Point of No Return (30 page)

I gaped at her in shock, anger and hurt flooding through me. Blane and Branna had had sex? A day after they met? Blane knew Branna hated me, had hurt me, yet he’d still slept with her?

Branna must have read the look on my face, because her expression hardened. “Kade was everything to me,” she said. “I love him, and you took him.”

“I took nothing,” I retorted, my fists clenching in anger. “Kade loves you, but he’s never been
in
love with you, Branna. And I’m sorry you’ve never faced it, but that’s not my fault.” I took a breath, trying to calm my fury. “So you slept with Blane to get back at me?”

“You and Kade were fucking like rabbits next door,” she sneered, “a really lovely thing to do to your former fiancé, by the way. Blane and I were both hurting. Did you expect we weren’t the kind of people to take comfort where it can be found?”

Well, that took some of the heat from my anger, and I couldn’t think of a thing to say.

Branna retrieved Viktor’s gun from where it had fallen onto the floor, then handed it to me. “I’ll trust you not to put a bullet in my back,” she said. “Watch the door.” She hurried behind the desk to the computer.

I held the gun steady in my hands and trained it on the one door. My nerves were strung tight, my heart pounding so hard from the adrenaline in my veins that it felt like I’d been injected with ice water. We were surrounded by bad guys and I had no idea how we were going to get out. And on top of that, my nemesis had slept with my ex while I slept with his brother. God, this was so messed up.

It seemed like Branna was taking forever. “What are you doing?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the door. “We need to get out of here.”

“It’d be pretty pointless to get this far and not see if there’s anything on their system that we can use,” Branna said dryly.

“Then hurry it up,” I snapped. “If you do find something, it’ll be pretty pointless if we’re dead.”

“I’m trying,” she ground out, “but they have advanced encryption. I need Kade.”

Suddenly, the door swung open. I sucked in a breath, my finger tightening on the trigger, and I only just stopped myself from firing in time.

Blane and Kade stepped inside, each of them holding a gun. Blane looked surprised to see us; Kade just looked pissed.

“What the hell, Branna?” Kade barked. “I thought I was pretty fucking clear on what your instructions were.”

“Shut up and get over here and help me,” she retorted.

I noticed both Blane and Kade didn’t look as put together as they had before. Their clothes were slightly askew, and now I could see cuts and bruises on their faces and hands. They’d been fighting, maybe with the same guys who’d come after us.

“I thought they were taking you to see Lazaroff?” I asked.

“Point that somewhere else, Kat,” Blane said, motioning to the gun I held. Embarrassed, I lowered my arm. I hadn’t even realized I was still pointing it at them. Then the first thing that flew through my head was an image of Blane and Branna having sex.

“Are you all right?” Blane asked, moving over to stand next to me while Kade headed for Branna. His eyes examined me.

It was only by mustering a great deal of self-control that I didn’t say what was on the tip of my tongue. I’d ended it with Blane, and if he wanted to sleep with the goddamn Rockettes, then that was his prerogative.

“I’m just fine,” I said stiffly. Our eyes met. His lips thinned.

“She told you,” he said quietly.

“Was it a secret?” I asked, trying and failing to keep a lid on my anger.

“What, am I supposed to apologize to you now?” Blane asked, his words bitter.

I stepped closer. “You once told me I’d gotten my revenge,” I hissed. “So congratulations. You have, too.”

“Whatever drama you two have playing out over there, can we save it for later?” Kade interrupted. “Blane, you need to see this.”

Blane broke our staring contest, heading over behind the desk. I remained where I was. Whatever was on the computer, I doubted I’d be able to make heads or tails of it.

“I didn’t realize Keaston had such ties to the Department of Energy,” Kade said.

Blane’s voice was grim when he replied. “It certainly looks like it pays well. Are you getting this?”

Kade hit a few more keys. “Uploading now. It’ll be safe on my server.”

A smell suddenly hit my nostrils, sickly sweet and thick, just as I heard a thin, hissing sound behind me. I turned around.

“Does anyone else smell—” And then I couldn’t breathe, choking and gasping on the cloud of white coming from the vent in the wall in front of me and aimed right at my face.

“Tear gas!” Blane said. “They know we’re in here. Get Kat!”

I dropped the gun, my hands covering my nose and mouth while my eyes streamed, the burning sensation nearly unbearable. I couldn’t see anything and I stumbled back, trying to get away from the vapor inching its way through the room.

Arms closed around me and I was lifted bodily. I could feel us moving, then we were out of the room, the fog gone.

But I’d been too close to it, breathed too much in, and still coughed and choked. I was blind, my eyes burning so badly I’d be crying even if water wasn’t already streaming from my eyes.

Kade, I think, had his arm wrapped around me and I clung to him, trying to stay on my feet.

“Gentlemen,” someone said, “I was told you wanted to see me.”

Kade pressed some fabric into my hand, his pocket square, maybe, and I used it to wipe my face.

“You were told wrong,” Kade said. “We were just on our way out, but if you’d validate our parking, that’d be a big help.”

The man laughed and now I could sort of see him, at least the outline of him. He was tall and broad, and there were a half dozen men surrounding us, all pointing what I assumed were guns.

“You were in my office, accessing my files,” Lazaroff said. “The only part of a car you’re going to see is the inside of a trunk.” His voice hardened. “Now drop your weapons.”

“Not a big chance of that happening,” Kade replied.

“You’re surrounded. One word from me and you’re dead. Drop your weapons.”

Kade glanced at Blane, who gave a curt nod. I heard the dull thud as Blane, Kade, and Branna dropped their guns.

“I have a
. . .
gift, you might say,” Lazaroff continued, “for finding the weakest link. It’s come in helpful over the years.” He paused. “Two men invade my place of business, hack my computer system, and overall seem quite competent. So why bring along two females?”

This didn’t look to be going anywhere good. I squinted, my cheeks still wet from my teary eyes, and saw his head turn my way.

“Bring me that one,” Lazaroff said, pointing at me. Two men immediately closed in.

Kade’s arm tightened, yanking me closer. “I don’t think so,” he said, his voice like ice.

I panicked, knowing that resisting could very well get Kade hurt, maybe killed. “No, don’t!” I said, pushing against him to free myself. “You’ll just get hurt.” Kade made a grab for me, but I backed away just as the two guys got between us.

I stumbled back but caught myself, blinking fast to try and clear my vision. I wasn’t thrilled with being called the “weakest link,” but considering the four of us, I couldn’t disagree.

Warily, I approached Lazaroff, stopping when I was just out of reach, but it didn’t matter because a guard grabbed my arm and yanked me right up to him.

“What’s your name,
milaya moya
?”

I didn’t know what to say. Should I tell him the truth? The guard twisted my arm hard, up behind my back, and I cried out.

“Name,” Lazaroff repeated.

“Kathleen,” I gasped. “Kathleen Turner.”

“And why are all of you here, Kathleen?”

Well, I certainly couldn’t tell him that. I pressed my lips closed because I knew what was coming wouldn’t be pleasant.

“We’ll tell you,” Blane said. “You don’t have to hurt the girl.”

Glad to know he still cared.

“Ah, but what if I want to hurt the girl?” Lazaroff replied. “By the looks of you two, hurting you might prove somewhat arduous. Whereas hurting the girl”—he reached out and gripped my jaw—“is much easier, and highly effective.” He hit me without any warning, the flat of his palm striking my face with enough force to knock me down had the guard not been holding me up. As it was, my knees buckled, which put more pressure on my shoulder, with my arm still twisted up behind me, and a whimper escaped as I tried to regain my shaky footing.

It was immediately apparent that Lazaroff’s actions had provoked a response, because I could hear Blane and Kade yelling and cursing. I shook my head to clear it, only to have Lazaroff grab my jaw again.

Then I hauled off and kneed him in the nuts.

Smart idea? Probably not, but I wasn’t about to be a punching bag just to torment Blane and Kade. I’d been hit twice tonight, and I thought I’d better not start keeping count or things were going to get really depressing, really fast.

Everything seemed to stop as the guards looked in horror at what I’d done. Lazaroff was bent over, his hands cupping his abused crotch.

Then all hell broke loose.

C
HAPTER
F
IFTEEN

I
heard gunshots and the man holding me suddenly let go. I fell to the floor, my arms instinctively coming up to cover my head. I couldn’t make sense of the forms swirling around me—they were moving too fast and my vision was still too blurred by the tear gas. I prayed while I made myself as small as possible on the floor, then realized that Lazaroff was lying next to me
. . .
and that he was dead.

It was all over in a few minutes and I lay amid the carnage of dead men. Someone’s hands landed on me and I cringed in terror.

“It’s me, baby,” Kade said. “It’s okay.”

I threw my arms around his neck and clung to him. His hands settled on my waist as he lifted me to my feet.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked. “Blane and Branna, are they hurt?”

“We’re fine, Kat,” Blane said from behind me. Kade released me and Blane pulled me close, his lips brushing my forehead. “Jesus, Kat,” he said. “I think I lost a few years off my life when you kneed him like that.”

“She gave us the opportunity we needed,” Branna defended me.

I blinked blearily, wishing I could see properly to make out their faces. As it was, everything was a blur.

Kade pulled me back from Blane, an arm resting protectively behind my back.

“Let’s get out of here before more of them come,” Kade said.

I wasn’t sure how they knew the way out, but they did, finding a stairwell behind a door that dumped us into a dark alley. I half walked and was half carried by Kade.

“Follow me,” Blane said. “I’m not staying in some fleabag dive tonight, and neither is Kat.”

Kade didn’t argue. He had me buckled inside his Mercedes in a flash and we were driving down the street.

I closed my burning eyes, settling back against the leather seat with a deep sigh. Kade found my hand resting between us and laced our fingers together.

We pulled up to a hotel whose sign I couldn’t quite make out, but I could tell the place was expensive. The lobby seemed deserted at this hour and I was glad for that, since I for one looked a mess.

The four of us had adjoining rooms, and the first thing Kade did once the heavy door swung shut behind him and me was take me into the bathroom and sit me down on the closed toilet. He then doused a washcloth and patted gently at my eyes.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’ll be okay,” I said. The water felt heavenly.

After a few minutes, I felt well enough to wash my eyes out in the sink. Ten minutes after that, I could actually see again, but then I wished I couldn’t.

The skin around my eyes looked like I’d been burned. My eyes were bloodshot worse than the most awful hangover I’d ever had. My face was blotchy and I had an angry red welt on one cheek from Lazaroff.

I came out of the bathroom, toweling my face dry, then stopped short in shock.

Kade had been beat up, with blood from his nose and his mouth now dried on his face. The skin across the bridge of his nose had been sliced, more blood oozing from it, and there was a long cut by his eye.

He’d broken open the minibar and was drinking whiskey straight from the bottle.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, hurrying to him. “They did this to you?”

He caught my hand in his as I reached to touch his face. “It’s okay, princess. I just didn’t take too well to Lazaroff hitting you. Neither did Blane.”

I knew then that he and Blane must’ve gone for broke to get us out of that mess, and that it had been a near thing.

Going back into the bathroom, I got a fresh washcloth and wet it. Making Kade sit on the bed, I knelt next to him and tried as carefully as I could to clean him up. There was a lot of blood, more than the last time I’d cleaned him up so long ago at The Drop.

“Did we get what we needed?” I asked. Was what we’d gone through worth it?

Kade nodded. “Yeah, we did.”

I gave a sigh of relief. “Let me rinse this out,” I said. “You’ve got a lot of blood on you.” I moved to get up, but Kade grabbed me, his mouth settling on mine in a fierce kiss.

I dropped the washcloth as Kade’s hand cradled the back of my head. His tongue stroked mine, the slight tang of blood reminding me of how close a call we’d had, and suddenly I was kissing him back just as hard.

My fingers tore at his shirt, his jacket already discarded, and in moments I had it off him. He pushed the top of my dress down to my stomach, freeing my breasts. I climbed onto his lap, pushing him down onto his back. In seconds, I had his belt and pants undone, and his hard cock in my hand.

He groaned, tugging the bottom of my dress up until it was around my waist. I shoved my panties down and settled atop him, his erection pushing inside me in one smooth thrust.

I bit my lip at the sensation, my eyes sliding shut. His hands settled on my hips and instinct took over as well as a little madness. We both could’ve been killed tonight, and somehow that fact made it more urgent, more desperate.

I couldn’t live without him.

Kade’s hips rose in counterpoint to mine, our bodies slamming together, making my breasts bounce, not that I cared. If the things Kade was saying were any indication, he seemed to enjoy the view, and as some of his words penetrated the haze engulfing my mind, my cheeks flamed. Yet I grew even wetter until, if I’d been in my right mind, I would have been embarrassed at the wet noises his cock made sliding in and out of me.

Pressing his hands on my back, Kade forced me down, his palm cradling my head again as we kissed, our tongues and teeth clashing with little finesse. His other arm curved over my lower back, stilling my movements as he jackknifed hard into me. He held me immobile, his tongue and cock fucking me, and I whimpered, allowing him to claim me even as it seemed I was in the dominant position. Heat exploded between my legs as I came, Kade swallowing my cries. Then he was pulsing inside me, holding me so tightly to him that the jerking of his cock made another orgasm crash over me.

I collapsed against his chest, the pounding of Kade’s heart loud in my ear. I knew I’d never tire of hearing that sound, not after the many times he could’ve been taken from me.

I was exhausted and could have just rolled over and slept, but Kade ran a bath and soon had both of us in the steaming water, my back to his front as I sat between his spread legs. It was a really nice hotel, with the kind of bathtub I’d never even realized they put in hotels.

He had one of those big natural sponges, squeezing warm water over my shoulders and chest as we relaxed.

“Your eyes look better,” he said.

“Yeah, they feel better. Not an experience I’d like to repeat, though.” That tear gas had hurt. “Was Branna okay?” I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Had she gotten beat up, too? I knew she could fight, but she was so little
. . .

“Yeah,” Kade replied. “She’s fast. It’s hard to lay a hand on her.”

I debated saying something more, took a breath and then let it out.

Kade stilled. “What?” he asked.

I shook my head. “It’s nothing. None of my business.”

“Tell me,” Kade said in my ear, “or I’ll be forced to use dire measures.” His fingers trailed a path down my side and I giggled, arching away.

“It’s nothing, really, I guess
. . .
” I decided to just say it. “Branna and Blane had sex.”

Kade said nothing for a moment, then resumed trickling water on me. “How do you know?”

“Branna told me.”

He sighed. “So how do you feel about this unexpected development, Kathleen?” His voice held a trace of mockery. I turned to look up at him and he shrugged, raising an eyebrow. “I can’t pretend I’m glad that you’re concerned about who Blane sleeps with.”

I frowned. “It has nothing to do with you,” I said. “It’s just
. . .
he barely knows her. What he does know of her is that she hates me.”

“There’s more to Branna than her hating you,” Kade said. “Do you think I’d have stuck with her if she wasn’t someone worth caring about?”

Now I felt guilty and embarrassed. I didn’t answer.

“Hey,” Kade said, lightly grasping my chin and making me turn to face him, “I understand. I do. But you’ve got to let it go.” He paused. “Unless you’re regretting the choice you made?”

“No,” I said immediately. “I love you. It’s just harder than I thought
. . .
letting go.”

Kade’s brows were drawn together as he studied me, and he gave a short nod. “Time. Space. That’s what we need,” he said.

I agreed. I lay against his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist. He trickled water on my back and we sat in silence for a while as the water cooled. Finally, I said, “Is it weird?”

“Is what weird?” Kade asked. He’d stopped trickling water and now his fingers drew wet patterns on my back.

“You and Blane. Me and Branna. Both of you have slept with the same two women. Isn’t that
. . .
weird?” I said “weird,” though other adjectives came to mind.

Kade laughed, taking me by surprise. I sat back, looking up at him in confusion. I certainly hadn’t been thinking “funny.”

“Princess, look at me,” Kade said, his lips twisting in a half smile. “I’ve got gunshot scars, knife scars, and scars I don’t even want to remember how I got from a life I didn’t give a shit about living until I met you. The last thing I’m going to worry about or dwell on is your past lovers, even if I share a bloodline with one of them.”

What could I possibly say to that? He loved me, didn’t care about my past, and wanted to be with me. He was right. I needed to let it go. Blane and Branna didn’t concern me anymore. Kade and our unborn child were my world now.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him the best I knew how. He held me close and it seemed the past finally slid off my shoulders.

I eyed my reflection, nerves making me bit my lip. I was dressed in a somber black-and-white dress that hit just below the knees. A thin belt circled my waist and I wore sensible black heels.

“I feel like we’re going to a funeral,” I said to Kade, glancing over my shoulder to see he was tying his tie. He was also dressed formally, in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie. I moved in front of him and brushed his hands aside as they fiddled with the tie.

“Now I know why you never wear a tie,” I teased, undoing the uneven knot and starting over.

“We
are
going to a funeral,” Kade replied, allowing me to fix the silk. “Figuratively, anyway. Time to put a nail in the coffin of Uncle Robert.”

“Is Blane going to be able to do that?” I asked. I knew how much Robert meant to Blane, and I’d yet to ask him how he really felt since he’d realized all his great-uncle had done to control him—to the point of putting Kade and me in mortal danger.

“He has to,” Kade said grimly. “If he doesn’t, I will—only my solution will be much more permanent.” His smile was thin and cold.

“I thought we couldn’t just kill him,” I said.

“Blane can’t,” Kade replied. “But I can.”

I grabbed his arm. “No, you can’t,” I said. “I need you. The baby needs you. You can’t throw yourself in harm’s way anymore. Not even for Blane.”

Kade’s eyes narrowed.

“Promise me,” I said, taking his face in my palms. “Don’t do something that could leave me to raise this baby alone.”

His piercing blue eyes searched mine. “I promise,” he said finally.

We met Blane and Branna in the lobby, where Blane was checking all of us out of the hotel. Branna was the only one not dressed up, instead wearing jeans and a shirt. She gave us a nod as we approached her, taking a sip of coffee from the paper cup she held.

I sucked in a breath when Blane joined us, the marks on his face mirroring Kade’s. He glanced at me, then slid his sunglasses on.

“Your eyes look better,” he remarked. “No other ill effects from the tear gas, I hope?”

I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

We headed outside and that’s when I realized we were within walking distance of the Capitol building, which is precisely where we headed. Except for Branna. She branched off toward where we’d parked last night.