Chapter 41
The strength of Will’s arms increased, holding me tighter as Ben wrangled the gun’s barrel upward and another bullet shot into the air again and struck the wall. Chandelier crystals split into shards and rained down over us.
Ben and Seth Green wrestled for control of the gun. Seth thrashed and fumbled, and the gun skidded over the floor out of their reach. Thomas grabbed it.
Gripping Seth’s head, Ben wrenched it at an angle that snapped his neck.
The sight of it was horrifying, the sound utterly sickening.
I freaked the fuck out, burying my face on Will’s neck and clutching at him, digging my nails into his flesh, choking on the tears and the blood filling my mouth.
Will purred his soothing words to me.
“Easy, baby…I’ve got you…we’re okay…you’re okay...”
He held me on the floor until Thomas stood over us and the security team had the Green brothers in custody. Will didn’t let go, not even once after we were on our feet. He kept me wrapped up inside his arms while he gave orders.
“Where is my mother? Anyone?” Thomas shouted.
“S-she’s with Robert upstairs,” I sputtered.
Will signaled to one of the guards.
“Upstairs with my brother. John, get our mum and the girls in one room. Everyone stays there until you hear from me or Thomas.”
I choked again, and Will rubbed his hand gently over my back.
“It’s a precaution, Elle. They’ll be safe.”
Robert had come back down. He walked up and reached for my arm.
“I’ll take Ellie upstairs to your mum,” he said.
Joe Turner stepped between us, moving Robert’s hand away from me.
“Step back, sir. Miss James stays with us.”
Will nodded his approval at Joe and barked out more orders.
“Get that fucking thing out of my house. Leave it outside for the police. Move the rest of these people off the estate and lock it down. Keep the Greens here until I can talk to them myself. And then everyone meet me in the war room.”
That fucking thingwas Seth Green’s body.
Bile burned the back of my throat.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to Will.
No, I can do better than that.
I lifted my chin to say it again with more composure, but he stopped me, taking my face into his hands.
“Don’t you apologize for this, Elle. What happened here tonight is my fault.”
A wave of cold resentment rushed though me—none of it was Will’s fault. I pressed my blood-stained lips against his.
“No, they forced your hand.”
He only stared at me, his eyes reflecting controlled anger.
And then he wrapped his arm around my waist and led me to his war room.
Will studied the security monitors, examining every corner of the estate while we waited for the others to complete their tasks and get to the war room.
Strategic thoughts flashed in his eyes.
His determination was a force unto itself.
As the men came in one-by-one, I realized it was the first time for me being in the same room with his entire team assembled at once.
Loyal men. Dangerous soldiers. Men who followed Will to help protect me. Men who I owed more respect than I’d given.
Thomas and John devoted themselves to Will because it was in their blood and because they fiercely loved him.
The other men were loyal of their own free will. And those were the faces I explored now.
The hardened expressions of Ben Scott and Joe Turner.
I studied the lines and creases on the foreheads and around the eyes of Andrew, Colin, Daniel, and Eric. All had once carried the weight of Britain’s protection on their backs.
Uncle Robert came in with the last man.
“Can I be of some assistance?”
From previous conversations with Thomas, I’d gathered that Robert and their father’s relationship had been rocky. That might’ve been the reason for Will’s detachment when it came to his uncle.
“Not in here. Spend your time here at Eastridge with Mum. Help her with her grief.”
Watching Robert leave, I wondered if I was also in Will’s way. Would my presence hinder the conversations he needed to have with his team?
He still had to handle the Green brothers. Were they rogue or connected to the men coming after us? He had to deal with the police as well. And he needed to freely strategize with his team.
Excusing myself might spare him from worrying about what I thought or if I saw him differently. I wouldn’t. But if leaving him to it was one of the few things I could give him, to ease his mind, then I had to go. Everyone knew the scales of our relationship tipped in his favor when it came to giving and sacrifice.
I folded back his sleeves, touched his bare forearms.
“I want to go upstairs, Will. I’ll check on Mary and the girls, then wait for you in your room.”
His shoulders relaxed, then he turned to the guys sitting around the table.
“I’ll be back in a minute. Get started with a detailed rundown. I want every meter of this estate secured. No mistakes. Thomas, put one of your drones up and have a look.”
Will wrapped his strong, tattooed arm around me, and we headed upstairs, stopping outside of Lissie’s bedroom, where they had all gathered.
“You’ve recovered remarkably well tonight,” he said.
He was right. I had found the strength to get myself together, to accept what I couldn’t change. My connection to him…that was where I got my strength.
I smiled and pulled his forehead down to mine.
“You deserve the credit for that, Will.”
Our lips connected softly, and we lingered there for a second.
His tenderness made me high.
Watching him go, I whispered at his back.
“You’ve changed me.”
When Will made it to his room a few hours later, exhausted, he rubbed the back of his neck and cursed to himself.
I sat up in the bed.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.
“You didn’t. I can’t sleep. What is it…what’s wrong?”
He sat at the edge and dropped his head.
“This goddamn life with me, the things I must do…it won’t be easy for you.”
I got on my knees behind him and massaged the muscles in his shoulders and his neck.
“Our life together will never be easy, not for either one of us.”
He took one of my hands and pulled it around to his lips.
“You deserve more than some fucking mercenary.”
“You’re not that, not anymore. You had no choice before, but now you make the rules?—”
“—if you want something else, baby.”
He hesitated with that, but I sure as hell didn’t.
“Don’t do that, Will. Don’t you dare do that to me.”
“You have the right to choose how you spend the rest of your life.”
I climbed around onto his lap to face him.
“No, my father left me without a choice. But when it comes to who I spend my life with, you’re right—that’s my decision. And I’ve decided. I know who you are, Will. I know your past haunts you. And I know the lives taken since we came together were only to save mine. You’re my lifeline.”
He put his arms around me but still stared at the floor.
“More than that, you’re the man I love,” I added.
His eyes met mine, and I went on, determined to not let us fall apart.
“Don’t destroy us. We’re not Ethan and Isabel. We will live, and we’ll find our way through this. So here’s what I want from you…I want you to take my freedom back from the bastards who stole it from me, from us. You take it, Will, and give it back to me.”
He drew me in tightly against his body and put his face on my neck.
“Jesus, Elle. Christ, how I need you.”
My heartbeat was strong in that moment, and I wanted him to hear it before anxiety took it from me again. I wrapped my arms around his head and pulled his ear to my chest.
“I’m not going anywhere, Will.”
He nodded, then we lay down and held each other. We fell asleep that way, clinging to each other.
Hours later when I woke up, we were lying face to face, and Will stared at me. His eyes were clear again, the dark circles beneath them fading, and the muscles in his face had relaxed.
“Why aren’t you in the gym this morning with your brothers?” I asked.
He plucked rose petals out of my hair.
“You slept so peacefully, Elle.”
“You should wake me when you don’t go downstairs.”
He placed his hand on the back of my head and pulled me to his mouth.
“I’ll never do that.”
“What are you going to do today…back to London?”
“Not today. I’ll spend time in the gym, catch up on business calls. The sun is shining again, baby, and it’s quite warm. We’ll go to the beach and have dinner out.”
A warm, ethereal feeling flowed through me.
I smiled and touched his face.
His eyes charged with commitment, determination.
He kissed me hard enough to force my head back, and then he got out of bed, stretching his body like the lion king he was meant to be. He turned back to me one more time before hitting the bathroom.
“I swear to you, I’ll take what belongs to us…starting with this fucking town...today…”