Chapter Twenty
Brody stood in the center of what had been a war zone. No gunfire now. No threats of death. Just the chaos that followed an ordeal like that.
The sun had fully risen, casting shadows over the inn’s construction site. It no longer looked spooky and haunted, but Brody knew he’d never be able to look at the place and not recall the nightmare that had gone on there.
A nightmare that had ended with two dead and two injured. A huge toll, but he knew it could have been a whole lot worse. He could have lost Remi when she’d created that distraction, and the images of Tarrant’s shots coming so close to her would stay with him for a very long time.
At the thought of that, Brody brushed the back of his hand over Remi’s.
She was right next to him. Literally. Arm to arm with him.
Other than the hand touch, neither of them was moving.
Both were just standing there and taking in the scene unfolding in front of them.
They were probably in shock, the weight of everything that had happened settling deep into their bones.
Yeah, all of this would stay with him for a long time.
The air still smelled like gunpowder and dust, the remnants of the chaos Tarrant and Eloise had created.
Across the site, paramedics were loading Maria and Langley into ambulances.
Maria was pale, shaken, but alive. Langley was whining about pain, but Brody didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for him.
The man had helped Tarrant once before. He’d played his part in all of this.
Nearby, Jolene had moved in to question Christina and to take her gun so it could be bagged.
His deputy had done that not just because the weapon was a safety risk but because it would need to be entered into evidence and tested.
A lot of things would go under scrutiny of the lab techs and CSIs, but Brody had no doubts that in the end, the conclusion would be that he and Remi had done exactly what they’d had to do to neutralize the threat and survive.
And the reasons for those threats were lying on the ground.
The ME’s team had arrived shortly after the ambulances and backup, and one assistant was with Tarrant’s body, the other with Eloise’s.
Soon, they’d both be bagged as well and transported to the morgue for autopsies.
That would generate yet more reports, more discussions. More of the aftermath of the chaos.
Brody glanced over when he heard a familiar clicking sound. Harlan had Zeke restrained and was slapping cuffs around his wrists. The former bodyguard wasn’t resisting. He just kept staring at Eloise’s body, his expression lost, his lips moving in a constant mutter.
“That wasn’t supposed to play out like this,” Zeke said, his voice hoarse. “I loved her. She wasn’t supposed to die.”
Brody scowled at the man. Love or not, Zeke had helped Eloise arrange this nightmare. He’d played a part in using Brody’s sons as pawns. And Brody would make sure Zeke paid for that. At any point, the bodyguard could have stepped in and stopped his employer, but he hadn’t.
“You killed for Eloise,” Brody spat out. “You’re the one who tied up the loose ends by murdering the people she hired to set up this plan.”
Zeke didn’t deny it. “I did it because she was hurting for her son. I wanted to help.”
Brody wanted to punch him and try to shake some sense into him. He was a cold-blooded killer, no better than Tarrant, and Brody hoped he stayed in prison for the rest of his miserable life.
Remi shifted, turning to watch Harlan as he led Zeke away to a waiting cruiser. Brody could see exhaustion in her face, the same weariness he felt pressing in on him.
“It’s over,” she murmured.
Brody wasn’t sure if that was relief he heard in her voice or something else. Maybe she was waiting for him to say something. Maybe she was waiting for him to decide what came next.
He wasn’t sure he had an answer.
“Boss, you want to ask him anything before I take him to the station?” Harlan called out.
Brody looked at his deputy motioning toward Zeke who was now secured in the back seat of the cruiser. Despite the bone-weary fatigue from the spent adrenaline, Brody did indeed have some questions, and he and Remi made their way over.
“I’ve Mirandized him,” Harlan volunteered, stepping to the side.
“Good, thanks,” Brody said, and he aimed a cold, hard stare at Zeke. He didn’t bother to tone down any of the hatred and disgust he felt for this man.
“I want names of anyone who helped you and Eloise,” Brody demanded.
He expected Zeke to try to stonewall him. He didn’t. The man kept his blank stare in the direction of Eloise’s body. “Lila Montgomery,” he muttered. “And Dr. Theodore Watkins.”
Brody knew the first name, of course. She was the dead nurse. But this was the first time he was hearing the doctor’s name. He gave a nod to Harlan, who was already taking out his phone, no doubt to try to track him down.
“Is Watkins the one who stole the embryos and used a surrogate to have my sons?” Brody asked.
Zeke nodded. “Eloise met him in her survivors’ support group. The doctor owed money to the wrong people, so Eloise got him to work for her.”
Work. That word riled Brody to the core. Because that work had ultimately put a whole bunch of people, including his sons, in danger.
“Who else helped?” Brody snapped.
Zeke shook his head. “The woman who hired the surrogate. Not sure who she was. Just someone Eloise found. She found the doctor, too, and I took care of him. As for the rest of it, Eloise and I did all of it.”
Hell, that word all enraged him too, and that’s when Brody knew he had to take a step back. Remi must have sensed his bubbling anger as well because she caught his hand in hers for a moment.
“Joe and Daniel are safe,” she whispered to him.
He needed that reminder. Needed it bad. And Brody got a flash of a different kind of memory. Not of the nightmare but of his sons sleeping in their crib.
Remi was part of that memory. Right there at the crib beside him. And he suddenly wanted them to re-create that.
“I need to go home for a while,” he told Harlan.
“Yeah, you should,” Harlan agreed. “I’ll handle anything that needs wrapping up here.”
Brody thanked him, and he and Remi stepped away, heading toward his cruiser.
They didn’t make it far, though, because Christina approached them.
She looked just as shocked as them, her eyes scanning the carnage around them.
For all her ruthlessness, she was still human, still capable of being rattled by the kind of violence she’d just witnessed.
She stopped in front of them, taking a long breath before speaking. “I don’t even know what to say,” she admitted. “You got justice for my sister.”
Brody studied her, trying to gauge if there was anything more behind her words. She’d wanted Tarrant dead, but she hadn’t been willing to go as far as Eloise.
“I had no idea what Eloise was up to,” Christina added, shaking her head. “I knew she was desperate, but I didn’t think she’d go that far.”
Brody and Remi exchanged a glance. They believed her. Christina was ruthless in her own right, but she played by a different set of rules. Added to that, the stakes were higher for her than Eloise, since Christina had a child to raise.
Christina blew out a hard breath, looking toward Tarrant’s body, now covered by a tarp as the crime-scene techs worked. “I’m glad he’s dead. And Langley…I hope they throw him in a hole and never let him out.”
“He’ll be in jail for a long time,” Brody assured her.
“The charges against him are stacking up fast. He’s the one who helped Tarrant steal Grace’s embryo.
That alone will put him away for a long time, not to mention his part in covering for Tarrant after he killed your sister.
That makes him accessory after the fact to murder. ”
Christina nodded, her lips pressing together. “Good.” She looked at Brody and Remi again. “I owe you both a thank-you.” She didn’t wait for a response. She gave them a small nod and turned, walking back toward Jolene.
Brody scanned the scene one last time before turning to Remi. “We need to get out of here before anyone else stalls us.”
She nodded without a shred of hesitation. “Agreed.”
They didn’t waste any more time. They walked to the cruiser, and Brody climbed into the driver’s seat while Remi got in beside him.
Navigating out of the chaos was a challenge.
The scene was packed with vehicles: Eloise’s, Christina’s, Langley’s and those of the responders.
The CSIs had sent out not one but two vans, and they were squeezed in next to the ME’s.
Brody had to thread his way through the mess, but he finally got out on the road.
The drive was silent, the weight of everything that had happened pressing down on them. But for the first time in days, Brody felt something close to relief.
When he took the turn to his ranch and the house came into view, Brody slowed the cruiser and then stopped. He wanted to take it in for a moment. Not the blood and gore from the crime scene but this.
Home.
And the morning sunlight was certainly showcasing it. It was doing the same to Remi, she realized. The sun was practically dancing off her amazing face.
Without a word, he reached for her, unhooking her seat belt.
His fingers curved around the back of her neck as he pulled her into his arms. Their mouths met in a kiss that was hard and fast, a collision of pent-up emotion, adrenaline and something deeper.
Something that had been building for far too long.
But then it slowed.
The urgency gave way to something even stronger, something that wasn’t just about desperation or relief.
He tilted his head, deepening the kiss, his hand sliding down to cup her waist, anchoring her to him.
The heat between them smoldered, stretching into something that felt like both comfort and need.
And something even more than that.