31. Kennedy
CHAPTER 31
KENNEDY
M y mind is still on that kiss.
I was up nearly all night, staring at the ceiling, grinning like an idiot because all I could focus on was the way his lips felt on mine. I’ve been kissed before, once upon a time, but it never felt like that.
As though my entire life was waiting to begin until the very moment my lips met his.
The alarm on the bedside table beeps, so I reach over and turn it off then throw the covers off of me, pull on some leggings and a sweater, and head out into the living room. Bradyn should be getting up any minute now, and I want to have his coffee ready to go.
After the care he took in providing me with just what I needed last night by getting me out of the house, I want to show him the same type of attention. And not just by baking cookies he gets to enjoy.
I’m stepping out into the hall when Bradyn opens his door and comes out. We nearly smack into each other, and I jump back. “Sorry!”
“Sorry!” he says at the same time then laughs and runs a hand over the back of his neck. “You’re up early.”
“Early riser,” I remind him.
“Yeah.” He tilts his head to the side. “This is weird. Why is this weird?”
Because you made me see stars with that kiss last night. “It doesn’t have to be.” I head into the kitchen and start the coffee I prepped last night.
“Did you sleep okay?”
“Not even a little,” I reply honestly. “But it was all self-inflicted.”
He laughs. “Same.”
Lani comes into the room and yawns. “Good morning,” she greets.
“Morning,” Bradyn and I both reply at the same time.
She arches a brow. “You two are in sync today. How was dinner?”
“It was great,” I tell her as I get another cup down from the cupboard.
“Good. I’m glad. I bet it felt good to get out.”
“It—” A loud explosion rocks the windows of the house. Bradyn immediately yanks Lani and me down to the floor, and Bravo starts barking at the front door.
“What was that?” Lani yells.
“Stay down,” Bradyn orders me as he reaches into his pocket and withdraws his ringing cell phone. “What was that?” he demands. His gaze locks on mine, and I know—I know— that whatever it is, it’s happening because of me. “I’m coming. Stay put until I get there.” He shoves the phone into his pocket. “Your old cabin exploded,” he tells me. “It took out the rest of them.”
My stomach plummets. “Injuries?”
“We don’t know yet.” Bradyn gets to his feet.
“I’m coming with you,” Lani says as she gets up.
“Me, too,” I say, prepared to run down there straight into the flames if need be.
“Kennedy, I need you to stay here.”
“Bradyn—”
“They can’t see you. If they see you, they could turn you in. No one can know you’re still here.”
“But—”
“No. I’m sorry. I promise to tell you everything, but please just stay here where it’s safe.”
Lani comes rushing back down the hall with her medical bag and heads straight for the front door.
Bradyn tugs me close and captures my lips, stealing my breath with a kiss before pulling away and rushing outside to join her, Bravo on his heels.
I remain where I am, frozen in place, staring at the door, and knowing I can’t even look out the window to see how bad things are. Though even as the employee cabins are a good distance from here, I can see orange flickering in the small window at the top of the door.
A phone rings.
I turn and scan the room for it, but I can’t figure out where it’s coming from. Rushing down the hall, I check all the bedrooms then come to a stop outside the back door. It sounds louder here.
It stops.
Seconds later, the ringing begins again. Even knowing I shouldn’t, I unlock the back door and peer outside. A small phone has been dropped on the mat just outside. Reaching down, I pick it up and bring it inside.
The pit in my stomach tells me I should leave it, but when it starts ringing for a third time, I give in and answer it. “Hello?”
“Kennedy, I have to say, it’s good to hear your voice.”
My blood goes cold, my body rigid. I’m frozen in place, trapped in fear.
“Nothing to say? That’s okay, I have enough to say for the both of us,” Alexander Brown says into the phone. “There will be deaths that came from that. At least one, maybe more.”
The explosion.
It was him.
“Tell me, Kennedy, how many people are going to have to die before you give me back what belongs to me?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He chuckles into the phone. “You know, I never particularly thought much of you before, Kennedy. But you’ve impressed me these past couple of years.”
“Glad to hear it.” I rush into my bedroom and retrieve my gun then take a seat in the corner of the room where I have a vantage point of the door. “What do you want?”
“You’re not even a little curious as to how I managed to get a phone on the back door of your boyfriend’s house without any of his cameras picking it up?”
“I imagine you’re going to tell me.”
“A drone. Rather clever contraptions, really. They can even deliver—say—bombs, without so much as a single boot on the ground.”
My stomach lurches as I think of the innocent men staying in those cabins. How many died because of me?
“Now, I have a really great view of your boyfriend at the moment. Big guy. But they fall too, you know. And all it would take is the press of a butto?—”
“No! Please no. What do you want? Just tell me what you want.”
“Don’t play stupid with me. I want what was stolen from me.”
“If it’s Olivia back, I can’t give you that. You know, since you had her killed.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “I want the thumb drive, and I want you to bring it to me.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“You don’t want a war, do you, Kennedy?” When I don’t immediately answer, Alexander clicks his tongue. “What a shame it would be to see that ranch leveled to nothing but ash. To die knowing that this family who took you in would be buried just as your parents were. With no funeral. Just their once-warm bodies lowered in the cold, hard ground.”
I swallow thickly, trying desperately to keep the panic out of my voice.
“What a sad outcome that would be for everyone,” he adds.
I don’t want to die, but I will not sacrifice a single inch of this ranch to save my own life. Not when my death could save them all.
“I want you to bring me the thumb drive. So I can deal with it and you appropriately and end this thing once and for all.”
“I’ll give you the thumb drive for the ranch. I can mail it to you. Overnight it. Meet in a coffee shop and hand it over, whatever you want. You can have it if you’ll leave them alone.”
“You have cost me two years of resources. Two years of trouble. So the thumb drive isn’t enough.”
“You want to kill me.”
“I don’t like loose ends. If I thought you’d managed to get information off of that thing, there’d be no choice. I’d be leveling that ranch and killing every single person who might know anything about it. Make your choice, but stop testing my patience. Either do what I’m asking, or they all die.”
“I—”
“I’m not a patient man. There will be a car waiting to pick you up once you’ve gotten off the property. The second I see you leave that house, I’ll have them bring the drones in, and your cowboy will be safe. But deny me any longer and?—”
“I’ll do it.” Tears stream down my cheeks as I speak the words. Bile rises, burning my throat.
There’s no other choice, though.
He has us.
“Good girl,” he says. “I promise it will be quick. You have five minutes to walk out that back door.” He ends the call, and I drop the phone, choking on a sob. My entire body is shaking.
Five minutes.
I have five minutes.
Folding my hands, I drop my head. “God, please help me,” I sob. “I’m so scared. I’m so scared something will happen to them. Please keep them safe. No matter what happens to me, please, Lord, let them stay safe.”