by K. L. Donn
Remorse had never been something he entertained until he met Deedee all those years ago. After she’d been shipped off, he became angry at her for eliciting emotions he wanted to lay dormant. The lack of feelings had fueled him when he eliminated someone. He needed to be dead inside so it wouldn’t eat him alive, but she opened him up to a whole new world.
If she hadn’t introduced him to this other side of himself, he wouldn’t have been as willing to take Jaxson in as he was. There was never a doubt that he was Dom’s son, but there was always the doubt over whether he deserved that child or not.
Having her in his life again, he knew that not only did he deserve the two of them, but he needed them far more than they needed him. It was their existence that kept him human. It was them that kept him from becoming the cold person he used to be.
*****
“Pincess,” Poke. “Are you up?” Poke. “I have to tell you something. Pincess?”
She had a nagging sense of déjà vu as Jax poked her, trying to wake her up. Stretching her arms above her head as he jumped on the bed beside her, she asked, “What do you have to tell me. Jaxson?”
“Daddy and Unca Case are on a case, and they are planning something big!” He sounded excited about the prospect of an adventure.
“Is that so?” she asked him distractedly as she got up, thinking the only case they could have possibly had was her father and Brooke. But nothing new had happened, had it?
“Yup, they have cool maps and stuff out, too!”
“Hmmm, have you eaten yet?” she asked him, thinking they could sneak down and she would find out what was happening that way. She knew they would both try to protect her at all costs.
“Daddy gived me yogurt. But I wanted panpakes.” He pouted that he didn’t get what he wanted.
“Let’s go see what we can do about that, shall we?”
Nodding his head, he grabbed her hand dragging her from the bed. They quietly made their way down the stairs. Nearing the kitchen, she heard Dom and Case talking.
“You can’t hide her forever, Dom,” she heard Case say.
“I can fucking damn well try,” Dom growled, making her smile. The man loved to growl.
“Look, all I’m saying is maybe we use her. I mean Bradshaw wants something from her, and we haven’t a fucking clue what that is. What if she contacts him? Pretends like she’s doing it without you knowing, then BAM! We trap the sucker. Find out what it is, then decide whether he lives or dies. Though, I gotta say I’m thinking the latter ‘cause dude, he’s a fucking waste of skin.”
“You talk too fucking much, Case.”
“But you’re thinking about it,” he said triumphantly.
Use her as bait? Could she pull it off? Did she want to? What if everything backfired, and something happened to her? A tug on her hand had her looking down, and she realized it was a risk she had to take in order to keep those she loved safe.
Walking into the kitchen, she told them, “I’ll do it.”
“Oh hell, fucking no,” Dom growled again coming towards her. “You’re not,” he told her. Looking to Case with a death glare, he told him, “You’re dead.”
“But if it gets him out of our lives?” she acquiesced.
“No.”
“Dominic, you know it’s the only way.”
“No,” he repeated.
“You’re starting to sound like a broken record, man.” Case laughed.
“Fuck you,” he spat out at him.
“Dominic, I can’t just sit here and keep waiting. What if the next time, he actually hurts Jaxson?” She knew he’d see the logic there.
“The answer is no.”
Maybe not.
“There’s more at play than you know,” he began to tell her.
“What else is there?”
Sighing, he ran his hand down his face roughly. “Brooke has had her eyes on me for a while.” Something like regret flashed across his face. “When she found out about you, she went searching for Bradshaw.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“I don’t have all of the particulars yet,” he explained. “Creed’s coming in today. Should be here anytime actually.”
“Creed’s coming?”
He narrowed his eyes on her at the excitement in her voice. When he would have said something, he closed his mouth instead. Averting his attention to Case, he did a manly chin lift thing, silent communication and all. Next thing she knew she was upside down over his shoulder and on her way back upstairs before she could say a word.
“Dom?” she tried to call, but he ignored her until they were back in the bedroom.
Tossing her on the bed, he whipped his shirt over his head before planting his body down on hers. “You got something you need to tell me, Deidre?”
The bite in his tone told her to watch what she said, but the emotion swirling in his eyes called her to challenge him. That he had a driving need to assert himself over her.
“Nothing,” she said quietly.
“You sure?” The threat in his tone was clear.
“No.” His eyes grew dark at her answer, and the veins along his neck bulged and pulsed in his anger with every beat of his heart.
When he arched a brow, she knew she’d better start talking. Lifting her head forward, she kissed the base of his neck right where his pulse was out of control. “When I was in Italy, Kenny kept me sane. On all those nights that I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry? I would think of her and what she’d been through. Then I realized my situation wasn’t so bad.”
“And?” he demanded.
Kissing up along his jaw, she nipped him lightly knowing he liked that bite of pain. “When Creed and Linc came, I wasn’t sure what to think. But then they sort of became my friends too, and with them around, things weren’t nearly as lonely before.”
“Watch it,” he barked.
She smiled. “Then I would see them with her, and I was jealous. So disgustingly so because she had something I knew I would never have.”
Tilting his head to look down at her, he asked, “What’s that?”
“A love so strong nothing could break it,” she sighed out as a lone tear escaped her eye. “They flew across the world because they felt a connection with her during the worst time of her life. I was never going to have that. But you know what I thought of every time those depressing thoughts entered my mind?”
Their eyes locked, and she thought he knew.
“This big scary man that growled when he spoke, was bossy as hell, and took no shit from some spoiled adolescent girl. When I thought of him, I was less lonely, felt more anticipation. I didn’t even realize why until out of the blue, there he was. In all his scary, growling, badass glory.”
“Fuck,” he groaned.
“So am I happy to see Creed? I am. He made my friend happy. When she left, she was smiling. Inside she was terrified, but even I knew that those two men would take care of her the way she deserved.”
Running her hands up his sides, she pondered her words for a second before meeting his gaze and saying, “And when I look at you, when I’m in your arms, I know I’ll have that same care and attention in a way I never thought I could.”
His eyes searched hers for so long she almost forgot where they were, what was happening around them.
“Do you know,” he paused, “you were never something I was looking for. I didn’t want to feel this way for anyone. I had Jax and that was enough. But the minute you opened that door in Italy, I fucking knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was done.”
“Yeah?” she murmured shyly.
“Fuck, yeah. You might think I own you, but Princess, you fucking have possession of all of me.”
His lips slammed onto hers as soon as he was done talking. He devoured her, sucking every breath from her body. Controlling her every move.
All she could do was lay there and take it, love it, own it.
; Twenty-One
“Well it’s about time!” Creed laughed as they came back downstairs. “I thought you were gonna keep that girl up there all damn day.”
“Fuck off, Creed,” he grumbled. Dom hadn’t expected him to be there so soon.
“Hi, Creed,” Dee greeted him half hiding behind his own body, which made him insanely happy that she didn’t rush over like he thought she might have.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he dropped a kiss on her head as they walked further into the room. “I thought it’d be a couple more hours before you got here?”
“Soon as Kenny found out it was Dee in trouble, she insisted I leave as soon as possible,” he informed them.
“How is she?” Deedee asked worriedly.
“She’s good. She’s getting there.” He smiled.
“So what have you got for me?” Dom demanded, wanting to get to the bottom of things so they could plan their attack.
“Not nearly as much as I’d like. But Casey was saying something about having Dee call Brad – “
“Not happening,” Dom inserted before Creed could even finish his thought.
“Dom, put your feelings aside for a second here and think about it. You’d do it if you weren’t emotionally invested in her.”
“No.”
“Dominic.” Dee stood in front of him with a pleading look in her eyes. He knew what they were getting at and knew they were right. The best way to get Bradshaw’s attention would be to have her contact him. While he knew all of this, he also knew that if something happened to her, he’d never recover.
So maybe he was selfish in wanting to protect her, but he couldn’t throw her to the wolves either. And that’s exactly what they’d be doing.
“I can’t do it,” he told them flatly.
Tears swirled in her eyes at his answer. Bringing her hands up to his face she told him, “I love that you want to protect me,” she paused to search his face, “but I’m doing this, Dominic.” Her tone left no room for argument.
“You’ll be there, Dom, just not in view.” Creed tried to soothe him.
“We’ll control the scene,” Case chimed in.
“Please, Dominic,” she begged him.
Glancing at the faces around the room, he knew he was screwed, trapped, cornered, whatever the fuck you wanted to call it. They were doing it with or without him.
“I want a tracker on her,” he demanded. He wouldn’t leave anything to chance.
“Done,” Creed agreed.
“And a wire.”
“I’ll set it up,” Case promised.
“And you don’t fucking move from any spot we put you in,” he finally demanded of her.
“I won’t,” she swore to him.
“I’m not ok with this,” he reiterated.
“I know.”
“I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t,” she vowed.
He looked to Case and Creed as they watched them. “What’s your plan?”
*****
You can do this Dee, you can totally do this. She tried to give herself a pep talk as she prepared to call Bradshaw. No you can’t, woman, are you crazy? Back away. Her inner voice could be a fickle bitch sometimes.
Grabbing the phone with one hand and Dom’s hand with the other, she hit the connect button to the number Creed was able to find.
“This is Bradshaw.” He picked up after what felt like hours of ringing when it was only seconds.
Clearing her throat, she took courage from the strong men in the room around her. “It’s Deidre,” she said meekly. “We need to talk.”
Harsh laughter met her words. “Is that so?”
“Yes, I want this over with. Whatever this is.”
“And how does your keeper feel about you calling me?” he asked her snidely.
Now for the hard part—lying. She was always a shitty liar. “He doesn’t know. He can’t know,” she tried to inject some sort of fear in her voice.
“Hmmm.”
“You seem to think I owe you something, and I’d like to know what it is. Why did you sent Dominic to find me? Why you sent Brock to kill me? What have I ever done to you to deserve the amount or cruelty you’ve shown me?” She didn’t have to fake the emotion in her voice that time.
“Fine,” he snapped, sounding put out by her questions. “I’ll send a driver for you.”
“No, you can come to me. Dominic’s gone for a few days on assignment.” Did I sound panicked?
“And his little follower?” he asked suspiciously, talking about Casey.
“With him,” she rushed to reassure.
He was silent for so long she feared he would deny her request. She needed to have him out of her life and felt like this would be their last chance to meet him on their turf.
“All right, I’ll be there in two hours,” he told her, hanging up before she could suggest meeting him the following day like they all had planned.
Looking to Dom in a panic, he had a wicked gleam in his eye. “It’ll be fine,” he told her. “Case, call Angie and Larry to come get Jax. Creed, call in every favor you’ve got in the area; I want as many snipers as you know all over the property.” He started directing them. She saw now what his men in the in the Rangers saw—cool confidence.
As Case and Creed left the room to get everything in order, she sat in the same spot silently freaking out. He was really coming. She was going to face him, and it would finally be over. They could live in peace.
*****
One hour forty-five minutes later and if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she never would have known that there had been over thirty men in Dom’s house planning where everyone would be positioned to keep eyes on her. All the vehicles had been moved to the other sides of the property that could only be seen from the air. There were men situated on every structure on Dom’s land and in a surrounding twenty-mile radius. They had men watching to see when and where Bradshaw was coming from.
They’d left no chance for mistake. As far they were concerned, she was covered and just in case she wasn’t, she had two trackers on her. One in her necklace and one in the sole of her runners—microscopic and hidden.
Creed thought it best for her to wait on the front porch where everyone could see her and so that Bradshaw couldn’t push his way inside and somehow trap her. Inside the house was where there was absolutely no one.
Creed took position behind the barn with one of his men. Case settled on top of the barn with one of his friends, and Dominic took up point across the road that led into his driveway. He said that way he could see to her safety when Bradshaw and his goons were coming, and everything that happened in between.
They were confident they had all of their bases covered.
She was terrified something was going to go wrong.
When the sound of multiple vehicles approaching was heard, her heart nearly burst out of her chest. Four large SUVs pulled up to the house, and she almost collapsed in fear. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how frightened of him she was.
She watched as all doors opened and men started stepping out. Bradshaw was the last to appear from the lead SUV. He had a triumphant look on his face, almost like he knew something she didn’t. Standing there staring at her while she fought not to fidget under his intense scrutiny, he finally told her, “Your mother used to say how sweet you were; that I should have shown you more compassion. It wasn’t your fault she was a slut.”
Dee stayed silent at his obvious attempt to make her angry.
“How would you feel if you found out the brat you planned to leave an empire to wasn’t your own?”
She had to bite her tongue.
“What would you do if the choice was between yourself or a child you share no DNA with? Would you give yourself up for them? Or hand them over?”
There was a message in his words. He couldn’t have Jaxson, could he? She was terrified. She couldn’t look aroun
d for anyone, or he’d know they were there. Glancing down at her phone, she wondered if she should call Dom.
As soon as she had the thought, Bradshaw’s phone rang, “Yeah?” he answered. “His eyes met hers in triumph at whatever the other person on the line said. “Good, that’ll make this much easier then,” he told them, hanging up.
She waited for him to fill her in when he said to her, “Call him.” She wanted to play stupid so badly, but the tone in his voice and the arrogant gleam in his eyes told her she needed to play it smart.
Calling Dom, she lifted the phone to her ear just as he picked up. “Princess?” he asked.
Her voice shook in fear, yet she wasn’t sure why. “Dominic, somethings wrong.”
“Give it here,” Bradshaw demanded.
Tossing the phone to him, she waited some more. “Hello, Mr. Slade. I like what you’ve done here today. You’re much more organized than I thought you would be, but you forgot one thing. Have a look at the text message coming to you, I’ll wait.”
A minute later, a sadistic smile grew on his face as Dom said something to him. “The choice is yours, Mr. Slade,” was all he told him before tossing the phone back to her.
Bringing it to her ear with a shaking hand, she asked, “Dominic?”
He was too quiet when he finally said, “I’m so fucking sorry, Princess.”
She could almost hear tears in his voice. It was then that she knew the meeting was a setup. How Bradshaw knew what they were going to plan she would probably never know, but she understood that her life was going to change in a huge way and not how she’d anticipated.
“What’s happening?” she asked, petrified of the answer.
“You need to know how much I love you; how much this is going to kill me.” If he were in front of her, she would have seen the tears streaming down his face.
“Dominic, what’s going on?” she begged him, tears in her own eyes now.
Clearing his throat, she could almost feel him turn into the hardened man she’d met seven years ago. Gone was any emotion. “They have Jaxson.”