Chapter 35
Colt
“Idon’t understand how,” Holly says, poking Denver’s belly. “It isn’t big enough to be a baby.”
“It’ll get bigger,” Denver says, smiling. She’s in an overstuffed chair in the sunroom, her legs stretched out on a footrest, and Holly is cuddled up next to her.
We decided to come out to the Hamptons for some quiet and to be with Holly.
The large, gray-bricked beachfront home belongs to Helena and Finn, but we’ve all visited with the kids over the years.
Wilder hated the beach, but Marnie would spend hours building sandcastles with Holly, Callie, and Amy.
It’s where Helena, my mom, Holly, and Wesson have been staying while I attempted to clean things up in the city.
Now, Denver is here. It’s strange to see her in a home I spent so much time in as a teen. Not because she doesn’t fit in, but because she does. It feels as if she’s always been here.
“When will it come out?” Holly whispers.
“After summer. Then you’ll need to help me look after them.”
My niece brightens. “Like I look after Wesson?”
“Exactly.”
My heart is full as I watch them together. The three of them.
My future.
My family.
I wish I could have brought Marnie home.
Taf tortured Eli for days, and just before his throat was cut, Spider’s nephew finally confessed that Marnie didn’t live past six months.
She was too much of a risk to keep around, especially considering how Wilder was tearing apart the city looking for her.
Given the tactics Taf used to get the confession, I believe Eli is telling the truth, but I’ll keep looking. For Wilder, I’ll never stop looking.
“I’m gonna get my tablet,” Holly says. “We can watch movies with the baby.”
She slides off the chair and runs off, Wesson following, his golden tail wagging enthusiastically. He never leaves her side, sitting patiently while Holly dresses him up or makes sandcastles. He’s her shadow.
“Hey,” I say as I approach Denver. I lean down, gripping the back of the chair to kiss her, and she hums happily against my lips. “How you feeling?”
“Icky. Morning sickness is becoming afternoon sickness.”
“You’re pretty when you vomit, though.”
She grins. “Shut up. I just want to sleep, puke, eat, then sleep some more. Can we—” The doorbell rings and she sighs. “Shoot them.”
“Gladly.” I walk past the living room where JJ, Taf, and Lewis are screaming at a football game.
I’d smack them all for not getting the door, but Denver insisted they get some time off, too.
The only reason Ronan is still in the city is because he’s making up for lost time.
He’s recovering a hell of a lot quicker than I did and keeps reminding me of it, too.
Ass. I pull the heavy front door open and rest my hand against the frame. “Hello, Kitrick.”
Kitrick Marshall has his arms folded, car keys dangling from his hand, and frowns at me as if I shouldn’t be answering my own damn door.
He’s dressed casually, T-shirt and jeans, and it’s unsettling, given his job.
Beyond him is the long, gravel driveway, and two of my men give me the signal that they’ve searched him, and he no doubt flashed his badge, too.
“You don’t seem surprised to see me,” he says.
“Well, your guys aren’t exactly subtle. I’m surprised they haven’t asked if they can use the bathroom.”
Cops tailed us out of the city, and at least one undercover car has been sitting near the gates since we got here. I don’t care. They’re protecting us for free.
Kitrick tuts as if disappointed in their inability to hide. “Are you going to invite me in?”
“Why would I do a thing like that?”
“Because I need to speak to Denver.”
I fold my arms and lean against the doorframe. “Then extra no.”
“Kitrick?” Glancing over my shoulder, I watch as Denver approaches. She crosses her arms too, brow furrowed. “Colt, are you not being hospitable?”
“To a badge?” I ask, gesturing at him. “You don’t invite the devil in without a warrant, Del.”
Denver rolls her eyes. “Come in, Kitrick.”
Kitrick steps across the threshold, and once Denver has turned her back to return to the sunroom, he smirks at me. Fucking prick.
“Everyone stop having fun, the cop is back,” Taf says as we walk by the living room. Kitrick gives him the finger and everyone in the living room cheers. “Calm down, officer!”
“Special Agent Sass!”
“Good cop gone bad!”
And I swear Kitrick is trying his best not to laugh.
Back in the sunroom, Holly is sitting in Denver’s seat, Wesson squeezed in beside her.
Kitrick glances at Holly, and his expression softens before saying to me, “Your daughter?”
I do my best not to tense. “My niece.”
Holly watches us all quietly, tablet singing away on her lap.
“Baby, can you take your tablet in with Uncle Taf?” I say, and she nods silently, hopping off the chair. Wesson follows.
“Wilder’s daughter,” Kitrick says. “How is she doing?”
“She’s quiet,” I say. “Why are you here?”
Denver sits on the footrest and gives me a disapproving look, but I shrug innocently. I don’t want this guy in my house any longer than he has to be.
Kitrick says, “I need to talk to you alone.”
“Anything you need to say to me you can say in front of Colt,” Denver says. “We don’t keep secrets.”
Now it’s my turn to smirk. Kitrick looks on the cusp of arguing but must decide against it, and his voice is strangely rehearsed when he says, “My sister isn’t pursuing your case. I just wanted to come here and tell you that officially.”
Denver frowns and exchanges a look with me. We already knew that. Quinn called Denver days ago.
“She wanted me to come down here to tell you,” he adds, walking to the glass doors that lead onto the decking and down the beach.
Holly’s coloring book is on the side table next to him, and he picks up a crayon, scribbling something down.
“Can we continue the conversation outside? It’s been a long drive. ”
He holds up the coloring book, where he’s written:
Not safe to talk inside.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There’s no way the feds are listening to us; I had this house checked three times before my mom came here, and then again before Denver and I arrived.
Denver stands. “Sure, I’ll just grab a jacket.”
And a gun.
She squeezes my hand as she passes, and Kitrick and I stand in thick silence while we wait for her to return.
The wind is relatively tame when we step outside, heading down the sand-strewn patio and to the beach. The stretch of sand belongs to us, and while it could be easy for someone to snap a photo from a distance, there’s no way anyone would be able to listen into our conversation.
Kitrick says, “I’ve taken some time away from the bureau, but something has been bugging me about the night you came to get Denver.”
Denver frowns. “What about it?”
“Things were blurry, but … I thought maybe Eli heard me on the phone to Colt and had figured out what was happening, but I don’t think he did. I think he knew.”
“Knew?” I ask. “Knew we were there?”
He nods. “I think someone warned him.” A wind whips by us and Denver slips her hand into mine. Kitrick’s gaze darts between us. “You already know there’s a rat.”
“We still haven’t figured out who told Spider we’d be at the hotel. And there are other times, too …” I look down at Denver. “Someone has been feeding information to both Ranger and Spider since Denver moved to the city.”
Someone who was close enough to us to know the location of our safe house and told Ranger the day we went to Florida to meet Theo.
Someone who told Vince Capelli our address so he could plant those bombs, and then later to Spider so he could take Axel and Alison.
Someone who leaked the information about Denver being the last person to see Vince Capelli.
“Who, Colt?” Denver asks quietly. “Who could it be?”
I don’t know. There’s always a chance one of Cain or Charlie’s men overheard. We had so many of them watching us over the months.
“I know who it is,” Kitrick says, and both our heads snap in his direction.
“How?” I ask. “There’s no way you can be sure—”
“I was pretty out of it that night at Eli’s, but I recognized his voice,” he says.
“It took me a while to figure out where I’d heard him before, but …
he was at Eli’s the night Denver arrived.
” My heart rate picks up, and Denver is squeezing my hand so hard my knuckles feel close to cracking.
“He didn’t just give information, Denver. He brought you to us.”
As Denver hugs Kitrick goodbye, I walk numbly back into the house.
It’s loud, laughter and conversation filtering from the living room, my friends, my brothers all gathered together.
Sandy is sitting cross-legged on the floor by Taf and Holly, all making bracelets.
Keto is spelling out curse words with the lettered beads.
Charlie is telling them they’re doing it wrong.
Lucas and JJ are still watching the football game, my mom between them.
Helena is telling everyone to keep it down while she reads.
“What did the fed want?” Alistair asks, handing me a beer.
I take it, the bottle cold against my palm. My fingers are still red from where Denver had clung to me on the beach. “When did you get here?”
“About five minutes ago,” he says, and frowns. “You okay?”
Somehow, I nod. “Yeah. He just told us Denver is officially not a person of interest.”
He pulls a face. “We already knew that.”
“That’s what we said.” I sip my beer, and Denver appears. She stands at the archway to the living area, pale, lips set into a thin line as her gaze sweeps across our friends.
Lewis comes to her side and says something that makes her smile. It’s weak, but it’s there, and she links her arm through his, resting her head against him.
Trust doesn’t come easily in this world, but the people you should be able to rely on are the ones who have stood shoulder to shoulder with you in battle.
But someone in this room has betrayed us.
“Sure you’re okay, Colt?” Alistair asks.
I force a smile and nod. “I’m fine.”
Denver and I lock eyes. In the brief time we spent with Kitrick, we decided to hold onto hope that he was wrong. That he misheard that voice, and the person he thought he recognized wasn’t the person in this room. So, until we know for sure, the name remains between us.
But if it is him …
So much is passed in the look between my wife and I—the betrayal, the hurt, the confusion that he would do this, that he’d risk it all to hurt us, and then the terrifying, all-encompassing question that writhes between the despair.
How do we make him pay for it?