Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
“ W here am I?”
Becca opened her eyes and saw the sterile white walls of a hospital ward. She was hooked up to a machine that beeped intermittently, while a nurse hovered around her bed, checking her vitals.
“Welcome back,” the nurse smiled at her. “You’ve been out for quite a while.”
Becca tried to sit up, but her arms felt weak, and a persistent ache throbbed in her shoulder. With a sigh of defeat, she flopped back down.
“Come on, let’s get you comfortable.”
The nurse propped her up with extra pillows. She had a kind face and an American accent. “You’re at the Hospital Nacional. You’ve had a bad concussion and a broken collarbone, but you’re on the mend now.”
Okay, that was good news. It wasn’t serious.
Her memory was still foggy, but she hadn’t forgotten Carlos laying into her before she’d passed out.
She glanced around. The ward was empty except for her. The other two beds were unoccupied. How had she gotten here?
“There’s someone outside waiting to see you,” the nurse said.
Oh no. Alek.
He must’ve found her and wanted to take her home. She remembered how he’d handed her over to Carlos without a flicker of emotion when he thought she’d betrayed him.
A cold shiver ran down her spine. Carlos had made her talk—made her give up Dom. She’d told him everything.
Her eyes filled with tears. If she’d betrayed anyone, it was Dom.
“Who is it?” she asked hesitantly. “I’m not sure I’m up to seeing anyone.”
The nurse frowned. “Well, he’s anxious to see you. He’s the one who brought you in yesterday. He’s been so worried, poor thing. He must really care about you.”
“Worried?” No way—it couldn’t be her father.
“I wish I had a good-looking man like that worried about me.” The nurse winked.
Good-looking? Becca’s breath caught. Was it possible?
“Dom?”
“Yes, I think that’s the name he gave the nurse at the front desk.”
Becca’s heart swelled with joy. He was alive! And better than that, he’d come back for her. She vaguely remembered his voice telling her she’d be okay, his strong arms carrying her, the gentle rocking of a car. She thought she’d dreamed it...
Had it actually happened? She broke into a smile, then winced as her lip and cheek stung.
The nurse grinned. “That’s what I thought. I’ll send him in, shall I?”
Becca nodded.
The nurse left the room, and immediately the door burst open, and Dom rushed in.
“You’re awake, thank God.”
He appeared more flustered than she’d ever seen him, but damn if he didn’t look good.
She drank him in with her eyes. He cleaned up well. Gone were the combat gear and T-shirt. He was dressed in denim jeans that hugged his thighs and butt, and a black shirt, open at the neck, with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his tanned, toned forearms.
Her mouth went dry.
In those clothes, with that jaw and physique, he was irresistible.
“You had me so worried.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “When you wouldn’t wake up, I thought Carlos had done some permanent damage.”
Carlos.
The memories came flooding back—and with them, the guilt.
“Oh, Dom, I’m so sorry. I told him about you, about who you were. I couldn’t help it. They made me talk. They put my head in a bucket of water—I couldn’t breathe. I tried not to tell them, but then he hit me over and over again. I just wanted it to stop.”
Dom’s mouth set in a grim line. Oh no, he was mad at her.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to betray you.”
“Shh... it’s okay.” He grasped her hand. “They showed me a photograph of what that bastard had done to you, hoping it’d scare me into cooperating, but I saw red. I knew then I’d come back and beat the crap out of Carlos.”
“And did you?” she whispered, hoping he had. That lecherous brute deserved everything he got. She’d never forget the look of satisfaction on his face as he hit her.
He scoffed. “And then some.”
She squeezed his hand. “Thank you for rescuing me. I don’t know how you managed it, but I owe you my life.”
“It’s a long story,” he said. “But I’ve got some friends here who helped me, and they’re dying to meet you. Can I invite them in?”
Becca looked confused. “Friends? Who?”
Sensing her hesitation, Dom added, “They’re good guys. Trust me, you’re going to want to hear what they have to say.”
She nodded and lay back as three men and a woman entered the room. They all stood around her bed. The men were big and bulky like Dom, clearly fellow soldiers, though dressed casually in jeans and shirts.
The woman stood out. She was pale and slender but toned, like a runner. She stood confidently, legs apart, arms folded, watching Becca with open curiosity. Her long strawberry-blond hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her delicate features seemed to get more striking the longer you looked at her.
“Hi,” Becca said, suddenly nervous.
What could these people have to tell her that she didn’t already know? Her father was a crook, a gunrunner, a murderer, and probably a psychopath, so nothing they said could shock her.
Dom made the introductions. “This is Pat. He’s the one who orchestrated this whole undercover op and recruited me. Blade and Cole are part of his unit, and this is Thorn, who saved the man your father tried to have killed earlier this year.”
Becca managed a small smile. She still didn’t know why they were here, though.
Pat stood out as the leader, despite being at least ten, maybe even fifteen years older than the others. He had a powerful presence that demanded attention. Even though the other men were impressive, it was Pat who drew the eye.
He was a good-looking man, with short dark hair graying at the temples, broad shoulders, a rugged face that spoke of years of combat, and a steely, unsettling gaze that seemed to pierce right through you.
Dom sat back down on the edge of her bed, resting his hand on her leg under the covers. She liked feeling it there—it was reassuring, yet somehow disturbing and exciting all at once.
God, these pain meds must be messing with my head.
Even concussed and in a hospital bed, she was attracted to him.
“It’s good to meet you, Becca,” Pat said. “We wanted to let you know we apprehended your father.”
Her eyes shot to Dom for confirmation.
He nodded. “The delivery didn’t go as planned. The cartel arrived with a small army, and in the firefight that followed, Markov and the cartel negotiator escaped. I went after him, but when I saw he’d ordered Carlos to kill you, I let him go and raced back to the hacienda.”
“Luckily, Markov was injured,” Pat cut in. “So tracking him wasn’t hard.”
“Injured?”
“Yeah, I shot him.” Dom cleared his throat.
Becca nodded sadly. It was inevitable. “But you let him get away because of me.”
“Only temporarily,” Blade said. “We had the evidence we needed to arrest him, so when he tried to board a plane to Argentina, we nabbed him.”
Becca shook her head. “Argentina? I’m surprised he even has anywhere left to run.”
“It’s a good thing we caught him,” Pat added. “The cartel paid for the shipment of weapons, and now they want their money back. They don’t take kindly to being robbed. If we hadn’t found him when we did, they would’ve hunted him down—and I can promise you, they wouldn’t have been nearly as lenient as the Colombians.”
Becca shivered. The way he said that made her blood run cold.
“Isn’t he still at risk?” she asked, knowing the cartels could get to people even in prison. No one was truly safe. She’d lived here long enough to understand how they operated.
“Yes, but he’ll give the money back,” Blade replied. “He knows it’s only a matter of time before they find him.”
“And we don’t want them coming after you either,” Dom added.
“That won’t bother Alek,” Becca said weakly. “He doesn’t care about me. That word’s not even in his vocabulary.”
Dom rubbed her leg gently. Pat noticed, his all-seeing gaze flickering between them.
The woman, Thorn, spoke for the first time. “Becca—Do you mind if I call you that?”
Becca shook her head. “I prefer it, anyway. I haven’t been that person in a long time.”
Thorn nodded. “I’m sorry to bring up bad memories, but the person your father had a hit out on, the person I was assigned to protect, was your ex-husband, Damian Clayton.”
Becca gasped. “Damian?”
She stared at the woman for a long moment. “Alek tried to kill Damian for deserting him?”
“No, it wasn’t because of that.” The woman took a step closer to the bed. “They resolved those differences years ago. The reason Markov wanted to terminate Damian was because he’d developed an important upgrade to his cryptocurrency software that would decrypt his clients’ illegal transactions on the dark web.”
It took a minute for that to sink in. Alek’s words came back to her.
He’s the reason I had to leave America.
“So, Alek’s illegal online transactions wouldn’t remain anonymous? He’d be exposed.”
“That’s right.” Thorn smiled. She really was very beautiful with that gorgeous hair and pale skin, the hint of a rosy blush in her cheeks. “The FBI managed to decipher the encrypted transactions and issued a warrant for his arrest.”
“That’s why he fled here.”
Rose nodded. “He came to Central America because he had a stockpile of black-market arms and needed a buyer. He thought the cartels might be interested, and of course, they were.”
Becca exhaled. It was a lot to take in. “I knew he was up to no good when I lived with him all those years ago,” she confided. “But time makes you forget, and I never knew the extent of it. I’m glad Damian is okay.”
There was an awkward silence.
“He is okay, isn’t he?” She glanced between them, a sick feeling building in her stomach. What weren’t they telling her?
“Yes, he’s okay,” said Thorn, her cheeks flushing. “In fact, he’s here now, and he’d like to talk to you, if you’re feeling up to it. I believe you guys have some unresolved issues.”
Becca swayed, even though she was sitting down.
Some unresolved issues.
Yeah, you could say that. Like why the hell she’d walked out on him two days after they got married. Those kinda issues.
“Maybe now isn’t such a good time.” Dom frowned, concerned.
“No, it’s fine,” she croaked. She may as well get this over with. It had already been a crappy week. “It’s just a shock, that’s all. I haven’t seen Damian in nearly a decade. Why does he want to talk to me now?”
“I’ll let him explain,” Thorn said.
“We’ll leave you to talk.” Pat nodded at her. “It was good to meet you, Becca. I’m sorry for all you went through, but it’s over now.”
“Thank you,” she replied, resisting the urge to add “sir.” He was just that kind of man.
Dom stood up and made to go.
“No, stay.” She reached out to him.
He hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“Please.”
Confronting Damian alone was more than she could bear. Dom’s presence by her side gave her strength, and she was drawing on that right now. He made her feel like she could do anything. Confronting her demons was part of that.
He glanced at Thorn, who nodded, and sat down again.
Becca was confused. What did Thorn have to do with Damian? Sure, she’d been his bodyguard, but he’d survived the attack on his life. He must have done if he was here, ready to confront her. The private security contract was over.
It was then that she noticed the engagement ring on Thorn’s finger. It was enormous, beautiful and sparkly, but now that she’d noticed it, she couldn’t stop staring at it.
Surely not?
The others filed out of the hospital ward, and a second later, the door swung open, and in walked her ex-husband.