22. Alex
ALEX
“You are not married!” Lucinda Montgomery’s shout echoes around the luxurious yacht and across the open water.
My team had almost beaten the Montgomery matriarch to the yacht, but while we were in a submersible, she’d arrived via helicopter. That added a bit of complexity to the plan, but nothing we couldn’t handle.
From my spot hidden along the lower-level deck stairs, I see the flush of fury in her chiseled cheekbones. The older woman is pissed.
One by one, my team reports in. It sounds like the yacht’s skeleton crew is below deck in their quarters, which makes sense because nothing Lucinda’s done is legal.
Despite that, my Katie Bird has never looked more beautiful and in control.
For the first time in hours, I can finally take a proper breath.
She’s alive and looks okay. The slight smirk as she delivered her lie makes me so fucking proud, and I battle back the rush of desire because now is not the fucking time.
I’m waiting for the signal from my team that everyone’s in position and we have control of this beast.
Keep her talking.
As if hearing my silent plea, Katherine doubles down. “I am. As of last weekend. I tried to tell you at lunch yesterday, but you kept talking about Preston Shaw and Chase Barrett. You can expect the paperwork soon.”
Last weekend, we were in Paris.
“You’re lying! Oh my god.” Lucinda literally clutches her pearls. “Are you pregnant?”
I hold my breath, awaiting Katherine’s answer with keen interest. Now’s also not the time to think of her round with my baby, glowing from pregnancy, nesting as we expand our family. But the petty side of me wouldn’t mind seeing Lucinda’s head explode.
“No.” She nods to the men flanking the deck. “Have them give me my phone. I have pictures.”
That’s my girl. So smart. Obviously trying to find a way to communicate and send a call for help.
Hold on, Beauty.
There’s a moment of quiet where it feels like everything pauses and the world holds its breath. But the peace snaps like a rubber band, and Lucinda charges at my woman. My fingers tighten over the handrail.
“You little hussy!” She moves to slap Katherine, but Katherine’s arm shoots up to protect herself.
I bite my lips between my teeth to remain silent, but every cell of my body demands that I vault up onto that deck and intervene.
“Stop!” Katherine cries as Lucinda grabs a fistful of Katherine’s hair and yanks her toward the opposite set of stairs.
Adrenaline and rage swirl together in my veins. This is why I left King on the other boat with Gabe. He’d never be able to see something like this and not wait for the signal to advance. Waiting is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s the right decision.
I lift my hand to ask my team to report in when a steady voice comes through the earpiece. “Bridge secure.”
At Katherine’s shouts, the sliding doors slide and Tyler storms out, calling for Lucinda to stop. It’s as good a distraction as any, and my team is in place.
My muscles tighten, but I force them to relax. Taking a full, deep breath is a conscious thought. I lean to the left, watching Katherine disappear up the stairs, cussing like a sailor. But she can’t shake her mom.
“Go,” I say into the tiny microphone and launch up the steps.
Around me, there’s an explosion of movement around the yacht. Tyler stumbles to a stop as he sees me, his eyes widening. Behind him, a shorter man in all black races forward, reaching for his gun with the smooth efficiency of someone comfortable with weaponry.
Obviously sensing the other man, Tyler raises his elbow and smashes it into the fucker’s nose. The man is momentarily stunned, as is Tyler. I can tell by the way he shakes out his arm that he hasn’t hit many people before. It fucking hurts.
“Been wanting to do that since these goons grabbed me,” he clips out.
Our opponent wipes the blood from his face with the back of his hand and lifts the gun, aiming vaguely at my chest.
Fury ignites me like a stick of TNT. I’m on him in an instant, detaining his wrist with my left hand while slamming a heel on top of his foot.
I grab his throat with my right hand, fingers squeezing tight.
With well over six inches and maybe forty pounds on the shitstain, he’s no match.
He screams out in pain, dropping the gun.
Behind me, the sounds of a tussle meet my ears as my team apprehends the other two kidnappers stationed on the deck.
“Lucinda’s not worth this,” I tell my prey and shove him to the ground.
With a knee in his back, I tie his hands with a zip tie. “Sit on him,” I tell Tyler.
“She’s taking her to the chopper,” Gabe’s voice comes through my earpiece, and I’m on the move again.
I take the stairs two at a time and race along the teak decking toward the bow of the massive boat, every heartbeat driving me faster. Katherine and her mother are almost to the front deck, and my girl has a grip on her mother’s hair now.
I’d smile if I wasn’t so fucking scared and angry.
They’re fighting like cats. Lucinda’s missing a high heel.
“Let her go!” I shout.
Katherine’s movements stall, and she turns back as much as her mother’s grip will allow. My name tumbles from Katherine’s lips, her relieved gaze swerving to mine.
To my utter shock, Lucinda doesn’t stop. It’s like she didn’t even hear me. Like she doesn’t have the first clue that this boat and that helicopter are under my command.
A handful of feet away, I approach with hands out to look as non-threatening as possible. The witch still has her snakey arm around Katherine’s neck. Lucky for her, Katherine doesn’t look scared so much as pissed.
“It’s over, Lucinda.”
At the sound of her name, she jerks around, coming dangerously close to the railing. My gut tightens. Katherine whimpers, and I’m done for.
Closing the distance, I yank Lucinda back, fist tight in the collar of her suit jacket. She starts screaming immediately, but lets Katherine go.
Katie Bird stumbles a few feet away, turns, and rubs her throat. Lucinda twists in my grip, yelling for me to let her go. How I’m ruining her Chanel suit.
“Shoulda thought of that before you started this mess.” Then to Katherine, “You okay, Beauty?”
“Beauty,” Lucinda snarls, twisting in my grip. Her hands shoot up like a hawk’s talons, nails scraping along my jaw.
The sting isn’t what makes my fist loosen. It’s the enraged scream from Katherine. Her transformation from injured victim to raging lioness is spectacular, only taking a quarter of a second. Her eyes narrow, her lips purse, and she cocks back an arm.
In the slow-motion flashback, I see her in the gym of our building, going at it with the punching bag. Once again, furious with her mother, but this time, instead of her mother callously ignoring her wishes, she kidnapped and assaulted her daughter. This time, she hurt someone Katherine loves.
Then Katherine lets her fist fly.
Lucinda’s cry is cut short by the knuckle sandwich, and then she stumbles back, arms windmilling through the air. Her heel snags on the wood deck boards, and she disappears over the side of the yacht.