Runaway Lies

by Shannon Curtis

  ‘You don’t have to do this,’ he told her quietly. He desperately wanted his children back, but did he have to lose Darcy to achieve that?

  She smiled wanly at him. ‘Yeah, I do. I’ve seen what these people are capable of.’

  She turned to Detective Fuller. ‘I want to make a statement. Whatever needs to happen, get me in front of a judge, or video recorder, whatever. Before we do this, I need to make a statement that can be used in court – just in case.’

  Dom closed his eyes. Just in case she didn’t make it. She wanted to record her testimony in case she wasn’t able to deliver it in person. She knew the risks going in, and she was still prepared to take them, to save his kids.

  Detective Fuller nodded. ‘Of course. We’ll set everything up.’

  Alex was dozing in the hallway outside the study and jumped when the door opened and his sister emerged. He nudged his quietly snoring brother and Bern startled awake, his hand on his gun before he realised where he was.

  Fi’s eyebrows rose when she saw her brothers sitting vigil in the hall, and she slipped the tape she held into her bag. ‘What are you guys doing here?’ she asked quietly, checking her watch. It was after two in the morning, and Alex could see officers inside the room removing a lapel mike from Darcy’s T-shirt, her face tired and drawn.

  ‘How did she go?’ Alex asked as he rose to his feet, shaking out the pins and needles in his legs.

  Fi shook her head, casting a quick glance over her shoulder. ‘She’s amazing,’ she whispered. ‘The things she’s had to face, and she’s still prepared to testify.’ She turned to her brothers. ‘Of course, I can’t share any details with you, but you need to make sure she comes home safe and sound tomorrow.’

  ‘Why, sis, sounds as though you might like that little lady in there.’

  Alex watched as his sister carefully considered her words. She shrugged. ‘Well, she is a key witness, which means I already have an invested interest in preserving her life,’ she began. ‘She’s – brave, and strong. Some of the things that have happened to her…’ Fi cringed. ‘I think she deserves a break.’ She stepped down the hall, jerking her head to indicate they should follow her.

  Alex did so, Bern right beside him.

  ‘As soon as things are – finished – at the park, we’re initiating a ghost protocol.’

  Bern shook his head. ‘You guys use all the cool terms.’

  Alex smiled as Fi rolled her eyes.

  ‘I mean that as soon as things wrap up, she’ll be entering protective custody, and we’ll whisk her away to a safe house.’

  Alex arched an eyebrow, and Fi held up a finger. ‘I know the last time we did it, things didn’t end well, but this time it will be different. Only trusted, key personnel will know of her whereabouts, we’re not entering her into the system.’

  ‘Hence the ghost term, huh?’ Bern asked. ‘Like I said, cool.’

  Fi nodded. ‘You could always transfer to the DPP,’ she told her brother. ‘I know the investigations unit has approached you in the past.’

  Alex turned to his brother in surprise. He’d never mentioned that.

  Bern shrugged. ‘What can I say, I’m a popular guy.’

  ‘Well, I’m beat, and I’ve still got to get this transcribed,’ Fi said, indicating the tape in her bag. ‘I suggest you guys get some rest, too. It’s going to be a big day tomorrow. I’ll let myself out.’

  They watched as she walked to the foyer, speaking quietly with the police officers there before she left. Alex and Bern turned to the open doorway of the living room, and Alex wasn’t surprised to see Dom sitting quietly on the cream leather sofa.

  ‘You guys can feel free to crash in the guest quarters,’ Dom told them. Alex smiled his thanks. He’d used the southern wing of Dom’s home in the past when they’d discussed security arrangements and negotiations.

  ‘What about Darcy?’ he asked.

  Dom rose from the lounge. ‘I’ll make sure she’s got a place to sleep,’ he said.

  Alex stared at him for a moment. Dom was an adult, capable of making his own decisions. When Alex had first heard of Darcy’s duplicity, he’d wanted to protect Dom and remove the threat. Now, though, he realised Darcy needed her own protection and it looked like Dom was going to provide it. He just hoped his friend didn’t wind up hurt – or worse.

  Alex nodded. ‘Fine. See you bright and early in the morning.’

  ‘It’s already early in the morning,’ Bern muttered as they walked down the hall.

  ‘So let’s grab some beauty sleep,’ Alex said.

  ‘I like to think I’m already beautiful,’ Bern said.

  ‘And modest,’ Alex remarked sarcastically, then ducked as his brother tried to smack him in the back of the head.

  Darcy lay in the gloom, watching the stars through the window. Dom had made a guest room available to her, and then had left her at the door, a distant and polite gentleman.

  She tried not to think about what was to come. Her stomach couldn’t handle it. Fiannah Knight had been very patient, and very dogged, recording every minor detail. The woman shared some similarities with her brothers: the little frown when she concentrated; the firm set to her lips; the same smile when something amused her. They were a good-looking family. The men were gorgeous, and their sister was beautiful. Fiannah had blonde hair and blue eyes, and a confidence that was reassuring, under the circumstances. Darcy remembered hearing that Alex was a former federal police officer, and she briefly wondered what their family life was like that all three of them had pursued a career in law enforcement and the justice system.

  She sighed into the darkness. Fiannah had also allowed her to record some private messages to her father, and to Dom and the kids – just in case anything should happen. Tears slid down her cheeks in the darkness, and she let them, knowing nobody could see them.

  She was going to be out in the open, knowing a hitman had her in his sights. Not even the best of bulletproof vests could stop a bullet to the brain. Darcy thought of her father and her brother, wishing she could talk with them just one last time, to explain what she’d done and why – to tell them she hadn’t known about Mark’s criminal activities when she’d suggested her father invest his life savings in a sure-win investment that mysteriously tanked. She would give anything to ask their forgiveness, and to be held one more time.

  A light knock at the door had her hand sliding under the pillow for the knife she’d placed there. She now carried it on her person and kept it within reach, whenever possible.

  The knock came again, along with a whisper: ‘Darcy, are you awake?’

  She consciously willed her muscles to relax. Dom. She switched the bedside lamp on and rose, sliding the weapon into her boot at the foot of the bed before padding over on bare feet to open the door.

  She cracked it open just enough so she could peek through the gap with one eye. ‘Yes?’

  Dom stood there in a T-shirt and boxers, and in the dim light she could see the sculpted muscles of his thighs and calves.

  ‘Can I talk to you for a moment?’

  She hesitated. She wore only the long black T-shirt printed with a band name she’d never heard of. Just seeing him there, biceps and strong legs, had her mind racing to other activities than just talking. She wanted to touch him, to be held in his strong embrace, if only for one last time – but after all she’d said and done to him, she doubted he’d want anything from her. Still, it was the middle of the night, and he was knocking at her door.

  She stepped back, pulling the door wider. ‘Come in.’

  He stepped in, and she closed the door behind him, hugging her arms to herself so that she didn’t embarrass either of them by reaching out to him.

  He glanced around the room. After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat. ‘Are you comfortable in here?’

  Her eyebrows rose. He was trying to be hospitable? Heavens, she could be sleeping on the floor, and she’d be comfortable. It seemed for once the great captain of construct
ion was struggling to find his words.

  ‘Yes, but that’s not why you’re here,’ she said to him softly. ‘What did you want to say?’

  He shook his head. ‘You look so different,’ he murmured, gesturing to her hair, her neck.

  She fingered the markings on her neck self-consciously. ‘It’s henna. Temporary. With any luck they will be gone in about two weeks. People focus on the obvious. They’ll remember the tattoos, but not me, and when the tattoos disappear, so will the trail.’

  Dom walked away, scratching his head in an action that was both confused and adorable.

  ‘If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to,’ he said, finally facing her.

  Her jaw dropped. ‘What?’ This was about Jonah and Julia. Of course she wanted to do it.

  He stepped closer to her. ‘Alex told me what happened to you,’ he said, and his grip on her arms tightened. ‘I appreciate what you’re trying to do, I just want you to know that if you decide you don’t want to go through with this, I’ll understand.’

  She frowned as hurt seeped into her heart. ‘You don’t want me to help?’

  His eyes widened and he held up his hands as he stepped closer. ‘No, that’s not what I’m saying. Of course, these are my kids. I just—’ He sighed. ‘Why are you doing this?’

  ‘Why?’ She blinked. ‘Why not? This is Jonah and Julia, Dom. I would do anything for those children, for you. If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t even be in this situation. It’s my fault, and it’s up to me to do something about it.’

  ‘You feel responsible?’ His voice was a low murmur.

  ‘Of course I feel responsible.’ The hot sting of tears pricked at her eyelids, and she blinked. ‘You have no idea the collateral damage I’ve collected,’ she told him. ‘Those three officers who died trying to protect me, that man who—’ She hesitated. Even now it was difficult to talk about it.

  ‘Who what? What happened, Darcy?’ He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead, and she shivered at the warm glide of his hand on her skin, her nipples hardening under her shirt. For once, she didn’t want to hide, didn’t want to lie. She was going to a prisoner exchange in a few hours. Perhaps it was the only time she could be honest with this man.

  ‘He tried to kill me,’ she whispered. Dom’s hand slid down to her arm and he grasped her hand, drawing her gently to sit on the bed.

  ‘I know I didn’t want to hear it before, and I’m sorry. Please, tell me,’ he told her, his voice deep and gentle.

  She had wanted to tell him for so long, to share what was going on, but faced with the opportunity, it was difficult to find the words. Where to start? Maybe with that night – the night that gave her nightmares and started the whole trip down that country road…

  ‘It was late. I’d gone to bed, and I left the officers talking in the lounge room. I don’t know what woke me, but I just remember sitting up in bed and listening, and feeling like something was wrong. All the lights were out, and that was the first time that had happened.’ She shuddered. ‘I crept out to see what was going on. I don’t know why I didn’t call, or switch a light on.’ Something had alerted her, but despite racking her brain, and reliving the horror in her nightmares, to this day she still didn’t know what had caused her to go on high alert.

  ‘I found the first officer in the kitchen,’ she whispered. She took a ragged breath as her pulse skittered at the memory, the metallic odour of blood, the limp body she nudged with her toe, the wet, warm substance she’d stepped in. ‘Then the second one was in the hall near the front door.’ His body had blocked the door, defying her attempt to escape that way.

  ‘I found the third officer in the living room.’ He had been dying, a spluttery wet rattle escaping as his breath left his body, his eyes wide and fearful, before slowly turning blank.

  ‘I could hear him sneaking around into my bedroom.’ Her pulse had nearly deafened her as she’d cowered in the dark behind the lounge, fumbling through a dead man’s blood-sodden clothing for his phone. ‘I tried to call for help.’ The sound of her fingers pressing 000, the soft glow from the activated screen that she tried to hide, had given her position away. ‘Then he found me.’

  She still remembered the fright as she’d rolled away from the silver slash of the blade, the vase she’d grabbed from the tipped-over table, the crash it made as she threw – and he ducked.

  Dom touched her scar through the cloth. ‘Is that where you got this?’ he asked quietly, as warmth spread from his gentle touch.

  She nodded. The man had then dived for her, and she was screaming, kicking and punching. The pain as he’d slid the knife into her side, his gaze cold and triumphant as he withdrew it, his sweat dripping off his nose and onto her forehead. The distraction of a distant siren, and her fumbling fingers finding the upset bowl of chips the police officer had been munching on before he’d died. She’d smashed it against his head, and he’d fallen off her, stunned.

  She’d rolled to her side, screaming with the pain as she scrambled to her feet, grabbing the knife that lay on the floor beside her. He’d bellowed at her, clambering to his feet to give chase. He’d grabbed at her in the laundry, and she’d spun around as he’d shoved her against the back door.

  She’d seen the whites of his eyes in the dark, the rage, felt his hot breath on her cheek as he’d grabbed her throat, and then the spasmodic clenching of muscles, the surprise in his expression as she’d brought her hands up to fight him off, and stabbed him instead. He’d reeled back, looking down at his chest. He was wearing dark clothes, but the moonlight through the back door glistened on his black top as a wet stain bloomed across his chest. Then he’d collapsed, and she’d unlocked the door and run like the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels, hands still holding the knife he’d intended to kill her with, which now resided in her boot.

  ‘I killed him,’ she said into the quiet night. ‘He’d tried to kill me, and I ended up killing him.’

  ‘And then you ran.’

  She ducked her head and nodded. ‘And then I ran.’

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, and she leaned into his embrace, his scent of amber, musk and man washing over her. They sat like that for a while.

  ‘Why couldn’t you tell me this?’ he asked eventually, and she straightened.

  ‘I was in a safe house, Dom,’ she said, trying to make him understand her fear, her desire to survive. ‘It was supposed to be a secret location, and yet a man came in and killed three officers, and nearly succeeded in killing me. I didn’t feel I could trust anyone. I managed to live for four months out of clothes I’d stolen from laundromats, or from the local St Vincent de Paul stores. I worked cash-in-hand jobs, lived in hostels when I could afford it, on the street when I couldn’t. A woman I met on the streets put me in touch with a guy who knew a guy who could forge documents. Nobody knew where I was – half the time I didn’t know where I was. Then I found your kids,’ she said, a smile lifting her lips. ‘Suddenly all the media, the police, everyone wanted information, everyone wanted to take my photo and splash it on the TV screen, in the newspapers…’ She shuddered.

  ‘So if you didn’t tell me, I couldn’t tell anyone else, hmm?’

  She nodded. ‘When I was injured, it came at the worst possible time for me. I still had to “disappear” for eight weeks.’ She met his gaze. ‘So I didn’t tell you. I know, it was selfish, it was wrong—’

  ‘It was self-preservation,’ he told her gently. ‘I get that. I understand, I just wish that perhaps you could have told me earlier, especially after we…’ His hand moved between them, and she focused on it, remembering what it could do to her body. ‘I hope you didn’t feel like you had to…’ his hand moved again, ‘…to distract me, or to repay me, not in that way.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘No! No, Dom.’ She reached for his hand, clasped it, brought it to her heart. ‘God, please no. I’m sorry I lied to you about who I was, and why I was at your home, but I never, ever lied about t
hat.’

  He nodded, and she saw the relief he tried to hide from her eyes. She’d caused this man so much hurt, so much doubt. She smiled up at him. ‘When we were together, Dom, that was me. No subterfuge, no pretence.’ If there was anything she wanted him to believe, it was that – the raw honesty and passion in their lovemaking were one hundred per cent real.

  ‘About tomorrow—’ he said, and she raised her fingers to his lips.

  ‘Shh. Let’s not talk about that. I would rather just enjoy the time I have with you,’ she said, blinking past the blur at the thought that this might be their last time together, like this. ‘No regrets, no lies. Just you and me.’

  His eyes darkened, and he looked at her mouth. Just like that, with one of those hooded gazes, he could flick the switch inside her. Her nipples tightened under her shirt, and she slid her hand up to the back of his head as he lowered his mouth to hers.

  CHAPTER

  30

  She opened her lips and drank him in, his tongue sliding wet and slick against hers as he urged her back onto the bed. She moved, gasping as his hand slid up her thigh and underneath her T-shirt. She wasn’t wearing underwear, and he moaned into her mouth when he realised.

  He palmed her butt, pulling her closer, nestling her against his groin as he kissed her, long and hot. Her heart pounding, arousal flooded through her at his sensual touch. His fingers trailed up her back, bringing the hem of her T-shirt with them, the cool air replaced by the heat of his palm, and she arched against him, her breasts pressing against the wall of his chest until he moved back, pulling first her T-shirt off, then his.

  He was gorgeous, his muscles bunching with his movements, his skin tantalising, tempting her to touch his chest, his shoulders, his biceps.

  He lowered his head, and she gasped when he took one of her nipples into his mouth. Her legs instinctively widened as he rolled her onto her back. He kept sucking and licking at her breast, each tug creating an answering echo between her thighs as he fumbled with his shorts. She twisted, helping him slide the garment over his rounded butt, and then grasped the muscled flesh. When he’d managed to get rid of his clothing altogether, one strong thigh slid between her own.