by Amy McKinley
Liam executed a similar tactic, eliminating three, then two more, in fast succession. On another monitor, Liv watched as men fell, clean shots to the head and chest taking them down. When a few of their buddies noticed the direction they took fire from, they gave up stealth and aimed their machine guns at the roof, spitting bullets in a deadly spray. Matt sprinted behind them, threw a knife at one, fired a shot at another, then engaged in hand to hand with the remaining thug. Fast and efficient, Liam’s team advanced. She understood what Jilly and Dylan meant, but it still didn’t ease her guilt for putting them in danger or her worry for Alex.
Her racing heart never got a chance to settle because she shifted to the rear monitor, where a man was making his way through the trees. There was no mistaking who it was. Alex.
She mimicked what the teens did when they spoke to their group. “The rear is Alex.” She took a breath and scanned the other monitors. “I think his brother’s leading the group from the front, by the blueberries.”
“Thanks for the identifiers.” Liam’s voice braced her.
Liv rose from her seat and paced. Dylan and Jilly tapped keys and made one of the other screens pan closer. When she saw Mateo, her heart skipped a beat. He split from his group and dashed to the side of the house, toward Alex. What did that mean? Were they working together?
After meeting Mateo, her worst nightmare had been learning Alex was related to him and could potentially have some similar characteristics she had not yet seen.
Her attention split between the monitors, and she watched in horror as Matt neared the center group at a full sprint. He stopped maybe twenty feet from them, crouched down, and took aim. He fired no shots but held still, his whispered words telecasting to the team. “In position.”
Alex stopped and faced the direction Mateo approached.
Jack looped behind another cluster of cartel members coming in fast from the left, the group Mateo had abandoned. Mateo changed direction, but the men following him did not. Liv flipped her attention back to Alex, who stood still. Was he waiting to rendezvous with Mateo? She alternated from watching Alex to Mateo. Would Alex agree to this ambush?
With Jo on the roof and Matt and Jack out front, engaging three groups of armed men, Liv looked for Liam. There! Slipping around the house on the opposite side of Mateo, he focused on Alex, who was obstructed from Liam’s line of sight by the trees.
Chapter 35
Not able to watch anymore, she backed away. Jilly and Dylan didn’t notice. They assumed she sat, mute, behind them. As soon as she was clear of their sight, she made her way up the flight of stairs, unlocked the steel bolt, and slipped through. Her breath came in quick pants as she raced through the house to the back. With her hand on the slider, she pressed the button on her earpiece. “Dylan and Jilly, lock the door at the top of the stairs.” Then she walked outside to the cursing of the boy who now tracked her escape on the monitors.
Curses rang in her ears as the team realized what she’d done. It didn’t matter. Her focus remained on Alex. If she could get to him before Mateo, she would make him explain. The need for answers burned within her. With so many of the cartel there, Alex’s prior unwillingness to let her leave Colombia, and his urgent pleas for her to come home, she needed to find out what her importance to him was in terms of the organization. When they’d spoken the last two times, she had thought he only wanted things to return to how they were. Now, with the show of force spreading across the farm and Liam’s words ringing in her ears, her suspicions ran wild.
In the back of her mind, she wondered if Alex knew who’d pushed her. Had he approved? He hadn’t wanted children, not for a long time, if at all, and his reaction when she’d told him about her pregnancy had been far from positive.
Wind tugged at her hair, and with one hand, she tucked it behind an ear while she scanned the backyard. As fast as she could, she ran through the garden and across the sprawling lawn, until she neared the thick trees on the back of the property. She had time. The gun weighed heavily in her hand, and so did her resolve. Alex had killed her best friend and probably her parents too. He would answer her.
With a glance over her shoulder, she noticed Liam sprinting toward her, a good fifty feet away. She didn’t dare look in the other direction, where Mateo would come from.
Several feet from her, Alex emerged from a cluster of trees, gun in hand. His eyes widened when he caught sight of her. With his free hand, he urgently gestured for her to move aside as he raised his gun. Oh God, Liam!
In that moment, realization slammed into her. She cared about Liam more than she’d thought. He made her laugh, feel safe.
Tears welled; the wind tugged at them and whipped them from the corner of her eyes. “No, Alex!” She shifted in front of the path of his gun, blocking his line of sight to Liam. With a steady hand, she raised her weapon and aimed it at his chest.
“Shit, Olivia!” Alex angled his weapon to the left, away from Liam. His words growled through the dwindling distance separating them. His fierce glare only boosted her conviction to reach him. He owed her answers.
Heart in her throat, she picked up her speed, sparing a quick glance over her shoulder to where Alex aimed his weapon. Mateo. He was still too far away. She and Alex would have a few moments until they were in shooting range. Then things would escalate even more.
Not bothering to check how far away Liam was, she met Alex at the line of trees. She held the gun between them in a steady grip.
“Put that away,” Alex snapped, his sight trained over her shoulder and to the left. He’d deemed Mateo the bigger threat over Liam, and her. That told her so much.
With a roar, he grabbed her shoulders and flipped their positions. Off balance, she jerked forward, like a ragdoll. Alex’s back now faced Liam, while hers slammed into the tree. Close, he was too close. Alex pressed his body to hers. With her view blocked, she clenched her jaw at how his grip dug into her. She struggled to shift the gun wedged between their bodies, pointing up.
“Liv.” The tortured sound of his voice almost gutted her. He crushed her to his chest, buried his face against the top of her head, and inhaled. “So worried. Why didn’t you come home?”
Nausea punched her in the stomach. “I couldn’t.” You’re a killer. Straightening her wrist, she shoved the barrel at his chest. “You owe me, Alex. Tell me why. The baby. Your father and brother. A cartel! And, oh my God, Alex, Rachel.”
With a quick twist of his hand, he yanked her weapon free of his chest, forcing the angle down. “Babe, you have a million reasons to hate me.” His mouth pressed into a stubborn line. “Just hear me out for a minute.” He took her face in his hands, the flat of his gun pressing on one side, and brushed a kiss on her forehead. “I would have answered them, or as many as I could, if you’d only come home.”
Anger simmered, and her body trembled. His touch was a reminder of what else he’d killed. Time dwindled. Soon Liam and Mateo would be on them. The stiffening in Alex’s body told her he was aware too.
The whirlwind of her thoughts rushed her. None of them were good. She and Alex had a past, a history. No matter how much she despised him, a part of her still loved him. She deserved a moment or two to hear him out, to learn why he’d shattered their lives. That was all they had left.
“Let’s go, Liv. There’s a small window for us to escape. If we take it now, we can leave and go back to what we had. You liked our life, didn’t you?”
Her pulse quickened. “That was never the issue. You know what was. From the moment I told you about our baby, you changed. Everything did.”
The breath seemed to burst out of him, and a small tremor in his hands ran against her cheeks before they stilled. “Babe, you were it for me. My life, my salvation. I tried to, wanted to, give you everything.”
“I know.” She allowed the veil of her fury to part for that one response. “There are too many questions, and I need answers. There’s no way I can risk the possibility of interaction with your family. They’re murde
rers, Alex. And you…” She choked on what he did to Rachel, to her parents.
Smells and sounds came and went with the awareness of her surroundings. The urgency of the situation pushed her to make him talk. The pungent scent of pines gave the illusion of safety, of time. But they weren’t safe, and they didn’t have time. Liam rushed to save her from her husband. More terrifying than anything else, Mateo neared.
Wind rustled through the trees, once more making her aware of both men pursuing them.
Dizziness swept over her from the sadness swimming in Alex’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Liv. For not shielding you better, for bringing you into this life, for risking your safety and happiness.” He dropped his forehead to hers.
The crunch of pine needles echoed like drums in her ears. Shots rang from both directions. Her heart pounded against her ribs.
“I can’t answer your questions, babe. It’s too late.” His fingers toyed with the bracelet on her wrist, the only thing she wore from him. “Look inside. I’ve given you the answers you need.” When he drew back, his face lost the desperation and longing that pulled his features taut. Only sadness, acceptance, and a chilling resolve remained. “You were supposed to be my salvation.”
She shook her head no. He’d told her what she meant to him in his words, his touch, but she couldn’t do it, not anymore. “I thought you were mine, but I was wrong, Alex. I’m my own.”
Bullets rained all around them, and Alex pressed her tightly against the tree, exposing his body instead. The rough bark scraped her skin. His arm extended, the gun held steady. Loud pops and whizzing noises from Alex’s gun and return fire filled the air. When Liv registered the searing thud of flesh being hit so closely to her, she released the scream she’d held. Alex’s body jerked into hers repeatedly with each bullet, the grunt of pain the only sound he emitted.
“Doesn’t matter anymore, Alex,” Mateo shouted. “She’s not needed, just as the baby wasn’t.” He raised his gun again. “Neither are you.”
“Mother fucking shit, you did it. You pushed her.” Furious, Alex took a step away from her, dropped his empty cartridge, slammed another one home, and started shooting again with renewed fervor.
To her horror, blood seeped from Alex’s back and shoulder. He stood strong, seemingly impervious to the damage he endured.
More bullets whizzed by them. Not aiming at them but at Mateo. Liam. She peeked around Alex, who’d stepped away from her enough to get a better shot, but he remained a human shield between her and Mateo.
Liv pointed her gun around Alex and squeezed the trigger. She missed. In between her and Alex’s shots, more rang out. Liam. His aim was true, and Mateo jerked back as bullets riddled his chest. Still, he kept coming.
Alex wavered on his feet. His whispered words of love for Liv rang in her ears as he crumpled to the ground, ripping out her heart all over again. The finality of his death stained her soul. She dropped to her knees, an anguished scream filling the air around them.
Gunshots continued to fill the air. She no longer cared. Mateo neared, and it didn’t matter, not anymore. The thump of a body, Mateo’s, hitting the ground a few feet away, didn’t draw her gaze, nor did the rustling sounds of him getting back up, determined to reach her. Only the sight of Alex, lying in a pool of his blood, held her attention.
With shaking hands, she turned him over. So much blood. Sobs shook her, and she fell over his still body. Regret, anger, and sadness collided. Warm stickiness coated her, the iron smell filling her nose with each breath. Nothing mattered. Not now.
Let Mateo come for her.
If he reached her, she would make him pay. Her grip on her gun tightened with resolve.
Strong hands gripped her shoulders and lifted her to her feet. The gun left her hand as Liam crushed her in a hug. Words were spoken, to her, to the others. They made no sense. The only thing that did was his embrace. In a movement that had her world spinning all over again, he lifted her to his chest, and she found herself cradled against him. Wind whipped her hair as he ran back to the house. “Cover us” were the only words that registered.
Later, she understood he’d requested cover as they ran. Most of the team rushed to their aid, as the threat had been neutralized everywhere else on the property. Now all she could do was sob in Liam’s arms. With each step, she worried about the burden she’d placed on him. Popping her eyes open, she ignored the streaming tears and did her best to be another lookout for him.
“Dylan, take the roof,” Liam said. “I’ve got her, going to home. Jilly, keep watch where you are.”
Her body shifted as Liam pulled back the slider, brought them inside, and slammed it shut behind them. Their pace slowed as he carried her upstairs and into a large bathroom.
“Are you hurt?”
She felt dead inside, and his comment made no sense. So much death. Even though she’d let go of Alex, she’d lost everyone that had been a part of her life, her past. “Everywhere,” she whispered.
Liam swore, turned on the water, and put her under it, fully clothed.
Slowly, her eyelids shut, unable to watch the sight of Alex’s blood turning the water pink and trickling down the drain. She just needed a little time to deal with the shock of Alex dying, of all she’d lost. Right now, she was so very tired.
“I don’t see any bullet holes, Liv. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Her head lulled forward, thumping into his solid chest. The softness of his T-shirt separated her forehead from his skin. She was so grateful for Liam’s friendship, his kindness. He lifted and held her in the shower before she fell. The warm water rushed over her, slowing the shivers that chattered her teeth.
Blinking, she looked around, her gaze again following the direction of the water. Liam ran the showerhead over her, and the pink-tinged water acted like a punch to her stomach. Nausea hit hard, and she threw up, all over both of them.
Liam didn’t say one word. He just continued to hold her, even when she was coated in blood and puke while she cried. Minutes passed as he stroked her back, and slowly, she relaxed enough for him to wash both of them off. The water shut off, and he covered her body with a towel. He squeezed her hair out and wrapped another around her head. He helped her to sit before he left for a moment. When he came back, he pushed a shirt and a pair of sweats into her hands then tilted her head up so she would look at him.
“Can you change? Get out of those wet clothes and put these on?” When she nodded, he left, closing the door behind him.
She struggled with her wet clothes, finally getting them off and tossing them into the shower. After she pulled on the sweats, she cinched the drawstring to accommodate her smaller waist and rolled the pants legs over and over until her feet peeked through the openings.
At Liam’s soft knock on the door, she told him she was dressed. When he came in, he was no longer dripping wet. He’d changed into dry clothes in the other room. He lifted her once more, ignoring her protests that she could walk, and carried her to the large bed, where he settled her under the covers. The bed dipped, and he lay down next to her, taking her in his arms. No words were spoken. He simply held her.
Exhausted, she fell asleep in his arms.
Chapter 36
Birds chirped outside the window, their sound pulling Liv from sleep, and she blinked her unfocused eyes in the soft rays of sunlight. How long had she been out? Extending her hand, she reached to the indented spot next to her. It was cool to her touch, and she realized Liam had left some time ago.
Yesterday remained a dull ache in her thoughts as she rose and showered. She wanted to make sure everyone was okay and thank them for helping her.
Pulling the towel from her damp hair, she turned her head, curious about the room she’d rested in. There was no mistaking the masculine touch in the various shades of gray and white. The bed she’d spent the night in was king size. On the opposite wall hung a picture taken at dusk. She stepped closer to look at the print of rippling, inky water and a worn stretch of dock. At the end was a
tethered boat. Bending, she peered at a silhouette shot of five men and one woman on a hill. A small smile pulled at Liv’s mouth as she recognized a few of them from their stance and outline alone.
Without anything else to distract her, the impact of everything that had happened yesterday rolled through her like a slow-moving freight train, and she dropped onto the bed. It made sense now. Well, most of it. There were a few things about her life with Alex she didn’t understand.
She choked back a sob. She’d loved him, the man he had been, not the one she’d come to learn of. And he’d loved her in his way, as much as he’d been capable of with the borrowed existence he’d had. Her time with him and his family had challenged her conviction and given her a glimpse into a warped world.
In the end, he’d been a puppet to his father’s whims. It had cost her dearly. For that, she had come to accept his death. However, she wasn’t heartless. All the loss, especially Rachel and her parents, left her scarred.
You’re my salvation. Alex’s whispered words played like a record in her mind. She believed he’d meant that. But his family ties were so much stronger. If he’d made it to the Senate without her pregnancy, would their outcome have turned out differently? Would he have been a better person rather than a murderer?
Somehow, she believed he would have kept her and their child safe, free from his brother and father. He would have if he hadn’t fallen into the same pattern he had been thrust into. His mother had traded in the life of her son to ensure one of luxury for herself. And his father had used Alex to pave the way in the States for his organization to move in and take over.
The competition between him and his brother for a father’s love and respect had eaten at him like a cancer. As a child, Alex hadn’t stood a chance. As a young man, he’d learned to spread his wings. Finally, as a man, he had pledged most of himself to his family, except for the life he’d carved out with her. The small things he had done told her she’d meant more to him than the plan his family had concocted. If she hadn’t truly mattered, he too would have pushed her for constant connections as her parents had. He would have involved her in the darker side of his world. And he would have killed her. But he didn’t.