AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Me? Not yet.” Mr. Fitch doesn’t look me in the eye, which is a dead giveaway that he’s lying. The military trained me to question enemy combatants, and this man is lying.
I jerk his elbow then slam him against the wall with my hand on his neck. “Where is she, you son-of-a-bitch?”
He raises his voice, saying, “Get your hands off me!” Garnering me unwanted attention. Just then my phone pings with a notification.
It’s a video from the necklace. At first, I only see her hands tied to something, then when she scans the room, I realize it’s a bedroom, probably on the second floor based on the windows. On the bottom floor, they are extra-tall but on the second floor they’re normal size. It’s the first thing I noticed driving up to the mansion.
I start up the double staircase flanking the grand foyer.
It’s Rome. Rome has her, and I’m going to kill him with my bare hands if he touches one more hair on her head. As the video continues, someone comes in and is fighting with Rome. Is it one of Ben’s men? I’m trying to think what the undercover men were wearing.
“Any eyes on Lifetime?”
“Negative,” comes out over the ear piece. “We found a door in the bathroom leading upstairs. Our video cameras show she never came out, so she has to be on the second floor. In pursuit.”
They’re still in the house. We’ll get to her. I bust open door after door as Ben’s team does the same from the other end of the hall. Their guns are drawn, and they go room to room, screaming out “Clear!” after each quick search.
When the love of your life is in trouble, you forget about your training. I’m acting on pure instinct. My heart races as I simultaneously watch the video from my phone and check each room. And all I can think is why would Rome Lennox be involved. I ran background searches on Rome, Mr. Fitch, and two of Vanessa’s employees, and they all checked out.
A gunshot rings out, and we all run toward it, kicking the door open. Two men are both lying on the floor. My eyes veer from them to Vanessa, and see a panic stricken look on her face and inflamed red areas over her exposed shoulder and arm.
“Nessa, are you okay?” I yell, my voice strained with fear. Did he do something to her? Did he touch her? I untie her hands and they instantly wrap around my neck.
Tears are streaming down her face. “Are they… are they dead?” I pull away from her. “It’ll be okay.”
One of Ben’s security team tugs the man off Rome and he slings him around, but I still don’t have a good view. I turn to see who is shot. The man has long hair, and it seems like I’ve seen him somewhere before. I haven’t seen his face, but he looks like the guy at Rome’s club that was making out in the hall.
Bending down one knee, I lift him up. Twisting his body, I find my face is staring back at me. It knocks the air from lungs. “Beck? Beckett?”
His blue eyes droop. “I’m sorry.”
A million scenarios ran through my mind, but not one time did I suspect my brother would be involved or here. Does he hate Vanessa and I that much that he would be in on this scheme?
Somewhere in the background, Ben’s team is calling 911, but I’m still stuck on my brother being here. Being involved. I look down at Rome, who’s bleeding.
I untangle Beckett and Rome’s legs. Beckett’s hand and suit is covered in blood.
“I came as soon as I found out. God, I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” Beckett pleads.
My mind spins, unable to grasp what is happening. I get eye to eye with my twin. “Did you have something to do with this?”
He nods. “Some of it but not this.”
“You son of a— Don’t you think you’ve hurt me enough over the years? Turning away from me? Not letting me help you? Lying to me? Maybe if you told me the truth when we were twelve, we could have worked it out.”
Vanessa puts her hand on my shoulder and says, “Beckett. Please tell me you weren’t in on this with Rome.”
He holds his side where a bullet grazed him, and blood is saturating his shirt. The sirens are close.
“Brother, this is your last chance, at least with me,” my voice breaks as I speak the words.
Vanessa stares at him, and I can see the sadness back in her eyes, like the night she confessed what happened.
Beckett struggles to catch his breath, doubled over in pain. “When you moved back and got on your feet, I heard through others that people kept urging you to call Vanessa and clear the air, but you never did. I decided to take matters into my own hands.
The receptionist at Boyd’s is one of my only friends, and I say that loosely, in Kissing Springs. She told me that Vanessa’s dad had been in there a lot, and he was preparing to leave, or so she thought based on the letter she typed for him. I added the note to the file asking for you to be her bodyguard, making it look like it came from Mr. Barron.”
Vanessa’s eyes pinch together. “I don’t understand.” I brush my thumb back and forth over the back of her hand.
