Chapter 13 #3
He tapped his chin. “I do remember you saying something about that. His computer was wiped, but some physical files were left in his desk. How incredibly convenient.” Files that point to me as being a killer. Lovely.
“I read through those files,” Gage told him.
“I would have been shocked and disappointed in your skills as an FBI agent if you had not.” What in the hell had Lily ever seen in this jerk?
“There were lots of notes in those files. Names. Plenty of deaths. But—”
“But no concrete evidence.” Now he was bored.
“Benedict liked to make my life hell. He was convinced I was the boogeyman. Want to know why?” They could all just cut to the chase because he had zero patience left.
“Because a million years ago, we happened to live in the same group home. To say we did not get along is an understatement. I thought that our paths would never cross again after I got out of that place, but then when I decided to return to Dallas, to set up my roots in the city that once, well…a city that once abandoned me.” Turned its freaking back on me but now I practically own the place.
“I came back here, looking for a fresh start, and then I see Benedict skulking around me. Only now he has a badge. A shiny badge, but the same old hate fuels him. He was determined to prove that I’m unworthy.
That I’m evil. But he never had actual proof.
That was the problem. And you don’t have that proof, either. ”
“We are done with this interview.” Theodora was adamant. “Done. You will not accuse my client of—of murder! Of being some sort of serial killer—”
“Aren’t you going to say something?” Gage snarled.
The snarled question was directed at Lily.
Now Atlas rose to his feet. “Watch it,” he warned the Fed. “Because I have been cordial with you thus far.” Time for that bit of cordialness to end. “Don’t make me your enemy.” Actually, it was too late for that. This lucky jerk had fucked Lily.
We are enemies. Because she is mine.
But did Gage heed his warning? Oh, no. Eyes on Lily, he said, “Benedict shared his suspicions with you. He must have done it. He must have told you, showed you the files. You were watching Atlas, too, weren’t you?
Following him because you thought he might just be the one who’d sliced up those people in Dallas—William Lloyd and Conry Harding.
You thought that Atlas was the one doing the punishment kills, only then he was taken, wasn’t he? Right in front of you?”
“What part of enough do you not understand?” Theodora heaved a sigh. “Hey, Detective Wry, I know you. You know me. Can you drag this jerk out of here? Or I guess I can call one of Atlas’s many security guards and have them do the job.”
Detective Wry rose. But he didn’t actually move to do anything. He just stood there appearing all uncertain.
Sharon also rose. “We should go,” she murmured. Sharon closed her pad. Tucked her pen into her small purse.
“Excellent! The voice of reason.” Theodora beamed at her.
But Gage and Lily just stared at one another. “You know he’s a killer,” Gage told her.
Yeah, Atlas hated the dick. He figured he was entitled to that hate, though. A man comes into your house, he tells you that you’re a killer, plus…he fucked my lady. Frankly, Atlas thought he was exhibiting amazing control. He hadn’t beaten the ever loving hell out of the Fed…yet.
“And you’re gonna stay in his house?” Gage asked her. “Let him lie to the world and say you’re getting married? Bullshit. Bullshit. Come on, Lily, is your research really that important? So important that you’d lie like this in order to protect a monster?”
Oh, but it would be fun to drive his fist right into the agent’s jaw. “Is it made of glass?” Atlas wondered. He bet that it was.
“What?” Gage whipped his head toward Atlas.
“Your jaw. When I punch you, will you go down instantly, will it break right away, or will I need to hit you a second time?” Because he could certainly oblige with a second hit. Or a third. Maybe a fourth, simply for fun.
Gage rounded the table and surged toward him. “You just threatened a federal officer.”
Bring it, asshole. Atlas smiled at him. His hands fisted.
“No!” Theodora’s high cry. “My client asked a question. A question is not a threat. You don’t arrest people for questions.
I’m calling security. We are done here. Done, done, done.
You try to cooperate, and then this happens.
” She grabbed her phone. “Desmond,” she said immediately after putting the phone to her ear. “Code Atlas.”
Code Atlas…Get guards in here because he’s out of control.
Only Atlas wasn’t out of control, not yet. And he would be perfectly controlled as he drove his fist into Gage’s smug face.
“No.” Lily stepped in front of Atlas. “Gage can actually take a punch really well. I’ve seen him do it. Gage’s jaw is not made of glass.”
He didn’t want her between them. Atlas’s hands settled on her shoulders.
“Yes.” She nodded toward the Fed. Apparently, this retort was for him. “Benedict did share his suspicions about Atlas with me. But he had no direct proof of Atlas’s involvement in any crime. Not one single real tie. What he did have was an obsession that I found troubling.”
Gage’s eyes narrowed to furious slits. “Lily…”
“Atlas was targeted. The killer wanted to hurt him, and he wanted to hurt anyone who came to help Atlas. That tells me the notion that this guy is just going after people who have done something wrong, that he is a dark avenging angel of some sort—that idea is wrong. He was ready to take down innocent people. Innocent. He set a trap. He let the fire burn.” She swallowed.
“The man who did that—I suspect he broke in my house. He came after me when Atlas and I escaped.”
Atlas’s grip tightened on her. “He’s not getting you.” Never gonna happen.
“I was in his way. I stopped him from achieving his goal. He won’t like that.
If I hadn’t been there, maybe he would have gotten his high body count.
But instead, everyone but Benedict got out.
He failed in his main goal. I figure that failure had to unleash his rage.
Perhaps in his mind, I’m now the one who has committed the biggest sin. ”
Gage took a step back. “I…I can protect you. If he’s coming after you, I can keep you safe.”
“I’m on it,” Atlas assured him. “I have her.” And no one will ever take Lily from me.
“Is that why she’s in your house?” Gage wanted to know. “Why you’re about to put a ring on her finger? Because you think that will protect her?”
“That and the army of guards who are about to burst inside.” Because Desmond would respond instantly to Theodora. He always did.
As if on cue, the front door burst open. Four guards rushed inside and thundered toward the dining room, with Desmond in the lead.
“I believe we are done,” Atlas said even as he motioned for the guards to hold their position. “As my lawyer indicated, multiple times, in fact.”
Red tinted Gage’s cheeks. “Not yet, we’re not.” His head angled down toward Lily. “I had an interesting talk with Magnolia recently.”
Because Atlas still had his hands around Lily’s shoulders, he felt the tension slide through her.
“She’s worried about you,” Gage added.
Lily laughed.
Atlas realized it was the first time he’d ever heard her laugh. But…he didn’t think that was a real laugh. It was brittle. Mocking.
“I find that highly doubtful,” Lily returned in a cool voice. “Though I suspect she is very annoyed with me, and therefore, she’d try to mislead you.”
The red deepened in his cheeks. “She told me that you were hunting a serial killer.”
“I don’t do that. I’m not in the BAU. That’s your department.”
“Magnolia says…Lily, you believe you are going to find some kind of soulmate.” Gage’s stare shifted from Lily—to Atlas. He glared at Atlas over Lily’s head. “Someone who understands you.”
Well, well, well…
“He won’t,” Gage bit off. “He can’t.”
Oh, but Gage was very wrong. Shocking. “Don’t be so sure of that. I understand Lily perfectly.”
“Do you?” Gage challenged. Then he smiled. A smug bastard kind of smile. “David Warren.”
Lily didn’t tense. She trembled. He didn’t like for Lily to tremble. Not unless her trembles were from the pleasure that he intended to give her. Instead of pleasure, though, his instincts said that Lily was afraid and that was why she trembled before him.
“Leave,” Atlas ordered. “Now.”
The guards stepped forward. Agent Sharon Hinkle and Detective Kurt Wry immediately began to depart.
“Thank you for your time,” Sharon murmured. Her gaze darted up to the chandelier. “Insane place you have here, by the way.” She hurried for the front door, with Detective Wry right on her heels.
Only Gage lingered.
“David Warren is dead and buried,” Lily said. “I don’t really see how he is relevant to anything.”
“Isn’t he relevant?” Low. Gage’s voice seemed to carry only to Lily and to Atlas. “Why the hell doesn’t your fiancé know about him? Or are you scared of what he’ll do if he does find out? Worried you’ll get punished, Lily?”
Why in the hell would Lily ever get punished?
But, screw that. Using his grip on her, he pulled Lily back. Then he positioned himself in front of her. A deliberate choice. Because he needed the Fed to understand one basic fact. “Anyone who wants to hurt Lily will have to go through me.” He wanted this prick far away from her.
“You don’t know her.” Gage shook his head. “I do. I know what makes her tick on the inside. I know the demons she fights. You won’t help her. You’ll destroy her.”
The hell he would. “Should the guards drag your ass out? Or do you want to be a big boy and walk out on your own?”
Gage’s lips flattened. He stomped away. Atlas watched him go, his body full of its own fury and his hands clenched because he really wanted to take a swing at the bastard.
Gage swung back around, pausing near the columns that marked the edge of the dining room. “I know what you are,” he snarled at Atlas.
Oh, right. He’d practiced this part with Theodora. Atlas knew exactly what to say. “I’m a victim.” A low, dangerous rumble of sound.
Theodora had just stepped to his side. Her jaw dropped at those words.
“Now get the fuck out,” Atlas ordered Gage. “And stay the hell away from my fiancée.”
Gage stormed out. The guards followed because they would know to make sure the Fed and his associates were fully escorted from the property. Not like anyone got to take a free search of the place without a warrant.
The silence in the dining room stretched. And stretched.
Finally, Theodora’s heels clicked as she moved forward. “I don’t think you should use those particular words again.” Hands on her hips, she angled to face him.
He quirked a brow at her. “You told me to say them.”
“Yes, but somehow, when you say…I’m a victim…it comes out as a threat. I have no idea how, but it just does. You might as well have said I am a killer.”
He shrugged. “Didn’t say that.” He’d never make that confession to a Fed.
“Right. Because you aren’t one.” She blew out a hard breath. “Are we going to sign the NDA before I leave?”
The NDA, right. He’d almost forgotten.
Atlas glanced back at Lily. “Ready to sign your life away to me?”
Fear filled her expression.
Shit, bad word choice. “Ah, Lily—”
“Give me the NDA.” Flat.
Theodora opened her briefcase. She’d had it on the floor near the right wall. She pulled out the paperwork. “I, um, also have a standard contract for you, too, Lily, one that will prove I’m your lawyer going forward.”
“I’ll sign it, too. Just show me where.”
But Theodora hesitated. “You should really read these. Thoroughly. How about I leave them and you can read them and then sign tomorrow?”
Too late. Lily flipped through the papers and slashed her signature next to the Xs. Then she slapped the pen down on the table. “Great. I gave you my life, Atlas.” Her hands folded across her chest as she faced off with him. “What do I get in return?”
Tension burned between them. Me. You get me, Lily.
“Uh, do you want him to sign an NDA, too?” Theodora asked with a faint cough. “Because I’m your lawyer now, and I can draw up one for him. If there are things that you don’t want him to discuss about you and your relationship—”
“Make it,” Atlas pounced on that offer. Anything to put them on equal footing. Anything to get Lily to open up to him. To share with him. To banish the pain that he saw in her eyes because he wanted to take it away. He needed to take away all her hurt and fear and make her feel safe.
Lily’s safety mattered to him more than anything.
She mattered. Dangerous. So very dangerous.
Theodora left them alone. The clicking of her heels faded away. Lily didn’t move. Atlas felt nailed to the spot.
“I signed,” Lily told him. “So now are you gonna tell me where you buried the bodies?”
So cute. He hadn’t buried them. If he had, then Landon Russell’s body never would have been found near that hiking trail. “No, this is the part where I put a fucking ring on your finger.” His breath heaved out. “Lily Gallo, you’re mine now.”