Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
In that instant, Tyler absolutely hated himself. He could feel Esme’s pain like a living, breathing beast in the room. He closed the file. Stared at the screen and tried to figure out how the hell to comfort her. But what comfort could he give?
She’d watched the video, and now Esme thought her father had killed the man she loved.
Esme loved him.
It had been in her voice. A softness. A wistfulness. He’d heard it and hated it.
Tyler released his clenched jaw. “You can’t jump to conclusions. There was no proof that your father planned the bombing in that video. He could have just been getting a coffee or something.”
“He doesn’t just get coffee. He has people for that.” Wooden. “He didn’t know I was going to be in the café that day. I-I wasn’t supposed to be. I told him about all the other times I was meeting Louis, but not that day. Not that time.”
Tyler stood up and slowly turned to face her. He needed to hold her because her pain was wrecking something inside of him, but he was almost afraid to touch her. “Esme.”
“Louis believed my father was a monster. He told me that on day one. I told him that he was wrong. He had to be, didn’t he? Louis was using me in order to try and get intel on my father. I was using him so that I could tell my father everything the CIA and the Feds were thinking. All of their nasty plots.” Soft, bitter laughter. “Not like Jorlan’s party was the first time a big, joint task force was at work in my life. I’ve certainly seen the play before.”
“You thought your father was innocent.”
Her eyes seemed even darker. “I thought he wasn’t a monster. There’s a difference between being innocent and not being the devil himself. I knew my father wasn’t a saint. I just didn’t think he was the man who wanted the whole world to burn.”
The café had burned.
“There isn’t proof in that video,” Tyler had to say the words.
“There are two more videos left to play.”
Shit. “I am a bastard.” He’d done this. She’d begged, and he’d still sent her straight to hell by playing the first video.
She gazed at him. He expected to see tears in her eyes. There weren’t any. But there were plenty of shadows.
“I can watch,” he told her, his voice more gruff than normal. “You don’t have to see what’s there.”
“It’s not me who will be hurt by the next video.”
What?
“I saw the date on it.”
Curious, he turned back.
“You had a really nice life growing up, didn’t you?” Esme’s tone was guarded. “A mom who loved you. A father who came to every football game. A great house. Plenty of money. Maybe a little too much money?”
“My grandfather was wealthy,” Tyler said. He chose his words with care. He’d always needed to be careful when he talked about his grandfather. A lesson he’d been taught as a child. “Dad didn’t want anything to do with the cash, but it kept coming. My grandfather always sent it.” Until he’d died, and then Tyler had inherited everything. Good and bad.
“Sometimes, it’s hard to cut ties,” she murmured. “Even when you know a final cut is for the best.”
He realized that he didn’t want to watch the second video. It was going to be bad.
Except he’d learned long ago that you couldn’t hide from bad things in this world. No matter how hard you tried. So Tyler opened the file. It was a long-distance shot of a car. A sleek, black ride that was driving along a curving road.
He knew that road.
And that car.
No, fuck me, no.
The car dipped into the curve.
And exploded.
Her hand was on his shoulder again because he’d sank back into the desk chair.
“What the fuck…?” Tyler snarled as his hands clenched into fists. He wanted to pound those fists into the computer and beat it into bits. “What the fuck does my parents’ death have to do with the café in Paris?”
That car, that road…
“I believe the same bomber was at work in both instances. Or at least, the same individual who hired the bombers. ”
He shook his head. “You told me that terrorists were caught for the Paris café bombing.”
“Yes, they were caught. They were charged. They confessed. They were tied to three other bombings in Europe. But, sometimes, things are not as they appear. I’ve warned you about that so many times.” She squeezed his shoulder. “I am sorry.”
And again, he shot out of the chair. He rounded on her as fury and confusion poured through his veins. “Those are my parents in that car! I know that car—I rode in it all the time! And that’s the road near our house in Texas. My parents were in the fucking car that I just watched explode. ”
Now, he could see the tears swimming in her eyes. “I begged you not to watch. I’m sorry.”
She was sorry. She was sorry? He was the one who’d demanded they watch. He was the one who’d made her see the man she loved die.
She was sorry.
He shoved the chair out of the way. The damn chair separated them. And Tyler pulled her into his arms even as the chair crashed onto the floor. He held her far too tightly. He should not. He should not hold her this way.
“Don’t.” Soft. From Esme. Her hands fluttered over his arms, and she didn’t hold him back. “Tyler, don’t you see? You can’t touch me. You can’t want me. You can’t— I’m sorry.” Broken. Whispered. “It was him. I don’t know why he did it. But it was him. He did this, and you can’t want me. You can’t ever love me. You can’t—” The words ended as she tried to jerk away from him.
He didn’t let her go. He wasn’t letting her go. But his head lifted and he stared down at the horror and pain on her face. And he understood the bleakness in her eyes. “You think your father killed my family. ”
“I didn’t. I swear, I didn’t think it was going to be him.” A tear slid down her cheek. “Not until I saw him in the first video.”
“How did you know about this fucking drive? How did you know it would be in the safe that night?” Rage vibrated in each word. “How did you know my family’s murder would be on the drive?” Because she’d known the second video would hurt him. She’d said as much. So she’d known the murder was on there? What could hurt more than his family’s murder? Nothing.
“I heard Jorlan mention the drive’s location. I was somewhere I shouldn’t be.” A ghost of a smile came and went on her face. The dimples barely flashed. “As I so often am. He said the drive was his security. That it would keep the predators at bay. He was untouchable as long as he possessed it. I’d already paid…informants to learn that there was an important recording of the café explosion.”
He waited. There had to be more.
“When I was researching you, I learned about what happened to your parents. The way they’d died made me suspicious. I-I picked up a few more details from some very dangerous individuals that made me realize the two bombings might be connected.” She swallowed. “Then you put the drive in the computer, and I saw the date listed next to the second video.”
She’d known the date of his parents’ death.
“I saw two bombings.” The rage wanted to swamp him, but Tyler wouldn’t let it. He spoke through clenched teeth. “But I didn’t see a damn thing that told me your father was guilty.” She seemed so very certain. Why? “What do you know about your father that makes you think he’s evil?”
“I don’t want him to be evil. I want to be wrong. But he was in the café. It blew up after he left. My father knew that Louis was working to bring him down.”
My parents. My parents. He shoved the rage back and tried to focus. Things weren’t adding up for him. “Why the hell did Louis think your father was guilty?” There were too many missing pieces.
“Because, like me, my father is also often in places where he should not be. Consider it a family trait.”
She thinks her father killed my parents. “Your father wasn’t the only person in that first video. Thaddeus Caldwell was there, too. And the hitman who recently came after you—that hitman just died while in federal custody.” A pause as his mind sorted through possibilities. “Do you think your father could have gotten inside a federal facility and had someone killed?” Or was it Thaddeus doing the dirty work?
“I think my father can get in and out of just about any place.”
He needed to watch the third video.
But in his mind, Tyler kept seeing the footage of his parents’ car. Exploding.
Just like the café exploded.
“I didn’t want you to see them die. I’m so sorry, Tyler.”
“How did you know they were on the video?” His hands wrapped tightly around her arms. “How the hell could you have known that?”
“Jorlan doesn’t like you,” she breathed. “You fought him in boarding school. Punched him out in front of everyone. He acted as if he got over it. He didn’t. He never forgets or forgives a slight.” The delicate column of her throat moved. “That’s why he won’t stop until he finds me. It’s not the seven million on my head that worried me so much. It was him. He scares me. ”
“ How the fuck do you know so much? ” About Jorlan. About the CIA. The Feds. Me. Hell, she’d even known Kane.
“I know because information is my business. I don’t just steal pretty jewels. I can buy jewels. You can’t buy information. You have to trade for it. Barter. Work deals that you would rather forget.”
Is that why she steals? She is working her deals? There was so much he felt like she was not telling him.
“I try, but, believe me, I don’t know everything. It’s impossible to know everything in this world. Hell, I didn’t even know about Clay, not until we got here, and I realized you had a close bond with him. I mean, I retrieved intel on some of your old Marine buddies—like Kane—but I could hardly pull up classified information on everyone you knew. I’m good, but I’m not all-knowing. Despite my best efforts.” An exhale. “I try,” she repeated again, sounding almost defeated.
Rage pulsed inside of him. “How the fuck did you know that my parents would be on the USB drive?” That was the million dollar question for him.
“Jorlan bragged to one of his men once that he had something you wanted. Very badly. I do know you, you see. Made it a point to know you after you saved my life. You were my specialty. My focus.” A soft exhale. “I know the one thing you want is what you never got. Despite your best efforts.”
His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
“You wanted justice for your parents. You woke up one morning, and your whole life was gone. Wiped away. The cops didn’t even fully investigate, did they? They just gave you a story about faulty wiring.”
A story he’d never believed .
“No one was caught. No one was punished. Justice—it’s the only thing you want. Jorlan knew it. He was going to use it as a bargaining tool with you. Only I took his bargaining chip away.”
He could not wrap his head around all this no matter how hard he tried. It was too much. “Your bombing. My parents’ death. What the hell is on the third video?” He had to see it. Tyler let her go. The chair was on the floor. He kicked it aside more. Then he clicked on that third file. He could barely breathe as he waited to see what would appear.
Louis’s face appeared. A close-up shot. Louis glanced over his shoulder. Then back at the camera. “This is my insurance,” he stated gruffly. “In case things get as bad as I suspect they will. No one can be trusted. Not at the Bureau. Not at the CIA. I won’t turn over jack shit to them. If I do, they’ll destroy you. I don’t want that.” He acted as if he was talking directly to someone. They’ll destroy you. He exhaled and spoke straight into the camera. “It all has to vanish. Disappear. I have a plan, but…shit, in case something goes wrong—this is all I can leave behind. You’ll find it. You will search here. You know me better than anyone.” His gaze sharpened. “ You know me, Esme.”
Esme. Louis was talking into the camera, talking straight to Esme. And she was finally hearing his message.
“You found this video, didn’t you?” Louis asked. “ You know me. ”
As he peered into the man’s hazel’s eyes and saw the intense emotion on his face, Tyler felt jealousy rise. He loved Esme. Great. Savage jealousy, lethal fury—just the combo Tyler needed as he fought to hold onto the razor-thin edge of his control.
“Your father is dirty, Esme,” Louis said in the video. “It’s not just about some hobby where he steals for a high. It’s bad. Up to his eyes bad. You won’t believe that because you love him. But it’s true. His enemies vanish. He makes them disappear.” His gaze jerked to the left, then back to the camera. “You knew I was working to take him down. I knew you were protecting him. You fed him intel. He led me on a long chase, but I figured out the truth in the end. It started so long ago. A lifetime ago. And he has connections, Esme. More than you can guess. Even the people pretending to be after him? They’re really on his side.”
Tyler’s attention sharpened. People like Thaddeus Caldwell?
“They’re scared of him,” Louis continued quickly. “I can’t trust them. Thaddeus—hell, there is no way I’d ever tell him what I’ve learned. Why is a Fed so involved in all this? It’s CIA business, but he’s here… because he owes your father. So many people owe him.”
Hell.
“Where your father goes, destruction follows.” Louis’s gaze implored the camera—no, it implored the woman who he knew would one day watch his video. “Pull up stories. Look at the attacks. Bombings. That’s what he does. He destroys. The people who cross him? He puts hits on them. A bomb that takes them out—and any collateral damage that might be nearby.”
Esme had been collateral damage in Paris. Only her father hadn’t realized the truth until too late.
Louis ran a shaking hand over his face. “I started putting the pieces together because of an attack in Texas years ago.”
Sonofabitch.
“Hell, you would have been a kid back then. But he did it. I know your father did it. He was in Houston at the time, and the man he took out? It was a guy who tried to testify against your dad. This man went to the Feds in Houston. He made a mistake, and he went to Thaddeus. The guy had intel to use so he could bring down the house of cards. Only the next thing that happened was that the poor bastard and his wife got blown to hell in their Lincoln.”
My parents.
“Now Thaddeus is here in Paris. He’s involved in a CIA operation when he shouldn’t be. He’s pushing me to hand over what I know. To tell him everything.” A quick, negative shake of Louis’s head. “I will not trust him. I won’t make that mistake.”
The mistake my father made? Tyler shook his head.
“Your father likes to watch the explosions. He’s always close. Do the work, Esme. Look into his travels. Pull up attacks that occurred when he was in different parts of the damn world. You’ll see that I’m right.” A sigh. A sad one. “I’m right. I’m sorry. He’s evil, and I want to help you but if you found this…Hell, if you found this…” His lips pressed into a line. Silence. Then, “You have a really great smile, Esme. Did I ever tell you that? It lights up the whole freaking room.”
The video stopped.
Tyler could not move. He felt frozen to the spot.
The silence stretched until—“I didn’t find the video after the bombing.” Esme’s muted voice. “I was in the hospital for so long. I-I wasn’t supposed to be in the café.”
“Your father wouldn’t have set the explosion if he’d known you were there.” His hands fisted and released. Fisted.
“By the time I was released, all of Louis’s belongings were long gone. I have no idea how Jorlan got hold of Louis’s message. ”
“There could be more copies.” Of everything. Somewhere?—
“Do you hate me?” Low.
“What?” He was still staring at the screen and feeling dazed and shocked and angry and as if he’d just lost his parents all the hell over again. The wound was as fresh and raw as ever.
“I’m so sorry that you lost your parents. I just, I?—”
She touched him. He flinched.
Her hand immediately pulled back. “I understand.”
No, she didn’t. He didn’t understand the emotions ripping him apart.
“I’m going back to the safe house,” she told him. “You do—you do whatever it is that you must with those files. But, ah, I’m not so sure I’d be handing them to Thaddeus Caldwell.” Her steps shuffled away from him. She went straight to the door. He should stop her. Call out to her. Say something.
My parents. The Lincoln. The fire.
“I’ll help you lock him away,” Esme quietly promised. “I’ll help you get your justice.”
He looked up at her. Her face was far too pale and tense and sad. Stark. That was how Esme looked. All of her beautiful, glowing brilliance was gone.
You have a really great smile, Esme. Did I ever tell you that? It lights up the whole freaking room.
Esme unlocked the door. Stepped out. The door closed behind her with a soft click.
Tyler swallowed. He unclenched his right fist and reached for the laptop. His fingers were shaking as he closed the files and pocketed the USB drive.
The door swung open. Tyler’s head immediately whipped up. Esme ?
No. Not Esme.
Kane. A glowering Kane.
“Uh, not to tell you how to do your business…” Kane began. Then he stopped. “Who the hell stole your puppy?”
“What?”
“You look like someone just stole your best friend.” Kane glowered. “Stop that shit. I’m right here.”
Tyler shook his head.
“I’m right here,” Kane repeated. “You’re right here. But the woman you’re supposed to be protecting? She’s walking out of the house. Alone. Not to tell you how to do your business… but this ain’t it.”
No, it wasn’t. And he needed to get past the shock and grief and rage and go after what fucking mattered. He rushed for the door. Shoved Kane back.
“That’s more like it,” Kane praised.
Tyler ignored him. He bolted out of the house. Bounded down the steps. Esme was in front of him, walking with her head down and her shoulders hunched, and she looked so sad and broken that it made his heart shatter all over again.
He didn’t know what in the hell he was supposed to do with Esme. But letting her go? Not an option. No matter how fucked up and tangled their pasts might be. “Esme.”
Her shoulders stiffened. But her steps didn’t slow. If anything, they sped up.
So did his. “Esme!”
She took off—running away from him.
Oh, the fuck, no. He chased after her, but, surprisingly, Esme was super fast. Only maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised by that discovery. How could he predict anything about her?
She beat him to the house. Rushed inside first. She’d had the key, after all. But he caught her just steps past the entranceway. His hands flew out to curl around her, and he hauled her back against him. “ Esme.”
“I don’t want to hurt you!” Esme cried out. “That was the last thing I wanted. It couldn’t be him, don’t you see that? It couldn’t. Because it wasn’t before. He didn’t do it. It was her. Everyone was wrong, but he took the suspicion. He took it all those years and covered for her. He was good. No one ever knew. Just me. I knew what he was doing. I knew. ”
Tears were on her cheeks. “I hate your tears.” One hand rose to cup her cheeks. To swipe away the tears.
“You hate me,” she breathed.
He shook his head.
“You do. How could you not? If he killed them…if my father ordered the hit, how could you not hate me? ” The darkness of her eyes was almost painful to see. No, it wasn’t the dark that was painful. It was the pain in her stare.
And, suddenly, Tyler felt as if he was truly seeing Esme for the first time. Not blinding bravado. Not some brilliant mask that hid a thief or a criminal. He saw Esme. Beautiful. Broken. Trying to hold herself together and fix the world around her. Trying to protect.
“You wanted to watch the video before me,” he said, understanding her now. “And you were going to deliver my parents’ killer to me, weren’t you?” She’d known so much more than she revealed. Tricky Esme.
“It was going to be a thank you for your help. You can’t protect me without some kind of payment.” Her lower lip wouldn’t stop trembling. “But it’s all wrong. He wasn’t supposed to…” Her words trailed away.
“Who did you think was going to be on the USB drive, Esme? Who was going to be guilty? ”
“One of the Feds. Someone in power. Someone I could take down.”
“Thaddeus.” He had been on the video. And Louis had thought the guy was dirty. But… I don’t fucking know Louis. I don’t know a damn thing about the man except that he was in love with Esme.
Tyler’s Esme.
“Louis said it was my father. Someone killed Louis to stop him from talking. My father did it. He was right there. He was so furious with me after the bombing, so angry every time he visited me in the hospital. As if it was all my fault. When he’d done it. ” Her words came so fast and held so much pain. “And now everything I ever wanted is gone. I’ll never have it. I’ll never have what I want?—”
“What did you want?” Tyler demanded. If another tear slid down her cheek, he would lose his mind.
Another tear slid down her cheek. “You.”
He shook his head. No way had she said what he thought. And his mind was utterly lost. Mind, heart, everything. Lost to her.
“I wanted you, Tyler. I wanted the good guy, for once. I wanted someone like you to care about someone like me. But you can’t. You won’t. Because someone like me—I wreck your world. I wreck you.” A hard shake of her head. “This is over. The protection detail is done. I don’t care what price is on me. I have to get away from you.” She broke free and rushed for the stairs.
She didn’t even get up the first step before he had Esme in his arms. He pulled her against him, her back to his chest, even as his arms looped around her. His mouth went to her ear, and he swore, “You won’t ever get away.”
“Tyler…”
“I can’t let you get away. Because you’re what I want.” He would be wrecked without her. He spun her in his arms. His mouth crashed onto hers. He didn’t want to think about the past. Death and cold graves. A world that had shattered and never been put together right again.
He didn’t want to think of two black coffins, side by side in a rainy cemetery.
He didn’t want to think of a café that had exploded in Paris. A woman too still and bloody in his arms.
Esme wasn’t the villain. She was not his villain. But she damn well might be his everything. His feelings weren’t rational when it came to her, and he didn’t care. Fuck rational. Fuck normal. Fuck good.
Esme was his.
His to protect.
His to keep.
His to take.
His mouth plundered hers, and he could taste the salt of her tears. I hate Esme’s tears. The only thing about her that he hated. Did he want to rip her father apart? Hell, yes.
But he didn’t want to hurt Esme. Never, ever did he want to hurt his Esme.
Her mouth was open beneath his desperate lips. Her tongue met his with a wild greed. Her hands stroked over him even as he pulled her ever closer to his body.
Screw this. Need more. He grabbed her hips and lifted her up. Her legs automatically wrapped around his waist. The thick length of his cock pressed against the crotch of her jeans. She rode him through the fabric. Up and down, arching. Pushing.
Moaning softly for him.
He needed to fuck her. Right then. Right there. Fuck her deep and hard and let the rest of the madness that was life and death fall away from them both. Tyler tore his mouth from hers and began climbing the stairs, with her legs still wrapped around his waist.
“What are you doing?” A surprised cry as she clutched him tighter. “You’ll kill us both!”
“Hold on, baby.” He had her, always. He could carry her up the stairs any day of the week.
She held him tighter. Kept her legs wrapped around him.
“It’s hot the way you’re so strong, Tyler,” she whispered. “ Je veux te baiser.”
“It’s hot when you speak French. Drives me insane.” No, he was already insane. Had been, since the moment he first saw her at Jorlan’s party.
He reached the landing. Turned for her bedroom. Didn’t lower her. His cock wanted in her. He wanted in. They needed condoms. If it hadn’t been for the condoms, he would have fucked her on the stairs.
I will fuck her on the stairs. In the bed. On the floor. Against the wall. Anywhere and everywhere until Esme understands that we aren’t pretend. We aren’t ending. I won’t let go.
He hit the light switch with one hand. His mouth went back for Esme’s?—
Wrong.
He stiffened. His head whipped back up.
“Tyler?” Uncertainty. “Did you…did I do something wrong?”
He lowered Esme to her feet. His gaze swept the room. The room that had been completely trashed.
She sucked in a sharp breath when she saw the destruction.
“We’re getting the hell out of here.” Right then. No alarms had blared. The security sensors hadn’t picked up any intruders and sent an alert to his phone.
But someone got inside. Someone could still be inside.
He bent and pulled out the gun that had been strapped to his ankle. “Esme, stay behind me.”
“I need a gun! This is a point I meant to bring up to you much, much sooner, but I need a gun.”
His right hand held his gun. His left reached for her. “Stay behind me.” He’d been so distracted when he entered the house. Fucking amateur mistake. Someone could have been downstairs, and he’d been so locked and obsessed with Esme that he hadn’t even checked his surroundings.
He had to get her out. Her safety was priority one. He’d take her to Kane, then come back and search every inch of the house. But first, he had to get her out.
The hunters found her. Too fast. But, if the Feds had been involved…
Gray could have told his boss where we were. Even though I ordered Gray to keep the location private. Tyler had tried to go completely off everyone’s radar, but he hadn’t done the job well enough.
Someone was searching in the bedroom.
Looking for…the USB drive?
They were at the bottom of the stairs now. He stilled and swept his gaze around the lower level of the house. He didn’t see anyone. The house felt too damn still. And the hair at the nape of his neck had risen. His instincts were screaming.
Get out.
Get out.
He whirled around.
Esme’s eyes were wide. Scared. “Tyler?”
He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder, then he ran for the door. He had Esme secured over his shoulder, and the gun gripped in one hand.
“Tyler, what in the hell are you doing?” Esme cried out.
He yanked open the front door. Rushed out with her calling his name. He bounded off the porch steps. He hurtled forward.
And then he was flying—because the house behind him had just exploded. A thunderous detonation that blasted and destroyed and sent him and Esme hurtling through the air before they both slammed into the unforgiving earth.