Fearless (Broken Love Book 5) (22 page)

“So if he told you where it is, why do you need her?”

“Because it’s in a safe that only she has the combination to.”

“And if she doesn’t give it to you?”

“My daughter will obey her mother.” It was my turn to snort. I rolled my eyes and turned my head toward the passenger window. I was now looking forward to when she finally met her daughter. She was in for one rude awakening.

I directed her to Di’s apartment, and when the building came into sight, I stealthily looked around for any sign of Keiran.

“He said there was a house. Why are we here?”

“Di doesn’t live in her father’s house. If you need her, this is where you’ll find her.”

“Very well. Now the apartment number?”

I assumed she would take me with her and tried not to look defeated. “Apt 305.”

“Remember, I will kill you if you try anything.” The last thing I needed was to be reminded, but I nodded anyway. “Good. I want you to stay here, but unfortunately, I will have to tie your hands. Would you be a dear and grab the tape inside the glove compartment?” She flicked the gun back and forth when I didn’t move to obey, so I snatched open the compartment and slammed it shut again. She then took the tape and secured my hands before leaving the car without a word.

My gaze searched the car for a knife or something sharp enough to free me and came up short. Any minute now, I expected to hear the sound of gunshots or screaming, but none came. Since my hands were tied in front of me, I tried the door only to realize the child lock had been engaged. I slammed my restrained fist against the window in an attempt to shatter the glass when a knock on the driver’s window surprised me. I turned and found Di looking through the window.

“Di?”

“In the flesh,” she shouted so I could hear her, and I wondered how she found me. She tugged on the locked door, and I shook my head to tell her not to bother, but then she disappeared. A couple of minutes later, the driver window shattered as Di sent a tire iron through it. The car alarm sounded, and I started to panic knowing Esmerelda would be down any minute when she found Di missing.

But where was Keiran?

She hit the locks and yanked open the door, then produced a knife to cut open the tape binding my wrists.

“We need to get Keiran and get out of here. I just hope Keiran doesn’t kill her.”

“Why?”

“Because I called the cops.”

“Why would you call the cops? You know he will kill her.” As soon as I said it, a shot rang out, disturbing the quiet of the darkened garage.

KEIRAN

I was getting
sick of all the fucking waiting. I never went back to our rental after Lake left me in the middle of the night again. I figured she’d want her space to think, so I forced myself to stay behind in Nevada, only to find out through Dash she never left and was bunking with them. I went after her, forgetting my agreement to give her space, but then Dash convinced me to let her do this in her own time and that my need to control her was what was driving us apart.

This morning, I got a call from Jesse about an impromptu meeting with one of our clients that wanted to renegotiate the price of their contract. I’d been halfway back to California when I got a call from Dash.

“Where are you?” he screamed into the phone.

“Why the fuck are you screaming?”

“Willow and Lake were attacked a few hours ago. I just got the fucking call. It was Esmerelda. She knocked Willow unconscious and took Lake.” I swore and sped up, already knowing where she would go and what she was after. The only thing keeping me from completely losing it was that I knew I was hours ahead of them. I’d intercept her at Di’s apartment.  

“Is Willow okay?”

“For now. She went into labor on the way to the hospital, but they stabilized her. Someone
found
her alone on the ground,” he growled. Dash rarely ever lost control, but right now, he seemed to barely hold onto it. “This is the second time she’s fucked with what’s mine. I want that bitch dead.”

Well fuck.

I hung up with Dash and made it to LA with about six hours to spare. When Di opened the door. I didn’t bother with a greeting and shoved my way inside. “If you’re looking for your girlfriend again, she’s not here, and I’d appreciate more than just a knock the next time you show up at my door—you know…like a hello?”

“You’re mother is coming and she has Lake.” Her mouth opened and closed, but then she chose to remain silent. She closed and locked the door as if she didn’t know the real danger wasn’t already inside.

I heard the catch in her throat. “How did she find me?”

“She needs Lake to lead her here.”

“Lake won’t tell her where I am.”

“I know. That’s why I’m going to tell her to.” It was highly unlikely that she would still have her phone, but I sent the message anyway just in case. If she got it, she’d follow her instincts.

“She’s not after me. She’s after the money, you know.”

“I know.”

“What are we supposed to do when she finds out that most of it is gone? Keenan and I spent it years ago. He built his shop, and I made daddy pay me back for each time he made me spread my legs.”

“She’s not going to ever get to the money because she’s not leaving here alive.” I hated waiting, but it was all I could do. There was a lot of highway between here and Nevada.

“You can’t kill her.”

I faced her and saw that she was completely serious. “Why not?”

“She’s my mother?” she answered sarcastically.

“She was an incubator, not a mother, and there are a lot of people who want her dead.”

“I don’t care. I can’t watch my mother die the same day I meet her.”

“She kidnapped my girlfriend and attacked her friend for the second time, and you expect me to let her live?”

“I’m not saying she has to get away. We could just call the cops.”

“I’m not calling the fucking cops.”

She was starting to piss me off and I actually began to debate killing her as well as I wondered if Di was really friend or foe. Her mother likely came to do her harm, yet she wanted to protect her.

“Are you going to be a problem?” The conversation had taken a dangerous turn.

“Really? You’re threatening to kill me?”

“I’m asking you if I need to.”

“Look, Lake’s my friend, and I don’t want her hurt, but I don’t think I can watch you kill my mother. You killed yours and look how screwed up that made you.”

I pulled out my gun and pointed it at her head. She maintained eye contact even as I threatened her life.

“Answer me.”

“No,” she shouted. It was the only crack in her tough exterior. “I just can’t do this.”

“Then leave.”

“This is my apartment,” she argued.

My patience had run out so much that the threat I spewed next took us both by surprise. “Get the fuck out, or I swear I will bury you beside your mother.”

Fortunately, she was smart enough to know I was completely serious and left.

Six hours later, a knock on the door pulled me away from the window I kept watch through. With my gun at my side, I answered the door to find Esmerelda alone. “Hello, Esmerelda.” Her eyes widened with panic, but then she recovered just as quickly and attempted to pull her gun. I caught it and slammed it against the molding, causing the gun to drop and then threw her inside the apartment behind me. I then slammed the door shut and locked it.

“Why are you here? Where’s my daughter?”

“Your daughter couldn’t watch you die so I sent her away.”

“You’re not going to kill me,” she challenged and smiled. Her eyes shifted wildly around the apartment as she stood to her feet.

“Why the fuck would you think that?”

“Because you’re a slave, and I order you not to. I’m also the closest thing to a mother you have. Can you watch me die?”

Her attempt to mind fuck me was not lost. “Think again. Where’s Lake?”

“She’s secure and alive, but she won’t be for long if you kill me.” Her smug smile was misplaced. She thought she had me until I pointed the gun in her direction and shot the floor next to her knee.

“The next one takes out your knee.”

“Okay!” She held up her hands as if it could stop me and slid away. “She’s in the car. I tied her up and left her there.” I could have killed her right then, but my ringing phone saved her life.

“What?” I snapped without checking the ID.

“You need to get out of there,” Di warned. I was ready to hang up on her when she added, “I called the cops.”

“Why the fuck would you do that?” I growled into the phone. The next moment, I heard the melodic—yet frantic—sound of Lake’s voice.

“Keiran, get down here now,” she ordered. I smiled into the phone, despite the nefarious situation, because she thought she could command me.

“Are you safe?”

“Yes.” Her voice had softened, and silence then filled the empty space between us. “Is she dead?”

“No.”

She sighed into the phone, and I wondered if it was relief or disappointment that caused the sound. “Good. Don’t kill her.”

“I can’t leave her alive.”

“And if you kill her now, you’ll go to prison.” She fell silent again, probably to let me work it out on my own. Esmerelda watched me—her smugness had returned full force.

“Very well,” I finally answered and aimed the gun at Esmerelda. I had the pleasure of seeing her smugness wiped from her face just as she collapsed.

* * *

I heard the
sirens and made my way down the hall and three flights of stairs to the parking garage. I opened the door to find Lake pacing angrily and Di crouched against the wall staring at the ground. Lake spotted me first and turned on me.

“What did you do?” she hissed.

I ignored her and closed in on her space until I had her face in my hands. “Shut the fuck up. If it’s not to tell me you’re okay, I don’t want to hear it.” She glared and then her body jerked. I looked down confused and realized she had been trying to knee my dick. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t talk to me like that. Don’t
ever
talk to me like that again,” she repeated with force.

“You could have died, but you’re worried about how I’m speaking to you? I was scared shitless thinking about what could happen to you.”

She blinked once and then her shoulders relaxed and she sighed.

“I’m fine.”

She didn’t elaborate so I nodded and kissed her lips. “I didn’t kill her,” I admitted. I didn’t have the chance to say more because it sounded as if the entire Los Angeles’ police department flooded the outside streets with sirens and lights. “We should go handle that,” I directed to Di, who was now staring at the closed door as if it were a foreign object.

“Di, are you okay?”

“I never even got to see her,” she croaked. “I wonder what she looks like.”

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She was mourning a woman who would sell her daughter’s soul for her own personal gain. Her mother was no better than her father, but she’d never know for sure. Maybe it was better that way.

“She’s not dead,” Lake offered when I only continued to frown. “He didn’t kill her.”

She finally turned around, appearing hopeful. “No?”

“I shot her in the leg.”

She looked surprised but recovered quickly. “Thank you.”

I couldn’t acknowledge her gratitude because I wanted to kill Esmerelda and would have if it weren’t for Lake—police be damned.

“Let’s go.”

Everyone in the building had already evacuated and huddled in the street leading to the front entrance. I thought it was a little dramatic for one shot fired but shrugged it off and found the nearest police officer.

“Sir, you can’t cross the line.”

Just then, a screaming Esmerelda was brought out of the building on a stretcher and put inside an ambulance. She was then hauled away with two police cars leading and trailing it. “Check your database. She’s a wanted woman, and I’m the one who shot her.”

The officer, who I quickly figured out was a rookie, pulled his gun with shaky hands, and ordered me to put my hands up. I briefly saw my entire life as I lifted my hands slowly. It wasn’t the possibility of prison or the gun that made me afraid, but the terrified man behind the gun. I fell completely still once my hands were up and prayed Lake stayed back. If the wind blew, he’d panic and blow me away.

Another officer cuffed me, and I gritted my teeth.

“Officer, it’s my apartment and she intruded. She would have killed me, but he saved my life.” Di continued to lay it on thick for my benefit, but I caught none of it. My attention was fixed on Lake. To the untrained eye, she was a picture of calm, but I could tell she was trying to keep it together.

She was learning to keep her fear below the surface. 

I never even noticed when the officer took the cuffs off. I didn’t hear a word he said after. I just kept watching Lake.

“Sir. Sir?” I finally tore my attention away from Lake with a growl and fixed my gaze on the rookie. “C–could you come down to the station and make a statement?”

I wanted to say no but knew I didn’t exactly have that option. It was late, and I wanted Lake alone so I could erase the past couple of months, including these last few hours.

We all gave our statements and bunked in a hotel for the night. When Di slid her key in the slot, I stood in the hallway with my arm around Lake and stared even after her room door closed.

“Keiran?”

My head whipped around at the sound of Lake calling my name. “I need to talk to Di.” I handed her the key card and nudged her to our room three doors down. “Go inside and wait for me.” She nodded silently and turned away, but I gripped her arm to keep her there. “We
will
talk tonight,” I warned. She didn’t respond. She pulled her arm away, and I watched her disappear into our room.

I knocked on Di’s door and waited until she yanked the door open. “This isn’t that kind of party,” she greeted. I scrubbed my hand down my face, still unused to her snarkiness twenty-four seven.

“I want to talk to you.”

“Why?”

I shoved my way inside and slammed the door close. “Because I said so. Come on.” I gestured to the bed and took a seat in the chair directly across from it. I had to turn my glare on full force to get her to obey. She huffed and sat on the bed but not before shooting me a hateful look. I decided to start with that. “Do you hate me for what I did?”

Her eyebrow raised and she said, “Why would you care? That’s not like you.”

“It matters because I need to know if I can trust you. Lake considers you a friend and so does Keenan. Will your mother make you forget that?”

She looked wary now and dropped her arms she had crossed. “I wouldn’t hurt them, and I don’t hate you—heavily irritated maybe, but I don’t hate you.”

“Your mother is not who you hoped she might be. I knew her growing up. She’s cold and calculating. She won’t love you, but she will sacrifice you first chance she gets.”

“But I’m her daughter.”

“You were Mario’s daughter, and he sold you to how many men?”

She stood up with her fists clenched and snarled. “Fuck you.”

And just like with Lake, I was fucking this up. This is why Dash handled what needed rationalizing. He had a gentler approach that I attempted to channel now.