by Lisa Childs
Rus glanced around as if looking for Mrs. Munson. “Is she here?”
He wasn’t going to find her.
Parker pushed aside his pain to focus on their conversation, to force himself to find a way out for him and Sharon.
The judge shook his head. “In the end, the money wasn’t enough for her.”
Parker opened his mouth to correct the fed’s misconception about Mrs. Munson. He had recalled what had become of her. But a gesture from Rus stopped him.
The man shook his head, as if commiserating with the judge. “So you took all those bribes and she still left you?”
The judge nodded. “I took dirty money—money from criminals to either throw out the cases against them or reduce their sentences.”
“But your wife didn’t leave you,” Parker said, unable to hold his tongue any longer. “She was killed.”
The judge laughed. “Do you think I would let her divorce me after everything I’d done for her? She wasn’t going to take anything else from me.”
“So you had one of those criminals kill her?” Parker asked the question now. He wanted to know how long this man had been a killer.
“Hell, I did that myself,” the judge said. “Right here in this solarium and had that dim-witted Sharpe kid help me clean up the scene. Too bad he’s dead.”
“I’ll do your dirty work,” Rus said. “But I want more than that reward you offered.”
Parker had no choice. He had to act now or he’d miss his opportunity. It didn’t matter if he got shot as long as he gave Sharon the opportunity to escape. He knocked her chair to the ground, hoping that the wicker might break or crack and loosen the ropes that he had been unable to undo.
And then he vaulted himself at Rus; he had to overpower him or die trying. But something struck his jaw, and darkness filled his vision. He fought to remain conscious so that he could protect Sharon, so that he could tell her that he loved her....
Chapter Nineteen
As Parker’s eyes rolled back in his head, Sharon screamed. Was he dead? She struggled against the ropes and finally they were loose enough that she slipped her wrists free of the bindings. Then she crawled over to Parker’s side and cradled his head on her lap. At least she had told him that she loved him....
His pulse flickered beneath the skin of his throat. He wasn’t dead. Yet. But she doubted it would be much longer before this man—this man who looked so much like Parker—killed them both.
The judge stared at Parker on the floor. “So what do you want?” he asked Rus. “What do you want as your reward for killing these two and cleaning up the mess? How much is this going to cost me?”
Sharon shuddered as the federal agent grinned. How could he have killed a whole family and been so smug about it? If he was that heartless, there was no way that he was really a Payne.
But then the man replied, “You can keep your money, Judge. My reward will be you behind bars, Your Honor—for the rest of your life.”
She had forgotten the judge still held his gun—until he fired it—right into the federal agent’s chest. The man dropped to the ground next to her and Parker.
The judge shook his head with self-disgust. “Should have known I couldn’t trust a Payne. Even a bastard one has more integrity than intelligence.”
Then he turned the weapon on Parker and Sharon. But Parker was no longer unconscious on her lap—he was leaping up and vaulting toward the judge. The gun went off again, the shots echoing throughout the room, shattering the glass walls.
Parker flinched. But he didn’t feel the unmistakable burn of being struck by a bullet. Or maybe he was too numb with pain over the loss of his family to feel it. But were they really lost?
Footsteps pounded against the slate tiles of the solarium floor. He glanced over his shoulder to see Logan and Cooper rushing into the room. If they’d been hurt, they wouldn’t have been able to move with such speed.
“You guys aren’t dead,” Parker remarked with a sigh of relief.
Logan shook his head. “No...”
But, remembering all the shooting, Parker bet some other lives had been lost. “Where were you, then?”
“We had to revise the plan,” Logan said.
The judge squirmed beneath him, fighting him for the gun. Parker smacked the older man’s wrist against the ground until the Glock skidded across the tile floor. Cooper grabbed the weapon.
Without his gun and his authority, the judge was just a pathetic old man. And as he realized and accepted that, his shoulders began to shake with sobs. Parker rolled off him and turned back toward Sharon.
She was sitting up and appeared to be unharmed. But she wouldn’t look at Parker; her attention was focused on the one person who had been hurt in the room.
Parker knelt beside the prone body of the man who looked so much like him and his brothers. The federal agent’s eyes were closed.
Rus had saved his life. But what had it cost him? His own?
Parker asked, “Can you hear me?”
“Yes.” The federal agent coughed and groaned and sat up. “Yes, but only thanks to this bulletproof vest, courtesy of River City P.D. I knew I never should have come here.”
Parker would have agreed a short while ago, but the man had saved his and his family’s lives. Maybe Rus wasn’t the outsider Parker had thought him; maybe he could one day think of this man as his brother.
Rus fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. Then Velcro ripped as he opened the side of his vest and reached beneath it. Had he been hit? He grunted and squirmed and remarked, “Hope the impact of the bullet didn’t short out a wire.”
“You were wired?” the judge asked as Logan and Cooper helped him to his feet. He was an old man but, aware of how dangerous he was, they both held on to him.
“Yeah, I got it all on tape,” Rus told the judge.
“That was the reason you revised the plan,” Parker realized. But he was surprised Logan had taken orders from anyone, let alone Rus.
Logan shrugged. “Without the wire, it would have just been his word against yours and Sharon’s.”
And Munson was a respected judge. Or he had been....
Parker turned back to Rus. “Did you have to make me think my family was dead?” He had never been so devastated in his life.
“I had to make him trust me enough to talk,” Rus pointed out. “And explain all the shooting....”
Parker sighed and nodded acceptance.
“And I got everything we need,” Rus reminded him as he patted his vest.
Parker turned back to the murderous judge. “There will be no case thrown out or reduced sentences for you.”
It was over. It was finally over.
Parker heaved a sigh of relief and turned toward Sharon. But only the broken wicker chair lay on the floor where she had been sitting; she was gone.
“What happened to my wife?” he asked. While he had been checking on Rus to make sure he wasn’t dead, she must have slipped away.
“She met Nikki in the doorway,” Cooper replied. “And they took off.”
Had they told Nikki to stay outside the room until the judge was disarmed? Or hadn’t she wanted to come any closer to Nicholas Rus?
She must have been devastated to meet their half brother. No one had idolized their father more than she had. That explained why Nikki had left so abruptly.
Why had Sharon? Was she hurt? Or in shock again after everything she’d endured?
Where had his bride gone?
* * *
SHARON’S ARMS TREMBLED as she clutched the baby close to her heart. Ethan had already claimed it for his own. She hadn’t realized she had had more love left to give until she had fallen for Parker, too. But then, for so many years, she’d had no one who had wanted to accept or give her love.
He had been so horrified when she’d confessed her feelings for him. Her face heated with embarrassment as she remembered the look on his face, the regret. To save them both from further embarrassment, she had to leave before he came to see his son, too.
But her arms refused to budge from around the baby. She had gone so long without holding Ethan that she couldn’t release him. His warm little squirmy body gave her comfort. He was all right....
His breath hitched and then raggedly shuddered out with relief.
“He missed you so much,” Mrs. Payne remarked as she reached out. Sharon thought she’d been reaching for her grandson, but instead her palm skimmed across Sharon’s cheek. “Are you all right, honey?”
“It’s all over now.” Thanks to Parker. And to the man who looked so much like a Payne. Who was he?
“I knocked over the diaper bag earlier today and the flash drive fell out,” Mrs. Payne shared. “I didn’t want to pry into your life, so I didn’t look at it. But I wanted to get it to you in case it was important.”
It was far more important than she had realized.
“So you gave it to him?” Nikki asked. “You trusted something that important to him?” She had driven Sharon to Mrs. Payne’s, but she hadn’t said much in the car. And she hadn’t said a word since arriving at her mother’s. Hollow-eyed and pale, she looked as devastated as Sharon felt.
“I was going to give it to Sharon,” Mrs. Payne reminded her, “but she had already left the police department.”
Because the judge had bailed her out. She shuddered even now, remembering how easily he had led her out of the police station at gunpoint.
If not for Parker and his family, she would have been dead. She never would have been able to hold Ethan again. But she wasn’t sure that she would be able to again....
“And when Parker realized she was in danger,” Mrs. Payne continued, “he was too upset to listen to me.”
“Or were you too upset?” Nikki asked. “Wasn’t it a shock to see him?” She had obviously been shocked to learn she had another brother and she was still in shock.
Mrs. Payne sighed. “This is neither the time nor the place to discuss this....”
Because Sharon wasn’t family.
When Parker had put that ring on her finger, she had fooled herself into thinking their marriage was real, that his wonderful family might become hers. But now she was more alone than she had ever been. She had no one anymore.
“Sharon’s a Payne, too,” Nikki said, inclusively. “She deserves to know what’s going on, too.”
Sharon shook her head. “It’s fine. Really,” she assured Nikki. “I—I just wanted to see Ethan.”
She had no right to their secrets—not unless she had Parker’s love. And she didn’t. If he’d had any feelings for her, he would have reciprocated her declaration of love—especially then, when they had been about to die.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” she told Nikki.
Mrs. Payne’s soft yellow farmhouse with a wraparound porch was as warm and inviting as her little white wedding chapel. She could imagine Parker and his brothers and sister growing up here. She could imagine Parker sneaking kisses on that porch swing with whatever girl he had been dating that day....
She doubted his relationships had ever lasted much longer than that. Their marriage had barely lasted a day. But the night...
Her skin warmed at just the memory of the heat of his kisses, his passion....
She had been a fool to think that she—awkward, inexperienced Sharon Wells—had ever had a chance with a playboy like Parker Payne.
Nikki nodded. “I didn’t want to stick around there and watch him play hero anymore. We didn’t need him interfering. We’d had it all under control....”
Mrs. Payne turned her attention to her daughter. “Honey, don’t be angry with him. It’s not his fault....”
Tears glistened in Nikki’s eyes. “No, it was Dad’s....”
Mrs. Payne reached for her, but Nikki whirled around and ran out of the living room. She didn’t stop on the front porch but kept running to where she had left her car parked in the gravel driveway.
“Will she be okay?” Sharon asked.
Mrs. Payne nodded. “Of course. She’s stronger than she knows—certainly stronger than her brothers realize.”
“Does she have another brother? Is Nicholas Rus her half brother?” Sharon asked then flushed with embarrassment at her nosiness. “Forget I asked—”
“He is a Payne,” the older woman admitted with a heavy sigh. Suddenly lines appeared on her beautiful face, and she actually looked her age. “My husband used to be an undercover cop just like Parker had been when he’d been with the River City Police Department. Nick—my husband—got really caught up in an assignment and with a witness who had been in danger....”
Was that what had happened with her and Parker on their wedding night? Had he just gotten caught up in the moment, in the danger? Was that why he’d made love to her?
Tears sparkled in Mrs. Payne’s warm brown eyes. “He didn’t know that she was pregnant....”
“I’m sorry,” Sharon said. Her heart ached for the woman’s pain even as her own heart filled with it.
Mrs. Payne blinked back her tears, obviously embarrassed. “It’s fine....”
“I shouldn’t have asked,” Sharon said with her own embarrassment. “It’s none of my business.”
Mrs. Payne wrapped her arm around Sharon’s shoulders. “Of course it is. You are family now.”
Sharon shook her head. “No. My marriage to Parker was never real.”
“You have a marriage license that proves it is,” Mrs. Payne insisted.
“Considering who issued it, I’m not sure that’s true anymore,” Sharon reminded her. “But that’s okay. It was never meant to last—only to protect Ethan.” She forced herself to pass the little boy into his grandmother’s arms, but he clutched at her hair, tangling it around his pudgy fingers. She teared up, but not over the pain of him tugging at her scalp. But over what she had to do, which was walk away.
“He’s safe now....”
“It’s really all over now?” Mrs. Payne asked.
Sharon nodded. It was all over. Her marriage. Her involvement in the Paynes’ lives. It didn’t matter that Brenda had appointed her Ethan’s guardian; she wasn’t his family. He had an amazing family that would care for him no matter what. Today had proved that to her—how they had all been there for each other, including the man they hadn’t even known was a brother.
The Paynes took care of their own; they would take care of Ethan.
Sharon drew in a deep breath, bracing herself, before she replied, “Yes, it’s all over now. And it’s time for me to leave.”
Chapter Twenty
Parker had a tight knot of fear and dread in his gut and he didn’t know why. It was all over. Even the judge had known it was over and had confessed everything, as if that might make amends for all the evil he had done, for all the innocent lives that had been lost because of him.
Parker pushed open the door to the house where he had grown up, and that knot eased slightly when the little boy in his mother’s arms smiled at him as if he knew him, as if he was beginning to love him as much as Parker already loved him.
Parker stepped closer, and the little boy reached out for him. Long strands of caramel-colored hair dangled from his pudgy fingers. And that knot eased even more. “Sharon’s here?”
He took the little boy from his mother, welcoming his slight weight and his warmth. Ethan smelled like sunshine and rain, like Sharon.
His mother shook her head. “She’s gone....”
She said it with a finality that had that knot tightening in his gut again.
“Where?
How?” She had no car, no place left to go. “Did Nikki take her somewhere?” he asked since his sister’s car wasn’t parked in the driveway.
Mom sighed. “No. Nikki left first....”
He heard the distress in his mother’s voice, and cradling his son with one arm, he slid his other one around her shoulders. “She’s not upset with you.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” she replied, her voice cracking with emotion.
“It’s not your fault....” That their father had an illegitimate son. “It was his.”
“Is it your fault that Sharon left?” she asked him. “Because I can’t believe that she would leave....”
“She’s really gone?” he asked. That knot tightened so much that he couldn’t draw a deep breath. He shook his head. “She wouldn’t leave Ethan.”
She loved that little boy so much. She had also said that she loved him. But he hadn’t said the words back to her. It was his fault.
“She thinks he doesn’t need her because he has us,” Mrs. Payne replied. She shook her head as if she found the idea as ridiculous as he did.
“That’s crazy,” Parker replied. “He loves her like she’s his mother.”
As if in agreement, the little boy shook his fist full of those strands of hair. Parker could not blame his son for wanting to hang on to her. Sharon Wells Payne was an amazing woman—a strong, loving woman.
“Do you love her?” Mrs. Payne asked.
Parker shook his head.
“You don’t?” she asked, her voice full of shock as her eyes widened.
“It doesn’t matter what I feel for her,” he explained. “She’ll be better off without me.”
“Why would you say that?” she asked. “The danger is past, right? The judge has been arrested?”
“Yes.” Thanks to Nicholas Rus. “He’ll go away for the rest of his life, at least.” He would be serving time with criminals. But the only ones of them that he had put behind bars would have been the ones unable to afford his bribes. Parker couldn’t imagine they would be very happy or forgiving.