Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
~IVIE~
“ W hat is taking them so long?” I pull at my hair and pace the dark bunker. I’ve never been more relieved in my life as I was when Shane came on camera. And then, when he and Curt systematically killed every single one of those men, all I could do was watch with my jaw dropped.
I have so many questions for the man I’ve completely fallen in love with.
But first, I need him to come get me. I promised that I wouldn’t leave this bunker until someone came to get me.
So, where the fuck are they?
I hurry back to look at the monitors and almost squeal in delight when I see Shane walking toward the bunker door.
I run to the stairs, and when he opens the door, I launch myself into his arms and hold on tight.
“Oh, God. Oh, God. You’re okay.”
“I’m okay.” His arms tighten around me. “You stayed put.”
“I’m not stupid.” I cup his face in my hands and kiss him hard. “Shit, that was scary. Is Curt okay?”
“He’s fine.”
I glance over Shane’s shoulder at the sound of Curt’s voice.
“I have so many questions,” I reply.
“No time,” Shane says and sets me on the floor. “We all need to pack a bag and be ready to leave in ten minutes. Rocco’s on the way with the chopper.”
I’m relieved. I want to get the hell out of here.
“I should stay.” Curt hooks his thumbs in his jeans and shakes his head. “Someone needs to be here to make sure everything’s okay.”
“It’s not safe,” Shane says, his voice leaving no room for argument. “You’re coming with us.”
“Shane—”
“I mean it. I need you with us, not here like a sitting duck. We’re headed to Seattle. When everything is over, we’ll come back.”
“Let’s just hope there’s something to come back to,” Curt mutters but hurries away without more argument.
“Come on. Let’s grab what you need and get out of here.”
“You’ll get no complaint from me,” I reply and have to hurry to keep up with Shane’s long strides. I’m short, and I don’t run—unless something’s chasing me.
And right now, something is definitely chasing me.
“Shane, I want to talk.”
“We’ll have plenty of time in Seattle,” he assures me and seems to move faster as we approach the house. “There are bodies inside, baby. I’m sorry. I don’t have time to clean them up.”
“I’ll be okay.” I take a deep breath. “Are you just going to leave them here?”
“A cleanup crew will come in later today and get rid of them.”
I stop and stare at him. “A cleanup crew?”
“That’s right. Now, hurry up and grab what you need. I’m headed down to close up the basement.”
“Want me to grab some stuff for you, too?”
“That would be great.”
He pats my ass, and then he’s stomping down the stairs, and I’m running to the bedroom.
I find my mama’s suitcase, and it only takes a few seconds to throw my clothes inside. Then I make a quick run through the bathroom to gather my things and Shane’s, too.
By the time he rushes into the bedroom, I have our bags packed.
“You’re fast,” he says.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve had to do this.”
I can hear the helicopter as Shane tips up my chin. “I know. I’m sorry, honey.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
I refuse to look at the men dead on the floor as we run out of the house and join Curt at the helicopter.
Rafe doesn’t bother jumping out. We all climb in, put headsets on, and buckle up.
“Ready?” Rafe’s voice says in my ear. Shane and Curt give him a thumbs up, and I follow suit, and then we’re rising above the Earth, and my stomach does a flip.
I hate rides. I usually get sick. But all I can think about is getting out of here.
I see bodies scattered on the earth. And then I just see trees as Rocco picks up speed, and we’re suddenly flying over the mountains.
“The plane is ready in Denver,” Rafe says. “We’ll leave as soon as we get there and set out for Seattle.”
“Can I see Annika?” I ask, speaking for the first time. “She’ll worry, and I’m not allowed to call her.”
“Don’t worry,” Shane says, taking my hand. “We’ll figure out a way for you to speak with her.”
I nod, bite my lip, and look out the window, doing my best not to cry. Now that the adrenaline is wearing off, I just want to sob.
And maybe sleep for a week.
Shane puts his hand on my thigh and gives it a squeeze, but I can’t look over at him.
He’s safe.
Curt’s fine.
We got out.
But, damn, I’m still so scared. And what if we get to Seattle, and it doesn’t stop? We can’t run forever. I can’t ask these people to keep putting their lives on hold and continue putting themselves at risk.
Something has to give.
I have to talk to Shane about all of this. I need to know more about him. I need more, period. He must have more information after speaking with Cameron earlier today.
Was that just today? It feels like a million years ago.
Denver comes into view, and soon, we’re descending to a helipad.
“I thought we were going to the airport?” I ask, confused.
“This is a smaller airfield. For private aircraft,” Rafe says and makes the landing look so easy. The hatch opens, and we hustle out of the chopper and hurry over to the waiting plane.
When I climb the stairs and duck inside, I’m shocked to find Carmine, Nadia, and Annika already seated.
“Oh, my God. What are you doing here?”
“Rafe seems to think I’m in danger,” she says as I cross the space and sit next to her. Rafe, who’s just come in behind me, scowls at my best friend.
“You are in danger,” he says. “She was taken from your clinic. She’s your best friend. I don’t need one of these assholes coming in to try and get information from you. You’re coming with us, where we can keep you safe.”
Annika blows out a breath, rolls her eyes, and turns to me.
“See what I’ve been dealing with? And that was all over the phone. Now that he’s here in person, he’ll just glare at me all day.”
I feel my eyes fill with tears. I didn’t know until this moment how badly I needed my best friends.
Nadia sits on my other side and takes my hand, and I lay my head on Annika’s shoulder.
The tears come now. Big, hot tears that I’ve been holding inside. They just burst out of me, and all I can do is hang onto my friends for dear life.
They know me, inside and out. They know everything.
And they love me.
When the tears have dried up, and all I can do is sit and rest, someone offers me a glass of water.
“Remember Charles?” Shane says from across the aisle, watching me with sober brown eyes.
“You need some water, miss,” Charles says. “And I’m happy to bring you anything else you might need.”
“I could go for some pizza,” I mutter. “And chocolate ice cream.”
“We’ll make sure you get that when we get settled.” Nadia pats my arm.
“Can I offer you some cheese and crackers? Some fruit?” Charles asks.
“That would be nice.” I nod and sit up straight, pushing my hair back over my shoulders. “Sorry, everyone. The day just caught up to me.”
“No apologies necessary,” Carmine says. “You’ve had a hell of a day.”
“All I did was sit in a bunker and watch Shane and Curt—” I shake my head. “I didn’t do much.”
“You kept yourself safe,” Nadia says and kisses my cheek. “That’s a lot.”
“Your grandmother had a beautiful house,” I say three hours later after we’ve landed in Seattle and made our way to the mansion we’d be staying in for the foreseeable future. It’s a fortress of a house, which I would expect from the Martinellis.
A massive manor in the middle of manicured lawns with fountains and shrubberies. It was a bit intimidating when we drove up.
Then slipped over into ridiculously intimidating when we walked through the door. I’ve only seen tapestries in movies. The antiques are incredible. And yet, despite the grandeur of the home, it’s incredibly modern and comfortable.
“Gram liked nice things,” Shane says as he leads me on a tour through the home. “But she also liked to be comfortable, so she managed to keep it updated. The kitchen is less than five years old.”
I nod and then follow Shane up a flight of stairs.
“All of the bedrooms are on this floor. Eight of them altogether.”
“Geez.”
He grins at me. “I know. It’s a lot. Our room is at the end, with the pond out back. You can see where our treehouse is, and the view is especially pretty in the morning.”
I don’t say much when he opens the door, and I follow him in. The bed looks comfortable. And expensive.
The attached bathroom boasts a tub big enough to swim in.
I’ll be more than comfortable here.
“This is great. Thank you.”
“Okay, I’ve had it.” He closes the door and pulls me into his arms, holding me tightly. “You’re quiet, your eyes are haunted, and you’re scaring me. What are you thinking?”
I want to cry again. “I don’t know. It’s just a lot, you know?”
“I know.” He kisses my head. “I’m so sorry, babe. This is a safe place.”
“We thought the ranch was safe.” I swallow hard and back out of his arms. “I think I should look at going out on my own.”
His eyes flash, and he starts to shake his head, but I hold up a hand.
“Hear me out. They’re finding me because they know I’m with you. With the Martinellis and the Tarenkovs. They’ll keep tracking down you and your family, Annika, to find me. That’s not fair to anyone, Shane. It’s not right.”
“Ivie.”
“I’ve disappeared before,” I remind him. “And I was a lot younger with little education. Now, I can hack into anything, change my name again, and start over. I can go anywhere. I’m smarter, and I have a little money saved up to get started.”
“No.”
I pace away from him, my mind forming around the idea.
“I mean, I’ll miss you all. Never seeing Annika and Nadia again might kill me, but if it keeps you all safe, it’s the right thing to do.”
“No.”
“Shane, be reasonable.”
“You going out on your own with some idiotic idea of keeping us safe is not being reasonable, Ivie. It’s fucking stupid.”
“I am not stupid.”
“I didn’t think so either until about thirty seconds ago. I don’t need you to keep me safe.”
“Yeah, I saw that on the monitors.”
That makes his jaw clench, and his eyes narrow.
“Who are you? I keep asking and asking, and you always blow me off. If you don’t want anything to do with me, fine. You don’t need to tell me. But we’re sleeping together, Shane, and you can’t convince me that it’s just sex. It’s not. So, don’t even try to say it is.”
“It’s not just sex,” he mutters and rubs his hand over the back of his neck.
“Then I need you to talk to me. Because I feel that you care about me, and I sure as hell care about you. Jesus, I need you all to stay safe. I don’t know everything that’s happening, and that means that I’m scared and frustrated, and you’re asking me to just blindly trust that you have everything under control.”
“I do have everything under control. Why can’t you just trust me on this and let me do my damn job?”
“Because I don’t know what your job is!” I round on him, aggravation coming out of every pore on my body. “I don’t know what Cameron said. I don’t know anything except that I watched you and Curt systematically assassinate at least a dozen men today, men who were after me . And now you’re trying to just tuck me away in this beautiful ivory tower while the menfolk take on the bad guys.”
He sighs. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything!” I push my hair off my face. “I want to know everything. I think I have the right to that, Shane.”
“Okay.” He blows out a breath. “Curt and I are trained assassins. We kill people for a living for the US government. Well, he used to. He’s retired.”
“But you’re not.”
His eyes are cold and level with mine. “No. I’m not. And I can’t tell you more because it’s classified.”
“Who do you kill?”
“Whomever they tell me to.”
I swallow hard. “What did Cameron say?”
“The Sergis are behind this. The last guy we killed at the ranch confirmed he was working for them. Carmine and Nadia are planning to go to New York, where the Sergi family is based, to do some digging.”
“That’s it?”
He nods. “Yes.”
“And now I’m just supposed to sit here and wait again?”
“I don’t know what else you’d like to do. You’re definitely not going to New York.”
“I don’t want to go to that godforsaken city ever again.” I sink onto the side of the bed, suddenly bone-tired. “At least if I left, went out on my own, I’d have something to do and it would keep you safe.”
“I’m not the one in danger,” he reminds me, and the scene from just a few hours ago clearly comes to mind.
“I beg to differ.”
“If you left, I would find you. And not in a creepy serial killer way.”
That makes me smile, but I bite my lip, trying to stay serious.
“I didn’t intend for you to come to mean so much to me, Ivie, but you do. You matter. You matter more than anything else in my life, and you going anywhere that I can’t find you isn’t an option for me. I know it’s fast and that we have a lot to talk through when we get this all figured out. But I’m not letting you leave me.”
He gently drags a fingertip down my cheek.
“I need this to be over.” My voice is a hoarse whisper. “It’s too much. I don’t deserve this, Shane.”
“I know.” He pulls me into his strong arms and holds on tight. “I know. We’re going to figure it out. Together.”
I nod and take a deep breath. “Do you think the pizza is here yet?”
“Let’s go find out.”