by Jamie Begley
“Because I was in Lexington, and I had to drive back. I only stopped long enough to meet Calder before coming here. I wanted to be here when I told you.”
Reaper closed the folder and handed it back to her. “Is that why you brought Knox here—to arrest me?” He stood up and looked down at her. “You could have saved him the trouble. I would have turned myself in—”
Diamond shook her head. “There aren’t going to be any charges brought against you.”
Dumbfounded, he could only frown at her; he was sure he misheard her.
“I was in Lexington because I was waiting for Knox to get a hit on the DNA that came back after they found Cecile’s body. It was exactly where Ink said he buried her. I wanted to wait until the autopsy and DNA results came in before telling you. Knox showed me a picture of Cecile from her missing poster, and from the tape, I confirmed it was her.
“After I confirmed her identity, I made an appointment to talk with the Commonwealth Attorney. There aren’t going to be any charges against you.”
No longer pacing, Reaper furiously strode around the room as if he were caged in, then stopped in front of Diamond. “I did it! I deserve to be in prison! I didn’t ask you to get a deal for me!”
Diamond remained sitting, her expression resolute despite his yelling. “I didn’t have to cut a deal.” Keeping her voice firm and controlled, she straightened her shoulders. “All I had to do was show him that tape,” she explained in a low voice.
He took a step back as if she had shoved him back physically. “You showed him the tape?”
“Did you really think I wasn’t going to make sure you weren’t going to spend a day in jail after I sat and watched every single one of those tapes?” Diamond shoved her briefcase and folder to the side of her lap to stand. She brought her hands to her hips as she jutted her chin out and stared back at him. “The only ones responsible for Cecile’s death were her and Slate. It’s right there in that folder you don’t want to read, any more than you want to watch those tapes. She made four unsuccessful attempts on her life previously. In fact, she had just been released from a psychiatric hospital where she was on a forty-eight-hour watch after she jumped out of her father’s car at a red light. Slate must have been her backup plan if her last attempt was unsuccessful.”
“It doesn’t matter how many times she tried! I’m the one responsible! My hands choked the life out of her!” He angrily hit his chest with a fist. Then, tormented, he started to hit himself again. “It was me!”
“Watch the damn tape!” Losing her cool, Diamond reached out, grabbing his wrist to stop him. “Look at them!”
Diamond didn’t stop her tirade even though he carefully moved his arm away from her. “You didn’t get those scars by giving in to what they wanted you to do! You kept trying to get away despite being chained to that bed. They administered drugs to you twice, then threatened to kill Taylor. Despite all that, it took them an hour and twenty-four minutes to break you into doing it. You didn’t even realize it was her you were trying to kill!
“I’m sorry for what Cecile must have been going through mentally to bring her to the point that she wanted to take her life. Still, because I did see those tapes, feeling sorry for her doesn’t mitigate the fact that she was using you without regard of the harm it was doing to you. She watched you being chained to that bed, saw those drugs being pumped into you, and allowed Slate to abuse you when you wouldn’t give in to her demands to kill her. Let me tell you something”—Diamond took a shuddering breath—“if it had been me, I would have gladly killed her after five minutes to get Slate to stop hurting me the way he was you.
“And I didn’t have to ask the Commonwealth Attorney not to press charges on you. You want to know what he said? He told me he would have broken after ten minutes. So, don’t you dare stand there and yell at me because you’re not locked up in cell!” Diamond appeared to be earnestly fighting back tears as she watched him scrub his wrist on the side of his jeans where she had touched him. However, he stopped when he saw a tear roll down her cheek.
“I would lock myself inside a cell for the next twenty years before I ever let you spend one more hour behind a locked door again. The Commonwealth Attorney isn’t guided by emotion; he’s following the law, and that’s why a warrant was issued for Slate’s arrest.”
Reaper had to spin on his heel, unable to look at her anguished expression any longer. “Don’t,” he managed to say through clenched teeth.
Knox’s wife’s heartfelt support of him was getting under the barricade he had surrounded himself with. Diamond was slipping beneath the defenses that were already strained from Ginny’s million-watt smile and words that, while his mind shied away from, his soul had felt—as if Ginny had reached inside to caress and soothe the torment that was ripping away what little desire he had left to face another day. The only reason that he hadn’t given in to the struggle was as simple and as old as time—vengeance.
“I want to talk to her parents.”
“It’s not going to make you feel better, and it certainly won’t them. They were told the circumstances of her death and that Slate facilitated her death. If you want to find another way to punish yourself, I can’t stop you, but don’t bring them into it. Leave them alone to their grief.”
“What am I supposed to do?” he asked raggedly.
“You don’t need twelve jurors to punish you when you’re doing it yourself. You’ve made this room your prison cell. The only time you go out is to work the security room or search for Slate. The police will find him. Knox said everyone else responsible for your captivity is dead.”
He turned sharply to look at Diamond.
She held up her hands. “I didn’t ask how Knox knows. And, as an officer of the courts, I don’t want to know. He wouldn’t tell me if I ask, anyway.”
“They’re not all dead.” He clenched his fists by his sides. “There’s one other than Slate. And the ones who paid to be in his videos are still walking around.”
Diamond blanched, her gaze switching to Calder for help. He had remained silent as Diamond spoke, giving his support without interrupting.
At Diamond’s glance, Reaper narrowed his eyes on them. Whatever they were about to tell him wasn’t going to be good.
“What isn’t Diamond wanting to tell me?” Tight-lipped, he nodded toward Calder.
“Slate made sure that no one could be tracked from his website. It didn’t help that Crash used his expertise to erase anyone who visited the site. Slate posted a different number each day for how to contact him, even instructing them on buying a burner phone. Knox and Jonas both said that it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack than finding the ones who paid to participate in the videos. They’re working on identifying them for you, but you need to be prepared for them never being found.”
Reaper stared at Calder unseeingly. Imaginary faces of the ones who fueled his need for revenge, one after another, inundated his mind. His hands went to his back pockets to keep from tearing his room apart in the rage he was bottling down.
Sorting through the imaginary faces, he forced the fury aside, harnessing cold reason. He needed to focus on accomplishing his wants—to kill everyone who had taken part in the videos. But he wasn’t going to achieve his wants. Instead, he had to focus on his needs. He needed to kill the black-hearted couple who had been there when he was first taken prisoner.
Vamp had only been there four times, then stopped coming. The four times she had been there burned into his memory. He needed her to die, to extinguish her from his memory and to draw a line through her name on the mental list of people he promised to exact retribution. There was one more. The Count, who had continued to come until he told Slate that Reaper was too ugly to fuck.
“Tell Knox and Jonas to concentrate on the woman during the first videos Slate took of me. If I find her, I can find him.” Reaper tamped down his harsh tone as he instructed Diamond the direction he wanted to head. He wasn’t ready to give up and let bygones
be bygones. He wanted every lead checked out and then double-checked until the very last one on his list was found. Knowing every last one of the fuckers were dead would give him the revenge he was owed.
Hatred fueled his every breath. It was the only emotion he wanted to feel. Anything else just brought memories of what he was never going to have—love, marriage, children. He had built those dreams around another woman. He was now a man incapable of building a future with any woman. Gavin was deceived by Vincent Bedford, Memphis, Crash, and even Taylor, but Reaper would never trust his heart to make his decisions for him again.
He had to stay as far away from Ginny as he could. As enticingly as she called to him, he had nothing left to give her that was worth a damn. Her ass needed to go back to Nashville, while his planned to stay right where it was. Rider and Shade had to change their minds voluntarily … or he was fucking going to change it for them.
Reaper nodded at the folder. “Can I keep it?”
Diamond frowned. “Why?”
“I want to look it over. I won’t contact Cecile’s parents, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You can have it.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ve never been better,” he lied smoothly.
The more information he gathered about Cecile and how she contacted Slate, the easier it would be for Reaper to find his quarry.
Slate was counting on him to give up his fruitless search. The bastard couldn’t be more wrong. Reaper would search for him until his dying day.
Chapter Four
Inside her car Ginny took deep, even breaths to calm her erratic heartbeat. She was proud of herself for how collected she appeared in front of Gavin, despite being so anxious to make a good impression on him. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and feel him in her arms.
His unapproachable behavior had stopped that possibility in its tracks.
The fierce warrior’s body forewarned pain if anyone got too close. If Gavin’s sheer size and tattoos weren’t enough to put the fear of God in someone, then the caged animal lurking in his stark gaze would have them running for cover. The connection she felt with him yesterday was what fueled her courage today. It was the same connection he was pretending had never happened.
She knew from the moment she put her hand out to him this morning that he downplayed what happened at Trudy’s wedding. He had no intention of following up on the attraction. Ginny was willing to bet he couldn’t wait for her to leave. The only way Gavin would ask her out for coffee was if he were on fire and needed someone to put the flames out.
Starting the engine, she pulled out onto the road and drove down the mountain. She made her way back to the church, returning in a less chipper mood than when she left. The plans she made last night to get better acquainted with Gavin had failed to materialize in the bright light of day.
Wanting a few minutes alone before going inside, Ginny walked around the side of the church and sat down on one the swings.
Unlike Gavin, she wasn’t questioning what she felt when their eyes met across the swimming pool. She had been waiting all of her life for those feelings to strike her. She had fallen in love with Gavin at first sight, and dammit, deep down, she knew he had also.
Ginny wanted to call Trudy to ask for her advice but reminded herself that her sister was on her honeymoon, and Ginny didn’t want to spoil it with a fight about Gavin.
Trudy had managed to find a few minutes alone with her before she and Dalton left.
“He’s not the one you’ve been waiting for,” Trudy hissed at her as soon as the bathroom door closed behind them.
Ginny didn’t blink at her sister’s stricken expression. “Why not?”
“Because he can’t be.”
“He is.” Ginny resolutely crossed her arms over her chest.
“No, he’s not,” Trudy determinedly argued back. “If you’d picked any other man in the whole world, I’d tell you to go for it, but not Reaper. Sweetheart, he’s not for you.”
“Give me one good reason.”
“I can give you several, but the most important one is he’s still in love with his ex. You deserve someone in love with you, not a woman he’s waited years to be with.”
“I was waiting for him. He just doesn’t know it—”
“And he won’t want to know.” Trudy sharply cut her off, seeing her warning was going nowhere. “You’re not Taylor, and she’s all he cares about.”
“You’re not Oceane, but that didn’t keep Dalton from falling in love with you.” As soon as the words left her lips, Ginny regretted them. Trudy’s hurt gaze at being reminded that she wasn’t Dalton’s first choice either effectively grounded the euphoria of finding out the identity of the man whose soul had connected with hers just minutes before.
“Taylor is living, not buried six feet under,” Trudy said reproachfully.
“I’m sorry.” Ginny reached out to grab her sister in a hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.” Ginny wished she could take it back. She didn’t want to ruin Trudy’s perfect day any more than she wanted her own excitement crushed.
“I know you didn’t.”
Trudy’s assurance didn’t make her feel any better.
“What I was trying to say was that Oceane had her time with Dalton, just like Taylor had her time with Gavin. It doesn’t mean they can’t love us just as much. You’ve proven that, Trudy. I can do the same for Gavin.” Ginny wasn’t ready to be brought down to earth. Unfortunately, Trudy was determined that Ginny’s feet would remain planted firmly on Mother Earth.
“It’s not the same, as much as I wish it was for you.” Pulling away, Trudy’s concerned brow emphasized just how serious she was.
“Let’s forget Taylor then, Reaper isn’t stable. He’s a one-man wrecking crew. He doesn’t fight to win. He fights to obliterate.”
Ginny didn’t want to hear any more negatives about Gavin. She couldn’t understand why Trudy was so adverse to her being interested in Gavin. Before, anytime his name was mentioned, it had been about his kidnapping or his rescue, even a few details of what he had gone through afterward. And anything she had been told was imparted with sympathy and worry about him. Now, because she was interested, it seemed as if Trudy had made a U-turn to lead her away from his direction.
Undeterred by the warning or the shiver that ran down her back at Trudy’s words, Ginny had been preparing herself for more discouragement when a knock on the bathroom door ended their sisterly talk. Ginny had made sure to avoid any more alone time with Trudy before she and Dalton left for their honeymoon.
Finding Gavin actually existed had her walking on air. Trudy, even though her concerns were meant with good intentions, was trying to tether Ginny solidly back in reality. Reality had always sucked for her; for once she wanted to be brave enough to reach for the stars.
“Yo, you don’t have anything better to do than sitting there, staring into space?”
Ginny was pulled from thoughts of her conversation with Trudy to see Killyama striding toward her from across the playground. Intuitively, she knew Trudy sent Killy on the mission to check up on her and make sure she was nowhere near Gavin.
Killyama sat down on the swing next to her, giving her the once-over at the way she was dressed. “You look nice.”
Ginny wasn’t taken in with the unexpected compliment. “Trudy send you?”
“I’m her second choice. She wanted to send Sex Piston, but she’s working.”
“I see.” Ginny used her foot to turn the swing toward Killyama, facing her directly. “You can report back to Trudy and tell her that Gavin has no intention of getting further acquainted with me and to save herself the bother of keeping tabs on me.”
“Chill out, little bitch. T.A. just wanted us to watch out for you.”
When Killyama didn’t pull her off the swing and beat the living crap out of her for her snarky attitude, Ginny sent her an apologetic smile. “There’s nothing
for her to be worried about. It’s not like Gavin is beating down my door to get to know me.”
“Heard you were at the club this morning. I take it, it didn’t go as you wanted?”
Killyama wasn’t her first choice to bare her feelings to, but she was there, and Ginny couldn’t contain them any longer. She desperately needed someone to confide in about Gavin, and her feelings for Gavin would be the last thing Trudy wanted to hear. And if she confided in Willa, she might tell Lucky, who was friends with Gavin.
Unable to stop, Ginny exposed herself to Killyama’s ridicule. “I’m pretty sure he thinks I have a screw loose, which Trudy probably thinks, too, but that’s okay.”
“It is?”
Ginny nodded, giving Killyama a pleading look for understanding. “I touched him, Killy. I actually was able to touch him.” Ginny bit her lip, trying to stop the flow of words but couldn’t. “It was liquid silver, like reaching out and touching a star.”
“Were Gavin’s socks blown off?”
“Not hardly,” Ginny admitted with amusement before turning serious. “Gavin’s special, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
At the soft tone in Killyama’s agreement, Ginny felt an unexpected twinge of jealousy.
“You care about Gavin, don’t you?”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist.” Killyama waved her hand with her wedding ring pointed toward her. “Gavin may be special, but he’s not the star in my sky.”
“He’s mine.” Ginny made her claim out loud, not so much as to warn Killyama off but to stake her claim to the universe.
“I’m glad T.A.’s in Florida and can’t hear you say that.”
“I don’t understand. Anytime Gavin’s name was mentioned to me before, it was about how he amazingly survived. I hear nothing but respect from all of you, yet when I show interest in him, it’s like I’m going after Jason Voorhees.”
Killyama started laughing.
Ginny pivoted her foot in the dirt as she grabbed the chain of Killyama’s swing and tugged her closer. “I’m serious. This isn’t funny. I am meant for him, despite what Trudy, Sex Piston, you, and even Gavin think!” she snapped. “I know what I felt yesterday. I know what I felt when I touched him today.”