Chapter 11
Maxim
My beast charges back home, going at full-pelt. I’m desperate to see my girl, as always. To awaken her with a kiss. But today, there’s something new in the air that makes my heart beat faster than usual.
As soon as I arrive at the cabin, I see it—my SUV is gone. Adrenaline pours through me as I dash inside, check the bedroom.
“Emory!” I bawl.
But she’s not here.
My beast whines and frets.
Maybe she’s gone to Twin Falls to run an errand?
That doesn’t seem right. We never do anything without telling the other one about it.
I grab my phone, dial her number.
It rings out.
Damn.
I pace around the cabin.
Something’s wrong. I can feel it with every nerve of my body. My beast paces inside me, scrabbling to be let out.
I call five more times.
She doesn’t answer.
Maybe she went shopping and left her phone in the car? That’s the only scenario that doesn’t turn my blood cold.
Someone came and kidnapped her? They took my car, too? So, they would’ve had to have come on foot? That makes no sense at all.
She decided she doesn’t want to be my mate after all?
I choke back that awful, awful thought.
I shouldn’t have left her, ever. Not even to run. I should’ve insisted on taking her with me and carrying her on my back.
My wolf throws back its head and howls.
I’ve got to get to Twin Falls. Hopefully I’ll find some answers there. I’ll shift and run all the way there. Carry my damn clothes in my teeth.
My beast starts to force its way out, fur burning my skin, bones cracking—
My phone rings. It’s an unfamiliar number.
I snatch it up.
“Maxim!”
The line is crackly, but I recognize my brother’s voice.
My gut tightens. He’s only allowed to call on Sundays, and always via the prison’s phone service. “Travis, what’s going on?” I demand.
“You’re never gonna believe it… I’m free!”
My breath catches. “Are you serious?”
“Yup. I’m outdoors. Looking at the bright blue sky right now, bro. And it’s beautiful.”
“That’s fucking awesome.” I close my eyes, imagining how he must be feeling. “But what happened?”
“I have no idea! A secret deal, they told me. Highly classified. I’m supposed to stay out of sight.” He’s garbling in his excitement.
My thoughts spin.
There’s no such thing as coincidences—one of the wiser things Emory’s father told me.
“Travis, listen to me. Where are you?”
“Oh, in this random town. They dropped me off at a government safe house or something.”
“You have an address? Or is there a street sign nearby?”
“Oh, wait… yup.”
Hurriedly I write down the address he gives me. “I’ll come for you as soon as I can,” I tell him. “I’ve just got to deal with something urgent.”
“Sure thing,” he says. He knows I wouldn’t put him off if it wasn’t real important.
I stare at the distant mountain peaks. Travis is free. That’s unbelievable news. I feel his happiness and relief like it’s my own. But—
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I bellow into the empty cabin.
Emory brokered my brother’s release. That’s obvious. Which can only mean one thing: she used some kind of bargaining chip.
With a groan, I tap my phone’s Internet app.
In less than thirty seconds, I understand: she’s agreed to testify against her father, in return for Travis’s freedom.
With no concern for her own safety.
Which means she’s in a ton of danger.
My crazy, reckless, beautiful mate.
I’ve never loved her as much or been as mad at her as I am right now.
I grab a set of clothes from the bedroom, and I let my beast emerge.
An hour later, I’m in my SUV. Emory did exactly what I would’ve done in the same situation.
She left the vehicle in a prominent location, and the key fob was in the first place I looked.
As frustrated with her as I am right now, love and admiration floods through me. She’s so goddamn smart, my girl.
Now, to work out where she’s gone. I’m guessing she’s arranged to meet a contact of hers someplace anonymous. But the trial is being held in Brunswick, so I head to the town, knowing she’ll be there sooner or later.
I send her a text message:
Travis is out. I’m on my way to you now, baby.
Then I set my phone to auto-dial her number every five minutes.
The first time it rings out again, but then she calls me back.
“Maxim?” Her voice is so hesitant, my heart aches. I don’t want her to feel nervous about speaking to me, ever. “I’ve got to do this. Please don’t try and stop me.”
“Emory, you might as well pull over. I’ll be with you soon.”
She’s silent for a moment. “You have no way of tracking me.”
“You sure about that?” I growl.
“Yup.”
Darn. She’s right. I should’ve put a tracking app on her phone. But I didn’t want to cross the line from possessive to stalker. “You gonna tell me where you’re going now?”
“Nope. Because if I do, you’ll come and kidnap me,” she says, almost cheerfully.
She knows me too well. Knows there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her.
“Emory, this is crazy. Do you realize that?”
“I have to do it, Maxim. I can’t let my father get away with this.” Her voice is quiet but firm, and once again I’m in awe of her guts.
“But you’ve suffered, too. So much. You’re one of the victims here.”
“I’m still alive, though,” she mutters.
“I’m coming for you. This is as dangerous as hell. Please, tell me where you are, and I’ll come pick you up, take you back home.”
“Maxim, if you do that, they’ll pick up your brother in minutes. You want him back in jail?”
I swallow hard. Truth is, I can’t stand the thought of Travis having this little taste of freedom then being dragged back to jail. It’ll kill him. But I also can’t stand the thought of Emory suffering anymore.
“This is for my mom as well,” she continues. “I’m pretty sure my father had her killed.”
I stop breathing. Because when I was working for the Manzoni family, I developed the same suspicion.
“I have to do this, for all those people, and my mom. Please try to understand that.” She releases a long sigh.
“I love you so much. Trust me, every part of me wants to just turn this car around and drive straight back to you. But I couldn’t live with myself if that evil asshole walks free, after intimidating or hurting all those other witnesses. ”
I’m silent for so long that she says, “Maxim?”
“I’m going to bring you something, okay? Something to help you with the case. When I’ve got it, I’ll call you.”
“Okay.”
“You’re going someplace safe, right?”
“Yes. I’ve been speaking to my FBI handler on an encrypted line. The meeting in a small town. The place is under heavy guard.”
“Okay,” I say. That gives me a measure of relief at least. “Be careful, my angel. If you feel in your gut like anything is wrong—anything at all—you get out of there. You hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“And, I love you more.”
It’s dark by the time I pull up in front of the Manzoni family compound.
A sprawling mansion surrounded by fifteen-foot walls and an electric fence.
Almost impossible to breach. I park in a side street and walk over to the front entrance.
Police tape crisscrosses the gates. The property is empty now.
Seized by the FBI. According to an article that Siri read to me when I was driving, the government plans to sell it, in order to compensate the family’s victims.
I listen hard. It’s all quiet within. I walk a loop around the perimeter wall.
There’s a guard or two, probably some civilian security officers.
Nothing I can’t handle. I return to the front gate, shift for superior speed and agility, and I’m up in seconds.
The electric fence is still activated, and it emits an angry buzz as I leap over it.
Clinging to the shadows of the lavish grounds, I evade three different guards, patrolling around the property.
They look professional, in decent shape, for humans at least. But they’re no match for my animal.
I know all the mansion’s weak points. The first thing I did when I started working there was assess them all and make sure they were suitably protected.
I locate the grate that conceals an entrance to the basement.
I smile. It hasn’t changed since I was last here.
I haul it up and drop down ten feet into the basement.
It’s a storage space, and at the far end of the space is a heavily-protected door, with a passcode access.
Her father’s major weakness was his arrogance, and I remember he wasn’t too careful with his passwords.
I dredge up all the numbers that used to be important to him.
It only takes five tries before I hit the jackpot—the date that he reached the age of twenty-one and became head of the family business.
I shake my head. At least he took the precaution of reversing the numbers.
As I creep through the house, memories blast through me.
I remember the pride I felt when I first became his bodyguard.
The sickening feeling when I realized how corrupt he really was.
And the joy of spending time with Emory—his innocent little daughter.
So pure, so full of curiosity about the world—a world I thought she’d never get to enjoy.
Well, now she’s mine, and I’m going to make sure she has every pleasure that life can bring. We can travel the world together. Hike the , visit the polar bears, go see the aurora borealis. Every last thing she wants.
The kitchen door is wide open, and a heat floods to my crotch as I remember all those naughty fantasies of hers. Now they’re a reality, because the adult Emory is my girl.
I take the grand staircase, two at a time. Along the corridor, onto the third story, then I locate a pulldown ladder and climb up into an attic.
It’s real dusty up there. It hasn’t been accessed in years.
I suspect Manzoni may not even have known about it.
It’s not the kind of thing he would have given a damn about.
There’s a bunch of Emory’s old toys. I remember the rocking horse, the little car she used to drive by peddling her little legs, and the tent covered in pink unicorns.
At the back, I find it—a simple wooden box.
There’s something important in here. Something she needs to know about.
Her mom once told me that if anything ever happened to her, I should look after it and give it to Emory when she was twenty-one.
I promised her I would, and I intended to keep that promise.
But when her father fired me, I had to choose between going to find the box and saying goodbye to Emory, and I chose the latter.
I’ll never know if I made the right decision.
The lid is locked with a heavy padlock, but I break it open with my claws.
It’s packed with notebooks. Diaries, I realize. I pull out the one to the far right, heart beating faster, and leaf through to the final page. It’s written in a faint, shaky scrawl.
I don’t have much time left. He’s killing me slowly. I accept my fate. I made my bed when I married into this evil family. I only pray that someone will look out for my little girl. I trust Maxim. He’s been so good to her. But Franco never keeps his staff for long…
There are two more lines that I can’t make out.
My head swims, and I sit down heavily on the floor.
The official story was that Emory’s mom was sick. But it sounds like her father was… poisoning her?
I leaf through the diary impatiently.
He knows I tried to leave him
Says one, dated three months earlier.
I think it’s in my food. Every time I eat, I get so dizzy and nauseous
Says another.
I close my eyes. I know Manzoni is the scum of the earth. But, his own wife!?
My beast unleashes a roar.
He killed my girl’s mother. This just got a lot more personal.
I pack up the box again. Then I cast around, looking at Emory’s old toys. So many sweet reminders of her childhood. Which should I take with me? Emory loved all her possessions. Despite her father’s wealth, she wasn’t a spoiled kid, at all. She appreciated everything that was given to her.
We can give them to our kids.
My beast bounds in joy.
Yes.
Then all these memories can have a second life. A little gray rabbit catches my eye—the gift I gave to her when I was going away. I snatch it up. It looks like it’s been well-loved over the years.
I’ll come back later, and collect every last one of them, I tell myself. But now I need to get to Emory.
I snap a photo of the box and send it to her.
Some evidence that should help the case. Where shall I bring it?
She replies right away:
OMG!
I’m at 1603 Sedgewell Road, outside of Brunswick. Please come quick!
Come quick? She’s in danger? Adrenaline pours through me.
My phone pings again:
I miss you like crazy.
My heart leaps. On my way to you, baby, I type.