Chapter 19 #2
“I don’t know what you said to her, Markham, but if you want to speak to her again, you go through me.” Rhys ground out the words as Livingston caught up with them. He wanted to say more but issuing death threats in the presence of an FBI special agent probably wasn’t a good idea.
“Take him away.” Livingston turned to Taylor. “Are you all right?”
Rhys spun around, dreading what he might find. Taylor was pale, frighteningly so, and looked to be almost in a state of shock. “Tay?”
She lifted her gaze to meet his, but there was a bleakness to it that caused him genuine alarm. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into the shelter of his body. She needed to get away from here, and fast, no matter what Livingston needed from them.
“You can see she’s in shock. I know you’ll need statements from us, but it’ll have to wait. I’m taking her home.”
Livingston’s eyes darted from Rhys to Taylor and back again, finally swinging away in the direction of the agents taking their prisoner away. “He’ll be going in front of the judge on Monday. It would be… useful if we could have your statements before then. I’ll call you later.”
Rhys lifted his chin to acknowledge the concession. “You got my number?”
Livingston removed his cell phone from his pocket and swiped the screen with his thumb several times, before reciting a number. “That yours?”
“It is. We’ll talk later.”
As the agent left, Rhys’ arms tightened around Taylor.
“Don’t try telling me you’re okay—a blind man could see you’re not.
Let’s go home, fy nghariad. I’ll talk to Livingston when he calls, and if you’re not ready to see Nick and Charity, I’ll run interference until tomorrow.
And… I want you to stay with me tonight.
I don’t want you to be alone. Are you okay with all of that? ”
After an agonizing few seconds, he felt her nod of agreement against his shoulder. “I can’t believe what just happened. It doesn’t seem real.”
It was real, all right. “Listen to me. I know it’s difficult, but for now, all you need to remember is, the good guys won, the bad guys lost, and everything will be all right. I promise.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
Maybe, on one level, it was, for everyone except Taylor.
For her, if what he’d heard proved to be true, her world had been swept from beneath her feet and fed into a woodchipper.
She’d be mentally and emotionally drained—hardly surprising—and was likely about to hit the wall of an adrenaline crash. There was only one thing to do now.
On the way back to the ranch, Rhys didn’t attempt to open up a conversation with Taylor, and once they were back on the ranch property, he heaved a silent sigh of relief that they were almost home.
Now, all they had to do was run the gauntlet of Nick and Charity.
It wouldn’t be right to sneak past the main house and leave them wondering how Taylor was.
The main ranch house door was flung wide before Rhys even put the pickup in park. Charity came running out, with Nick right behind her.
“Thank God you’re both back and safe.” Nick opened the driver’s door, while his wife did the same for Taylor.
Rhys stepped down from the pickup and closed the door, to be greeted with a brief, back-slapping masculine hug. “Glad to be back.”
“What happened?” Nick asked.
Rhys glanced over to the other side of the vehicle, where the two women were still clinging to each other.
Much though he wanted to hold Taylor himself, he was glad she had her friend to support her.
“More than either of us bargained for. The FBI took the kidnappers into custody, along with Markham and the woman.”
“Wait.” Nick’s expression took on a look of disbelief. “They arrested the kidnap victims?”
“Blackmailers. At least, Markham is. Was. The woman might be charged as an accomplice or an accessory, depending on her degree of involvement.”
Nick ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. “Hell. How’s Taylor taken it?”
“I’m not sure it’s fully sunk in yet, but that’s not all. Before the two of them were taken away, she had a very short conversation with her father. Turns out, Charles Markham isn’t her biological father. Or claims not to be.”
Nick was as shocked by the revelation as Rhys had been. “Jesus. Come on, let’s get inside. Is there anything else I should be aware of?”
They started toward the ranch house, Rhys falling into step beside his boss. “I’m waiting for a call from Livingston. He still needs statements from us.”
“Okay. Is that it?”
The thought had occurred to Rhys on the way back.
“Just a gut feeling, but I think Taylor needs to have a proper conversation with her… with Markham. Thing is, I’m not sure when she’s going to get a chance, or even when she’s going to feel up to speaking to him.
She’s been through a hell of a lot today, so she might not be in the right place to have that talk for a while.
Although, by the time she is, it might be too late, because he’ll be in the bowels of the criminal justice system. ”
Rhys slowed his pace to let Taylor and Charity catch up. They were wrapped up in a conversation all their own, and whatever they were discussing, Taylor was relatively more animated than he would have expected. He wondered how much of it was bravado.
“Agreed.” Nick ushered everyone into the ranch house.
“I’ll get us some coffee, and then I suggest you head over either to your place, Rhys, or Taylor’s, and try to relax.
See what Livingston says and take it from there.
And whatever happens, you have our support and all the time you need to take care of business until this is resolved. ”
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Taylor didn’t argue when Rhys suggested going to his place. As soon as they made it through the door, he witnessed the complete and utter disintegration of the courageous front she’d sustained since Markham’s revelation.
“Come here,” he murmured, taking her hand and drawing her closer. “You’re home now. You’re safe.”
She rested her head against his shoulder. “I don’t know where to start. I feel lost. I don’t even know who I am anymore.”
Desolation was in every word she uttered—so deep, she was beyond tears. If ever there was a time he needed to be there for her, this was it.
“I know who you are, Tay,” he said softly. “You’re your own woman. You don’t need validation from him. You don’t need validation from me. You are strong and brave, and you have this. And if there is a time when you do need a little extra help, I’m here for you. Always will be. No strings.”
To his great surprise, he heard a quiet hint of a chuckle. “Tay?”
She sniffled and lifted her head away from his shoulder. “You know, I was just thinking, if someone had told me months ago that all this was going to happen, that I was going to be here, with you, like this, there’s no way I would have believed them.”
He had to laugh then. “You too?”
Some of the tension eased from her body. “You know what? I’m not sure I’m feeling it yet, but in some ways, I have to be grateful for this whole, sorry mess.”
Rhys’ eyebrows almost launched off the top of his head. “Why’s that?”
“If this hadn’t happened, if Po—if Charles Markham hadn’t sent the drive and the documents to me, we wouldn’t be here like this right now. I’d still be fighting how I feel about you.”
“There is that,” he agreed, “although I’d like to think we’d have ended up like this eventually.”
She burrowed closer to him. “Me, too.”
At least she sounded a lot happier about that. He kissed her forehead. “I know you’re in an unbelievable situation right now, but I think there’s something specific that’s really bothering you. Want to tell me what it is?”
Her expression reflected a deep inner sadness. “This is going to sound stupid. I almost called him Pops—he isn’t, never has been, so what do I call him now?”
Rhys wasn’t sure he could help with that quandary. “It might take a while, but my guess is it doesn’t really matter, because you’ll eventually stop thinking about him at all. Everything will work out fine.”
“You think?”
Rhys would be the last to claim he was any kind of philosopher, so there was no way he was going to try to offer anything deep and meaningful. “Yes, I do think. Life changes all the time. As we’ve already said, think about where we were a few months ago, then look at where we are now.”
Her gaze met his, and in her eyes, he saw everything she felt for him. He hoped she could see the same in his for her. “I like where we are now, but there’s one thing I’d like to change.”
He raised a questioning eyebrow.