Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
She didn’t trust him.
The blades of the helicopter swirled as it lowered to land. Snow kicked up, flying in the air around Victor as he stood near the landing pad with Melody at his side. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder and rage festering in his heart.
Someone tried to kill Melody.
Someone would pay.
He’d cleared the landing space for the helicopter a bit earlier, with help from Hatterson. Hatterson had grumbled the whole time, as if Victor gave a shit about his grumbles.
The estate’s grounds had been searched. No trace of the shooter. Or the gun that had been used in the attack. Roads were being cleared nearby, and the sheriff had sworn he’d come out to the estate as soon as possible in order to do his own investigation…
But Victor still intended to get Melody the hell out of that place.
After her chat with her father, Melody seemed even more skittish. Who the hell could blame her? Her father’s memory came and went, and when he got confused…
The man tended to confess to murder.
The helicopter touched down flawlessly.
Melody’s shoulder bumped into Victor’s arm. She’d been waiting beside him, watching the chopper lower, and the snow still swirled around them both.
His head turned toward her. He found her eyes on him.
There was fear in her gaze.
He wanted to take her hand. Or put his arm around her shoulder and pull her close. Don’t be scared, baby. I’m going to protect you. I swear it. But he didn’t touch her, and he didn’t say those words because she didn’t remember him. And his touch was more likely to scare her than reassure her.
She doesn’t know me at all. Something that gutted him. Because he’d been lucky as hell to have her fall for him the first time. Despite all the odds against him. How in the ever-loving-fuck was he ever supposed to get Melody to love him again?
He wasn’t freaking lovable. He knew that shit. He was cold. Domineering. Arrogant. Twisted. Vengeful.
And, when it came to Melody…
Possessive. Obsessive.
Hardly a prince charming type. And even now, all he wanted to do—all he was doing—was spiriting her away from everyone else. So he could protect her? Yeah, sure, absolutely. But also because…
I need her. I have to get her alone. If we are away from the others, I might have a chance…
Her hair flew around her face, and he automatically lifted a hand to tuck the heavy locks back behind her ear.
She sucked in a sharp breath and immediately backed away.
Dammit.
But her gaze never wavered.
The blades on the chopper slowed. The snow that had been flurrying around them fell back to the ground.
“Tell me I’ll be safe with you,” she said.
“You will be safe with me.” A vow. Should he offer to be a perfect gentleman? Nah. Screw that shit. I dreamed about her for a year. The woman is lucky she’s not currently handcuffed to my side. Honestly, that was an option that he was considering. Because she would not vanish again.
The chopper had stilled. Victor angled toward the helicopter. The door on the left opened. A figure emerged, hurrying toward him. A man, tall, with broad shoulders covered by a thick, black sweater. Dark hair and eyes. Those eyes immediately met Victor’s.
Backup—and an escape plan—had arrived in the form of Hunter McQueen.
Hunter was a fairly new acquaintance of Victor’s, someone he’d met when he’d been desperately searching for Melody. A former Ranger, Hunter now worked part-time with the Ice Breakers. Part-time when the guy wasn’t running security for one seriously secretive bastard named Declan Flynn.
During their short acquaintance, Victor had discovered that Hunter had quite a few admirable skills. And the ability to fly a chopper and land it under basically any conditions? Definitely admirable. And useful, particularly at that moment.
“Well, well…” Hunter closed in on them. “Someone is back in the land of the living.” A low whistle escaped him as he surveyed Melody. “Got to say, you look pretty good for a ghost.”
She hunched into her brown coat.
Was she trying to figure out if she was supposed to know Hunter or not?
Hell, how on earth had she thought her ruse would work?
It had been immediately obvious to everyone that there was something very different about her.
The woman had been like a lamb prancing straight into a den of sharp-toothed lions.
“This is Hunter McQueen,” Victor explained, voice curt. “Hunter, stop staring at her so fucking hard. Fly us the hell out of here, and then we’ll talk, cool?”
Hunter’s lips curled into a half-smile. “Do you realize there are about three people standing up at the house glaring at us right now? If you think I’m staring hard, then you really don’t want to get a look at them.”
But he did turn to look at them. He glared right back at them. Dario. Olivia. Hatterson.
“And…” Hunter’s voice pulled Victor’s focus back to him.
“I’m pretty sure that I saw a sheriff’s car heading this way when I was overhead.
” He rocked forward onto the balls of his feet.
“Roads are being cleared as fast as possible. You could just, you know, wait. Drive out after what I’m sure will be a super friendly chat with the sheriff. ”
Super friendly, his ass. It wasn’t a damn social call.
Jamal Wroth had a job to do. “I told you already.” And he had.
He’d spoken to both Memphis Camden and Hunter earlier.
Hunter was just being a dick. “Someone shot at her. We’re getting out.
Now.” He could fly the chopper himself, but, honestly, Hunter was a better pilot.
Still, if the guy didn’t get his ass moving in the next thirty seconds, Victor would be taking the pilot’s seat.
Hunter stepped to the side and motioned with one hand. “Your carriage awaits.”
Oh, yeah, total dick. But also a smart, savvy, and dangerous guy. One who had been digging hard as hell with the Ice Breakers to try and help Victor find Melody.
And now I have her. Only getting Melody back had just opened up even more of a mystery.
“I’m not getting in the carriage.” Melody’s voice. Very flat. Very definite.
Very expected. He’d had to practically drag her outside with him. And he might have needed to lie a bit in order to get her out there. Perhaps he’d said that he had to return to town. And that he wanted to talk more with her.
Both true points, actually. He did have to return to town. And he wanted to talk with her. He just wanted her in town with him as they talked. Thus, the chopper trip.
The woman was determined to stay at the nightmare of a house where she’d been shot at so that she could continue her investigation. Nah, fuck that. “Did you bring the handcuffs?” he asked Hunter.
Sighing, Hunter hauled the cuffs from his pocket. “I did, but I’m pretty sure what you have planned is called kidnapping so…let’s rethink it, shall we?”
Melody instantly backed up a step. More fear flashed in her eyes. “What in the hell?”
“Easy.” Victor kept his voice low. Calming. Or at least, he hoped it sounded calming. “Everything is all right.”
“Everything is not all right. It hasn’t been all right for a very long time.
” Another step back. More like a leap back, away from him and away from Hunter.
“You want to go somewhere? Then fine. You go. You get into the helicopter and fly off. I came out just to see you off. You never said I was part of your departure deal.”
“I’m going nowhere without you.” Okay, that probably hadn’t sounded so calm. Asking for the cuffs had been a mistake, he could see that now. But…
If she runs, I will grab her and put her in that chopper, and if I have to do it, I will cuff her to me. Savage and dark and damn well not thoughts of a prince charming. Fuck it. He’d always been cast in the role of the villain and not the hero, anyway. “Melody…”
“Uh, yeah, sport, how about you let me have a try?” Hunter cleared his throat. “Ma’am, an attempt was recently made on your life. I’m just here to transport you to safety.”
Behind Hunter, the right door of the chopper opened. Closed. Another male strode forward. Gray jacket. Jeans. A gun holstered on his hip.
“Who is he?” Melody demanded. “And why is he armed?”
Victor had a gun tucked beneath his coat. He figured Hunter was armed, too. But she’d just noticed the weapon on the new guy because when he moved, his arm had slipped back to reveal the holster.
“That’s John Henry Cook.” Hunter motioned toward the man.
John Henry looked like a linebacker. Victor figured that he’d probably been cramped as hell in the front of the chopper.
“He’s going to be taking over the security detail for your father, per Victor’s instructions,” Hunter added.
Her head whipped back to Victor. “What instructions?”
“The instructions I gave when I arranged for the chopper to come get us.” A deliberate emphasis.
As far as the security detail bit, that had been necessary.
He had no idea why Sebastian had ordered the normal guards away from the property, and, frankly, no one should have followed the man’s commands.
Until those individuals could be brought back, John Henry would be Sebastian’s shadow.
As if Victor would just fly away and leave Sebastian on his own.
Not in the man’s current condition. “A shooter is close. Call me crazy, but I don’t exactly trust the people in that house.
” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
He was sure the little crowd still watched them. “Do you?”
A small shake of her head.