“Would you like something to drink?”
“No thanks. I can’t stay.” He turned to face Logan. “I thought you’d want to know.” He seemed uneasy as he shifted from one foot to the other.
“What is it that couldn’t wait until later?”
“Logan, the task force got word today that your father is being released from prison next week. We thought you should know right away.”
Logan’s father was in prison? Why hadn’t he told her? What other revelations was she going to discover? She watched Logan. Saw him go a shade pale, then glance toward the bedroom door. She didn’t think he could see her, but instinctively she stepped back. Within seconds she returned to peer through the crack. She watched as Logan turned away from the investigator. Saw the look of raw pain that flickered across Logan’s face before he smoothed his expression and turned back to the investigator.
“You want me to talk to him.”
“Logan, we could use his testimony, you know that. There aren’t many that will testify against Nell and her crew. At least anyone on the inside. You’re the best one we’ve got, and you haven’t been around it for ten years.”
“I thought you had what you needed with the information I gave you.” He walked over to his briefcase and pulled out a folder. He turned and handed it to Alarna. “This should help. I went though some more bank records and identified several other accounts that will tie in.”
“Have you told Ms. Malone what you’re up to yet?”
Logan hesitated before answering, again glancing toward the bedroom door. “She knows.”
“Well, that’s good. We may need to ask her some questions.”
Logan’s head shot up. “You agreed. She’s to be kept out of this. If we find anything about—she’s to be kept out of this.”
“I just thought—”
“There’s no negotiation on that point. Look, I’ve got an appointment. If you have questions about this new documentation, call me later.”
“And your father?”
“I-I’ll think about it. He’s done his time and I’d rather not involve him any more than he already is. We’re not exactly on the best of terms.”
“Did you ever go see him while he was inside?”
Logan shook his head. “No. There was nothing for us to say to each other. He didn’t want me to visit. He made that very clear when he first went in.”
“If you say so. But if you really want to put the past behind you, you ought to see him. To at least, I don’t know, forgive him—maybe forgive yourself.”
“Look, that’s all in the past. After what we both did, I’m not sure there’s any forgiveness to be found. We hurt a lot of people.”
“But you’re making amends. No charges will be brought against you with the help you’re giving the task force. Your information is invaluable. Look Logan, you’ve turned your life around. Not too many come out of Nell’s organization intact. As a matter of fact, you’re the only one I know of who’s done it successfully. You should be proud of what you’ve achieved, what you are helping to accomplish. We almost have enough evidence to put her and her crew away for a very long time.”
“Yeah. But in my book it’s too little, too late.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing the right thing now.”
Alarna shook hands with Logan and then left. Logan stood there staring at the closed door. Kate opened the bedroom door and entered the living room.
“It sounds to me like there’s quite a bit you haven’t told me, Logan. And I think it’s about time that you did. What exactly is going on?”
Kate had a feeling she’d made assumptions that weren’t quite correct. At least as regarded the man she had fallen in love with. She no longer knew what to believe.
Heaving a deep sigh, Logan turned to face her.
“I guess you better sit down. It’s rather a long story.”
“I want all of it Logan. Nothing left out.”
“Yeah, I know. But you may not realize what you’re asking.”
Chapter Twelve
Looking at her Logan knew there was only one way to keep her. It wasn’t just his clothes he’d have to shed, she’d demand his soul stripped bare. From the moment he’d met her he’d known this day was coming. And she deserved the truth, no matter how much it shamed him to reveal it.
He looked longingly toward the bar. A scotch could really help right now. Instead he went to the small fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. Not what he needed, but it would have to do. He turned to look at her. She was so pretty. So innocent of all the tar that marked him. He didn’t want to drag her down to where he wallowed. But he couldn’t let her go either. She was the only thing that had given him hope for a real future.
The dress she wore was a beige, pretty-patterned floral print that hugged her curvy body. He now knew every inch of her. In her eyes he saw everything he wished he could be. If he’d done things differently. But she was branded into his very soul. If he still could claim he had a soul.
“Talk to me, Logan. What I just heard doesn’t make sense. All these months and I realize I still know so little about you. You being at the courthouse—I should have put it together, but I was so distracted—first by Nell and all her shenanigans, and then by you. Were you sent there to distract me, Logan? Was I meant to be your next mark? I want to know everything.”
He had always marveled at how expressive Kate’s eyes were. Every emotion mirrored there. He remembered all the people he’d helped Nell pick clean. His part in every aspect of it. But he never remembered their faces. He would always remember Kate’s.
He walked over and sat down on the couch feeling as though he carried the weight of the world. Kate walked across the room and sat beside him. With her this close he wasn’t certain he could get everything out he needed to. In his lifetime, he’d never felt as vulnerable as he did right at this moment.
He had to look away from her or he wouldn’t be able to do it. And then he felt a slender arm wrap around his waist and she leaned into him. He inhaled and smelled her clean scent, allowing it to wend its way through him.
“Tell me, Logan. Is Logan Callahan your real name?”
He nodded. He’d used various aliases when he was with Nell to gather the information he needed. But in that respect he’d been truthful with Kate.
“Yes, that’s my real name. I met Nell when I was seventeen. She was my father’s lover first. My mom died when I was ten and my dad dealt with it by working all the time. He made a lot of money, but he never seemed to have time for me.” He took a deep breath as he dredged up the poison. “Eventually she became my lover, too.”
He couldn’t look at her as he relayed his past about the naïve, hungry boy he’d been. He’d been so easily ensnared by the glitter of Nell and her way of life. And his father had done nothing to prevent it. He ran his fingers through his hair. Finally he turned to look at her.
“At first it seemed like a game. A dangerous one, but still a game. I remember going into a store with her one day and watched her smooth talk the cashier. I’ve never heard anyone spin a con the way Nell can do and come away with clean hands and a fist full of money. She was glamorous, beautiful, and made a lost kid feel important. Everything you’ve said about Nell is true, only a hundred times worse.” He pulled back from the memories, distancing his emotions as he relayed the years of drugs and orgies, of money and property obtained by illegal means. He told her about his addiction to the drugs and how he’d gone clean since leaving Nell’s crew.
“After my father took the fall and went to prison for her, she sent me to college. I didn’t realize until later that it was payment for him doing the time. Twenty-five years. He didn’t try to negotiate, he just did the time. We both fell into her trap so neatly without a whimper.”
“How did you get out?”
He shrugged. “I woke up one morning and saw a stranger in the mirror. One moment of clarity got me out of there. I’ve never looked back, tried not to
think about that time in my life. I couldn’t go see my father because I knew in the end, I was the reason he was there. Besides, he’d made it very clear he wouldn’t see me if I did go. I had nothing to offer him and I guess he didn’t think he had anything to give me. But then he never had.” He leaned forward, head in hands. “I chose Nell over him. How could anyone forgive that?”
“Oh, Logan, why didn’t you tell me all this?”
“I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want you to get involved.”
“So why were you at court?”
He laughed wryly. “I knew one day it would all come tumbling down. I went to school for accounting. I’ve got this knack in dealing with numbers. So I didn’t lie to you about that, but I’m a forensic accountant. Your Investigator Alarna contacted me about your case. The minute he dropped Nell’s name, I knew it was over. I was in court out of curiosity.”
“And what’s this about a task force?”
Again he looked away. “After I met you, after our weekend together, I went to Alarna and came clean about my past with Nell. I thought for certain they’d arrest me on the spot. But instead they asked me to work with them to bring Nell and her organization down.”
“Why, Logan? Why now?”
“For a lot of years Nell made me feel like I belonged. It was a high and it wasn’t honest, but the power and prestige and the adrenaline kept me locked in.” He turned to Kate. “It wasn’t real. None of it. But you are. I cut myself off from everything and everyone when I finally got away. I existed, but I wasn’t living. You’re the one who made me want to live.” He cupped her face and pressed his forehead to hers, closing his eyes, afraid stripping his soul bare wouldn’t be enough. “I love you, Kate. If I could give you back your father, I would. But I can’t, so I have to do the next best thing.”
She pulled slightly away and looked up at him. “Is it dangerous? What you’re doing with this task force?”
“No one really knows I’m working with them. No one on the outside anyway. From what they tell me Nell has gotten more dangerous over the years.”
“Who exactly are you working with?”
“Nell’s operations run worldwide. Right now, I’m working with the feds. It’s going to take a long time to unravel Nell’s operations. Yeah, it’s tricky. But she’s got to be taken down. She’s hurt too many people.” He leaned back and looked at Kate. “Have I lost you, Kate?”
He couldn’t read her expression. He didn’t dare assume anything.
As he watched, she began to unbutton her dress. “Don’t keep things from me, Logan. Never again.”
“I was trying to protect you. And I was afraid.”
“I don’t want to be protected. And as long as you’re truthful with me, I’m not going anyplace. You asked me to marry you—I want to be your partner. In all things. I watched women walk in and out of my father’s life. He yearned for what he’d had with my mother. Love like that comes once in a lifetime. He tried to fill the void with cheap imitations and it ended up killing him. That’s not what I want. I want the real thing. Can you give me that, Logan? Because I was certain that you could.”
The dress slid off her shoulders and he felt his cock surge. He pressed her back onto the sofa. “I’ve never met a woman like you, babe. Strong and sweet, and so damn genuine. When I sink into you, it’s like claiming a piece of Eden. And I never want to leave.”
He pulled off her panties and shucked his own sweatpants. He leaned forward and kissed her as he levered himself between her legs and slipped into her tight, wet pussy.
Kate rose up to meet him. She looked up into his face. Her eyes were so pretty, silvery and luminous right now. “I love you, Logan. And that means taking the good with the bad. But I couldn’t have fallen in love with you if I hadn’t seen the good. You’re right. From now on I want to be beside you every step of the way. We’re in this together. You’re not alone anymore, you hear me? Promise me?”
He stripped off his sweatshirt because he couldn’t stand the thought of anything coming between them, even a piece of cloth. He pressed her to him, needing to feel her warmth, her compassion, her love.
“I promise with all my heart, Kate. Just don’t ever leave me. I need you to survive.”
“Love me, Logan. Make me believe you. You’re a wonderful man, Logan Callahan, and I’m not letting you go. I’d trust you with my life.”
He surged into her and she peaked, crying out as she splintered, and at the same time wrapped her arms around him locking them together. She gave him so much. He wanted to be worthy of her love and his heart burst for loving her.
He would be the man she loved, needed, and demanded of him. And he would be thankful every day for her walking into his life.
He withdrew and then thrust again and again and finally shattered.
“I love you, Kate. I love you.”
Chapter Thirteen
Two Years Later
He sat in the back of the courtroom. It had been a long struggle to get here. He hadn’t been sure that in the end there would be enough evidence. And then an unexpected witness from within the organization had stepped forward with the final link that closed the trap on Nell Dubrowski and her organization. There’d been pages of indictments, including several murder charges.
A hand reached for his as the jury returned to the jury box. It was a hand bearing his ring. He looked at Kate and she smiled at him. God, but she was his anchor through all of this, the shining light that kept him focused and gave him safe haven when the demons rode him hard and nightmares kept him from sleeping.
“They can’t help but convict, Logan. It’s a slam-dunk. You helped do this, love, you did it.”
He remembered the nights he’d come home, ravaged by the memories and by the feelings of frustration. Every time she had been there, her words and her love refilling him, renewing him, and strengthening him. He squeezed her hand.
Then he looked beyond her to the man sitting on her other side. Much different than he remembered him, now gray and with the look of a man who had suffered much. Logan watched as Kate reached for his hand as well.
Something else that Kate had instigated. Stripping both men of their prideful obstinacy, she’d forced their confrontation. She knew what it was like to lose a father forever, she didn’t want that for Logan. His gaze moved over her to focus on her still-flat abdomen. She wanted their baby to have his grandfather close at hand.
My God, how he had managed to earn the love of this woman, who warmed him every day with her beauty and serenity, he would never know. What he did know was that he wanted this chapter of his life to be over.
During the last few weeks he’d watched Nell Dubrowski who, after spending time in jail, now truly looked her age. And this time nothing was going to stop the law from getting justice for all the pain and suffering she’d caused for so many years.
The jury foreman read the first verdict.
“Guilty!”
And Logan released the pent up breath. Thank God! Again and again, as they carefully read each count of the indictments against Nell and her organization, another burden lifted from Logan’s shoulders. Every nail in her coffin lightened the load weighing down Logan’s heart.
When finally the last count was read, the journalists rushing from the courtroom to get their story out, Logan and Kate walked out of the courtroom, his arm wrapped tightly around her body, locking her against him.
They stopped in front of the men’s room door and Logan looked down at her, knowing that all the love and respect for this strong woman at his side had to be blazing from his eyes.
“You know this is where we met.”
She smiled. “Is that what you call it? I practically ran you down.”
“We’ve come full circle, Kate.”
“And now it’s time to make our own future and leave all this baggage behind.”
They had just built a new house in the suburbs and he couldn’t wait to get her back to that very large master bedroom that hadn
’t even begun to be broken in yet. She’d made certain there was even a small cottage available close by for his father.
“Let’s go home, Logan.”
He liked that word. Home. He’d never really known what it meant before. And now—nothing would please him better.
~ 0 ~
Author Bio
Adrianna Dane has been putting pen to paper since the age of ten. She currently
resides in the state of Washington. She has a great fondness for using a fountain pen when writing her first drafts. Hobby interests are varied, including photography and traveling.
The first defining love story Adrianna read back in junior high school was “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte, and that set her on the road to her long-standing love affair with books of all genres. Her inspiration in writing often can be found by listening to song lyrics, from hard rock to classical, and reading poetry by such poets as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Allen Poe, and Ranier Maria Rilke. But finding inspiration for her stories truly has no boundaries for Adrianna.
In 2006, her dark fantasy GLBT story, Body Parts, won its category in the Dream Realm Awards. Adrianna has written more than 100 stories, short, novella, and novel length, delving into many facets of the human condition - contemporary, futuristic, and fantasy, and all the flavors therein and in between. In other words, wherever the story and the characters, as well as their intricate stories, take her imagination, then her pen and/or computer keyboard, are sure to follow.
Networking Links
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http://www.twitter.com/Adrianna_Dane
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Blog:
https://eclecticalchemy.blog/
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