by Lisa Childs
She nodded and replied, “Of course.”
She was anything but fine, though. Her heart had started pounding faster and harder, thumping inside her chest. She didn’t want to betray her fear to the young bride, though. Megan Lynch was already too nervous about her pending nuptials. Too nervous to be getting married.
Penny held her tongue and her opinion. She had once been a nervous bride herself. Maybe, in the way that she somehow knew things, she’d known she would lose her husband too soon. There had been rewards for the pain she’d endured, though: her children.
Panic clenched her heart.
One of her children was hurt. She knew it. Even before the phone rang, she knew it. She had that tightness in her chest and that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was often teased about being psychic. But she was no medium. She just had a very special connection with her children. Her feeling that one of them was hurt had never been wrong.
And it wasn’t wrong now. Her hand shaking, she reached for the phone before it even started to ring. She skipped her usual greeting of “White Wedding Chapel. Penny Payne, wedding planner, speaking,” and just said, “What is it?”
“Mom,” Nikki spoke tentatively—almost fearfully.
“What is it?” Penny asked again.
“I’m fine,” Nikki replied.
And Penny remembered the first long trip Nikki had taken with her new driver’s license and the phone call she had received from her youngest and her only daughter shortly after Nikki had left. “Mom, I’m fine but...”
Then she’d dissolved into tears over the deer she’d struck and killed. That was partially why Logan had kept his sister behind a desk instead of assigning her fieldwork. She wasn’t as tough as she acted. If she had to hurt anyone...
“But?” Penny asked. Nikki hadn’t said the word this time, but she’d heard it in her voice.
“Mom...” And just as when she’d inadvertently killed the deer, Nikki broke into tears. Her sobs rattled the phone.
“You’re fine,” Penny reminded Nikki and herself. Her daughter wasn’t hurt. But what about her sons?
Nikki drew in a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine.” And now it sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.
“Who’s not fine?” Penny asked.
Nikki’s breath escaped in a ragged sigh. “Nick.”
The panic already clenching her heart squeezed tighter. Nikki had never referred to her half brother by his first name. She usually never referred to him at all if she could help it. The fact that she was saying his name now—and with so much emotion...
Nicholas Rus wasn’t one of Penny’s children. She hadn’t given birth to him like her sons and daughter. But she had that same connection with him that she had with every one of her biological children. Sometimes it felt even stronger than that connection—because of all her children, Nick was the most like her. Somehow they both instinctively knew what other people needed.
But about their own needs, they were clueless. Nick had no idea what he wanted or needed. And now he might never have the chance to figure it out.
Chapter 5
Nick’s shoulder throbbed. Maybe he shouldn’t have refused the painkillers the doctor had tried to push on him. But he needed a clear head now. He needed to focus. There were so many voices—all of them talking at the same time in the way that the Payne family conversed. Only he who spoke loudest was heard. Usually that was Logan—especially since they were in the dark-paneled conference room of the Payne Protection Agency and, as he was quick to remind the others, he was CEO.
But it was Penny Payne’s soft voice that cut through the rest of them. “Quiet down,” she said in that tone of hers that brooked no argument. That was how she had raised four kids on her own after her husband had been killed in the line of duty. “Nick is hurting.”
“Then he should have stayed in the hospital like the doctor told him,” Garek Kozminski said.
Nick snorted. “Like you ever followed a doctor’s orders.” A few months ago, Garek had checked himself out of the hospital with a hole in his leg. That was worse than a hole in the shoulder. At least Nick’s gunshot wound had been a through-and-through.
“Like he ever follows anyone’s orders,” Logan murmured.
Garek flashed his brother-in-law-slash-boss a wide grin. That was how he and his brother Milek had become honorary Paynes; their sister had married Logan. “I get the job done.”
Nick couldn’t argue that. Garek had helped him bring down one of the most dangerous crime bosses in River City—hell, in the country.
“We need to get this job done now,” Nick said. “We need to make sure Annalise is safe.”
“And Nikki,” Logan chimed in.
Garek’s wife and fellow bodyguard—Candace—was still at the hospital with Annalise and Nikki. Annalise would have collapsed had Nick not caught her in the hallway of the ER. He hadn’t even noticed his shoulder wound then. His concern had been only for her.
That concern clutched his heart now. But the doctor had convinced Annalise to let him monitor her for a while. And Candace was probably the best of the Payne Protection bodyguards. She wasn’t alone, though. Because of the shooting in the parking garage, the police were involved. Nick had requested his best men—the ones he knew he could trust now—to back up Candace and make sure the man he’d let drive off didn’t come back.
He silently cursed himself for letting him get away. That guy had been alive and able to talk—unlike his partner, the man Annalise had mistaken for Nick lying on the gurney. Was that why she’d collapsed? Or had that been because of the concussion she’d sustained during the carjacking?
She and Nikki were also giving their statements to Nick’s best detective and their descriptions of the man who’d gotten away. With all of River City’s finest working the case, they would find him.
But that wasn’t enough for Nick. He had to make sure Annalise and his half sister were safe. That was why he’d called this Payne family meeting. While he hadn’t been to many of their meetings, it wasn’t the first one he had attended, either. But those other times he’d been on the sidelines, just offering his opinion or his warning.
His warnings were probably why he wasn’t often asked to the meetings. This one he’d called himself. He wasn’t asking their opinions, though. He already knew what he had to do.
He hadn’t expected Penny to invite herself along. But since she had silenced the others, he appreciated her input.
Then she added, “We also need to make sure Nick stays safe.”
He swallowed a groan and assured her, “I’m fine.”
“You lost a lot of blood,” she reminded him of what the doctor had said when he’d argued against Nick leaving the hospital. She stepped closer and gently patted the side of his face as she always did her sons’. “I was afraid that we were going to lose you.”
They had never really had him. But he didn’t point that out—because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She had done nothing to deserve the pain his mere existence had already caused her.
“It’s going to take a lot more than a bullet to bring down Nick,” Parker Payne said. He should have known. He’d survived being blown up.
She ignored Logan’s twin, leaned forward and kissed Nick’s cheek. “Promise me you’ll be careful,” she implored him.
Her sons groaned in sympathy. They knew what she was asking. For Nick—with Annalise in danger—it was the impossible. He shook his head.
“Nicholas,” she murmured.
Logan came to his rescue. “Mom, we need to strategize.”
She arched a reddish-brown brow and asked, “Are you throwing me out?”
Logan probably wouldn’t dare. But he gently guided her toward the door of the Payne Protection Agency conference room. Their heads close, they
whispered together, shooting glances back at him.
Uneasiness lifted the short hairs on the nape of Nick’s neck. They were obviously talking about him. He knew it wasn’t the first time he’d been the topic of Payne family conversations. But he suspected he wasn’t the only one about whom they talked. He didn’t want them talking about Annalise, speculating about what their relationship was.
Nikki had already figured it out, though. She knew he’d gotten Annalise pregnant—just like his dad had gotten his mother pregnant. He had never met the man, but Nikki was right: he was the most like him.
Everyone else talked about Nick Payne like he’d been a hero. But he hadn’t been any hero to Nick. He’d abandoned him to the care of a drug addict.
Nick wanted to be a hero for his kid. But mostly he wanted to be a hero for Annalise. When they’d been growing up, she had always acted like he was one—always looked at him like he was one. He’d let her down once already. He didn’t want to let her down again.
* * *
Logan swallowed the sigh burning in his lungs. He’d made the promise to their mother that Nick had refused to make. After she walked out, he closed the door of the conference room and turned back toward the others.
He would make sure Nick was careful—that he didn’t get hurt again. A twinge of panic struck his chest as he remembered the fear that Nick had been the one lying on that gurney, a sheet covering his face. Even when Nick had appeared next to him, holding up a faint Annalise, Logan hadn’t been sure the guy would survive. Blood had been dripping from him, running down his arm from his blood-soaked shirt and coat.
He wore a scrub shirt now. Blood had seeped through the bandage and the shirt, though. The damn fool should have stayed in the hospital. But he was stubborn—more stubborn than Logan had ever realized.
“We’ve got this. We’ll make sure Annalise and Nikki stay safe,” he assured Nick.
Nick snorted. “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to sit back and do nothing.”
Logan had to acknowledge that he probably was crazy if he thought he could keep Nick away from the action. But he’d made a promise to their mother, so he had to try. He pointed out, “You have your hands full with the River City PD.”
“I’m done,” Nick said.
After he’d brought down the biggest crime boss in Michigan—hell, probably the US—he had every reason to believe that. But it hadn’t stopped there.
“The corruption runs even deeper than you thought,” Logan reminded him. “Every time you’ve thought you caught them all, you’ve found more corrupt officials.”
Milek grunted in acknowledgment. Nick had just arrested his wife’s former coworker, an assistant district attorney who’d taken bribes for dismissing charges.
“And that’s probably what’s put me in this situation,” Nick said.
“What situation is that?” Garek asked the question. “What’s been going on, Nick?”
He sighed. “Not long after I took the assignment to clean up River City PD, someone started breaking into my place and ransacking it.”
“That’s why you’ve moved so often,” Parker said.
“But they always find me again.”
Frustration gnawed at Logan. Why hadn’t Nick told them what was going on? Because he hadn’t been raised like them—with them—he was used to handling everything alone.
But apparently he hadn’t been completely alone. He’d had the Huxtons.
“So you think whoever’s going after you is going after Annalise now?” Logan asked.
Nick didn’t reply. His jaw was clenched too tightly, so tightly that a muscle twitched in his cheek. But he gave a sharp nod.
Whoever it was must have suspected he cared about the young woman. She was Gage’s sister. What was she to Nick? The mother of his unborn child?
He wanted to ask. “Nick—”
“I’m done,” he said again with a finality that chilled Logan’s blood. “I’m going to quit.”
“You would really quit your assignment?”
“Not just my assignment,” Nick said. “I’d quit the bureau.”
For Annalise?
She obviously meant a lot to him. Why had Nick never mentioned her before? But then, Nick had never shared a lot with them. He’d put his life on the line for them in the past, but he hadn’t told them much of anything about his life.
“You don’t have to quit your job,” Logan said. But he wasn’t certain he could reason with Nick. He wasn’t just determined; he was mad. And despite everything they’d been through together in the past year, Logan didn’t think he had ever seen Nick mad before.
“After bringing down Chekov, you could take over the whole damn bureau,” Garek said. “You can’t quit—not after making the coup of your career.” Garek had nearly lost his life and the woman who was now his wife when they’d helped Nick take down Chekov.
“I don’t give a damn about my career,” Nick said.
It was clear he cared about only one thing—one person, actually. Annalise.
Logan stepped closer and assured him again, “We’ll keep her safe for you.”
Nick shook his head. “I will keep her safe.”
“You’re not a bodyguard.”
“I should be,” Nick said.
Logan couldn’t argue that. As good an FBI agent as Nick was, he would make an awesome bodyguard, with his intuition and his protective instincts.
“I want to be,” Nick said.
“Are you asking for a job?”
“Would you give me one?”
Logan would have loved nothing more. “On one condition.”
“I don’t care what you say,” Nick said. “I won’t be too distracted to protect Annalise. I’ll be more focused and dedicated than any other bodyguard you have.”
No other bodyguard present attempted to argue. They didn’t doubt Nick. Not in this situation.
“I know,” Logan said. “That’s why your first assignment will be protecting Annalise.”
“Then what’s your condition?” Nick asked.
“That you work for my franchise,” Logan said.
Cooper and Parker both cursed him. Getting Nick on either of their teams would have been a triumph.
Nick hesitated. “But your team...”
“It’s the family team.” Or what was left of the family since Cooper and Parker had started their own franchises and Nikki had gone with Cooper. Logan felt a pang in his chest that the family was divided. He had the Kozminskis, though. And Gage. And if Nick was foolish enough to give up his career with the FBI, Logan wanted him, too.
“But, Logan—” Nick was going to argue, like he always did, that he wasn’t really family. But he was.
So Logan interrupted him. “Can you work for me, though?” It was a valid question. “You’ve been running the whole River City PD since you came to town. Is being a bodyguard going to be enough for you?”
“Keeping Annalise safe is all I care about,” he said. “That’s why I’m heading back to the hospital now.” When he stood, he swayed on his feet.
Garek caught his uninjured shoulder. “You should check yourself back in.”
“He should,” Logan agreed. But they all knew he wouldn’t. It was clear that Nick’s only concern was for Annalise—not himself.
It wasn’t until he left that Logan realized Nick hadn’t answered his question. Would being a bodyguard be enough for him? But then, Nick probably wasn’t thinking about the future. Hell, if he ran into another shoot-out like the one in the parking garage, he would be damn lucky if he survived the present.
* * *
Annalise leaned back in the passenger’s seat of the black SUV and drew in a deep breath. She’d felt suffocated earlier. She wasn’t used to people fussing over her. She wasn’t the
one who’d been in the parking garage. She hadn’t been in a fight like Nikki, whose cheek had gone from red to purple. She hadn’t been shot like Nick.
She shuddered as she remembered the blood soaked into his shirt and coat. She’d felt the clamminess of the blood through her clothes when he’d caught her in his arms. Despite his gunshot wound, he had stopped her from falling.
To the ground.
She’d fallen long before that moment in the ER. She’d fallen for him so long ago that she couldn’t remember the exact moment when it had happened.
But she knew why. Because he was Nick.
Because he was strong and honorable and heroic. For the past six months, she had been doubting that and cursing him. Then he’d risked his life to rescue his sister. And then, even injured, he’d caught Annalise.
She’d had only that moment—seeing the dead man on the gurney—when her knees had weakened. There had been no reason for them to whisk her back into a bed. No reason for them to keep her for monitoring.
When she’d finally convinced them of that, Nick was already gone. He’d checked himself out against doctor’s orders. He was gone, just like he’d been the morning after they had made love in his mother’s house.
“Will you take me home?” Annalise asked the female bodyguard. Candace Baker-Kozminski was an Amazon—tall and strong and intimidating. But she had fussed, too. And so had Nikki and the River City detective who’d taken her statement about the carjacking. They were all so concerned about her—making sure that answering questions and looking at mug shots wasn’t too much stress for her to handle.
Candace glanced away from the traffic for just a moment to meet Annalise’s gaze across the console of the black SUV she was driving. “Home?”
“Chicago.”
“You can’t be alone right now,” Candace said.
“I don’t think I have a concussion,” she protested. The pain in her head was only a dull ache now.
“You can’t be alone. You’re in danger.”
She shivered. She had been afraid before—over the break-ins and the previous car theft. But after they’d tried to pull her into the car, she couldn’t deny it or pretend it was all a misunderstanding anymore. She was in danger.