.”

  Michael forced himself to look at Ryan, knowing if he saw the fear in Alexis’s eyes, he’d fall apart. “What makes you think we’ll let you get out of here with that?”

  Ryan laughed. “Oh, I’m leaving. With the thumb drive and your whore.” He looked at Harrison. “And then you’ll feel what I felt when you left my mother and I to fend for ourselves.”

  Harrison took one step toward Ryan and Alexis. “I’m sorry for that, Ryan. I failed you.”

  Michael studied their surroundings, praying for an answer as Harrison moved closer, taking the blame for something that wasn’t his fault.

  “I wish I had an excuse for my actions, but I don’t. The truth is my father was the kind one, the one there to help you. When he was gone, I didn’t see any need to follow through with that commitment.”

  Alexis frowned. “Harry, that’s not true.”

  Harrison didn’t acknowledge Alexis—with look nor with word.

  He was going to turn all of Ryan’s hatred, his anger toward him, sacrificing himself. “I can only begin to imagine how hard it was for you.”

  Ryan didn’t seem to notice Harrison’s slow approach. Instead, he became incensed. “You have no idea what it was like for me. Before you fucked up my life, I was in a good school. I had friends. When you tossed us aside, that all changed. My stupid cunt of a mother couldn’t function, couldn’t take care of us. I had to go to a shitty school with mean kids and I started living on the olives and fruit I could steal from behind the bar in the strip club. How dare you play God with my life!”

  Harrison was still walking toward Ryan, but the man was too furious, too enraged.

  Ryan’s hand shook, tightening his fingers on the trigger. Harrison froze. Michael held his breath. There were too many steps between Harrison and Ryan. He wasn’t in a position to jump the man and get the gun away from him.

  With all of Ryan’s attention on Harrison, Michael decided to take a chance. He moved toward the desk. Ryan didn’t notice. He was too intent on berating Harrison. The young man had obviously waited a lifetime to release his anger on the one man he blamed for ruining it.

  “You think you’re so fucking smart. You sit in this fancy office, issuing orders to these idiots. You tell them who to marry and they do it. And they don’t even kick up a fuss when you put them in these sick, twisted threesomes. You took my dad away from me. What gave you the right to decide my mother wasn’t good enough for him?”

  Harrison must have noticed Michael’s movements because he stopped trying to get closer to Ryan. Instead, he kept him engaged, distracted.

  “Ryan, that’s how our society works. How it thrives. Your father knew what he was signing on for when he joined. Jonathan knew he could never stay with your mother.”

  Ryan exploded, his face red with anger. “You told him to leave. You made him do what you said. Made him a part of this disgusting cult. Even at the end, he was still defending you. You brainwashed him.” Ryan waved the gun. “So I put him out of his misery. Just like I’m going to do to your whore.”

  Michael was less than six feet away from Ryan, but he didn’t dare press his luck. Not when Ryan was starting to calm down, starting to take more notice of the people in the room.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw Tasha slowly reaching into her pocket. Ryan noticed the motion too.

  “Don’t move,” Ryan yelled, swinging the gun toward Tasha.

  Michael took the opening, afraid they wouldn’t get another. He gave Alexis an infinitesimal nod and then pounced.

  Alexis fell forward, breaking free of Ryan’s grip. Michael had only a split second to respond when Ryan pointed the gun downwards, intent on firing at Alexis. He tackled the man and the gun discharged.

  Michael didn’t have time to see if the bullet struck. He was too intent on subduing and killing the madman below him. Though Ryan was smaller, he was no stranger to street fighting. Ryan struck with a vengeance as the two of them held nothing back, punching, gouging, struggling for a position of power.

  Michael was aware of others in the room moving around, but he couldn’t tell who was where. When he finally managed to get Ryan under him, Michael let loose with all the anger he’d kept locked up for months. He threw fist after fist at the man as he considered Harrison’s sacrifice, Alexis’s face as Ryan held a gun to her head, Jonathan standing by his wives’ graves and then as he lay dead—killed by his own son.

  His rage knew no bounds and he nearly turned it on Harrison when his friend gripped his arm, trying to pull him away.

  “Michael. It’s enough. Enough!”

  Michael fought to fill his lungs with air, gasping as if he’d run a two-hour marathon. His body was numb, it felt as if it had been filled with freezing cold water. He locked his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering.

  Ryan lay unconscious on the floor, blood flowing from his nose—which had clearly been broken—and his mouth.

  Michael tried to be horrified by his actions, but he wasn’t. This man had left a trail of death and sorrow in his wake. A couple black eyes didn’t make up for the pain he’d caused so many of Michael’s loved ones.

  Michael moved away from Ryan, recalling Alexis. He turned to find her sitting in the
office chair. Her face was white as a ghost and her hands were trembling. She was holding a tissue to one of her wrists and he could see the spots of blood left from the wire. Gunner was on the phone. From the tone of his voice, it sounded as if he was talking to Price. That was confirmed when he heard Gunner say, “Come home.”

  Tasha was picking through the wreckage of the computer. When she found the thumb drive Ryan had loaded with top-secret information, she showed it to Harrison.

  “Destroy it,” Harrison said.

  Tasha dropped the drive to the floor and crushed it with the heel of her boot.

  “He h-has a bomb s-somewhere in the building.” Alexis’s trembling voice proved the bravery she’d displayed earlier was waning. Exhaustion and the realization of exactly how bad this night could have been were crashing down on her. Michael understood because he felt the same way. He walked over to her and knelt in front of the chair.

  “It’s okay, Alexis. We’re all here. We’re fine.” Michael hoped his words would comfort her.

  Then he saw a movement from the floor, watched as Alexis’s eyes widened in horror. She pointed, and as Michael followed the direction of her finger he heard the discharge of a gun.

  Next thing he knew, Ryan lay in a pool of blood, his white shirt a sea of red from where Tasha’s bullet had pierced his chest. Lying next to his hand was a small box.

  “Bastard tried to trigger the bomb.” Tasha put her gun back into her pocket and sighed. She looked like she’d just returned from getting a manicure as opposed to someone who’d just killed a man. Michael was in awe of her fearlessness, her poise.

  Apparently, Harrison knew her better. He walked over to the young woman and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “It needed to be done, Tasha. You saved us.”

  She nodded and Michael recognized the stiffness in her posture, the tight lines around her mouth. While Tasha had been raised to be a spy and a killer, taking the life of another took its toll on her.

  “I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” Harrison murmured to her.

  Tasha smiled. “I’m glad I was here. Able to help.”

  Harrison patted her cheek affectionately. “Call your men, Tasha. Tell them to come down here. They’re no doubt upstairs at the gala by now. I think they should be with you.”

  Tasha nodded and stepped away to place the call with her cell.

  Gunner walked over to Ryan’s body. “Price is on his way back from California. In the meantime, I’ll dispose of him. I’ll also phone in a favor or two, have the library searched for a bomb.”

  “No need to bother.” Lance Glassco stood at the door with Giles Kim. Giles’ son, Preston, was one of Lance’s partners. “Giles texted me from the conference room right after the bomber flashed the detonator. I pulled a few trusted members together and we conducted a discreet search. Found the device in a mechanical room. It’s been immobilized.” He looked at the trashed computer equipment. “Carly isn’t going to be happy about this.”

  “There are several things happening here that people aren’t happy about.” Giles put his hand on his son-in-law’s shoulder for support.

  “He accessed files on the computer.” Tasha kicked broken computer bits into a pile.

  Lance frowned. “How long was he here?”

  “Twenty minutes at best,” Harrison said.

  Lance’s face cleared. “No way he broke Carly’s security system in that time.”

  “No,” Harrison agreed. “I suspect he gained access to the decoy files. Hopefully he didn’t trigger the failsafe that destroys all the records.”

  Lance nodded. “We’re in town for a few days. I’ll tell Carly she’ll need to check it out, Grand Master.”

  “Thank you, Lance, Giles.” Then Harrison turned to Gunner. “And you. For everything.”

  Lance left, but Giles remained in the doorway.

  The senior members of the Trinity Masters had watched everything that had happened in this office on the monitor in the conference room. Giles had been smart to have Lance search for the bomb immediately.

  “Harrison. A word please,” Giles beckoned.

  Giles didn’t use Harrison’s title, didn’t called him Grand Master. Though the threat to Harrison and the Trinity Masters had passed, it was clear Giles—and perhaps others—were unhappy with the way things had gone down.

  Alexis reached for Michael’s hand and squeezed it. He tried to give her a hopeful smile, but he felt very little optimism.

  Harrison stood away from them, speaking in a hushed voice and nodding when Giles spoke, the conversation ended with a respectful, “I understand,” from Harrison just before the older gentleman left.

  Harrison stood at the doorway for several moments, his face tight with anxiety. As always, his friend found a way to put the tension away. When he turned to face them, Harrison smiled and reached out. “Michael. Alexis. Could I have a word with you?”

  Alexis stood and together, they walked to their lover hand in hand.

  *****

  Harrison bid Gunner and Tasha goodnight and then led Michael and Alexis to one of the dressing rooms used by members to prepare for their bonding ceremony. He had expected Giles’s censure, had known there would be a price to pay for how he’d handled things, for how bad he’d let them get.

  Harrison understood all of that and he was willing to take the punishment. But not tonight.

  Once they were inside the dressing room, Harrison closed the door and pressed Alexis against it. He kissed her roughly, hungrily, as the image of Ryan holding her with the gun against her temple tormented him.

  “I almost lost you,” he whispered against her lips.

  Alexis understood his terror. The way she gripped his hair tightly in her fingers, held his face to hers, told him she shared it.

  Harrison was vaguely aware of Michael standing next to them. If he knew his friend, Michael was probably chomping at the bit to do two things—find out what Giles had said and have a taste of Alexis as well.

  Harrison couldn’t offer him either. He’d spent the past couple of weeks holding back, forcing himself to keep his distance. If tonight was all he could have, he was going to take everything he could, to build memories that would keep him warm through a lifetime of loneliness.

  Harrison reached for the hem of Alexis’s shirt and pulled it over her head with one swift motion. Then he unhooked her bra and tossed it to the floor. Alexis didn’t resist, didn’t question his actions.

  Instead, she yanked his tie from his collar and began to undo his buttons.

  Harrison waited for Michael to break the silence, to make demands, but something kept his friend silent. Then Harrison glanced over in surprise when he heard Michael unzipping his own pants.

  Michael gave him a light shrug. His friend knew. Knew that tonight was all they could have. He wasn’t going to fill it with words.

  Harrison smiled gratefully. After the events of the last couple of hours, he needed this reprieve. A few hours of escape.

  It only took a few moments for them to shed their clothing. Need outweighed finesse as they each started tearing their own clothes off. Seduction was lost, thrown out by passion.

  Harrison reached for Alexis first, leading her to the couch by the wall, pressing her to her back. He was inside her in an instant, pounding into her warm heat like a man who’d lived his entire lifetime frozen.

  Alexis was with him—thrust for thrust—pressing against him, urging him on with kisses, touches and soft words. He soaked up every syllable as she called out his name and promised to love him forever.

  When his balls constricted, filled with come, he didn’t hold it back or prolong the moment. He couldn’t, wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than instant gratification. Besides, this was only the first time he planned to take her tonight. He’d draw it out longer the next time.

  Alexis responded to his deeper thrusts. They strained together, crying out as their climaxes sparked and flamed.

  He only had a moment to recover be
fore he felt Michael’s hand on his back. His friend had been patient, generous. He’d seen Michael’s face during the fight with Ryan. There was no doubt Michael’s emotions were as raw as his.

  Harrison withdrew and dropped to the floor next to the couch as Michael took his place. Beautiful Alexis was there, ready, reaching for Michael with open arms. He watched them make love, amazed by the pleasure he found in simply being with them.

  Michael’s usual control seemed to have shattered as well. He and Alexis came quickly. Harrison stood, reached for a robe and threw it on. Then he grabbed a second and laid it over Alexis and Michael, who were fading fast. The heavy exhaustion following an adrenaline rush was hitting them hard.

  Harrison left Michael and Alexis alone on the couch and grabbed a pillow from a nearby chair.

  Sleep would be a welcome respite. He lay down on the floor next to the couch, touched when Alexis reached down to grasp his hand.

  He glanced up, smiling at her sleepy face.

  “I love you,” she whispered, not wanting to disturb Michael who had already drifted away.

  “I love you too.”

  She closed her eyes, leaving Harrison to wish he had more time to show her just how much.

  Chapter Eleven

  Harrison opened his eyes and found Price standing in the doorway of the dressing room. He glanced toward the couch and saw Michael and Alexis wrapped up in each other’s arms.

  Price’s heavy sigh told Harrison the next few minutes were going to be difficult for all of them. While they’d escaped the revelation of the Trinity Masters and disarmed the bomb, killing a madman in the process, too many rules had been broken.

  Harrison stood, cinching the belt of the robe around him tightly. “I’ll leave quietly.” Harrison kept his voice low so as not to disturb his lovers.

  Price stepped toward him, his head bowed. “Harrison. You understand what you’re saying?”

  Harrison frowned. “I don’t have any choice, Price. My abilities as Grand Master have been called into question. Giles laid out my options very clearly. I can’t continue in that position and I can’t remain in the society without joining a triad.” He looked over at Michael and Alexis. “I won’t make a bond with anyone else.”