Chapter 7
Bronson
We were on the couch when her phone buzzed.
I’d felt better about her situation ever since I talked Cal into setting up the perimeter guard around her house.
Plus, after what happened last night, she was willing to stay close to home.
That intruder had scared some sense into her. She’d even told me she was open to going to a safe house.
We’d set that ball in motion, and I planned to take her tomorrow morning.
But right now, Lucy was tucked against my side with her head resting on my shoulder, warm and easy in a way that had become natural between us since last night.
I had one arm around her, and my eyes were doing what they always did, a slow, repeated circuit of all the doors and windows.
It was a habit from the SEALs that never fully switched off.
She picked up her phone and went still.
“It’s Jimmy,” she said.
I didn’t move. “What does he want?”
Lucy glanced at the text.
“He says he’s ready to sign the divorce papers.”
She read it again, her brow pulling together. “No more delays. He wants to come tonight and get it done.”
She tilted the screen toward me, and I read it myself.
Jimmy: I have the papers. Let me come over and we can finish this. Tonight. No lawyers. Just us. I’m done dragging it out.
“What do I do?”
Cal and I had been coordinating in case an opportunity like this occurred, and the net was already in place.
If Jimmy Watson was ready to make his move, there was no better time to let him walk into her house and try to do it.
“Are you up to this?”
I’d already briefed her on the plan, and the police were aware, too.
She bit her lip. “Not really. But it has to be done.”
Lucy was so brave. I was proud of her.
And if this worked, there would be no need for a safe house.
“Tell him you’re alone,” I rumbled. “Tell him it’s a good time.”
She typed it out and hit send.
Lucy trusted me.
I intended to protect her trust with everything I had.
The goal was that after tonight Jimmy would be locked up in a cell.
But I was fully prepared that one of us might die, ideally him and not me.
Lucy would be safe, though. I’d make sure of it.
A short time later, headlights swept across the front of the house.
“Lights off in the kitchen,” I said quietly, as I brushed a quick kiss across her lips. “When he comes in, take him to the coffee table and try to get him to sit down facing you. Keep him talking. Don’t let him get behind you.”
“Bronson, I’m scared.”
“You’re going to be fine,” I promised her. “I’m going to be eight feet away. You have my word.”
She held my gaze for a moment, then nodded.
Lucy was braver than she gave herself credit for.
And after tonight, we’d know for sure if Jimmy was behind it all.
Her nightmare was about to end.
I moved into the kitchen and turned off the light. Then I pressed myself against the wall with my gun drawn. The darkness swallowed me whole.
His knock came quickly.
She opened the door, and I heard Jimmy Watson’s voice for the first time, smooth and practiced.
It was the kind of voice that had spent decades making people feel like they were the only person in the room. I could see how she’d fallen for him all those years ago. Too young. Too impressionable. No one in her life to tell her he was the quintessential bad guy.
I watched silently as they moved to the coffee table.
Jimmy set the papers down, and Lucy sat.
Jimmy spoke, smooth as silk, “I’m sorry I dragged this out so long, Lucy. I just kept hoping you’d change your mind.”
I tracked his hands without blinking, watching every shift of his weight.
“Did you really think I’d come back to you with Brenda in the picture?” Lucy asked, her voice high with stress.
“Brenda was a mistake. You were so focused on your career that I just got lonely. She’s never meant anything to me. Not like you do.”
I heard the rustle of papers.
“You should save it, Jimmy. I’m not getting back with you.”
She picked up the papers and started reading. The room was quiet except for the ocean outside and the soft turning of pages.
Jimmy took her hand in his, and it took more willpower than I had not to rush out of the kitchen and stomp his face in.
I didn’t like his hands on her.
And I realized in that moment, with my pulse pounding furiously in my chest, that what I felt for Lucy was more than just a protective instinct.
I wanted to rip him apart limb from limb for touching my woman.
Jimmy’s voice lowered to a soft murmur, and I strained to catch his words.
“I’ve missed you, Lucy. It’s not too late. We were good together, and we could be good again. We can leave Tidehaven behind and find a cozy little town like you’ve always wanted. I’ll make sure Brenda’s not a part of our lives. Or the baby.”
Lucy blew out a breath. “It’s not happening, Jimmy. You and I are done.” Then her voice softened. “It will be better after tonight. You can focus on your new family. Admit it. We haven’t been in love for years, if we ever were.”
That’s when Jimmy moved. I recognized the moment he tensed.
He was fast for a civilian, I’d give him that.
He grabbed her arm with one hand and pulled out a small semi-automatic with the other, pressing it against her temple in one fluid motion.
Lucy gave a sharp cry that did something violent to my chest.
“If you’d just stayed in your place,” Jimmy growled, the smoothness stripped out of it. “None of this had to happen. I made you. Everything you are is because of me. And you thought you could just walk away.”
I was already moving.
I came out of the kitchen in absolute silence, crossing the living room in four long strides.
Jimmy Watson never heard me coming.
Before the next word was out of his mouth, I got my arm across his throat, locking his airway.
Then I punched the gun out of his hand with enough force that his grip broke and the weapon clattered to the floor.
I kicked it away and tightened the chokehold, bringing him down to his knees.
The whole thing took less than six seconds.
He went limp enough that I knew he understood it was over.
I held the position for another few seconds out of anger, then eased off just enough to keep him conscious while I reached into my pants pocket for the zip ties.
He lolled in my arms like a rag doll. No longer the big tough guy exerting his power over a defenseless woman.
While he was still struggling to catch his breath, I got both his wrists secured behind him, tightening the zip-ties more than necessary.
Then I pulled out my phone and sent the team a two-word text.
Target down.
Lucy was on her feet, her hand pressed to her chest, staring at Jimmy on the floor.
Her face was white.
“Why?” she asked, her voice breaking. “You’re richer than god. You don’t need my money.”
Jimmy looked up at her from the floor, and something ugly moved across his face.
“Because you were supposed to be grateful,” he spat. “I found you in a dive bar singing to twelve people and I turned you into a legend.”
She stared at him, trying to comprehend what he was saying.
“You think I wanted to be a producer?” There was a bitter edge in his voice. This resentment had been festering for a long time.
“I wanted to be the one on stage. I had the songs. I had the talent. But nobody was coming to find me. So I built the next best thing. I built you. But when you walked out on me and started talking about cutting me out…” He shook his head. “I wasn’t going to let you take that from me.”
The silence in the room was complete.
I watched Lucy absorb it.
Jimmy was jealous of her. Of her talent. The thing she’d been born with that he could never manufacture for himself.
And when she’d threatened to take it somewhere he couldn’t follow, he’d decided to bury her instead.
Jimmy was coming back to his senses now, and he leveled a hard stare at me as recognition dawned on his face.
“You’re Ben. The new boyfriend.”
He must have seen one of the thousand articles that had come out between yesterday afternoon and today. The paparazzi had been busy.
“She’ll do the same thing to you, man.” He sneered at me. “You’ll find out. She’s a frigid ice queen.”
That’s when I lost it. I pulled back and hit him with one solid punch, watching with satisfaction as his head snapped back before lolling forward.
I pulled his face toward me and growled dangerously, “If you ever talk that way about my woman again, I’ll put you in the ground myself.”
Jimmy seemed to understand that, because he got quiet and didn’t say another word until Cal arrived with two officers a few minutes later. My arm around his throat might have helped to shut him up.
The house filled with voices and movement, and someone removed my arm from around Jimmy’s neck.
That’s when I realized how close I’d come to killing him.
He was bright red and coughing hard.
Cal took over, along with the police, and I stood back and let it happen, watching Lucy from across the room as she answered questions with her arms wrapped around herself, her eyes darting to mine every few seconds for reassurance.
I nodded at her to let her know I was still here for her.
But I knew they wanted to question her without my influence, so I stayed where I was, even though it took a toll on me to do so.
And then it was over.
Jimmy was gone, cuffed and loaded into the back of a cruiser, and the officers left after wrapping up their preliminary interview.
As soon as we were alone again, Lucy crossed the room and walked straight into my arms.
She didn’t say anything at first. She just pressed her face against my chest and held on, her fists curled into my shirt.
I held her solidly against me, determined to never let go again, my chin resting on the top of her head.
“You did it,” she whispered, her voice muffled. “You saved me. I’m safe.”
“Yes. You’re finally safe again,” I confirmed.
We held each other just like that for so long that we both lost track of time.
I breathed her in and tried not to think about what came next.
But it was already moving through me, cold awareness, the recognition that the job was done. Jimmy was in custody. The threat had been neutralized.
Cal’s team would confirm whether he’d had anyone else on the payroll, but the operation was over.
She didn’t need me anymore.
The thought landed harder than it had any right to. I was a man who’d spent more than twenty years walking away from things without looking back.
And now I was standing here with a woman in my arms who made my chest ache in a way I hadn’t felt since I was young enough not to know better.
“I should stay the rest of the night,” I said, keeping my voice even. “Until Cal confirms there’s no one else coming. Standard protocol.”
It was true.
But it wasn’t the whole truth.
She pulled back just far enough to look up at me, her eyes warm.
“Standard protocol. Is that what you’ve been giving me?”
I let out a husky laugh.
It was nice seeing that she could make a joke in the middle of a crazy time like this.
I picked her up and carried her to bed.
This might be one of the last times I’d get to be with her. So I’d have to make it special.
In just a few short days, she’d become the most important thing in my world.
But now the reason I was here had disappeared, and I had no idea what that left me with. All I could do was hold her close tonight and let my body tell her that I wasn’t done with her yet.
No. I wasn’t done at all.