Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
The basement was dark and hot and she could hear things scurrying on the floor near her feet. “Great ambiance you have,” Esme told her captor as he pushed her forward. He’d cut the ropes from her ankles right before they’d entered this old monstrosity of a house. The better for her not to fall on her face as she took mincing steps due to the restriction of the ropes.
Now just her hands were still secured—cuffed. In front of her. His mistake, of course. And she was just waiting for the right moment to surprise him with her skills.
The problem was that he currently had a gun shoved into the base of her spine. The same gun he’d used on Tyler?
She stumbled.
Do not think about him. Not yet. Tyler is safe. Kane got him out and got him to a hospital. Tyler is safe. Alive.
“The dungeon décor is top-notch,” she complimented. “I can tell the owner of the place really went all-in on the horror vibe.”
“You always talk, don’t you?” he groused back. “Lady, can’t you be quiet for like, two minutes? Really don’t want to drug you again.”
She really didn’t want to be drugged again.
A big door swung open up ahead. The groan of its hinges seemed far too loud. A groan and screech.
Then…
“ Bonjour, Esme.”
Of course, it would be him. She’d known this meeting would be coming. It was actually one of the reasons she hadn’t tried to get away sooner. She’d wanted to stand toe to toe with this particular monster.
He’d put a hit on Tyler. That would not be forgotten or forgiven. Ever.
Jorlan strolled out with a wide grin on his face.
“The overdramatic scene, the roaches on the floor, the rats scattering about.” She ticked off each item with an impatient tap of her foot. “Doesn’t take a psychic to feel your stench all over this place.”
He lost his big grin. Jorlan raced straight up to her and pulled back his hand to slap her in the face.
She braced for the hit.
Only it never came. Because the big, bad hitman who’d dragged her all the way to this hellhole stopped Jorlan before he could strike her. “Not part of the deal,” he gritted out.
“Are you insane?” Jorlan roared at him.
“Maybe.” A pause. “Probably. Depends on who you ask, I guess.”
Jorlan jerked away from him.
“You don’t get her—not even to rough her up—until I get my payment,” the hitman said. “Payment for her kidnapping and for the murder of U.S. Marshal Tyler Barrett. I’m sure his death made the news. ”
His death. His death. Those words echoed sickeningly in her ears.
Jorlan laughed. “He died, and so did Thaddeus Caldwell. Talk about eliminating two problems at once. That Fed bastard was always trying to push his way into my business.”
His death.
Nausea rose within her. “I’m going to be sick.” Esme leaned forward. The curtain of her hair flew around her. With the hair covering her, she grabbed for the hoop earring she wore in her right ear. Long ago, she’d learned that nearly any earring would work for this trick. But the hoops were particularly good because the thin gold was so malleable. She’d been wearing the hoops when she got out of her cuffs the last time, too. She just needed to twist the material just right…
The hitman hauled her back upright. Her hair flew back over her shoulder and—hopefully—disguised the fact that she was now minus one earring. She palmed it in her hand.
“Do not throw up right now,” the hitman warned. His gaze almost seemed worried as he studied her face. Aw. A hitman with a heart. Fun to know.
“He’s not dead,” Esme declared.
The hitman’s gaze sharpened on her. Had he noticed the missing earring?
“You’re lying to Jorlan.” Sow discontent. Get them to turn on each other. That was what she needed to do.
“Uh, lady…” The hitman’s eyelashes flickered. “Watch yourself.”
“No, you watch yourself. Tyler isn’t dead.” She surged toward Jorlan. “This jerk is lying to you. I was there. I saw it all with my own eyes. Tyler isn’t dead. This clown is just trying to get a payday without actually turning in the work.”
Suspicion flashed on Jorlan’s face.
She was going to need a whole lot more than suspicion to get this show rolling. “Are you seriously going to be conned by this hack, Jorlan? Come on, you’re better than this. Why on earth would you think you could trust this guy?”
Jorlan backed up a step. “You were friends with Tyler.”
Wait. Who had been friends with Tyler? The hitman?
“Friends turned enemies.” Jorlan nodded. “That is why I hired you in the first place.” His hand went behind his back. “I knew you were aware of Tyler’s inner circle. I knew you’d be able to track him better because you knew who he’d turn to for help.”
The hitman stepped forward and positioned his body so that he was partially in front of Esme.
Perfect.
She began working with her earring on the cuffs while the two men were squaring off. What is up with that bit about friends turned enemies?
“I did track him,” the hitman threw out. “Followed him to Asylum. Got a visual on him at the hospital, and I was on his tail all the way to that rathole of a motel. I took him out, and I brought her here. I did exactly as you ordered, Jorlan. Now pay up. You ordered her kidnapping, and you ordered the murder of U.S. Marshal Tyler Barrett. Transfer the money to my account right the hell now, or I will take her out and leave her on the doorstep of the nearest police station.”
Oh, she actually liked that idea. Snick. The cuffs opened. Or at least, one cuff opened.
She could have sworn that the hitman’s shoulders stiffened. Had he heard the telling sound?
“I’ll transfer the money.” A grudging agreement from Jorlan. “You did what I hired you to do. Come with me. My computer is inside. We’ll take care of our business, and then you can leave.”
Surely the hitman wasn’t going to believe that line? “You’re dead,” Esme informed him, probably a bit too gleefully. “You were dead the minute you walked in here. There is no way Jorlan ever lets you walk out.”
Now he did glance back at her. “Worried, are you? That’s sweet.”
You shot Tyler. “He could slice the skin from your body, and I wouldn’t be worried.” She did need the two men to fight soon so that she could have the chance to get to whatever computer was inside, grab some evidence, then burn the world down around Jorlan. She needed?—
“Help!” A sharp, desperate cry. A cry that came from the room behind Jorlan. “Help!”
Her head craned around the hitman. Jorlan was smiling. Again. A terrible sign.
“Didn’t I mention that I had company?” Jorlan scratched his jaw. “No? Sorry. I do. A certain upright FBI agent wouldn’t give up Tyler and Esme’s location, so Thaddeus sent him my way. The guy thought I could work my magic on him. Turns out, Grayson Stone can withstand a surprising amount of pain.”
Esme shook her head. “What have you done?”
“ You’re torturing an FBI agent?” A snarl from the hitman. He raced forward. A wild, desperate move. The kind of move that Esme had hoped he would make.
The hitman rushed right past Jorlan, apparently intending to find the FBI agent—an odd move for a hitman— so he didn’t see when Jorlan slowly spun after him and raised his gun. Esme realized that Jorlan was going to fire and shoot the hitman in the back.
She should give zero fucks. But….
Friends turned enemies.
Something nagged at her.
And…
The hitman bellowed, “Grayson!” Bellowed with real worry.
Oh, dammit.
This time, someone else was working a scheme. The hitman isn’t what he appears to be. So she had to try and save the day. As usual. She swung out with the loose cuff on her wrist, and Esme rammed it into Jorlan’s head even as she screamed. “ He’s got a gun!”
The hitman spun around.
She hit again. The cuff slammed into Jorlan’s temple. Jorlan staggered back. The gun fell from his fingers and clattered to the floor. She hit him once more. Harder. And again. The metal cuff slashed into his skin, and blood flew onto the slimy brick wall near him. “Get Grayson and get out!”
She heard the thud of steps. She’d better not be wrong about that hitman guy.
But Tyler can’t be dead. He can’t have killed Tyler. So the scene had to have all been wrong and… You’re smart if you believe absolutely nothing that you hear and only about half of what your eyes can see.. How could she have forgotten her own words to live by?
If she believed half of what she’d seen…
Tyler had been shot.
But not killed .
The stage had been set. A scene played out. Tyler isn’t dead.
Jorlan caught her hand. He jerked her toward him, and their bodies pressed together. “Esme,” he said with a kind of feverish delight. “You won’t get away.”
“Jorlan,” she said with disgust and hate. “That hitman just recorded everything you said.” He’d deliberately gotten a confession, so that must mean he’d been wired. “You’re going to jail. You’ll be behind bars for the rest of your miserable life.”
His eyes widened. He looked over to the left.
She turned her head to peer in that direction, too. The hitman had a bleeding and limp Grayson thrown over one shoulder. “That strike you as someone who is the bad guy?” she taunted.
Wrong thing to say.
Jorlan spun her around so that her back was to him. One arm locked brutally around her throat. He began to squeeze.
“Stop!” A roar from Jorlan. “Or I will snap her neck!”
The hitman froze. Horror filled his eyes.
“I will break her neck right here and now,” Jorlan vowed. “Drop the Fed! Drop any weapons you have! Get on your knees or I will kill her!”
“The fuck you will.”
Her head whipped to the right. Oh. Oh, those were the sweetest, most beautiful words she’d ever heard in her entire life. Because those words were spoken by Tyler.
Tyler was rushing toward her and Jorlan. Surging straight for them like a seriously pissed-off avenging angel. His blue eyes burned, his face was locked into savage lines, and he gripped a gun in his hand even as he closed in on his prey .
I knew he wasn’t dead.
Kane was right behind him. Covering his six, as his friend liked to do.
“You’re dead!” Jorlan snarled.
“No. But you’re about to be.” Tyler stopped about two feet away. “You think I’m gonna miss from this close of a distance?”
Jorlan’s hold tightened on her. He’d threatened to break her neck, but it felt more like he was strangling her. She couldn’t pull in a breath. Her hands rose to claw at his painful grip.
“I think you won’t do a damn thing!” Jorlan thundered back. “Not while I have her. You fool! You fell for her, didn’t you? You think you get to rush in and take her now? No. This isn’t the way I go out. This isn’t?—”
Clawing at the arm around her neck wasn’t working. Esme was afraid she might pass out at any moment. So, new tactic. She went for his eyes. Her hand flew up and her curled fingers and sharp nails went straight for his eyes.
He screamed, and his hold loosened. Dizzy, dazed, she fell to the floor. From the corner of her eye, she saw the glint of metal. A blade? Jorlan had pulled out a blade from who the hell knew where, and he was slashing it down toward her. Aiming for her face.
Tyler fired. Two quick shots. She heard the blasts echo around her. They thundered and then there was silence.
She sucked in a breath. Another. Her heart raced, and she couldn’t hear anything. Overwhelming silence. Because of the thunder of the gun?
Jorlan had fallen beside her. His blood had splattered onto her.
She stared at him.
Two shots .
One to the heart.
One to the head.
Jorlan would never get up again.
Hands reached for her. Gentle, careful hands. Her head turned from the sight of Jorlan’s dead body. Tyler had crouched in front of her. His lips were moving?—
“ Esme. Esme, tell me that you’re all right.”
She touched his face. Such a perfect face. “I knew you weren’t dead.”
His mouth took hers. He kissed her with a bittersweet desperation.
“I need help over here!” A bellow from the hitman. “Gray is losing a ton of blood. He needs an ambulance!”
“On it!” Kane’s shout.
Tyler pulled away from her. Esme saw Kane running to help carry Grayson.
“Ambulance is outside,” Kane assured him. “So are about half a dozen cops. Let’s go.”
Cops. An ambulance. Esme started to rise, but Tyler caught her in his arms and lifted her against his chest.
“I am one hundred percent capable of walking.” She looked down at Jorlan again as Tyler began to carry her out of that horrible place. Esme shuddered at the sight of all the blood and what was quite possibly brain matter. Esme turned her face away and curled an arm around Tyler’s neck. “But you may carry me.” He could do anything. Just… never make me fear that way again. Never make me be so afraid that I won’t see you again. “You should have told me what you had planned. Keeping schemes secret is not cool.” Mentally, she vowed to never keep a scheme from him again.
He was walking through the grim corridor that led back to safety. “Wouldn’t have kept it from you. I didn’t know what was happening. Not until the rubber bullets slammed into me. My head hit the wall. Fucking concussion. Got knocked out for a few moments.”
Her hand feathered over the back of his head.
“Kane saw Ronan without his mask and realized what was going down. The SOB has been undercover for so long. Hell, I never expected for Ronan to be at that motel.”
Undercover, as a hitman. Ronan.
“Former Marine turned gun for hire.” Tyler tightened his hold on her. “We publicly cut ties years ago because of the cases he was working. And when I realized he’d taken you…” His mouth pressed against her temple. “I knew he’d send me and Kane a message as soon as he could. He might seem like the devil,” Tyler rasped, “but he’s?—”
“Really on the side of the good guys?” Esme finished.
Tyler was climbing the stairs now and still carrying her.
“Not sure we’re one hundred percent good.” They reached the landing. Tyler stared down at her. The harsh overhead light glared onto them. “I just killed a man.”
“You were saving me.” He’d killed for her.
“He was dead before I entered the room. He was dead the minute he ordered you taken from me.”
“You say the most romantic things. Truly.” She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to hold her. To take her away from everyone and everything and…
They were outside. Sure enough, half a dozen patrol cars were also there. So was an ambulance. Kane and, uh, Ronan, were carrying Grayson toward the ambulance. Cops seemed to be swarming.
She and Tyler couldn’t disappear. There would be questions to answer. Statements to give. The press to avoid.
“How’s this for romantic?” He still held her. Wasn’t even out of breath. As if carrying her had been nothing at all.
Esme peered up at him.
“Sometimes, you meet someone,” Tyler told her, voice gruff and shredding at the edges, “and you know right away that the person is trouble.”
She swallowed. Her throat felt raw. And maybe those words made her feel raw. He still thinks I’m trouble? Not that he was wrong. Case in point… just look around.
His hold tightened around her. “The kind of trouble that you have been looking for your whole life.”
Where was he going with this?
“You meet someone, and you know the person is going to change everything for you.”
Okay, his words seemed promising.
“You meet someone, and you know right away that nothing will ever be the same again. Your world can’t be the same, because the woman you just met is gonna change everything. She’s going to change you. You will love her more than you’ve ever loved anything.”
She couldn’t stop her smile.
“You will fight for her. You will kill for her. You will live for her. Because nothing matters to you as much as she does.”
He truly could say the most romantic things.
“And when she smiles at you, you get lost.”
Esme had to ask, “Are you—are you lost in me?”
“I’m lost without you, Esme. And I never, ever want to be lost again.”
The blue lights from the patrol cars were flashing in a bright swirl. She ignored the lights. And the cops. And everything but Tyler. “You won’t be,” she promised him. She’d found her hero. Esme did not intend to let him go .
“You’re my non-negotiable,” he told her. “Forever.”
He kissed her and all of the terrible fear, the pain, the grief that had nearly smothered her since she’d left the motel—it finally vanished. There was no room for anything but happiness. Hope.
And love.
Sometimes, maybe the good guy did fall for the bad girl.
Sometimes, you meet someone…and you know right away that the person is trouble.
Sometimes, you could also meet someone and know you were staring at your forever.
Tyler was her forever. “ Je t’aime ,” she told him. “ Je t’aime.”
I love you.