by Maya Banks
Her face went white and her eyes widened in alarm.
“It won’t happen, baby,” Liam said calmly. “We’ll work it out. Trust us.”
She sucked in her breath and slowly relaxed.
“We’ll need use of your jet, Mr. Wilder,” Noah said. “We don’t want a paper trail, anything with Lauren’s name on it. We don’t want her showing ID, using a credit card. Nothing. We’re going to alter her appearance for her meeting with the D.A. so that if something does go wrong, they won’t have an accurate description of her.”
“We were unable to locate any photographs of Joel Knight and Lauren together,” Liam interjected. “Nor could we find any people who knew of Lauren. The only people who are likely to know what she looks like are Joel Knight and the people who worked closest with him. One of the women who worked for him ID’d Lauren, but she’s dead now.”
“He kept me isolated,” Lauren said in a low voice. “We didn’t make many public appearances together and it was always very low key. And I was expected to be the consummate companion. Well dressed, perfectly submissive. In other words a pretty ornament to compliment him. He tried to keep me separate from his ‘business’ and anyone associated with it. I was basically a plaything he pulled out when it was convenient.”
The bitterness and self-loathing in her voice ate at Liam. He wanted nothing more than for her to be able to forget the bastard ever existed. They were in for a rough road in the next months. Hell, this thing could stretch out for years.
“I brought up the witness protection issue because I wanted to advise you to keep her close,” Adam broke in. “Don’t let them separate you. Make sure that if that’s what has to happen, you’re able to stay with her.” He glanced at Holly as he spoke, pain darkening his eyes. “My wife was once in the same position, and she stayed away from me and my brothers to protect us. That separation was hell for us. If you love her, then make damn sure she stays with you.”
There was instant agreement from both Ethan and Ryan. Holly’s gaze softened as she stared at her husbands.
“We aren’t letting her go, sir,” Noah said, resolve hardening his voice.
“I don’t think so many of you should go,” Holly spoke up.
Seth’s eyebrow rose.
“Don’t give me that look, young man,” she said in exasperation. “Have you looked at the men in this room? There’s no way a whole horde of you are going to go unnoticed when you roll into town. I realize that more is good when it comes to protecting Lauren, but if you’re trying not to gain notice, you’re going to fail miserably if two of my husbands go and two of Lily’s.”
Michael’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “She’s got you there.”
“Not all of us will be visible,” Seth said patiently. “In fact, the whole point is to stay out of sight. We’ll fly in at night. Have one person check into a hotel. It means we’ll all have to stay in the same room, but I’d rather not broadcast how many are in our party and as Mom so eloquently put it, if we’re out in broad daylight, we’re not going to go unnoticed. One person goes to the meeting with the D.A., however, we place two of us in the same location in case the situation goes south or it’s a setup. The other three will remain with Lauren with strict instructions that if they aren’t contacted at a prearranged time, they’re to cut and run with Lauren and get the hell out.”
Lauren lowered her face to her hands and rubbed tiredly. “I can’t allow you all to risk this. It’s starting to scare the hell out of me. All the what-ifs and the possibilities are making me crazy.”
“You aren’t allowing us to do anything,” Dillon said mildly. “You’re a part of this family. That means we go with you. End of story.”
Holly nodded approvingly. “That’s my boy.”
Seth snorted. “Until the next time you disown him.”
Holly silenced him with a quick glare.
“Okay so we’re agreed on who goes and who stays,” Noah said, sharply bringing the subject back on target. “The next step is to make contact with the D.A. and see if he bites.”
Liam sought Lauren’s gaze, waiting until she felt his stare and looked back at him.
“You ready to do this?” he asked softly, giving her one last opportunity to back out.
She slowly lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. Callie tightened her grip on Lauren’s hand and Lily reached across Callie’s lap to add her own. Holly wrapped her arm around Lauren’s shoulders, lending her strength as the other women had done.
There in the tight hold of her family, Lauren nodded. Her voice was firm and full of resolve.
“Yes. I’m ready. Make the call.”
CHAPTER 24
SWEETIE, you’ve got to stop pacing,” Holly soothed from her perch at the bar. “You’re going to wear a hole in my floor.”
Lauren paused and sighed. “I’m sorry. This is making me crazy. How long can it possibly take to make a phone call?”
“Not just any phone call,” Callie pointed out.
“Come sit,” Lily urged. “All this anxiety can’t be good for you. I know it’s not good for me.”
Lauren plopped onto the stool next to Holly, wanting the comfort and guidance of the older woman.
“What made you decide to stand up to your ex-husband? I can’t imagine the strength it took to separate yourself from the Colter men and be alone through that whole process.”
Holly sighed. “It’s not as courageous as you make it sound. The truth was, I was terrified. I had just been horribly attacked by a man hired by my ex-husband to kill me. Ryan had been shot trying to protect me. I thought he was dead.”
Her voice quivered and pain filled her eyes.
“All I could think was that Ryan had been hurt because of me, and I didn’t want to lose the men I loved more than anything. I also knew that they’d never agree to let me go, so I made the decision for them. I contacted the D.A. in San Francisco. I arranged for him to come to the hospital to talk to me, and then I left the hospital in protective custody and remained so for several months. It was during that time that I learned I was pregnant.”
Her lips turned up into a rueful smile.
“The best and worst time of my life. I was overjoyed at the thought of having their child and devastated because I was isolated from them with no definitive timeline. Thank God my ex-husband pled out, which meant I didn’t have to testify. I was only gone for a little over five months, but I swear it felt like an eternity.”
“I don’t want to be separated from Liam and Noah,” Lauren said in a low voice. She glanced over at the women sitting at the bar. “I don’t want to be separated from any of you either.”
“We don’t want you to go either,” Callie said fiercely. “This will work out, Lauren. It has to. You’ll be safer here with us than in any witness protection program. There’s no way the dads or my brothers or Max and Liam and Noah are going to let someone come into our home and hurt you.”
Lauren sighed again. “That’s a nice thought and it sounds good to say, and I have no doubt that the intention is certainly sincere. But how realistic is it to say that I’m untouchable? We have no way of knowing what Joel will do. As afraid as I am, I could not bear the thought of something happening to one of the dads or to one of Lily’s husbands or my brother.
“Or the men I love,” she added quietly.
“Oh honey,” Holly said, squeezing her hand tightly. “You’ve got to stop taking on so much. You aren’t to blame if something happens to one of our men. That blame lies squarely on the shoulders of Joel Knight.”
“And is that what you thought when you decided to go away from the dads?” Lauren asked pointedly.
Holly flushed, her cheeks going pink. “The point is, I wasn’t thinking at the time. I was scared out of my mind. I’d gone through a traumatic experience and I was acting on instinct. My instinct was to protect them.”
“My instinct is to protect the people I love,” Lauren said.
“We understand,” Lily said. “Re
ally, we do, Lauren. But let them help you. Our strength is in our family. Not one individual.”
Holly beamed at her daughter-in-law. “My daughters are extremely smart women. And Lily is exactly right. Our strength doesn’t come from one person. It’s from our bond. Our willingness to go to bat for one another.”
They immediately went quiet when Liam entered the kitchen, his expression grim. Lauren’s heart dropped to her toes and she reached blindly for Holly’s hand, needing her support more than ever.
Holly grabbed her hand and gripped it with bruising force.
“What happened, what did he say?” Lauren blurted.
“He wants to talk to you,” Liam said.
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“He just wants to make sure we’re not jerking him around. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. Just don’t tip your hand in the phone call. No names. He can say what he wants, but keep your responses to the minimum. Yes or no answers are best. If there’s anything you’re unsure of, you put him on hold and run it by us. Okay?”
She swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”
He held out his hand to her. Holly disentangled her hand from Lauren’s and urged her forward. Liam wrapped his arm around her, squeezing her briefly before guiding her into the living room, where the others sat.
Noah was sitting on the couch, his hand curled around a cordless phone. When he saw Lauren, he put the phone back on the base and hit the button for the speaker. He held up one finger to his lips to signal to Lauren not to mention that everyone was listening in. Then he pointed at her to begin the conversation.
“H-hello?” Lauren began hesitantly.
“With whom am I speaking to?”
The man’s voice was sharp and distinct, and it made Lauren instantly nervous.
She glanced up at Liam, who nodded that she should answer.
“Lauren Wilder,” she responded.
“And, Ms. Wilder, would you be so kind as to provide a few simple pieces of information to verify your identity?”
She frowned, her brow furrowing tightly. Noah held up a hand and nodded and then motioned for her to answer.
“Okay,” she reluctantly agreed.
“Can you give us your last known address?”
She frowned harder. Technically her last address was her apartment here in Clyde and no way in hell she was giving this man that information. And before that, there was the apartment that Max had moved her into after she’d left Joel. Again, no way she was giving that out either. But neither of those addresses were ones the police would have any knowledge of, so they wouldn’t expect either.
Liam was furiously scribbling something on a piece of paper and then he held up a notebook that said, give him the address of the residence you lived with Joel.
In a halting voice, she gave the man on the phone the address of the penthouse where she and Joel had spent a year.
“Thank you,” the man said. “Can you also verify your date of birth and the town you were born in?”
All the questions were making her uncomfortable, but Noah and Liam were telling her to answer, so she provided the requested information, wishing they could just get on with it.
“Thank you, Ms. Wilder. I can’t tell you how glad we are to hear from you. My office has been looking for you for quite some time.”
The relief was obvious in his voice, but his words sent alarm shrieking through her system. She yanked her head upward, fearfully seeking out Noah and Liam once more.
Noah reached over and squeezed her knee in a gesture meant to soothe her, but the fact that there were even more people looking for her freaked her out.
“Now that her identity has been established, you’ll speak to me about the arrangements,” Noah inserted bluntly.
“Yes, of course Mr. . . . What did you say your name was again?”
“I didn’t.”
There was a lengthy pause, and then Noah motioned for Liam to take Lauren away again. She frowned, wanting to hear what was said, but Noah punched the speakerphone off and picked up the phone again.
“Come on, baby,” Liam murmured.
“Why can’t I hear?” she asked as they walked back to the kitchen.
“Because we’d rather whatever is decided on to come from me and Noah,” Liam said frankly. “Hearing suggestions or bits and pieces is just going to cause you unnecessary stress. Noah won’t agree to anything that isn’t in your best interest, and he damn sure won’t put you in a position we feel is unsafe.”
She went into his arms, wanting and needing his hug. She looped her arms around his waist and rubbed her cheek against his chest.
“I know you won’t. I’m just scared, Liam. Not just for me. I’m scared for all of us.”
“What’s going on, Liam?” Holly demanded. “We’re all dying to know here. If someone doesn’t tell me soon, I’m going to hurt someone.”
Liam grinned. “Sorry, Mrs. C. As soon as I know, you’ll know. I promise. Noah is shoring up the details now. The D.A. was leery about proceeding without knowing whether he was actually talking to Lauren or not. Apparently they’ve been searching for her, which means they’ve wanted to question her for a while. If that’s the case, he’s going to want to talk to her immediately. He’ll be beside himself over the evidence that Lauren has.”
“You just take care of my baby,” Holly said.
“I’ll do my best to make sure nothing ever hurts her again,” Liam said in a somber voice.
“Lily, are you okay?” Lauren asked, alarmed at Lily’s paleness.
Holly and Callie both jerked around, their worried gazes locking immediately onto the heavily pregnant woman. Holly hurried toward the bar, putting her arm around Lily’s shoulders.
“I’m fine,” Lily protested.
“If my boys see you looking as pale as you are right now, it’s all over but the cryin’,” Holly said grimly. “They’ll have you home and in bed, worrying their fool heads off. Talk to me. Are you feeling okay? Is it the baby?”
Lily shook her head. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m worried about Lauren. Nothing else. Honest. Baby is sleeping right now and not trying to two-step on my ribs.”
Lauren’s lips turned down in unhappiness. Everyone in the Colter family was affected by her situation. She wished now that it was just her, Noah and Liam going and the others didn’t have to be involved.
Lily was about to have a baby, and she had to worry herself over the fact that two of her three husbands were off with Lauren going blind into a situation where the worst could happen.
“If you say one word about what I think you’re thinking, I’m going to hurt you,” Lily said menacingly.
Lauren’s eyebrows went up as she realized Lily was talking to her.
Lily got clumsily off the bar stool and walked over to where Lauren stood. She took Lauren’s hand and held it between them.
“Seth is the sheriff. Protecting people is what he does. He’s called out at all times of the night. There’s never one of them I don’t worry about him. There’s no way he’d ever allow a threat against his family to go unresolved. It’s just who he is.”
She smiled softly and glanced at Holly. “I think he has a lot of his fathers in him. They all do.”
Love for her husbands and her sons shone like a beacon in Holly’s eyes. She turned that loving gaze on Lauren and her daughter-in-law.
“Seth has the very best of his fathers,” Holly said, her voice rich with emotion. “My boys have never once disappointed me.”
“That’s my job,” Callie said dryly.
Holly chuckled. “I’ll admit, I like it that for the most part your days of wanderlust and restless spirit are in the past. I like having you here, at home where you belong. You and Max both. But baby, you’ve never disappointed me.” Her tone was firm even as love and pride shone in her gaze. “None of my babies, whether biological or not, have ever disappointed me. I can be disappointed in the fact that you aren’t home where you belong and st
ill be as proud of you as I can be.”
She pulled Lauren into a fierce embrace. “And now maybe you’ll be home where you belong too. Having you all right here where I can fuss over you and mother you endlessly would make me the happiest woman in the world.”
Lauren didn’t dare peek at Liam, because this was still a painful subject for her and one she tried not to broach with Noah and Liam too often.
They may have strong feelings for each other. They may have made a sincere commitment. But at the end of the day, Clyde, Colorado, was a long way—a lifetime away—from New York City and the life she’d once led there.
A life she no longer wanted.
CHAPTER 25
NOAH hung up the phone and eyed the other men gathered in the room. “Okay, well you heard the details. Anyone have something I didn’t cover in the conversation?”
Seth shook his head. “I think we should get to Raleigh at least a day ahead of Castanetti, if not two. I want to be there when he checks into the hotel, and I want to monitor his movements, phone calls, whatever we can get a lead on.”
Noah had wanted the D.A. to think that Lauren had fled further down the East Coast. A logical place for someone in the New York City area to go. He’d purposely dropped several innuendos to make Castanetti think that Lauren was even now along the Eastern Seaboard.
“I can have the jet ready whenever you need it,” Max said. “I’ll file it as a golfing trip for executives of my company. The flight will originate officially from New York City, so I’ll have it moved immediately.”
“We’ll travel to Denver together,” Noah continued. “I don’t want Lauren alone or unattended for any length of time, no matter how short. I don’t even want her going to the bathroom alone. Once we arrive in Raleigh, I’ll meet with Castanetti, but Liam and Seth will be in the same restaurant a few tables away.”