by Cynthia Eden
Marilyn’s lower lip trembled.
“No.” Tess pushed up. Her knees wanted to buckle—especially the right one—but she grabbed onto one of the bed posts. “I wasn’t going to do that! You were my friend, Marilyn!”
Morgan smiled and leaned closer to Marilyn. His voice was like the pleased hiss of a snake as he told her, “Were. Did you hear that? She said you were her friend. Not any longer. She’s done with you. The truth came out. She’ll get Ghost to kill you.”
Ghost. Goosebumps covered her. She stopped focusing on Marilyn. Turned her attention to the mastermind. “You knew who he was.”
He lifted a brow.
“Did you see him at the hospital?” Her mind was running slowly, so it was hard to piece things together. “The night your brother attacked…you were there. James was there. He waited for me after…” He’d brought her fudge. Her favorite. “You saw him.” He must have seen him. “You saw us.”
“Recognized him because I had an old photo of my prey, courtesy of a corrupt government handler I had bribed a long time ago. That photo was burned into my head.” A muscle jerked along Morgan’s jaw as he stepped back from Marilyn. “It’s hard to forget the man who came to destroy your world. In and out, leaving nothing behind but death. The big, bad, infamous Ghost. Couldn’t believe that I’d been searching the world for him, and he’d decided to come right to me in Savannah. Talk about some crazy luck.”
“Who did he take from you?” Maybe if she kept him talking, she’d get stronger. The more time that passed, the stronger she’d be. Then she could attack.
“My father. Sure, the old bastard was a killer and he controlled one of the biggest drug empires on the coast…” His eyes glinted. “But he was mine.”
Her heart raced far too fast. “Wasn’t your brother yours, too? Wasn’t Frederick yours? You killed him.” He’d told her that…hadn’t he? Back at her apartment? Dammit, things were still so jumbled and foggy.
He nodded. “What else was I to do? I’d given him chance after chance. He didn’t learn. And he wasn’t about to drag me down with him.” A shrug. “In the end, Frederick proved useful, though. His death got the cops to turn their attention to your so-called James Smith. Bet that was a new one for him. Getting hauled into a jail cell.”
“And you think…you think you’re going to kill him? Use me as bait somehow and kill—James—”
“I’m not going to kill him. I thought about it. Had actually planned his murder many, many times in my mind. But then I discovered a better ending.”
Her breath choked out in relief.
“I’m going to kill you.” He waved a hand around him. “This place? It’s one of his many holdings. In case you didn’t realize it, the guy tends to collect things. I’m going to set it up so that your body is found here, with direct evidence to tie you to him. The cops will be called. Hell, he will be called. He’ll be found over your poor, broken body, and then he’ll spend the rest of his life in jail.” Morgan nodded. “Fitting for him, I think. Losing his life would be too quick. He needs to be locked away. To be shut in, to slowly fade away until he is nothing more than a ghost…”
“Wait.” Marilyn rolled the syringe in her fingertips. “What do you mean about her being ‘broken’? Because I don’t want her to hurt. I can just give her some more meds, and she’ll go to sleep. This syringe is powerful. One jab, and she won’t ever wake up again. Everything will be okay.”
Her gaze snapped to Marilyn. “Nothing is okay here, Marilyn.”
Marilyn backed up a step. Her shoulder rammed into Morgan.
“He’s going to kill us both, Marilyn,” Tess fired at her. She was getting stronger. “How can you not get that? He used you. He’s not going to let you walk away because you’re a weak link. You might tell someone the truth one day, and he can’t have that.”
Marilyn looked up at him. “She’s wrong.”
He reached for her hand. Curled his fingers around hers. Slid the syringe from her. “No, darling, she’s not.”
He pushed off the syringe cap.
“Marilyn, run!” Tess shouted.
Marilyn’s head jerked toward her.
He shoved the needle into Marilyn’s arm.
***
He’d found the car, thanks to Barnes and to help from Wilde techs. They’d accessed traffic cams and traced the vehicle all over the city.
And back to one of my homes.
The car was just sitting in the driveway.
Fucking balls.
He even knew who’d driven it. The license and registration had gone back to Morgan Waller. Only, that wasn’t the guy’s real name. He’d changed his name four years ago, right after the death of his father and the seeming collapse of his father’s business. As soon as James had learned Morgan’s real last name, everything had clicked. He remembered Morgan’s father.
Sometimes, there were a whole lot of monsters in one family tree. In the case of the Waller tree, hell, that bitch was corroded from the inside.
James cased the house, then slipped around the side. This was his house—and the bastard was a fool to choose one of James’s own homes in his plans. James knew how to get inside. Knew every single space on that property.
Getting in undetected wouldn’t be a problem.
I’m coming, Tess. Baby, I swear, I’m coming for you.
And he would destroy anyone who got in his way.
***
He dropped the syringe. Marilyn was on the floor. Her body trembled. Tess surged forward, but Morgan grabbed her.
“Please, let me help her!”
He locked one hand around her neck. “Why?” Morgan seemed genuinely curious. “She was going to kill you. Even if I hadn’t come along, eventually, she would have done it. She’d been stalking you for years. You should have seen all the photos I found at her place.” He shook his head. “I think her brother messed her up far more than anyone realized. You were her savior and her villain. She loved you and hated you, and that mix of emotions can never be good.”
He wasn’t strangling her. In fact, it seemed he’d tried to put his fingers on her neck in the exact spots where his own brother’s had been. But he wasn’t squeezing, not yet.
“Family can be a burden. You love them. You hate them. You even have to kill them.” A shrug. His nostrils flared. “You wouldn’t know, though, would you? Since you never had a real family.”
So he’d dug into her life. The last thing she cared about right then. “Your father…if he was so bad…why do you care—”
“He wasn’t bad to me. He loved me. Trained me. And I owe him this. Hell, do you have any clue how many people want your lover dead? It’s like, a freaking line. I was the lucky one. I managed to get details from his old handler, even got that lucky picture of him. Fucking rare. Like I said, that’s how I recognized him at the hospital. A little more digging, some confirmation, and, well, here we are.”
She saw a movement behind him. The faintest flicker. No sound though. No rustles.
She kept her eyes on Morgan. Didn’t let her expression alter.
“It’s going to wreck him.” Morgan beamed at her. So confident in his power. “He doesn’t get attached to anyone. But he kept going back to you, over and over. I think he was obsessed.”
“It’s called love.”
“Whatever. He’ll be destroyed when he finds your body. The same way I was destroyed when I found my father. I lost the business after his death, did you know that?”
Uh, did it look like she knew that?
“Our enemies swarmed in. The government swarmed in. I had to reinvent myself. New name. New business. Frederick—hell, that asshole had his mother’s maiden name. He was my half-brother, born on the side when my dad was still married to my mom. When I went looking for a new name, I thought, why not use his?” His nostrils flared. “When you lose everything, it makes you desperate. I’ve been desperate for a very, very long time. That desperation is ending.” His hand began to tighten on her throat. “He ha
s to know you suffered.”
Did she look like a freaking prop for a man’s pain?
“It’s going to hurt a lot.”
He thought she was just going to stand there and take it? “Yes,” Tess breathed. “It will.” She slammed her left knee into his groin. As hard as she could.
His hand jerked back.
She lifted up the handcuffs and slammed them into his face. They hit him with a hard crack, and she saw blood explode from his lips and nose. Tess lunged past him.
“I’ve got you.” James was there. She’d seen him slip into the room. Had known that she needed to keep Morgan focused on her, and she’d done her job. She’d also shattered Morgan’s nose. A damn fine job.
James grabbed her. Shoved her behind him.
Morgan spun around. Only—when his hand came up, he had a gun aimed at James. “Freaking Ghost…”
“The one and only.”
James had a gun, too. She saw it gripped in his right hand. And when he shifted forward a bit…wait, was that a second gun tucked into the back waistband of his jeans? Her cuffed hands slid beneath his coat and she grabbed the weapon. It felt surprisingly heavy in her grip. She’d never fired a gun before, but there was a first time for everything.
Morgan laughed. “Can’t believe we’re face to face. Kinda like meeting a celebrity, you know, one you hate.”
James blocked her from seeing most of Morgan. He was using his body to shield her. Tess glanced down at the floor. Marilyn didn’t appear to be moving. Her blonde hair spilled around her head.
“Why am I not dead yet?” Morgan wondered. “Why haven’t you pulled the trigger? Have you lost your touch, Ghost?”
“Drop your weapon, asshole. Drop it now, or I will pull the trigger.”
“I think you won’t. I think you don’t want to kill with her watching.” More laughter. “You want her to think you’re something special, but you’re not. You’re a criminal. You’re evil. Rotten through and through.”
“He was going to k-kill me,” Tess said. Her palm was sweaty around the gun. “Pin it on you.”
A growl broke from James.
“Yes, well…so much for that plan.” Morgan didn’t seem particularly worried.
Why not? He should be terrified. She was terrified.
“Guess I have to go with option two,” Morgan continued and then he—ducked for cover?
He hit the floor. Yes, it definitely looked as if he’d just jumped for cover.
James didn’t move. Tess was rooted to the spot.
Slowly, Morgan lifted his head. “Where are my men?”
Now James laughed. A cold and mocking sound. “The men you had hiding around my place? Are those the ones you’re asking about?”
A grudging nod.
“I took care of most of them. My backup took care of the rest.” Another spine-chilling laugh. “You didn’t really think I came out here alone, did you? See, my days of working solo are behind me. Now I always have a team.”
Morgan lunged to his feet. His finger began to tighten on the gun’s trigger.
Bam!
Bam!
Two shots. Two hits that had Morgan jerking back like a puppet on a string.
Only one of those shots had come from the gun James held.
The other shot had come from Tess’s gun.
James rushed toward the bed. Morgan’s body had crashed onto it. Morgan’s weapon had fallen to the floor, and James kicked it out of the way.
Blood soaked Morgan’s shirt. The two bullets had gone into his chest, and when Tess stumbled to him, she saw that one had—
His heart. It went in his heart.
She didn’t know if it had been her shot or the one James fired. And it didn’t matter. This man had been prepared to kill her. He’d been ready to kill James. She’d had to fire. She’d had to do it.
She could feel the tears on her cheeks, and she didn’t care. She could feel the blood on her hands, and she realized—
I’m trying to save him. She’d dropped her weapon and put her hands on Morgan. I know it won’t work. But my hands are on his chest. I’m trying to stop the blood. She was moving by rote and she couldn’t stop herself. Someone was dying. She was supposed to step in. She was supposed to help.
Morgan’s eyes were on hers.
The life faded from his stare.
“We have to call the police,” she whispered. His blood was warm. She was cold. “We have to get the police here.”
James curled his hands around her shoulders. “Baby, tell me that you’re okay.”
She’d just shot a man. Killed— “Marilyn!” She jumped off the bed. Rushed to her but—
“No.” James caught her in his arms. “No, baby, there isn’t anything you can do.”
Tess shuddered against him.
“I just checked. She’s gone.”
Marilyn was gone. Morgan was dead.
“Baby, are you okay?”
Her head tilted back. She stared into his eyes. Those blazing eyes of his. The eyes that had found her across a crowded club. The eyes that had looked into hers and seemed to see her very soul. Was she okay?
Somewhere, a siren screamed in the distance. She didn’t know who’d called the cops. Hell, it had probably been a neighbor. Someone who’d heard gunshots. She’d told James to call the cops. An instinctive response from her but she hadn’t seen him pull out a phone.
“Baby, please, talk to me. Tell me that you’re all right. God, I need to hear—”
“Cops are coming!” Linc had just burst into the room. “We’ve got a dozen injured men outside and—fuck me!” His gaze scanned the floor. “Two dead here?”
Her body trembled. Her hands were going numb on her. Why were they doing that? Just what had Marilyn given to her? Tess had thought that she was getting stronger with each moment that passed, but…
Had that been adrenaline?
Her heart was racing so fast. Pounding and pounding and pounding. Her throat was desert dry. Her lungs felt as if they were bursting.
“What are we going to tell the cops?” Linc demanded quickly. “Are we ready for them? Hell, Ghost, as a former detective, I can tell you that we need to be prepared for—”
“I killed the bastard on the bed. It was me. I shot him twice. Used two guns to do it.” James bent and picked up the gun that Tess had dropped. He held it tightly.
Putting his prints on it.
“He kidnapped my lady, and I came after her. I killed him. I took out his guards. That’s the story.” He glared at Linc. “Got it?”
But that wasn’t the story.
James caught her chin in his hand. “You don’t need this on you, baby. You don’t need a damn thing on you. Let me take care of you. Let me get you out of here.”
She wanted out of there. She wanted away from the bodies and the pain.
“I am so fucking sorry,” he murmured. His forehead pressed to hers. “He was from my past, and he tried to hurt you because of me. I won’t ever let something like this happen again. You’ll be safe.” He kissed her. A deep, hard kiss. “I swear it, I will make sure you’re safe.”
His words were distorted. And the black dots were popping up near her vision again. Not good. Pinpricks danced over her face. A sure sign she was about to pass out. “James…”
Her stupid legs had buckled.
He caught her. Lifted her up. “Tess? What did they do to you?”
“Drugs…” A whole lot of them. She’d thought they were getting out of her system but…
Adrenaline is crashing. I’m crashing. Need to get to ER.
“It’s going to be all right.” He turned. Rushed out of the room with her. “It’s going to be all right. I’ll get you whatever you need.” His voice was ragged. His hold desperate. “Tess, I love you so damn much. Please, please don’t leave me.”
She wasn’t going to leave him. In fact, she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. He was hers. She was his. That was what mattered. “I love you,” she man
aged to tell him. That was important. So very important. And so was one other thing. One other thing that she had to say. “And I freaking shot him. I’d do it…again, in a…heartbeat.”
No one was going to hurt James. If any SOBs tried, they’d find her standing in their way.
“Now, hold tight,” she whispered, “because I’m pretty sure I’m about to pass out.”
***
He held her tight.
James lifted Tess into his arms and he held her as tightly as he could.
“She…okay?” Linc asked, voice halting.
She had to be okay. There wasn’t any other option for him. “I killed him. When the cops ask, I fired the shots.” He pulled her closer. She was breathing. Her heart was beating, but God, what drugs had they given to her?
He kept remembering how Cole had started convulsing on him. “Baby, stay strong. Please, just stay strong.”
“Uh, about the shots, I thought she just said—”
Sirens were louder. Screaming.
His head jerked toward Linc. “I killed him. I’m not letting her risk anything else for me. I’ll take responsibility for everything.”
Linc winced. “Yeah, bro, don’t really think she’s gonna let you do that. But good luck trying.”
Chapter Nineteen
“I killed him.” Tess sat up in bed, her eyes flaring wide, and she made her confession again as she said, “I shot him.” Her voice came out strong and clear. No weakness at all.
Latonya blinked at her.
The machines around Tess hummed and beeped.
And the police detective who stood in the corner—Detective Wesley Cade—raised both of his brows. “Just who is it that you’re confessing to killing, Dr. Barrett?”
“No one.”
Tess’s head turned to the right, and there he was. James sat in the chair next to her bed. He was leaning forward, his hands between his spread legs, and his eyes were on her. Dark shadows dipped under his eyes, the stubble on his jaw was thicker, and the faint lines near his mouth seemed deeper.