Last Chance Hero

by Melinda Di Lorenzo

  “Wait,” Jordynn said suddenly. “What’s that one there?”

  “Looks like someone scanned a bunch of newsprint articles and uploaded them to some kind of archive. It’s a Michigan paper, though.”

  “Open it anyway.”

  Donovan clicked and read aloud. “‘Developer on the rise. Young Enterprises.’”

  “Young Enterprises.”

  “Is that company name familiar to you?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  He gave the screen another look. “Well. On top of it being over two thousand miles from here, this happened almost thirty years ago. I was a baby, and you weren’t even born yet.”

  “Can you zoom in on the picture?”

  “Sure.”

  He hovered over the article, then increased the size and read the blurry caption at the bottom of the photo. “‘Young Enterprises, founders and family meet with mayor.’”

  There were three men in the picture. Beside them, a little boy—maybe three or four years old—held up a balloon, which was embossed with the company’s initials.

  “Anyone you know?” he asked.

  “Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe not? The quality’s pretty bad.” Jordynn squinted at the screen for another second before frowning at him. “I wonder why this article came up in the Lance Ranger search. The people in this picture are in their thirties. Ranger died twenty years later, and he was barely thirty then.”

  It only took Donovan a second to figure it out. “He’s the kid.”

  Her eyes went from him to the screen and back again. “You’re right. He has to be.”

  Jordynn slid her arm underneath his to pull the keyboard back toward her. He watched as she plugged Young Enterprises into the search engine.

  “So many names,” she muttered as she waited for the results to load. “Fryer... Haven... Young...aha! Look. Wait. Does that say Pleasant Falls, Michigan?”

  Donovan bent to see. “Yep.”

  Jordynn drew in a sharp breath. “That’s weird.”

  “What?”

  “Pleasant Falls is the town where my parents lived. Where my dad died.” Her face was a little pale, and she pulled away from the computer. “What does the rest of the article say?”

  He skimmed over the first part. “Young Enterprises were involved in an embezzlement scandal. It’s kind of vague, but it sounds like one of the partners stole money from the other and the company fell apart as a result.”

  “No names?”

  He read through the rest, lifted his hand to give his ear a worried tug, then met her eyes and spoke cautiously. “Just one.”

  “Just one?” she repeated. “Who is it?”

  “The one who was left behind after the money was gone.”

  “C’mon, Dono. Who?”

  “Reed Walker.”

  If he’d thought her face was white a second ago, it was positively ashen now. “Reed?”

  “Yes.”

  She licked her lower lip nervously. “So thirty years ago, this other guy ripped Reed off in an embezzlement scandal. And twenty years later, a second embezzlement scheme comes up. Only this time it’s here?”

  “And so is Reed. He’s the only common denominator that I can see,” Donovan said, then changed his mind and added, “Well. The only common denominator aside from the kid, who we think is Lance Ranger.”

  “That newspaper caption said family. What if Ranger is the other partner’s son?”

  “Logical conclusion.”

  “Okay. So maybe Reed’s just a coincidence. Ranger and his dad each scammed a development company. But what does the Haven Corporation have to do with any of it, and how did Ranger wind up dead? I feel like we’re zigzagging around, looking for a way to get from A to Z, but missing the twenty-four letters in between.” She let out a frustrated groan, then shook her head. “Maybe we should go looking for Reed after all.”

  “Maybe we should.”

  Donovan started to push back from the computer, but as he did, a shadow crossed in front of the drawn office blinds. He leaped out of his seat.

  “Behind me,” he barked. “Quickly.”

  It was all he had time to say before the door flew open, and Ivan’s familiar form blocked their way out. The other man held a weapon in his hand, and he had a dark smile on his face.

  “Mr. Grady, you are a serious thorn in my side,” he said.

  “Likewise.”

  Ivan glanced toward the computer. “Find anything interesting?”

  “Nothing you don’t already know.”

  Ivan smiled, then motioned with the gun. “Turn it off. Then get up and come with me.”

  “And if I say no?”

  “Putting aside the direct threat to your life and to Ms. Flannigan’s...there’s an awful lot of innocent people around.”

  “Exactly. Potential loose ends. And I know how you hate those. You think you could kill us, then take care of all of them without attracting any unwanted police attention?”

  The older man’s smile didn’t slip. “I’d call your bluff, but I don’t have to. I brought a bit of insurance.”

  He stepped sideways, just far enough that Donovan could see into the hall. Two more thugs stood outside. Each of them held the arm an older gentleman, who hung limply between the two of them, his head down and his feet loose.

  Behind Donovan, Jordynn gasped. “Reed!”

  Crap.

  The unconscious man was her boss.

  Ivan covered the door again, his smile now growing even wider. “Shut down the computer, hand over the file and follow us outside. And don’t make a single damned noise, or it’ll end very badly.”

  Furious at himself for leaving them vulnerable, Donovan lifted the red folder and held it out. Ivan’s gun didn’t waver as he took the paperwork.

  “Now the computer,” he ordered. “Clear the browser, too, sweetheart.”

  Donovan clenched his jaw to keep from releasing a tirade. They were so damned close. And now...

  All wasted.

  He shook his head to himself as Jordynn followed orders, clicking through the history and making sure no evidence of their search remained. Ivan picked up on his consternation immediately.

  “You could’ve made things a hell of a lot easier for yourself if you’d just stayed dead,” the older man said.

  Donovan studied Ivan’s face, sensing more than a bit of dishonesty in the statement. “That’s not quite true, is it?”

  “Maybe not this time around. But if you’d just done it for real the first time...” Ivan’s smile became a smirk—one he directed at Jordynn. “I’m guessing your boyfriend didn’t tell you about our offer.”

  Donovan steeled himself. He knew what was coming.

  “I don’t care what offer you made,” Jordynn said, her voice firmly defiant. “You’re a liar, a killer and a thief. Your word would’ve meant nothing.”

  “Think what you like about me,” Ivan replied. “But Mr. Grady could’ve saved you a monster of a headache if he’d been able to follow instructions. You’d be safe in your house and your boss would be with his family.”

  “Less than nothing,” Jordynn said back.

  Ivan swung toward Donovan. “You can tell her while we walk. Move.”

  He closed his eyes. He’d known that he’d have to disclose the final details eventually. He just hadn’t thought it would be like this, under duress.

  Chapter 17

  Jordynn didn’t know where to focus her attention as they moved through the hall. So instead of looking at any of them, she kept her ears open and her eyes down. But except for the light thump of their shoes on the linoleum—and the accompanying drag of Reed’s feet behind them—the corridor remained silent.

  She was concerned ab
out her boss, and she wished she could wake him. She wanted to know why he’d come back. Or if he’d left at all. She wanted to know how he’d figured out that she’d be at the care home. And—of course—to make sure he was okay and to ask where Sasha and the kids were, too.

  But Ivan and his fellow thugs were more than a little distracting. Especially the older armed man behind them. She could feel his gun, trained on their backs. She could hear his breaths as he ushered them along. And she remembered what he’d said about not leaving any more loose ends. Jordynn was terrified that someone would see them and become one of those loose ends.

  They reached the service wing, quickly, though, and Jordynn breathed a little easier. At least it was an area with little to no traffic coming through on the weekend.

  She allowed herself a glance at Dono, who walked beside her. His presence—even like this—was comforting. He walked a little stiffly, though, and in spite of her own dismissal of Ivan’s credibility, she could tell that his claim disturbed Dono.

  It piqued her curiosity.

  What could be so bad? He’d faked his own death. Let her suffer. And though she now understood why, she was hard-pressed to think of something worse than that. In fact, the only thing that came to mind that would’ve hurt her more badly was if he’d died for real.

  Oh.

  Her gaze flew toward him. “They wanted you to—”

  He cut her off. “Yes.”

  Her heart squeezed. “You couldn’t have—”

  He interrupted a second time. “I could have, Jordynn. I could’ve stayed inside the car when it rolled over the edge. I could’ve let myself die for real. It was what they suggested, actually, and the reason I thought of faking the car crash in the first place.”

  “Dono... No.”

  “We gave him the choice,” Ivan said. “And he made the wrong one.”

  Now Jordynn’s heart didn’t just squeeze; it threatened to collapse. “That’s not a choice.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart,” Ivan replied. “But if you really think about it...what difference would it have made to you? You’d have gone through the same thing. Every moment of the past decade would’ve been identical. The only change would be what’s happened over the last two days.”

  Dono met her eyes, and the pressure in Jordynn’s chest grew. She could see the heartache there, and the self-doubt, as well. She could too easily picture the moments that led up to what he thought of as a decision. She imagined him, sitting alone at Hilltop Park, beaten and broken, his life as he knew it already over. Searching for a way out. And grabbing on to the only one he could find. The one that would satisfy Ivan and his crew, but also keep her safe.

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Again.”

  “Don’t be sorry that you’re alive.”

  “I’m not. I’m just sorry that I didn’t tell you the whole truth until now.”

  They’d reached a heavy, unarmed exit that would lead them into the overflow parking lot at the back of the facility. As the two thugs in front of them shuffled Reed so that they could open it, Dono took her hand, squeezed it once, then let it go.

  “And now you know,” Ivan stated, his voice smug.

  Even though the two thugs had already gone through the door, and Dono was now holding it open for her, Jordynn spun back.

  “I know what?” she said. “That the man I wanted to spend my life with didn’t have a death wish? That he was smart enough to outsmart you and your plan?”

  Ivan appeared unmoved by her anger. “How about the fact that he valued his life more than your own, so he took the easy way out?”

  She stared at him, shook her head and spoke slowly—like she would to a small child. “You think it was easy for him to let me believe he was dead? Easy for him to know how badly I was hurting? If you really believe that, I feel sorry for you. Because it means you’ve never loved someone enough to know that it was the hardest damn thing he could possibly do.”

  Ivan smirked. “You’re a hell of a pair, aren’t you?”

  “I like to think we are.” Dono was answering Ivan, but his gaze was fixed on Jordynn, and now it held no doubt at all. “A damned good team, actually.”

  He released his hold on the door, and it swung shut with a bang.

  Instinctively, Jordynn stepped back.

  And then—with the smallest of nods—Dono lashed out at Ivan with a perfectly placed roundhouse kick.

  Jordynn jumped back even farther, moving out of the way as one booted foot slammed into Ivan’s calves. The sudden move knocked the older man halfway to the ground, and his hands automatically came out to break his fall. The reactionary movement loosened his grip on the gun and sent it skidding across the floor. The sound of metal on tile echoed through the hall, and for a second, everyone froze, eyes following the weapon as it skidded to a stop. Then the two men on the other side started to bang, and everyone started moving again at once.

  Jordynn went for the gun.

  Ivan reached for Jordynn’s ankles.

  And Dono went after Ivan.

  Together, the three of them toppled to the ground, falling like dominoes, one on top of the other, Jordynn on the bottom.

  As they landed, Jordynn kicked out with her free foot. Her attempt went wild, hitting nothing but air. Ivan yanked on her other leg. She tried to wriggle out of his grip, but he held fast, grunting as Dono squeezed his hips. Jordynn drew back her foot again, and this time she hit her mark. Her foot slammed hard into his shoulder. He grunted and released her. For a blissful moment, she was free. She scrambled across the floor. Behind her, she could hear the continued struggle between the two men. But her eyes were on the prize. Which is probably why she didn’t realize Ivan had kicked himself free, too. And the pain-filled yell that came from Dono alerted her a second too late.

  She whipped back just in time to see that he’d landed against the far wall. He had a nasty gash above his eyebrow, and it was already oozing.

  “Dono!”

  “The gun,” he groaned.

  But Jordynn’s hesitation—or Dono’s words—were enough to remind Ivan, too. The older man lunged forward. Jordynn pushed to her knees and tried to block his path, but he just barreled into her, knocking her sideways and flattening her to the cold tile. As she fell, her fingers smacked into the weapon. It sent the gun up the floor a few more inches. Out of reach.

  Dammit.

  She tried to push, tried to shift to free herself. Ivan was too heavy. And he was starting to climb over her, too, his knees digging into her calves. Her eyes watered as the thug made it all the way up her back, then shoved her down even harder. He moved past her, his hands stretched out for the gun.

  And then Dono was there. He dived past Jordynn, managing to tackle Ivan. But the other man had his fingers closed around the weapon.

  Jordynn grabbed the wall, pulled herself up and took a shaky step toward them both. But the sound of feet, echoing from far off, made her freeze. It had to be Ivan’s men. Had they abandoned Reed? She’d momentarily forgotten that he’d been pulled into the mix. The pounding boots grew slightly louder. How long did they have?

  She took another step in Dono’s direction. He had the upper hand now, crushing Ivan’s wrist while pushing his elbow to the man’s throat.

  “Go, Jordynn,” he urged. “Hurry!”

  “I’m not leaving you here.”

  The gun fell from the other man’s hand, and Dono flipped him over, pushed him down and met her gaze. “Pass me the gun.”

  Jordynn stepped around Ivan to reach the weapon, then held it out.

  Dono took it with a grateful nod. “Can you get out of here safely?”

  “Probably, but—”

  “Then go.”

  “Donovan—”

  “Please, Jordynn. I can’t protect yo
u and hold down Ivan and kneecap two other men at the same time.” As if to emphasize his point, Ivan bucked, and Dono’s muscles strained enough to make him grunt. “Go and help your boss. Get him out of here, and take that red file to the cops. I think we have enough to get them to take us seriously.”

  “You’ll find me?”

  “You know I will.”

  Before she could argue herself out of doing it, she bent to pick up the folder, then turned and pushed her way through the heavy door. For a second, she was startled to find the top of the stairs empty. Where was Reed? She quickly reasoned that they wouldn’t leave him out in the open. The rear parking lot didn’t face the main street, but that didn’t mean no one could see it. So...where would they put him? After quick consideration, she shook her head and decided she didn’t have time to find out. What she needed to do was find a phone and call the police.

  She scanned the parking lot, wondering if she could safely turn around and get back into the care home somehow, or if she should try instead to find another open business.

  But she didn’t get a chance to decide. A gun clicked beside her head, and someone spoke in her ear.

  “Fight me, and I’ll shoot. Scream, and I’ll shoot. Do a single thing that I don’t ask you to do directly and...?” The voice trailed off expectantly.

  “You’ll shoot,” Jordynn filled in.

  “Exactly. I’m putting my hand onto your back and I’m lowering the gun to your waist. I want you to take my elbow, then head toward the gray vehicle with a smile on your face.”

  She took two small steps, then realized she recognized the luxury SUV he’d pointed to.

  “That’s Reed’s car,” she said aloud, momentarily forgetting the instructions the stranger had just given her. “Is he okay?”

  The low chuckle that came in reply slammed into her like an icy bucket of water, and she at last realized that her underlying anxiety had a source: betrayal.

  * * *

  Donovan poised himself above Ivan, gun at the ready. It was safe to assume that the men were coming around the corner, and even though guns weren’t his preferred means of incapacitating someone, he was prepared to do it.

  At least he was until the person attached to the booted thump rounded the corner.