Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Boom. Boom. Two fast and hard blasts. Luna screamed because she hadn’t even sensed the threat. She’d been too focused on Ronan and Kane.
“ Too distracted,” Ronan rasped. “Didn’t see the bastard coming.” His hand slid under the couch.
“You didn’t kill her!” A shout. “You lying bastard! I saw her! She’s supposed to be dead, but she’s alive and she’s hugging you—the boss is gonna lose his mind when I tell him!”
She stared up at Ronan, utterly horrified. So scared her body trembled.
His nostrils flared. And…
“Drop the weapon!” A clipped order that came from Kane.
Only that order was immediately followed by gunfire, not by the sound of a gun being dropped.
She didn’t even have a chance to scream again because in that same instant, Ronan’s hand flew up from beneath the couch. He had a gun gripped in his hand, and he lunged off her.
“Stay down!” Ronan barked.
And he leapt away from the couch.
More gunfire erupted.
He’d raised his weapon, and he fired, too, and?—
Silence. Sudden and deafening in its intensity. Luna realized that she’d yanked her hands over her ears. Her heart drummed frantically in her chest. She waited, certain that more gunfire would come. Only, it didn’t.
“You’re hit.” From Ronan.
Her hands lowered. Was it safe to get off the couch?
“Flesh wound.” Kane’s flat voice. “I’ll recover.” A pause. “He won’t.”
He won’t.
“That was a damn fast shot, Ronan,” Kane added.
Her breath sawed in and out. “Ronan?”
“Fucking hell.” His disgusted voice.
“He was going to shoot you. There was no choice. He would have killed you—and her. You had to fire.” Kane’s voice still held no emotion. “And it’s not like the guy could have been allowed to leave. Not after he spotted Luna. He would have run back to his boss and told him that your girl was still alive.”
She twisted on the couch. “Is it safe now?”
“You don’t want to see this,” Ronan told her. “Stay down.”
“That’s not an answer to whether or not it’s safe.” She crawled toward the side of the couch. “Is it safe?”
“Yes.” But the answer didn’t come from Ronan. It was Kane who responded.
She inched off the couch. Turned toward the men. Drew up short as she sucked in a sharp breath.
One man was on the floor. Blood covered his chest. A gun rested in his outstretched hand, and his head was angled toward her.
So much blood.
It was just like another scene. Another time. And Luna found that she was reacting the same way. Freezing.
I walked into Marcus’s office. He had a gun in his hand and a dead man in front of him. So silly. So ridiculous. I was supposed to surprise him with a song and a delivery. Stupid singing telegram business that I thought would be a fun side hustle. Only…
Only it hadn’t been fun.
Her lips pressed tightly together to hold back the cry that wanted to come from her. Just as she’d done in Marcus’s office. Just as she’d stifled her terrified cries even as tears streamed down her face because…
She’d known the dead man in Marcus’s office. He’d been her friend. Noah. He’d been the one who hired her to come and sing for the boss on Marcus’s birthday.
And he’d been dead. And there’d been so much blood. Marcus had walked toward him and kicked Noah’s body even as she’d stood in the doorway with the bright balloons and flowers and…
Ronan walked toward the body in the cabin. He had his gun gripped in his hand. He knelt. Reached out a hand and touched the other man’s throat. Ronan’s jaw clenched. “Why the hell did you have to follow me out here?” Ronan snarled to the fallen figure. “I left you alive in New Orleans.”
Alive in New Orleans. Her gaze was on the dead man’s face. Yes, yes, she knew him. He’d been one of the three attackers who came at her on the street. The one who’d worn the mask. After Ronan had fought him in the street, the man had lost the mask. She’d seen his face so very briefly. Briefly, but the memory was burned in her mind. Thin face, an off-center nose. Not nearly as scary as she’d imagined when he still had on the mask. “He wanted to slice me up,” she managed.
Ronan rose but kept staring at the body. “Told him to stay out of my way.” A disgusted shake of his head. “Told him if he didn’t, he’d be the dead one. Bastard should have listened to me.”
Ronan had just killed a man.
To save his friend…to save himself…or to save…me?
Kane advanced to Ronan’s side. A Kane who had blood streaming down his left shoulder but didn’t even seem to notice his own wound. “It was you or him, Ronan. He was the one who came in with guns blazing.” A grimace. “And if you hadn’t killed him, what do you think would have happened to her?” He jerked his right thumb in Luna’s direction.
Ronan’s gaze instantly flew to Luna.
And she remembered another time…
I didn’t make a sound. I had my mouth pressed closed as tightly as I could to hold back any cries. I was going to back away. To get out of that office. To run as far and as fast as I could.
But a balloon had popped. A silly balloon. A silly job. A silly dream. In an instant, Marcus had yanked his gun up and aimed it at her and there had been so much rage in his eyes. She’d known that he was going to fire that weapon at her. She’d let go of the balloons and they’d flown in front of her, and he’d shot his gun, and the balloons had all erupted and there had been confetti and latex everywhere and she’d run as fast as she could.
She hadn’t stopped running.
Not until Ronan had killed her.
But as she stared at Ronan, as she looked into his eyes, there was no rage staring back at her. Instead?—
Pain. Sadness.
She crept toward him. “Ronan?”
All emotion vanished with his blink. “We have to get you the hell out of here.”
But she shook her head. “We have to get help!” They needed to call nine-one-one. She’d done that in Atlanta. Just in case Noah had still been alive. There had been so much blood, but maybe…maybe—or at least, that had been her desperate thought. Maybe Noah is still alive. She’d fled and called for help as soon as she made it to the shelter of an alley. Only there had been no body for the EMTs to find when they arrived. Marcus had already cleaned up the scene.
Just the first step in covering his tracks.
Ronan reached out for her. “You can’t help a dead man.”
She shoved past him and grabbed for Kane. “I meant we had to help your friend!” The one who was bleeding everywhere.
Kane blinked at her. Then smiled. “You’re worried about me? That is sweet.”
There was a whole lot of blood streaming down his arm. “You need a hospital.”
“Nah. I can stitch myself up.”
She remembered almost fainting when the needle had first hit her skin. The vet hadn’t numbed anything. But Kane was acting like he handled needles and traumatic injuries all the time. “Who are you?” she asked him. Her hands lifted so she could apply pressure to his wound.
But he stepped back. “Kane Harte. And it really is just a flesh wound. Had injuries a million times worse, and they didn’t even slow me down.” Kane’s gaze tracked to Ronan. “You need to take your lady out of here.”
Ronan’s arm curled around her stomach as he hauled her back against him. “Working on it, but she decided to play Florence Nightingale to you.”
She shoved at his hold. “Your friend is hurt. We don’t leave hurt friends. Or at least, we shouldn’t.” I ran and left Noah. No one ever found his body. Now I’m still running.
Kane threw a set of keys at Ronan. Ronan held her with his right arm still locked around her stomach and caught the keys with his left hand.
“My ride is outside and waiting,” Kane informed Ronan. “Got clothes for you and your charge in the back. Also have an envelope in the glove box that has new identities and a destination for you two. Haul ass, and I’ll handle clean up here.”
Haul ass? “Uh, no,” she said. “We are not leaving you with a dead body. We are— Ronan! ” He’d lifted her off her feet and was carrying her toward the door. “Ronan, stop! Your friend needs our help!” She heaved and twisted in his hold as her gaze remained on Kane. A Kane who seemed to be fighting a grin as he bled.
“The dead asshole on the floor has friends , too,” Ronan groused. But he did pause on exiting the cabin. His grip remained firm around her as her feet dangled. “Or have you forgotten about the two bozos who were with him last night? I have to get you to safety. That’s the priority. Keeping that sweet ass alive. Remember? Priority one. Now, Kane, get moving. You’re coming with us, and we’ll drop you off when its safe.”
“Nope. I’m not going anywhere. Someone has to stay behind and make sure any other gun-happy jerks get what they deserve.” He smiled. Then he bent to rifle through the dead man’s pockets. Like that was a normal thing. The body was still warm. Also really wet, uh, bloody.
Nausea rolled through her belly.
Kane plucked out a wallet and flipped it open. “Kurt Vail of Atlanta, Georgia. Shocking surprise that he’s from Atlanta, am I right?”
No, it was not shocking.
“Didn’t hear the prick arrive.” Kane tucked the wallet into his own pocket. He arched a brow at Ronan. “Did you?”
“Just heard the growl of your car. Thinking he might have come in at the same time. Would have disguised the sound of his arrival better.”
“Shit.” Now Kane truly looked pained. “You think he tailed me?”
She felt Ronan’s shrug. “Got a call from his boss earlier. The ‘Atlanta Bachelor of the Year’ wanted me to cut off one of Luna’s fingers and send it to him as proof that she was dead.”
Weird fact. Marcus had actually been the “Bachelor of the Year”—a title given by one of the high society magazines in Atlanta.
“Told the prick I was in the bayou. Should have realized he was trying to track me with the call. Call me crazy, but I don’t think Marcus intends to pay my bill.”
Her feet still dangled. “Put me down.”
Slowly, he did. But Ronan did not let her go. “Maybe he got an idea of the location from one of those damn new tracers out there.”
“Declan Flynn’s tech.” Annoyance rumbled from Kane. “And then the dead dick on the floor might have spotted me coming in. Not like there is a ton of traffic out here. Hell, Ronan, I should have seen the tail. My fuck up. Not normal at all for me.” The blood kept streaming down his arm. “I’m sorry.” Stark.
“Uh. Excuse me.” Luna cleared her throat. “You’re bleeding everywhere. Maybe apologize less and stop the blood flow more?”
“Barely a scratch.” He didn’t look at his arm. His attention was squarely on Luna and Ronan. “Before you take her out, I need to check the scene first to make sure those other two goons you mentioned aren’t lurking around.” And then he just—he rushed outside. Blew right past them. As if he wasn’t bleeding and needed medical care.
“Let me go,” Luna snapped as she heaved against Ronan yet again.
“No,” Ronan returned. And if anything, his hold tightened. And he’d made his denial against her right ear. His breath slid over the shell of her ear.
She shivered against him.
“You’re afraid of me,” he rasped. A rasp that sent a second shiver over her.
She was still staring at a dead body and being held way too easily by Ronan’s strength. “You saved me.” That was what he’d done. The man on the floor—he’d wanted to kill her the previous night. If Ronan hadn’t stopped him then—and now—she would be dead.
“That’s the job.”
I’m the job.
She twisted in his grasp. “Let. Me. Go.”
“Never happening.”
She froze. “Never?”
“I—shit, what I meant was?—”
“Clear outside.” Kane. He was back and standing close to them. “Time to haul her out.” He flashed another smile at Luna. “Thanks again for caring. I’ll remember that.”
He smiled even as Luna threw out her hands and tried to grab hold of the door in order to stop Ronan from carrying her out.
Kane laughed. “She’s adorable.”
She was freaking out, that was what she was doing. “Stop it! Ronan, seriously, let me go!” The caveman routine had to end. “We can’t go rushing out and leave a dead body behind!” That wasn’t the way things were done. Like, ever. And shouldn’t a federal agent know that stuff?
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll make sure the body vanishes,” Kane promised. “I’m on it.”
Her eyes widened.
“There are gators around, right, Ronan?”
Her nails dug into the wood of the doorframe. “What is happening? Good guys don’t feed dead bodies to gators!” That was an understood rule in the world. If it wasn’t understood, it should be.
Ronan tugged her over the threshold. “I just killed a man, princess. How the hell does that make me good?”
A bleeding Kane stalked out with them. He had his gun drawn as he trailed them to the SUV. Ronan tucked her in the passenger seat. Slammed the door.
What is happening?
Her breath kept sawing in and out. In and out. Ronan was pausing to talk with Kane. To check his wound. She grabbed for the glove box and hauled out a manilla envelope. IDs—driver’s licenses and passports—spilled into her hands.
Information on her. A new name.
Information on Ronan. Only…
He jumped into the driver’s seat. “Looks like you found our IDs and our destination.”
Yes, a destination had been included with the IDs. And surely, the location was wrong. The IDs had to be wrong. None of this could be happening.
“Where are we headed?”
She swallowed. “Florida.”
“Ah. The home of even bigger gators.” His lips twisted. “And snakes. Dammit. Gray can be such a prick some days.”
Her breath choked out. “We’re going to a couple’s-only retreat in the Keys.” She’d only seen the front of the brochure that had been included, but the text had been big and bold. Get swept away to an exclusive adult island.
He’d gotten a look at the IDs and gone still.
She wet her lips. “We’re going there because…we’re a couple.” She’d seen the new name that she had. And his new name.
Ronan glanced up at her. Rock-hard expression. Tense. Glaring.
“Because we’re apparently married,” she added.
He swiped the manilla envelope. Shook it. Two gold rings fell out and into his hand. His fingers immediately fisted around the rings. His head tilted as he peered down at his fisted hand.
“Um…congratulations?” Her voice sounded way weak to her own ears.
His head whipped up. Snapped toward her. His eyes glittered.
And this is how I married a hitman.
One didn’t drive straight from New Orleans to the Florida Keys. Well, you did if you were in the mood for a fifteen-to-sixteen-hour trip on the interstate. Ronan wasn’t in that particular mood. All that time on the road would make him tired. Being tired would make him sloppy.
He couldn’t afford any more mistakes where Luna was concerned.
That bastard almost got the drop on me. Hell, there had been no almost about it. The jerk had gotten into the cabin. He’d fired at Kane and Ronan. He’d discovered that Luna had still been alive. And he’d been intent on killing her.
So I killed him. A shot that he’d had to take because if he hadn’t, Ronan knew he’d be the dead man. Not pretend. For real.
Darkness was falling. They needed to pull into a motel. Crash for the night. Then they’d finish their trip in the morning. He also knew he had to check in with Gray and find out what the hell had been done with the scene at the cabin. Talk about leaving a mess behind for Kane to clean up. Sorry about the blood and death, my friend. But he’d needed to get Luna away as quickly as possible. He’d driven for hours and hours. They’d passed Tallahassee and were currently heading toward Orlando. Soon there would be plenty of places for them to pick for a safe sleep spot.
The radio blasted in the interior of the car. He’d been the one to crank it up. Luna hadn’t spoken much. After the scene at the cabin, she had to be scared as hell, and the silence in the vehicle had been driving him crazy.
I keep imaging that SOB shooting at her. What if she’d walked out of that bathroom and he’d been waiting for her? What if he’d fired while I was busy with Kane? This is what happens when my head isn’t in the game the way it should be. I make mistakes. I ? —
Her hand flew out and turned off the radio. “I can’t take it anymore.”
Hell.
She twisted toward him. “Talk to me.”
What?
“You killed a man, Ronan. That has to be wrecking you on the inside.”
He blinked.
“It’s okay.” Soft. Sympathetic. “You can talk to me. I will understand.”
Oh, hell. “Princess, are you sitting there thinking that I’m filled with regret?”
“Ah—”
“Because I only regret that I didn’t kill the bastard before he got into the cabin. I should never have let him get that close to you. My mistake. My guard will not be lowered again.” His grip tightened on the wheel. “I’m not fucking being eaten up by guilt, if that is what you’re worried about. This was not my first kill, not even close.” His eyes were on the road, but he could feel her tension. “If I hadn’t shot him, do you know what would have happened?”
“He would have killed you.”
“Worse, he would have killed you. ”
“Um, I happen to think him killing you and your friend is pretty bad, and my death would certainly not be the goal but?—”
“Kurt Vail.” He bit out the name. “I was sent his rap sheet before I met you in New Orleans.” Met you. What the hell? Not like they had a meet-cute or some shit. Ronan cleared his throat. “The guy likes to hurt women, Luna.”
She sucked in a sharp breath.
“He prefers to use his knife on them. Takes his time. He wouldn’t have made anything quick for you. If I hadn’t taken out the bastard—if he’d shot me, gotten me out of the way, then he would have spent a long while making sure you were good and dead.”
“He said he was going t-to be paid a lot to slice me up. When he tried to get me in New Orleans, that’s what he told me.”
“ No one is slicing you up. ” A guttural, savage promise. Just the thought had Ronan wanting to kill Kurt all over again.
“Because of you. Because you’re protecting me.” Quiet. Thoughtful. Then, “Because you killed to keep me safe today.”
Yeah, he had. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat. “It’s the job.” He forced his grip to ease on the steering wheel.
“You mean I’m the job. That it isn’t anything personal. You’d do the same for anyone, wouldn’t you?”
No, he sure as shit wouldn’t do the same for anyone.
“We didn’t call the cops.” A little sigh escaped her.
“Are you kidding me right now?”
“Will your friend Kane call the cops? Like, notify Grayson, I mean. Because I will tell Grayson that it was self-defense. You did exactly what you had to do. And you?—”
A ringing cut through her words. He’d already found the new phone in the console between their seats, and the device was connected to the Bluetooth in their ride. He glanced toward the screen near the radio. No caller name was listed, but he knew exactly who was reaching out. His finger pressed the button on the side of the steering wheel as he took the call. “Figured I’d be hearing from you sooner or later.”
“You left me a bloody crime scene,” Gray said, sounding more than a little disgruntled. “Do you know what a pain in the ass that is?”
“ He was saving me, ” Luna instantly declared. “That man realized we’d faked my death. He burst into the cabin, shooting! He hit Kane with a bullet. He would have killed me and Ronan. There was no choice. Ronan had to fire back!”
Ronan glanced at her. Her delicate jaw had locked.
“You can’t consider locking Ronan up for this. It was clear self-defense,” she added, voice breaking at the edges. “It is nothing like what I saw Marcus do. Nothing. Marcus enjoyed the kill. The man he shot was unarmed. And Marcus just—he was smiling while he stared down at the blood. He had the gun in his hand. One with a long muzzle on the end that had to be a silencer because I hadn’t heard the shots when I approached his office. I walked in and I saw all the blood. Noah was sprawled on the floor, and Marcus grinned, and I couldn’t breathe. I stood there.”
So much painful emotion filled her words that Ronan had to dart a glance her way again.
“Then the balloons popped, and I thought I’d been shot and—” Tears slid down her cheek. Two long teardrops. “Ronan isn’t the same. It wasn’t the same. He saved me. You can’t charge Ronan with any crime. You can’t lock him up. You can’t take him away from me. You can’t. Ronan saved my life. ”