Ruthless

by HelenKay Dimon

  “You still don’t need to know my name,” the unknown man said.

  Paxton walked to the other side of the desk and balanced his hands on it. The move put him far too close for Bryce’s comfort. This one likely wouldn’t need a weapon. If the muscles and furious glare were any indication, he’d break bones first and ask questions later.

  “You made a mistake.” Paxton’s voice dropped with red-hot fury.

  There were too many mistakes for Bryce to count at this point. All those old insecurities rushed back on him. He’d built a company and commanded respect from hundreds of employees with impressive credentials. None of that would save him if Paxton decided to unload.

  Bryce crossed his arms over his chest and held his ground. “Explain all of your accusations.”

  “You wanted your property back from Sean Moore. Understandable, but you went too far. You invaded Kelsey’s privacy, you put her in danger and you didn’t stop even after the first wave of attackers fell.” Paxton made a tsk-tsk sound. “I can’t allow that.”

  That was the second reference to attackers. “I don’t know what you’re talking about with the danger part.”

  This time Bryce wasn’t lying. The surveillance and Sean. Bryce got that. The talk of attackers didn’t fit at all. If someone had physically gone after Sean and his sister, it wasn’t Bryce. Which made him wonder what and who else was in play.

  One minute he was standing there and the next Paxton reached across the desk and grabbed a fist full of shirt. Paxton tightened his fist as the words shot out of him. “I’m done with you.”

  Bryce struggled to break the hold but the guy didn’t budge. With one hand on his tie, Bryce tried to keep his collar from cutting off his breath. “Hey, you can’t—”

  “Oh, I assure you I can.”

  Clutching at his shirt and shuffling his feet, Bryce conducted a frantic scan of the room. The other guy didn’t show any emotion. Kelsey bit down on her lip. She was his way in. A regular woman with a menial job. She wouldn’t let the bruiser kill him.

  “Lady, come on.”

  “You wrecked my building and my work. I won’t even mention what you did to my sense of security.” She shook her head. “Don’t expect me to help you.”

  “I didn’t do anything but tap into cameras.”

  Paxton shook Bryce until he coughed out a gasp.

  Finally, the quiet leader spoke up. “Mr. Kingston can’t help us if he’s dead.”

  The strangling sensation disappeared as Paxton shoved against Bryce’s chest. He landed in the chair, rolling until it slammed against the back wall. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Talk.”

  Bryce stared at three furious glares. Flushed faces and stiff bodies. They knew too much yet in some ways nothing at all. He had two choices—deny or come clean on the parts he could control. “Sean stole proprietary information from me. I tracked him down and that led me to family members. My investigator went to Ms. Moore’s shop but there was a gas leak. End of story.”

  “Why did you send people to kill me?” Kelsey’s voice shook as she yelled the question.

  Reference number three to physical violence, and the source for the accusation wasn’t any clearer to Bryce. “Tell me what happened.”

  “You’re saying it wasn’t you.” The leader issued the comment as a challenge.

  “I tapped into security cameras. I admit that. The rest has nothing to do with me.”

  “Who else is involved in this project and the problem with Sean?”

  “Dan Breckman, my assistant. The person who administered Sean’s lie detector test.” The list was small but Dan occupied the top slot. For the first time Bryce wondered if Dan had been working a different angle the entire time. “If you’re talking about who knows the program Sean worked on, there are many people with access and information, including other employees, the contracting officers, people in the Pentagon who pushed for this program and a long list of competitors who are furious I got there first.”

  Paxton and Kelsey shared a look.

  The leader was the first to fill the silence. “But you only played with some cameras.”

  Bryce’s heartbeat sped up. He suddenly felt as if he was in a fight for his life and losing ground with each second. “That’s right.”

  The leader shrugged. “We’ll see what the investigators think.”

  The blood drained out of Bryce’s head. He wanted to stand up, but he didn’t think his legs would hold him. “Excuse me?”

  “They’re ripping apart your office and searching through your computers right now,” Paxton said.

  The weight of the past few weeks crashed down on Bryce. He couldn’t breathe and tried to swallow. “You can’t—”

  The leader took out his phone and gave it a quick check. “We’re not.”

  “Apparently you upset some folks in the Pentagon.” Paxton’s smile took on a feral quality. “By the way, they want you to stay here because they have some questions for you.”

  They headed for the door, pushing Glenn aside as they went. “Wait. Where are you going?”

  “Is something wrong?” Dan’s voice.

  Shock jabbed into Bryce. Dan...here? Bryce’s head spun. Something was happening. Something huge and out of control, and Dan sat at the center of it all. Bryce wanted to lunge across the desk and strangle the guy. He was smart to hide behind Paxton Weeks.

  Bryce struggled to his feet, ignoring the dizziness that assailed his brain. “What are you doing here?”

  “I got a call to come in.”

  “Apparently this is the place to be,” Paxton said before he walked out, taking Dan with him.

  “Have a good afternoon.” The leader made the comment over his shoulder but stopped when he hit the doorway and then turned back around. “Oh, and, we’ll talk again soon.”

  * * *

  PAX DROVE DOWN the warehouse access road. Beige buildings lined each side, and only a stray car or two passed them on the opposite side. They were in the middle of a low-density business park, one that had been mostly cleared out in anticipation of the meeting with Bryce.

  It took a massive amount of work to get all the players in place and convince the officials at the Pentagon to assist. Finding out one of their prized programs was in peril helped. Having Connor lead the operation got the rest done.

  Even now he sat in the backseat with Kelsey. She gnawed on her lip, and he constantly searched the area as it passed by the car window.

  Pax looked over their heads and glanced in the rearview mirror for the hundredth time. The blue sedan swung out between two garage buildings. For minutes the sedan followed Pax’s car. When he turned, the sedan turned shortly thereafter.

  To make sure this was the sign he wanted, Pax made a sudden turn and skimmed a narrow alley between loading docks and stopped trailers. A second later the sedan followed.

  Bingo.

  “We have company.” As much as Pax enjoyed the words and when a plan came together, he hated having her in the car. He wanted her at home and safe. His home, even though he didn’t currently have one of those.

  “About time,” Joel mumbled over the comm.

  Kelsey tore her gaze away from the window and the bare landscape outside. “We want company?”

  Pax watched her, impressed that she didn’t fidget or break into outright panic, both of which would be expected from any civilian in this situation. Instead, she sat there, twisting her long tee between two fingers even as her voice stayed steady. “We want to stop the car behind us and figure out who sent it.”

  Her gaze met his and she frowned. “Isn’t it obvious? Bryce Kingston.”

  Connor made a noise somewhere between a grunt and an exhale. “He’d be too smart to sic someone on our tail now. After that meeting he knows we’re on to hi
m. By now he has a crowd of people shooting questions at him. There is nothing he can hide, and he doesn’t have as much as a pencil with him in that room. No phone and no way to call his cronies and send them after us.”

  Impressive explanation but Pax thought Connor used way too many words to get the point across. “Besides all that, he’s too busy sitting in that room trying to figure out how to cover his—”

  “Watch the road.” Connor struck the back of the seat with the heel of his hand. “Turn up here.”

  Dirt kicked up under the tires as they moved off the paved stretch to a smaller access way. The deeper into the area they drove, winding around warehouses and loading docks, the more remote it became. They could be in Arizona or Kentucky from all they could see.

  “This looks like an abandoned alley,” Kelsey said as she swiveled her head to see in front of the car.

  “It is.” Connor tapped his ear. “Joel, you ready?”

  “I’m watching.”

  The adrenaline rush of the chase gave way to a blinding fear she’d be hurt. Pax blinked his eyes to bring his concentration back to the task ahead of him. Seeing her in the backseat acting as if they were on a sightseeing trip didn’t do anything to ease the tightening of his nerves.

  He shot her a look from the rearview mirror. “Get down on the floor and do not move until I tell you it’s okay.”

  Worry made his words gruff but he didn’t apologize. She needed to know this was serious and she shouldn’t fool around with any rescue antics.

  She nodded. “Right.”

  This was not his first day with this woman. No way was he falling for that noncommittal response. “No, I know that means you’ll do whatever you want. Tell me you’ll do what I say.”

  Her teeth clenched together. “Fine.”

  Joel laughed over the comm. “I’m not convinced that’s a better answer.”

  “Turn right and slow down.” Connor barked out directions as he shifted his weight closer to the door and brought out his gun. “How many do we have?”

  Pax squinted for a better view against the afternoon sun. “Just one guy that I can see.”

  “Get ready.” Connor slipped his hand under the door handle as Kelsey ducked.

  As soon as he made the turn, Pax slammed on the brakes. The tires skidded and squealed as he cut the wheel to the right. Momentum took them sliding sideways. Industrial trash bins stood in their path, but the car stopped in a cloud of dust right before they crashed into the metal.

  The car behind them didn’t fare as well. The brakes grinded and the car spun. There was a loud bang as the back tire blew out.

  Pax and Connor jumped out of the car, guns aimed, and ran for the attacker’s sedan. The driver’s hands flew around and his concentration centered on the car. The front end slammed into a green trash bin but not hard enough for the air bag to pop. Even stopped, the driver continued to wrestle with the steering wheel and rev the engine as he floored the gas.

  Not that he was going anywhere. Joel’s car had him penned in at the back and his shot took care of the tire. Connor and Pax took care of the rest.

  “Raise your hands and get out of the car.” Connor yelled the order.

  The driver’s head shot up. He glanced around, as if noticing for the first time the people closing in on him.

  With a final look at the car to ensure Kelsey hadn’t sat up, Pax circled the front of the sedan and opened the driver’s-side door.

  The man kept his hands in the air as ordered. “Hey, I was just driving to work.”

  “Sure you were.” Pax grabbed the guy out of the car by his collar and threw him up against the side of the car. While Connor covered him, Pax conducted a pat down. He found the gun in the first pocket he checked. “You plan on shooting some trucks today?”

  “I have a license for that.”

  Connor scoffed. “You’ll have a lot of time to explain.”

  The car door opened and Kelsey stepped out. “We okay?”

  Pax swore under his breath. Then he let out another stream much louder. “Get back in the car.”

  “Fine, but I want to go home.”

  That made two of them.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It had been hours since the scene with Bryce Kingston and the car. Connor and some friends from government agencies Kelsey didn’t even know existed were interviewing the driver and Bryce Kingston. Kelsey had showered and eaten and then showered again. For whatever reason and despite the humid summer night, her skin refused to warm. She trembled and shook, trying to calm her nerves before her teeth chattered and she really embarrassed herself.

  Being with Pax, surrounded by his support, helped. Walking around the hardwood floors in thick athletic socks did, too.

  Pax stuck his head in the master bedroom. “You find a sweatshirt?”

  She’d ventured into the room when he suggested she check for a sweater or something. She hadn’t worked up the nerve to open a drawer yet. “I’m not really comfortable shuffling through your sister-in-law’s personal items.”

  He leaned against the door frame. “I’d rather you touch her underwear than me.”

  That did sound kind of awful. “Good point.”

  She opened the top drawer and saw stacks of silky underwear. Yeah, Kelsey could see where touching those might emotionally cripple Pax. Shifting lacy things to the side and around, she looked for anything heavier to wear, but nothing stuck out. She repeated the search with the next drawer down.

  “You did great today.” The smile sounded in his voice.

  The rough, husky tone made her all shivery, but she may as well tell him the truth rather than let him think she was some kind of tough girl. “I wanted to throw up the entire time.”

  He laughed. “That’s probably normal.”

  She stopped shuffling T-shirts and shorts and stared up at him. “Have you ever thrown up?”

  “When I had the flu.”

  “You’re hysterical.” Her hand hit on a rough edge and something sliced the top of her finger. She yelped as she pulled her hand back. Red drops oozed on the tip of her finger.

  A paper cut.

  He was beside her in a shot. He cradled her hand in his and studied the minor wound with great seriousness. “What happened?”

  “Attacked by an envelope.”

  “What?”

  She pulled out the offending stack. “These.”

  He loomed over Kelsey’s shoulder. “Weird. Why would Lara keep letters in there?”

  Men. If Kelsey weren’t so tired she’d roll her eyes. “Makes more sense than the kitchen.”

  “I guess that’s true.”

  She gave the addresses a quick check and tucked the stack back in the drawer. “Besides, they aren’t hers. They’re from someone named Connie to Davis.”

  Pax’s hands froze while caressing hers. His whole body froze, from his facial muscles to his legs. “What did you just say?”

  “Connie—”

  “Let me see.” Pax bent over and scooped the stack back up.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “That’s my mother.”

  The information didn’t fit with anything he had told her about the woman who gave birth to him. She had a breakdown and left. She’d died long ago without any word to her sons. “Really?”

  He paged through each envelope, his gaze scanning each line of the address. With his finger, he tested the closures. “I don’t get this.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He shook his head as his voice became distant. “She never contacted us. She gave us up and that was it. No contact.”

  The evidence in his hands suggested otherwise. “It looks like she tried to write Davis but he never opened them. For some reason, Lara has the stack.”

>   Pax sat down hard on the edge of the bed. He stared at the letters but his gaze didn’t focus. It was as if he was looking into a window to another place.

  She sat down next to him and rubbed her hand over his thigh. “Are you okay?”

  “No. Davis never told me. Strike that, he actually lied to me and insisted our mother never checked in.”

  Kelsey’s mind went to her own father and all the dysfunction that came with her early life and Pax’s. “Davis probably thought knowing might hurt you. That you both needed to move on and the letters held you back.”

  At least she hoped that was true. In her mind there was no way listening to his birth mother excuse her behavior could be good for him. He overcame. He walked away and made a life separate from the horrors of what he’d seen. He didn’t let his abandonment define him.

  His strength and dignity in light of all he’d been through was part of what made him who he was. Part of what attracted her. No matter how she tried to pull away from him, to not care, watching him sucked her in.

  She could love him without even trying. The idea his mother missed out on all that should have made Kelsey feel sorry for her, but all she could muster was hate.

  Pax flipped the stack over and over. “That wasn’t his choice.”

  And the brothers had to work that part out. There was likely some big-brother explanation, but that was for Davis to offer. “I agree, but from the dates you were in your late teens. I can imagine him wanting to protect you.”

  Pax’s gaze flew to hers. “Why are you siding with him?”

  “I don’t even know him.”

  He threw the stack on the bed. “Which is my point.”

  The conversation had taken an odd turn, and she tried to pull it back. “I’m saying this is a piece of your past, something you need to discuss and deal with, but not something that matters in terms of who you are now. You’ve escaped whatever happened back then.”

  “I thought I had.” He stood up and stalked to the door.

  “Pax?”

  He stopped but didn’t turn around to face her. “I need to go out for a second.”

  “It’s still not safe.” She repeated the warning Connor issued many times before they left the office to come back here again.