Circle of Deception (26 page)

She’d never considered herself a coward and couldn’t start now. Her chest heaved as she took a deep breath.

“I was pregnant with your child when I went to work for The Circle.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

R
EX WATCHED
A
BBY’S
lips move, but he’d gone deaf after she’d said
pregnant
. His child. She had his child and never told him.

“What the hell do you mean you were pregnant?” he shouted, though the words came out more like a screech. He’d never screeched in his life.

She flinched, closing her eyes as her mouth stretched into a grimace.

His mind raced. Why did she tell him now and not before? The woman was smart. By telling him as he lay unable to move, weak from the throbbing pain and loss of blood, she thought she was safe. Not that he’d hit her; perhaps he’d shake her for lying to him. Once again, she’d proven how little she knew him, how little she trusted him, to not tell him as soon as she found out. What about the last night they were together? The foremost question was, had she known before he left for Peru?

“When did you know?” he asked, keeping his voice low, waiting.

“Excuse me.” She sprinted to the bathroom and slammed the door.

He closed his eyes. The sick sounds he heard told him the story. She’d known and kept it from him. His fingers dug into the sheets as his chest tightened. The need to cry welled up. His breath came in short bursts and his throat ached with silent screams.

For the woman he’d loved to hide their baby from him and not give him the opportunity to rejoice. What had he done to be punished in such a way? As a kid, he’d had his ass beaten for letting others take advantage of him. His dad had told him for years he was a dumb fuck and deserved whatever came his way.

He released the torn sheets and used the backs of his hands to wipe his face. Christ! He needed to act like a man. Staying on his back wasn’t an option. If the bullet hadn’t killed him yet, he could last a little longer.

Weak but determined to win, he sat up. The room spun as he tried to stand, and he fell back onto the bed, nearly missing it. Sweat poured off him and his body trembled as he worked to keep down whatever was left in stomach. He tried to pull the rest of his body onto the mattress, except his lower half wouldn’t cooperate.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Cool hands lifted his legs and shoved them back onto the bed.

Damn, he was naked.

He stared up at the stained ceiling. All he needed was to be a cripple too. For the moment, the numbness spreading from his wound to his toes was a relief. In seconds, the feeling came back in a rush of agonizing heat. He cupped the wound as if wishing he could make it better. Her gentle hand rested over his. He moved, causing hers to drop away.

She dragged a chair next to the bed and sat, watching him until she said, “I’m sorry.”

He was unsure if he could look at her.

“Tell me. Boy or girl?” he asked softly, trying to control his temper.

“A little boy.”

Jesus Christ. A son. He would be around five. Close to the same age as her nephew, Edward’s son.

He caught his breath. His son?

“Tell me the truth for once in your life. Is Tommy our son?” That had to be it. He didn’t look anything like his fair-haired parents. He and Abby were dark-headed, and with her brown eyes being a dominant trait, they would most likely pass on to their child.

Somehow he brought his gaze to hers. He doubted he’d ever forgive her.

“Tommy?” Her forehead wrinkled.

“Yeah. Your brother’s son. He’s five, isn’t he?”

She vehemently shook her head. “No. No!”

“That’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you acted so funny and hardly spoke with him. I’ve never seen a woman act like that around a kid.” Maybe he wanted it to be the truth.

Tears streamed down her face. She continued to shake her head.

“You were afraid I’d figure it out. That you took our child and gave it to your beloved brother. You’ve wanted your mother’s approval for so many years, and this was your way of getting it. Make your perfect brother happy and your mother would finally love you.” Pain pierced his chest and his hip hurt to the point every inch of his body ached. His head was about to explode. He wanted to stop talking but the pain of her betrayal was the final nail in the coffin.

“You’re wrong. All wrong.”

“I’ll get my son back and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. I know money produces results in custody hearings. So I can fight your family.”

“Stop! Please stop.” She landed on her knees next to the bed, her forehead pressed to the mattress near his arm. “You don’t understand.”

“What do I not understand? That you’ve proven once again how little you think of me? Why would I think you’re any different than anyone else I cared for? Did Jack tell you how my dad beat me not only for being taller than him, but also for being dumb? His favorite nickname for me was ‘dumbass.’” He laughed but the sound was mocking as he looked back at all of the past hurts. “In grade school, I was constantly called ‘dummy.’ The other kids thought I’d been held back and was only lying about my age. Teachers expected me to be smarter and more mature only because I was nearly twice the height of the other kids. Home wasn’t any better. Dad would whip my ass for the same thing.”

“Why didn’t your mom stop him?” Abby’s hoarse voice brought his attention back to the present. A stream of tears flowed down her face.

“And have his hatefulness turned on her? No. She stayed out of it. She said that men knew how to talk to their sons. Only my dad thought ridiculing us along with a few closed-fist hits were the way to straighten us out. The first time he broke my nose I was four.” He’d never told a soul any of that.

“That’s not right. She should’ve been there for you.” Abby looked at him, pleading with her eyes for understanding. “You’re wrong. I care about you more than you know.”

“You cared enough to keep me away from my son?”

She covered her face and rocked back and forth.

“I swear, Abby, I’ll be a good dad. I’d never treat any son or daughter of mine like my dad treated me.” He hated the pleading in his voice, but the thought of a child of his growing up believing they weren’t wanted wasn’t going to happen.

When she looked out at him from red, swollen eyes, his gut tightened in fear. All those years of not being good enough, smart enough—

“Tommy’s not ours. Never has been. Suzie went through labor . . . they have medical records to prove it. Nothing forged by The Circle’s best, I swear.”

“Then where’s my kid?”

“You misunderstood.” She sighed, the sound forlorn and tired. “They believed the depression and stress of losing you had weakened me, and the beating I received compounded it.”

She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “I was four months along, just starting to show. But I had lost so much weight while I recovered from . . . then I started to bleed . . . The Circle handled the burial as . . . as I couldn’t . . .” Her choked sobs filled the room.

“You miscarried.” He threw an arm over his eyes and slammed a fist into the mattress. “Why did you think I shouldn’t know this?” Using his arm, he rubbed off the tears and glared at her.

Most of her words were incoherent until the end as she said, “When I realized you weren’t dead, I wanted to explain about Jack . . . I didn’t know how without making you mad. I blamed myself. It happened the next day. We were told that you were dead in Peru, that they had thrown your body on a pile with others and burned your body and buried you. That night I didn’t want to be alone. All day I cried believing you were dead and my baby wouldn’t have a father, and then Jack showed up, angry, sad, crying too. We took comfort—”

He sliced his palm through the air. No way would he let her finish that sentence.

She nodded. Her gaze remained on the wall as she said, “Never would I do anything to harm our child. I had been so happy . . .” Her voice trailed off.

Seconds passed by and neither said a word as they mourned what they had lost.

Even if he wanted to examine his feelings about the whole mess, he wasn’t sure if he could. The wound ached like a son of a bitch and interfered with his thinking. One thing was for certain: her distrust hurt. Until he thought she was dead, he’d believed she respected him.

Ah, hell. What was he doing? If his old man had been alive, he’d say feelings were for sissies.

Dammit, he wasn’t an ignorant asshole like his dad. Men were human beings with desires and feelings; they only reacted differently from women and that was all.

A banging on the door made them jump.

Rex doubted Brody’s people would knock before shooting, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Where’s my gun?” He shifted on the bed, groaning as he jarred the wound.

“Under your pillow.” Her voice muffled as she used the corner of his sheet to wipe her wet face.

He grabbed the gun and slipped it beneath the sheets next to his thigh, ready to shoot if needed.

She hurried over to the door and peeked out.

“It’s Ryker.”

She flipped the security bar to the side and unlocked the door, opening it wide.

Ryker filled the doorway. With his black eye patch in place and ugly scars alongside of his face, he’d scare the devil himself.

“Doc sent one of the nurses to take care of you. From what Abby told us about the position of the bullet, and how the bleeding stopped, you’ll mend fine.” The commander of a billion-dollar organization who hands out death like flu shots stepped into the room.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Rex said to Ryker as he nodded at the man who walked in behind him. The nurse spread out the contents of what looked like a fishing tackle box on the dresser. Most of the nurses working for The Circle were former medics and male.

Sitting in the chair near the small table, Ryker glanced at Abby with a worried look as he spoke to Rex. “I have a dozen people trapped in a cave. Ice is answering the local authorities’ questions. This is where I needed to be for the moment. You are my second-in-command.” Ice was the mystery man of The Circle. Some claimed he’d earned his name and his cold demeanor by killing his own father. Such a despicable act would take a coldhearted man.

“Yeah. Second-in-command. Right.” Rex slowly shook his head.

What was the real reason he was here? Ryker didn’t trust anyone, with the exception of his wife. He’d already proven he wouldn’t allow Rex to help in commanding The Circle. And no way would Rex continue to sit around with his thumb up his ass. That was part of the reason why he’d decided to help his brother track down the ammo.

When Ryker gave him an odd look, he figured he better say something.

“Ice is a good one to handle the situation. I never could— Damn, that hurt!” He frowned at the nurse. The needle the man was using to deaden the area looked to be two inches long. Returning his attention to Ryker, he said, “I never could read his face. The man could lie with the best of them.”

“Is his hair still that neon blue?” Abby butted in.

Why did she want to know about the man’s hair? Rex remembered how Abby loved his long hair. That was why he cut it. He wanted nothing to remember how much she used to love to touch it.

When she shot him a funny look, he realized she was trying to get Ryker’s mind off his smart-ass comment about being second-in-command.

Ryker grinned. “Yep. He’s wearing a knit cap. He didn’t want to but it was for the best.”

“Warm weather for that,” Abby murmured.

“You all right over there?” Rex asked.

“Just tired.” She stood up. “I think I’ll go outside for some air.” She walked to the door. “Good seeing you, Ryker.” With a glance toward Rex, she closed the door behind her.

“You got anyone watching outside?”

“Yep. She’ll be fine,” Ryker said.

“You need to be still now,” the nurse said. “I’m going to take the bullet out and debride the wound before I stitch it up and give you an antibiotic. From what I can see, you should be right as rain in a few weeks.” The nurse bent over his hip and began to work.

For the next thirty minutes, Ryker kept up a conversation until the nurse finished. Later, Rex wasn’t sure when they left, although he remembered shouting for Abby until she returned and sat next to him.

The pain medicine he’d been given caused him to go in and out of consciousness. He remembered waking at one point and seeing Abby with a concerned look on her face. For a split second he’d been so happy to have her close enough to touch. She looked like an angel. Of course, the way his body floated above the pain helped. Then the memory of what she’d hidden for years brought him crashing back to earth.

His child. A son. Gone.

He wasn’t sure what he planned to do about it, but one thing was for sure—he’d had enough of being the nice guy.

Chapter Twenty-Six

A
BBY HELD THE
binoculars to her eyes and followed the drama unfolding below her. The sixth body found in the rubble came out on a stretcher covered with blue plastic. Ice stopped The Circle EMTs to check the body’s identity against a clipboard of missing operatives’ pictures before waving them on.

Two hours earlier, she’d left Rex asleep with an operative standing guard outside the motel room door while she checked out the progress at the cave-in. The local news report had said stored explosives had detonated with no casualties. A simple mishap and a good cover-up.

The sheriff’s department was thankful to be left alone to continue their search for Edward and hold off the media circus that would ensue if word got out about their sheriff missing. One of the benefits of being a small county, rules could be bent without many knowing. But she wasn’t sure how much longer they would hold off before reporting him missing to the FBI. It had been two days since the explosion and three since her brother disappeared.

And one day since she’d unloaded the bomb of her miscarriage.

Rex had been in and out of consciousness while his body recovered from the barbershop-style surgery. During that time, she’d searched the Internet and contacted people, trying to find her brother while keeping her sister-in-law and mom up-to-date on . . . well, nothing. Brody and her brother had disappeared.