Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Fabien
There’s no time for us to even talk, for me to even begin to explain shit to her.
I’m not sure it would make a difference if there was.
I tell Thayer we’re leaving. He knows what that means. While we go to the Baths of Caldane, he’ll make sure we have our team nearby.
If we ambush whoever took my brother, it won’t end well for us. We know this. But if there’s even the smallest possibility I can call them in, I sure as hell will.
“Nicolette.”
“What?” She clenches her teeth and permits me an icy stare.
“I don’t care that you’re pissed at me, you’ll fucking do what I say when we’re there. You know I wish you weren’t even here.”
“How interesting that a man like you doesn’t even wish I was here. You have no issue stalking me, prying into my personal life, then pretending our relationship is—” As if she said too much, she quickly clamps her lips together, shakes her head, and turns away from me.
We’re only minutes away from the Baths.
There’s no time to explain anything to her, and even if there was, I’m afraid that she wouldn’t listen. We can’t talk now, though.
I notice she has a bag over her shoulder.
“What’s in the bag?”
“The knife you gave me.” She looks out the window.
“You can’t take that with you.”
“Watch me.” Not making eye contact, she blows out a breath and shakes her head. “I won’t make it obvious, but I’m not going in there unarmed.”
If we were good—if we were real—we’d be having a long, long talk about the way this is going down.
Over my knee.
I want to shake her. Then kiss her. Then fuck her until there’s not the slightest hint of protest left in her.
But I can’t think of this now. We have to get the job done, or everything was in vain.
From the very beginning, I was determined to bring Lyam home safely. He’s assured me he is unharmed, likely because whoever has him knows the fallout of harming a member of my family directly. I would decimate entire cities for justice and revenge if they harmed a hair on his head.
“I don’t care that you’re pissed.”
“Obviously.”
“Enough.” I pull the car over with a jerk of the wheel and turn to face her.
“I know you’re angry. And we’ll work through this later. Right now, we’ve got too much on the line for you to pull this bullshit.”
“I’m not the one who pulled bullshit. God, I can’t wait for this to be over with.” Her voice catches as she goes to turn away from me, but I won’t allow her. Grabbing her chin, I force her eyes to mine.
“You listen to me,” I say in a low voice. “I know you’re hurt. But if we’re not a team right now, someone could get seriously harmed.”
Though she opens her mouth to protest, she quickly shuts it. I can only hope she listens to reasoning.
“Fine.”
God, what I wouldn’t give to spank the hell out of her and fuck every thread of resistance from her body right here, right now, in the back of this car.
I’m not a patient man.
“I’ll bring the talisman as instructed. They’ll give me my brother. That’s how it’s supposed to go. They’ll expect me to attack, which I have no intention of doing when I’m outnumbered and at a disadvantage. I have backup nearby, and our only plan today is to find out who did this.”
“Got it.” She gives me a nod.
Okay, good, we’re getting someplace.
“Then we leave. My backup will find who did this.”
“And you’ll get revenge. Peachy.”
Motherfucker.
I’d give anything to be able to bring her back to me. To soothe that anger in her eyes and warm the coldness in her voice. To tear down the wall she’s built up between the two of us. To hold her and tell her I love her.
“Nicolette. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to hit the ground, you hit the ground. Whoever they had at The Underground saw you, and now they’re demanding you come with me, so I can only imagine why.”
Finally, a flicker of fear passes over her face. I don’t want her to be afraid, but I want her to understand what we’re walking into.
I pull back onto the road and hit the gas, driving even faster than before.
“What do you know of the Baths of Caldane?”
“Uh… that would be nothing. Ugh.”
The Baths of Caldane are twenty minutes from La Maison.
It’s both the longest and shortest twenty minutes of my life.
“Nature’s spa,” I explain. “They’re surrounded by mountains. There’s heated sulfur water that churns in a whirlpool. People swear it cures arthritis and skin rashes.”
“And why do you think they’ve asked us to meet them there?”
I turn onto the road that takes us there. Thayer’s mapped it out and explained where we can park under the cover of trees, to give us a bit more freedom to approach more stealthily.
“I’d guess they have an advantage over us here. Not sure why. Someone knows a secret passageway or has an in with someone in charge of running it. For whatever reason, they’ll want to pick a place that puts them at an advantage.”
“So it’s remote?”
“Yes, and closed to the public.”
Frowning, she looks thoughtful. “It would be a good place to drown someone, then?”
“Absolutely.”
I pull in and park the car.
“Well that’s lovely.”
The Baths of Caldane are still shadowed in the remnants of night.
Lights illuminate the water from beneath the surface of the calm springs.
Made to look like swimming pools, the majestic, opulent baths feature statues and stones, and spotlights on the glimmering surface.
I reach for Nicolette to tuck her by my side, but she pushes me away.
I grit my teeth and walk beside her.
I hate that we have this distance between us. I hate that she’s leaving when she’s done with our arrangement. I hate that her anger toward me might endanger her.
I have to save my brother and Nicolette.
I want that talisman.
“Do you see anyone?” I ask Nicolette in a low voice. Hidden beneath trees, Thayer sits, prepared to ambush. He has only two other men with him. Any more would’ve put us at a disadvantage.
“There’s someone sitting under that awning.” She jerks her head to show me.
I’d recognize that shock of hair a mile away. Lyam.
I’ve forced myself to do what I had to. I’ve focused on what I need to do to bring him home. But seeing my younger brother alone, silhouetted under the rock-hewn roof, my heart lurches.
I want to rush to him. I want to bring him home and present him to Maman, who’s probably near frantic by now. I want to take my anger and turn it toward whoever the fuck messed with my family.
But I don’t. I stay calm. I nod to Nicolette.
“You do—”
“Exactly what you say, yeah, yeah, I know.”
I press my lips together and focus. I’ll get her alone, and soon, and then we’ll sort this shit out.
“Stop right there.”
Nicolette and I stop.
Silence.
“You took my brother.” My voice booms in the quiet. “You bullied me into stealing something that could’ve killed me and my partner. And you don’t have the goddamn balls to show your face?”
Silence.
I hear something to my left. And my right. Nicolette looks at me with wide eyes and a look of determination.
“Take the talisman and lay it on the fountain.”
I look around until I see a stone-hewn fountain beside one of the bubbling baths. In the chill morning, steam rises from the water.
“Give me my brother first.”
Silence.
From where we stand, I can see Lyam get to his feet and walk toward us. I nod to Nicolette to put the talisman on the fountain. The second Lyam reaches me, I grab him in an embrace and whisper in his ear, “Who did this? Do you have any idea?”
“No,” he says quickly. “Did you feed the rats to my snakes while I was gone?”
What the hell is he talking about? He’s worried about his snakes right now? Nicolette looks at him as if he’s lost his mind.
I’m not in charge of his pets. He’s the one that takes care of them and keeps them out of my mother’s way, because she considers them evil somehow.
Feed my snakes rats…
Wait.
When we talk of politics, my family refers to politicians as rats. He isn’t asking about his snakes. He’s telling me the person behind this is a politician.
“Thank you for bringing the girl,” the loud, booming voice says over the speakers. “And the talisman. Now release your brother and make a choice.”
A frigid chill skates down my spine. I don’t like being at a disadvantage. I imagine Thayer prowling behind me, determined not to leave me alone to handle this.
“Now. It’s time for you to make a choice, Monsieur Gerard. Just like you made me choose.”
What?
I run through the catalog of possibilities in my mind. Who is this? What are they referring to?
How dare they threaten me?
Rats.
Politicians.
Choice…
It dawns on me with a clarity that chills me to my bones.
“Who are you?” I demand. “And what choice? I brought you what you wanted. I’m taking my brother and I’m—”
Nicolette screams. I look sharply to where she stands, my weapon drawn. Two masked men have hold of her.
“Your brother or the girl. One of them leaves here alive.”
I. Will. Kill. Them.
Without missing a beat, I shake my head with a forced laugh. “Is that supposed to be a hard choice? Take her.”
I expect Nicolette to look furious, but she doesn’t. Instead, her teeth chatter and her body jerks as if I’ve slapped her. And maybe I have. Words can cut more than weapons.
I tap my earpiece that communicates directly to Thayer.
“Now.”
I toss Lyam my gun and grab the second I have in a holster.
The man holding Nicolette draws his weapon, but he’s too late.
My bullet pierces skin and bone when I hit him straight between the eyes.
Nicolette screams and falls to her knees as three armed men swarm us.
But my men are faster. My men are prepared.
Lyam never misses, and Thayer has no conscience. Our adversaries drop like flies. A stray bullet hits the talisman. It falls like a star struck from heaven, and splashes into the pool.
I stare at it for a split second. I could get it. I could get it and run but I’d have to leave Nicolette.
I lift her off the ground, sling her over my shoulder, and run.