Chapter 17 #3
He has no idea how to navigate this without hurting me. I have no idea how to help him make it better.
For the moment, I lean into him, putting a hand on his thigh with comforting pressure.
“You need to hear the rest.” Rafe touches the tablet, bringing up an image. “The relay matches old Bachman signal architecture. Not current. Older. Buried.
Someone created the access using old skills and tools.”
Lucian goes very still. Blaze straightens.
Gregory looks between them. “Old systems are rarely used,” he says carefully.
“They’re usually just embarrassing. Or catastrophic. Depending on the family.”
“Marina,” I say. “You said she worked with your earlier communication. Is Carlos using your own pre-tech against us?”
“He might be, Erin. The line looks like old Bachman tech, which could mean Marina is helping Carlos, or it might not.”
Lucian’s gaze snaps to mine. His jaw locks for a moment. Then, he says, “No one outside the family knew about this place, except possibly Marina. There’s an outside chance she may have seen some of the bills paid to the designer.”
“Possibly,” Rafe says.
“Meaning?” Cass asks.
“Meaning,” Blaze says, voice flat now, “the bastard did not need to get through the guards. He needed a wire and a ghost key.”
“But the line is gone, it’s cleared now,” Rafe says, attempting to elicit comfort, “and there’s no more secure location for us to be at right now.”
Cass looks deathly pale. Ryan has fallen asleep against Cass. I’m about to tell Lucian I’m going to check in on her when Mack leans down, whispering in her ear what I assume is ‘your room is ready.’ She whispers, “Thank god.”
I half-expect Lucian to stop them and tell us we’re all sleeping in the war room, but I’m relieved when Mack grabs the handles at the back of her wheelchair to move her.
Cass blows me a kiss as she goes. She holds Ryan in her lap, and Mack wheels them down to their room, not giving us a backward glance.
As they go, I realize why Lucian has never replaced her chair with fancy Bachman automated tech. He wants her to need Mack. Just another excuse to have a guard on her, like he’s on me.
Cass gets tired; Mack takes the reins.
Gregory watches them leave as well. He looks torn between going to bed with the civilians and playing mafia boss.
Someone quietly escorts Isobel to her room, and it’s my turn to give thanks. My shoulder relaxes with her out of the room. No longer watching us and reacting to every move Lucian makes.
It hits me; this must be how he feels every time I’m in the room—looking at me, gauging my reactions, reading my emotions after every statement made.
It’s exhausting. How can he think straight?
I need to do more to help him, to ease his mind. But the only solution in his eyes is to remove myself from everything completely. To stay helplessly locked in that tower and wait for my prince to rescue me.
There has to be a better answer for both of us. Now, I move my hand to the back of his neck, massaging his warm, tense skin to ease the tension in his muscles.
Lucian looks at me, his expression wrought with equal parts worry and determination. I feel him making decisions. Ones I will not be included in.
He hasn’t said a word, and I already know; every decision he makes will cut me out of the room.
Out of the conversation. Out of a huge piece of our shared lives. Not a partnership.
I’m torn.
I want to protect him from pain and worry. Yet, I’m unable to separate myself from him, from the table where the decisions about my family’s safety are made.
My throat feels tight. My hand drops to my lap. My voice is strong, but soft. “I’m not going to be sheltered from this.”
“Erin,” he says.
“No.” I try to hide my bandaged hand. “I want to know everything that is going on.
Every threat. Every update. I want to be as informed as the rest of you.”
The room goes impossibly quiet. Too much has happened. Too many people are watching.
I don’t care. I wait until our eyes are locked.
“When you hurt, I hurt. When you worry, I worry. We are in this together.” I grab his hand in my good one. “And we’re stronger together. I want us to do this together.”
Lucian stares at me for a long time. He doesn’t answer.
He looks at Rafe, then at Gregory. “Figure out who placed the line.”
Rafe nods. Gregory runs a hand over the back of his neck. At war with the man he was born to be and the man Lucian raised him to be.
Lucian barks orders. “Blaze, call home and order double the men for exterior guard.”
Blaze cocks a brow. “Already done.”
“Mack will stay with Cass and Ryan.”
“You couldn’t pry the man off them,” Gregory murmurs.
“Bayne. Can your men stay longer? Until we figure this out, I’d prefer to have your men and our men on guard.”
“Aye. What are friends for?”
“Thank you.” Lucian’s voice drops. “If you weren’t a King, you’d make a great Bachman.”
“We’re all brothers, now,” Bayne says as he walks out the door.
Lucian’s eyes travel back to mine.
“And Erin?” I ask.
His gaze burns.
“Erin stays where I can see her.”
For a beat we battle without words. I’m the first to look away.
“Exactly,” I say. “At your side. Your partner. That means in this room.”
His jaw locks, his eyes flashing.
He’s moved me from a stone cage to one made of glass.
And he’s forgotten his Red Shutters promise to let me be part of the conversation.
Gregory makes a sound like a choke, stealing all attention from the room. He stares at the laptop in a way we’ve become familiar with yet makes our hearts race.
“There’s a message. It’s Carlos.”
Rafe leans down, examining the screen. “Lucian.” He turns to face the man next to me, the one who feels like a volcano about to erupt. “He’s live. It’s a live feed.”
“He’s just waiting for us to accept the call.” Gregory looks at Lucian, waiting.
Lucian looks at me. “You have to go.”
“I need to stay,” I say.
We are side by side, yet miles apart.
I may as well be staring at our future from up on this clifftop, and he from down on the black sand beaches.
“Lucian.” Gregory’s tone changes to something darker, more familiar. More Bachman. “I’m not going to lose this call. What do you want to do?”
Rafe echoes with a sharp, “Lucian.”
But he doesn’t answer. We continue to fight our very public, private battle of wills, neither one of us willing to look away first.
Carlos didn’t come for the walls of Red Shutters. He came for the cracks between us.
Our enemy doesn’t need to be physically present to harm us.
He’s poured gasoline on the wounds of our past. Then he took a beautiful blonde match to us.
Flames have risen.
And now he’s going to watch us burn.
BOUND is the fourth and final book in the Bachman Obsession Series
BOUND is the explosive conclusion to The Bachman Obsession Series.
It began with an indecent proposal.
Betrayal nearly destroyed them.
Fire forged an unbreakable bond.
Now, the ghosts of the past threaten everything they've fought to protect.
Some stories end.
The Bachman Universe is only just beginning.
Your journey continues with several interconnected series—each a complete standalone romance featuring familiar faces, unforgettable heroes, and the moments that shape the world beyond Bound.
Continue with The Bachman Forbidden Vows