Rook (Endgame Book 2)

by Riley Ashby

  “You hid it under your clothes,” I murmured. She smiled.

  “I didn’t know how you’d react to seeing it. That was the night I got drunk and tried to kiss you for the first time.”

  I smiled at the memory. Ellery allowed her to celebrate with alcohol as long as we did it in the house. When he left to get our pizza at the front door, she launched herself across the room at me. I had almost caved right then. She wrapped her legs around my waist and grabbed my face like a vise. When her lips fell on mine, I practically fell apart. She was just as soft and warm as I had expected, but I still had enough presence of mind to hold her off. I didn’t want her to wake up and regret what she’d done—or worse, expect something more. It was a struggle to pull her off me without hurting her. “I thought you said you didn’t remember doing that.”

  She blushed. “I pretended not to the next day. I was so embarrassed.”

  I closed my hand around the charms and pulled gently, guiding her toward me. We had spent so long pushing each other away for so many different reasons, but we were finally here next to each other. I had touched her, and she didn’t collapse. She had taken pleasure from my mouth, and it didn’t trigger a flashback. We were finally mending, and we were doing it together.

  “Well, you can kiss me now.”

  She did.

  We prepared. Our lives were nothing but going over witness statements, suggesting changes, and offering additional information to round out the evidence. I was headed back to New York in a week for the full trial, and Ellery contemplated coming with me. His only concern was leaving all three women here by themselves. He wanted to hire additional security while we were gone; I told him that between Tori and the normal security, they would be fine.

  “Plus, there are four dogs here now.”

  “Two dogs, one senior citizen, and a ball of fluff.”

  “Still scary.”

  “To you, maybe.”

  We laughed as my phone rang. It was Archer, the agent who was acting as my liaison between LA and New York. I knew the minute he spoke that something was wrong.

  “What’s going on, Archer?”

  I could hear his frown. “Are you alone?”

  “I’m with King.” I frowned at Ellery as he remained focused on his computer. “What’s going on?”

  “I have some bad news.”

  “Spit it out.”

  I knew before he said it what the message was. Something he’d have to call to tell me himself rather than share via email or text message. My stomach was a hard knot, willing him not to speak but knowing all too well what he would say.

  “They’re going to arrest her.”

  The tapping of my fingers on the keyboard stopped abruptly; I dimly heard the chair slide as I stood to my feet. Ellery raised his head to look at me.

  “What?” he mouthed, concerned.

  I ignored him. “What the fuck did you just say?”

  I looked at myself in the reflection of the computer screen. I didn’t recognize the monster that stared back at me, a beast ready to tear apart the world in order to make this right.

  “The prosecutor thinks there’s enough evidence for a murder charge. He says she needs to be indicted at least.”

  I swallowed thickly, trying to tamp down my nausea.

  “There may be a trial.”

  I was frozen for a full ten seconds, completely unable to move, then grabbed a heavy glass paperweight off Ellery’s desk and hurled it across the room. The thick orb shattered with the force of the throw, sending a million stars falling to the carpet. I breathed heavily, dropping my phone to the floor and pulling my hands through my hair as I walked across the room. Back to the place in front of the window where I had paced for weeks while we looked for her. Where I had stared out at her cottage, imagining what it would be like when she returned. She was on the lawn with Sophie and the dogs now, throwing tennis balls with an oversized slingshot she had ordered online. Would she ever be this happy again once I told her the lies her abuser was threatening to tell to the entire world?

  I heard Ellery move around the desk to pick up my phone.

  “This is King,” he snapped. “Tell me what the fuck is going on.”

  He was quiet for only a moment. “Goddammit!” he yelled, throwing the phone back to the floor. He spoke again, so he must have picked it back up. “This had better be someone’s idea of a sick fucking joke. Do you hear me?”

  I ran back over and snatched the phone out of his hand.

  “It’s not an option, Archer. She’s not getting within a hundred miles of that piece of shit. Do you understand me? It should be beyond obvious that anything she did was in self-defense. Find a way to get her out of it.”

  I could hear Archer struggling from his end of the phone. The timbre of my voice dropped low and harsh. I sounded like I had gravel caught in my throat and was on the verge of tears.

  “They’ll come out there to get her if she doesn’t come, Austen. The prosecutor is adamant. If she doesn’t surrender, they’ll fly out and arrest her in her home.”

  “Fuck,” I swore, dropping my hand to my side as Ellery grabbed it again.

  “She’s not going. Find a way to get her out of it. Period.” He hung up and threw my phone to the ground, visibly resisting the urge to grind it under his heel. He walked over to the large globe in one corner of the room that opened to reveal a mini bar and poured us each two large measures of scotch. I threw mine back in one gulp and held it out to him to refill immediately, which he did along with his own.

  We stood in silence together, neither of us able to say anything to the other. We had been working so hard to keep this from happening only to have him throw it in our faces. It was as if Chase had anticipated the best way to hurt us even from two thousand miles away.

  “He’s going to pay for this,” I said through my teeth. “If he thought we were coming after him hard now, he’s got another think coming. I will destroy his entire family. Any relative he has, even those he didn’t know about, will be ruined forever. His entire family tree will be disgraced.”

  I could hear Ellery grinding his teeth behind me. He began rubbing his head, and I could sympathize. I already had a full-blown headache that had developed in the past three minutes.

  My phone buzzed against the carpet from across the room. Ellery and I stared at it together while it rang three, four, five times before I walked over and picked it up. I didn’t say anything.

  “If she comes willingly, we have a chance to control the narrative. They’re suspicious because she didn’t come forward with this right away. This is our best chance to get the version we want on the record.”

  I gripped the phone harder, expecting the glass to crack under my grip.

  “She’ll have every protection. We’ll treat her as a victim, not a … whatever he’s saying.”

  “It won’t be enough,” I whispered. “Can you imagine, Archer? To go through this and then have to explain to a bunch of strangers what you were forced to do to protect yourself?

  “I know.” He sounded sad. Archer had been working with sexual crimes for years before I came to the Bureau. He’d seen children blamed for their own assaults. Victims who were never able to recover any sense of normalcy in their daily lives. Former slaves who burned the bridges to everyone who cared about them and shut themselves away rather than risk being hurt again.

  Sophie and Vail were walking across the lawn toward the house. It would be dinnertime soon, and we would all sit down to eat together as we had for weeks now. A family of sorts, one I wanted to make more permanent someday. I couldn’t do that if this broke her. And I couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t.

  She was strong. The strongest person I knew. She had come back from the brink of hell and was making a new life despite the scars left by the flames. But I knew a person could endure only so much. How could I ask her to relive every moment of that nightmare and come out alive?

  “This is her chance to put him in his place, Austen.”
>
  My heart stuttered in my chest as he said it. “That’s not what it’ll be like, Archer, and you know that. It’ll kill her.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I feel like I know this girl as well as I do you. And from what you’ve told me, she’s always gone after what she wants. She’s unbreakable in the face of opposition. And if she likes you … well, she must have a pretty high tolerance for bullshit.”

  One corner of my lips tugged skyward involuntarily. Ellery frowned at me from across the room, and I put my hand over my mouth.

  Archer continued. “Talk to her. We’ll have our people here ready to give her all the support she needs. When she gets up there and tells the truth, this bullshit will get thrown out so fast we’ll forget it even happened. The jury will recommend the longest allowable sentence for Chase at his trial, and we’ll make sure he pays for this, Austen. Not just for what he did, or what he’s doing now, but all of it. Every last sin.”

  I rubbed my forehead with my hand, trying to think of a way out of this. Some miracle that would put my girl back behind friendly lines and keep her out of harm’s way while letting lesser soldiers take the hits. A wall to keep out those who wished to do her harm and safe from the army that sought to tear her down.

  But I couldn’t do that. At least, I couldn’t make the decision for her. As much as I wanted to protect her, the facts were what they were. She would have to decide what the right decision was.

  “I’ll talk to her,” I said. My voice was hoarse, and I could hardly hear it, but Archer grunted in approval.

  “It’ll be all right, Austen. We’ll work this out. I’ll send you more information, and you give me a call tomorrow.”

  I nodded and hung up the phone. Ellery was glaring at me.

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “We don’t have an option.” I stared at the ceiling, anywhere but at him. “I’ll talk to her. It should be me.”

  “For once, I agree with you there.”

  We heard voices in the hall, lilting and breathless with laughter. The sun was out and shining; it was a beautiful day, and I was about to set it all on fire.

  The door swung open as Sophie and Vail stepped into the room, taking in the broken glass a moment later. They looked back and forth between Ellery and me on opposite sides of the room with empty glasses in our hands.

  “What happened in here?” Sophie asked, moving to Ellery’s side as he poured himself a third glass of scotch.

  Vail was staring at me, hands in fists at her side.

  “We need to talk,” I whispered.

  She started to cry.

  Castel took my hand and led me to the bedroom he had been staying in while he lived here. He closed the door softly as though he was afraid of startling me and gestured for me to sit on the bed. I buzzed with nervous anticipation. He had never been so unsure around me, always taking the role of the leader who could be counted on to guide me with surety. If he was jittery, something must be wrong.

  “I just got off the phone with one of my colleagues who has been working in New York.”

  He stopped and took a deep breath, then walked away from me. I had never seen him so nervous.

  “Please tell me, Cas. You’re killing me.”

  He crouched down in front of me and took my hands in his. “We’re going to have to take a trip.”

  My breath caught in my chest. “Why?”

  He pressed his forehead against the backs of my hands, and for a moment, I didn’t think he was going to look at me. But he finally glanced up, and in his eyes, I saw all the pain of the past three months concentrated and pouring out to me.

  “Chase told them about the man you killed.”

  For a few moments, I could do nothing but stare at him. His lips were moving, but all I heard was the blood rushing in my own ears. I pushed past him and hurried to the bathroom, reaching the toilet just as my stomach voided its contents. I didn’t even flinch when Castel pulled my hair back from my face and rubbed his hand across my back.

  “How did you know about that?” My voice trembled, tears falling down my cheeks as I continued to retch even though nothing was left in my stomach.

  “The lawyers told me a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had my people trying to bury it since then.”

  “You’ve known for weeks?” God, what he must think of me, lying to him all this time? My breath was coming too fast, and spots spun in front of my eyes. Not enough carbon dioxide, too much oxygen. I couln’t fill my lungs.

  “Breathe, Vail.” Though he was trying to soothe me, there was an unmistakable edge to his voice.

  “Please go. I can’t stand you comforting me over this.”

  I sat back and moved to wipe my mouth, but Castel was already there with a wet washcloth. Despite my pleas, he smoothed my hair back from my face and pulled me against his chest. I shook uncontrollably, freezing and sweating all at once.

  “Vail, it’s all right.”

  “It’s not all right.” I sobbed. “What do you think of me now? I murdered someone.”

  I thought I had prepared myself for everything, but I never imagined he would find out this secret.

  “You protected yourself against a vile criminal who wanted to hurt you. I couldn’t be prouder.”

  He wasn’t angry? My trembling eased a little. “You can’t mean that.”

  “I do.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “You have no idea the number of times I’ve fantasized about slaughtering all those assholes in every FBI-approved way I know how. My only regret is that I wasn’t there to help you.”

  I sniffed and wiped my face again with the cloth. He was still with me. He knew, and he didn’t run.

  “I thought you’d hate me if you knew.”

  “Baby.” He hugged me tighter, and I collapsed against him. “I could never hate you for anything, much less fighting back when your life was in danger.”

  I’d fought against talking about it for so long, but now it was like I couldn’t stop the words. They bubbled up in my chest like air, desperate to be shared and eager to know he still cared about me even after knowing the details.

  “It was the first person they gave me to. They thought I would be an easy mark because I’d been beaten and starved. But I got my hands on a butter knife.”

  Bile rose in my throat once more as I remembered the feel of the hot metal in my hand. I had been holding it against my body for hours, terrified what would happen if they found it. Petrified what I would have to do in order to use it.

  “He wanted me on top, so I had a good vantage point. I slammed it down into the middle of his throat and twisted.”

  Castel’s hands wound through my hair, and for once, I didn’t shudder or panic. I leaned into him as he clutched me tight against him and didn’t say a word.

  “There was so much blood, but all I felt was free. I started laughing, and I couldn’t stop. That was how they found me, covered in blood and cackling like a madwoman. They slammed my head against the wall until I passed out. The next person they gave me to was Chase. That’s why he tied me so tight.”

  I took a deep, shuddering breath and finally looked at him. Despite what he said, I still expected to see some hint of judgment, but his face was awash with pride.

  “I’ve never been more proud to know you,” he whispered and kissed me.

  I jerked back, and he tried to follow me, but I held up my hands. “Let me brush my teeth.” I couldn’t help laughing a little. I had been so afraid of this getting out, and here he was, kissing me over it. I swished out my mouth with some mouthwash and gave my face a full wash. My eyes felt clear even though they were still a little red. I watched him over my shoulder via the mirror as he came up behind me and wrapped his hands around my waist.

  “We don’t have to go,” he whispered. “I can make us disappear.”

  That more than anything showed me how afraid he was. Women like me often spent years in jail for defending ourselves against our attackers. And here was my hero, re
ady to leave everything behind in order to keep me from unjust imprisonment. I turned in his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck. The small of my back pressed into the bathroom counter.

  “Yes, we do. Because running would be letting him win. Even if he goes to jail, he’ll always know that he won this one.”

  I kissed him so he wouldn’t argue. He moaned into my lips, and I released him long enough to hop up on the counter. I spread my knees so he could come closer to me, and after a moment, he stepped forward into the space between my legs.

  “You knew all this time.” I was beyond shocked that he had kept this secret from me. I never guessed that he knew.

  “Are you mad at me?”

  “No.” I shook my head and brought my lips to his again. His hands wrapped around my back, pressing into the hollow above the waistband of my shorts. “I thought you would run from me when you found out. When you discovered I was a murderer.”

  He held me tight to drive his point home. “I would never condemn you for protecting yourself.”

  His hands burned me through my clothes. I had never felt closer to him, not in all the years we had lived together or the day he took me rock climbing or the moment I realized he was going to get me a puppy so I could feel a little bit safer at home. I should be terrified to get arrested, but all I could think about was that he knew, he’d known for weeks, and he was still here. He didn’t run.

  He kissed me softly, then harder, clothes bunching under hands and breaths coming faster in the moments we came up for air. My hands left his shoulders and trailed down the front of his shirt.

  “Vail,” he whispered, but my hand was already at his waistband. “I don’t want to hurt you again.”

  “You won’t.”

  “How can I promise that?”

  His mouth devoured mine even as he tried to deny me, one hand at my nape holding my lips hard against his. I lifted my hips, grazing against his cock. He was already half hard, but I felt him swell even larger as I pressed against him.