He shook his head. “It’s unusual, the whole situation. I agree.” His eyes closed. “Your first.” His eyes opened again, his gaze seemingly seeing the past. “You never forget. Someone else’s first, it means nothing.” He took a drink of his whiskey and grinned. “I almost forgot, but then it came back. The bar. Race fan. It was the surveillance that brought it full circle.”
“I didn’t… I never intended.”
“It happened.”
I lifted the tumbler to my mouth and tipped the glass. Like liquid fire, the heat scorched my lips. Without drinking, I placed the glass back on the table. I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t.
Taking a deep breath, I confirmed his assessment. “It did come full circle. She did. He was an abusive fuck. You remember the surveillance. It was because her old man finally figured out he’d sold his daughter to the devil. I didn’t know until recently what that meant. I hope now it meant he made a last-minute change to his will. That didn’t spare her the years of degradation.”
“And yet it took Lennox…”
“Alexandria Collins is her daughter, is his daughter… the race fan.” When Vincent didn’t respond, I went on. “None of this is news to you.”
“No, Oren, but it’s good to hear it from your lips.”
“I won’t say it got easier. I will say I never made the mistake of getting to know the families again after my first job.”
Vincent lifted his hand toward the waitress. “Quite a coincidence, your son, her daughter.”
I shrugged. “Guilt combined with hope.”
“Hope?”
I nodded. “Not much. I don’t deserve it, but a small kernel. I took the man who should have helped her. I stole that from her. She’s young and smart.”
“Columbia and Stanford,” Vincent said.
I wasn’t sure why it surprised me. It shouldn’t.
“Yes, but Fitzgerald, he had plans for her. They needed to be stopped. If they weren’t, she’d have been sentenced to the life her mother endured.”
The waitress sat another glass in front of Vincent. After she left he lifted it, like a toast. “Knight in shining armor, you are.”
“No. We both know that isn’t true.”
“Six years.”
I tilted my head.
“It’s been six years. Eight since Angelina’s funeral. You weren’t at Jocelyn’s.”
“You were?”
“Didn’t Lennox tell you?”
“No,” I admitted. “We weren’t talking much at that time.”
“Now you are?”
“Yes. I’ve been honest with him—mostly.”
“And he’s being honest. He’s understanding his family.”
I shook my head. “Angelina and I didn’t want that. She didn’t want that.”
We sat in silence as Vincent finished his current glass of whiskey. Though the air was still strong with the aroma of garlic and oregano, my appetite was gone.
“Jimmy,” Vincent said, “go get the car. Bella is blowing up my pocket.”
I smiled. “I always liked her.”
“She and Angelina were tight. They would cackle like hens in a chicken coop.”
“Luca has become a good man. He’s ready. You made him that way.” I leaned forward. “I thank you for Lennox. He’s a good man too.”
“We miss Angelina,” Vincent said.
“I do too.”
“You love this woman, the race car fan’s wife?”
I huffed. “I do. I’d give her back that man if I could.”
“The other husband?”
“He should have been the one in the car. Even old man Montague figured that out. He just never got the chance to make it known.”
“But he did,” Vincent said as he stood. He moved his head from side to side. “And he didn’t. He contacted me. Left a message and asked to be called back. Times were busy. Business, life, and death. Two days passed until I returned his call. When I did, I couldn’t reach him. He’d passed away. I didn’t pursue it.” He shrugged and grunted as he pulled on his overcoat. “Never even gave it much thought until recently. Lennox’s request reminded me.”
My request, I wanted to repeat, but I didn’t. Instead, I asked, “The message?”
“Asking for a favor.”
“THERE’S A RESTRAINING order,” I said to everyone in the vehicle as I found my phone and called Chelsea. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, why? Is something wrong?” Her initial tenor slowed as a new panic infiltrated her question.
“Chels, we’re on our way. Where’s Isaac?”
“Alex, you’re scaring me. Isaac was here. He read something on his phone and stepped out of the room for a minute. He said he’d be back.”
“Okay. Don’t open the door for anyone but us.”
“What do you know?” she asked.
The speed of the SUV increased as the bare trees along the road blurred. I shook my head and covered the phone. “We’re at least fifteen minutes away.”
“I’m calling the police,” Deloris said. “This is a direct violation of the restraining order.”
I lifted the phone back to my ear. “Isaac called. He’s probably not wanting to scare you, but Bryce is at the hotel.”
“He’s here and Isaac left?”
“No,” I said, “Isaac didn’t leave. He’s checking it out.” I took a reassuring breath. “He’s taking care of it. That’s what he does.”
“Do you think Bryce knows I’m alone? Do you think he knows you aren’t here?”
“I don’t know what he knows.” I lowered my voice. As Deloris began speaking into her phone, Nox’s hands balled into fists and the vein in his neck as well as the one on his forehead pulsated. “Deloris,” I said to Chelsea, “is calling the police. Chels, Bryce was released on bail. There’s a restraining order. If he comes within one hundred yards of you he’s in violation of that order and risks revocation of his bail.”
“They’ll put him back in jail?”
“Yes, theoretically. It would be grounds to revoke his bail.”
“And he won’t be able to get back out?”
“I suppose. I don’t know for sure.”
“He’s not that dumb, is he?” Chelsea asked.
We all leaned one way and then the other as Clayton swerved around slower moving vehicles as he continued speeding toward the city.
“Let him.”
I turned to Nox. He was now on his phone too.
“Let him,” he repeated to his phone. “Keep her safe, but let the asshole hang himself.”
“No,” I pleaded.
Nox hung up his phone and covered my knee with his hand. “It’ll be all right. Isaac won’t let anything happen to her. If Isaac keeps Spencer away, when the police arrive they’ll just talk to him and he’ll still be free. If he’s at the room, his ass will be back in jail.”
I shook my head. “No. Chelsea isn’t a pawn in some damn game. You can’t keep using her to get what you want.”
“What I want is for you to be safe. What I want is for both of you to be able to sleep at night without nightmares. What I want is Edward Spencer to be someone’s bitch behind bars for a very long time. I want him to suffer for what he’s done to you.”
I lifted the phone to my ear again. “Chels…” I tried to sound strong. She didn’t answer. “Chelsea!” Still no response. I tried one more time. “Chelsea!”
I turned to Nox and Deloris. “Call Isaac. She isn’t responding.”
Nox reached for my phone and looked at the screen. “The call’s still connected.”
“I know. I’m not hanging up.”
“Alex,” Deloris said, “the police are already on their way.”
“Deloris, do you have that other phone? The one Alton gave me?”
“It’s back at the hotel. It’s turned off. They aren’t tracing it, if that’s what you are concerned about.”
I shook my head. “No. I was hoping you had it. I’d call Alton and tell him that his so
n is about to violate the restraining order and risk his bail. If anyone could get Bryce to listen, it’s him.”
“Do you remember turning off the location on that phone Saturday night?”
I tried to remember. “No. I knew it was on. It was part of the reason Alton gave it to me. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that it was one of his ways to keep track of me.”
She shook her head. “The location was off when I found the phone at Lennox’s house. I heard the chatter from Mr. Fitzgerald. They knew exactly where you and Chelsea were. I’d assumed it was through your phone, but I was wrong.”
“What does that mean?” Nox asked.
“It means that just like we have eyes on them, they have eyes on you.”
“Do you think they knew she was alone?”
Deloris nodded. “I think it’s a real possibility.”
I lifted the phone again to my ear… nothing… no voices or noise. The small timer on the screen was still clicking the seconds. The call was still connected. “Chelsea!”
A crowd was gathering as the blue lights of multiple police cars flashed near the hotel. As soon as Clayton brought the SUV to a stop, I opened the door and jumped to the sidewalk. Ignoring Nox and Deloris’s shouts, my heart thundered as I ran toward the glass front.
There were more police than I’d first realized, some wearing visible vests over their uniforms, and many were conversing in groups.
The driveway in front of the building was roped off, yellow ribbon with the words CRIME SCENE blocked my way. I slowed just enough to duck under the tape when an officer in uniform stopped me. “I’m sorry, miss, no one in or out.”
My breathing stammered my speech. “I have to get in. It’s my friend in there.”
Nox came up behind me, also catching his breath. “Officer, we’re the ones who called this in. Let us enter.”
“I’m sorry. I have my orders. The hotel is on full lockdown.”
I shook my head faster with each of his words. “Lockdown. No. What happened? I can’t reach her.”
Nox also hadn’t been able to reach Isaac since their last call.
The officer reached out and touched my shoulder. “We have a possible hostage situation.”
The ground beneath my feet tilted as fear strangled the muscles of my throat, seizing my response. Nox was speaking to the policeman. His words grew fainter and fainter until my knees lost tension. I reached for his arm, but it was too late. The world went black.
“Miss Collins. Miss Collins…” My name repeated as I blinked away the haze.
There was a woman in a uniform with a very bright light. I squinted my eyes as I tried to make sense of where I was. There was equipment around me—medical things, but it was cramped. The bed below me was soft and narrow. There was a large opening, near my feet allowing daylight and noise to enter.
An ambulance.
I was in an ambulance.
“W-what happened?” I asked. And then I remembered. Struggling to sit, I pushed against the blankets. The back doors of the ambulance revealed a surreal scene of lights and uniforms. It was as if the doors were a screen and beyond was a movie. But it wasn’t fiction or even dramatization. It was real life.
“Miss Collins, you fell. You hit your head.”
I looked around as I sat taller. “My head?” I reached for my own hair and tenderly pushed. The back of my head was sore to the touch but I didn’t have a headache. “Where’s Nox?” When the woman’s gaze narrowed, I explained. “Where’s my boyfriend? He was with me.”
“Oh, yes, he’s outside talking to the SWAT team.”
SWAT?
“I need to get to him.”
She encouraged me to lie back on the gurney. “Miss, you shouldn’t be up and about. We need to run some tests.”
I pushed back, throwing my feet from the gurney. “I’m fine. Let me go.” I yelled toward the open door, “Nox!” My volume rose. “Deloris! Nox!”
“Miss…”
The most handsome face with the lightest blue eyes turned the corner, rounding the open doors and bringing every inch of his six-foot-plus body into view. His smile melted my heart and brought hope to my soul.
There had to be good news. That was why he was smiling.
“Is she all right? Do they have him? Please tell me she’s safe.”
Nox reached for my hand and ignoring the pleas of the paramedic, he helped me down from the tailgate. “How are you?” He ran his hand over my head. “You dropped like a rock before I even knew what happened.”
I winced as he came into contact with the sore spot. “That hurts… a little, but tell me about Chelsea.”
Reaching for my hand, he kissed my forehead and spoke as he led me toward a group of policemen in SWAT uniforms. “You haven’t been out that long. The paramedics want to take you to the hospital for a scan.”
“I’m not dizzy… just my head is sore.”
“Princess, you’re growing a goose egg on the back of your head.”
“Fine, I’ll get a scan—later. Chelsea?” I asked.
“At first they thought Spencer went to her room. They sent officers up there. The door was open.” He paused. “They found her phone sitting on the table.”
I stopped walking, unable to do anything but listen.
“I’m not sure how or why,” Nox went on, “but she left the room and went down to the coffee shop on the first floor.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Our guys spotted her before the police, but so did Spencer. He’s telling everyone that he’s armed. Isaac is there too. Spencer is holding everyone in the coffee shop. He’s threatened only Chelsea. Well, and Isaac.”
“Miss Collins?” an officer wearing a Kevlar vest asked as he approached.
I eyed his uniform, the vest, the hat, the ammunition. “Yes, is this really that serious?”
“Has Mr. Demetri filled you in on what’s happening with your friend and fiancé?”
“He’s not my fiancé anymore.” I looked up to Nox. “He’s told me that my friend is safe?”
“Currently. Edward Spencer just made a demand.”
“What?”
“We need to take you to the negotiator. Mr. Spencer said he’ll let everyone else in the shop go. There are seven other people, including three children. He says he’ll let them all walk out, if you’ll go in.”
“No,” Nox said, pulling my hand closer.
My stomach twisted. “Children? There are children in there?”
“Three children, two women, and two men as well as your friend and Edward Spencer.”
“I can’t believe he’d do this.” I turned back to Nox. “What does he have? What kind of weapon?”
“Isaac has been our eyes inside. He’s managed a few text messages and even a picture. He’s one of those men, one of the two. Spencer has said he has a gun. Isaac has only seen it through Spencer’s coat, the outline. Isaac was ready to take him out when he grabbed Chelsea, but Isaac was afraid that if he did, Chelsea would be hurt.”
“Oh my God. Why didn’t she stay in the room?”
“Miss Collins. We wouldn’t ask you to do this, except our profiler believes that the gun is fake. Mr. Spencer’s profile doesn’t include weapons.”
“He’s accused of murder. A body was found on his property,” Nox said.
“Yes, sir. And I can’t release any details about that, but a weapon was not the cause of death.”
I let go of Nox’s hand, covered my stomach, and whispered, “He beat her to death.”
“Miss Collins?” the officer asked.
“Bryce doesn’t use weapons; he uses his hands and verbal threats.” I pointed to the hotel. “This isn’t him. I mean, I think your profiler is right.” I turned to Nox. “Isaac said he grabbed Chelsea?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what he does. Brute force is his thing, not a gun.”
“I don’t care, you’re not going in there.”
“He won’t hurt me like he will Ch
elsea.”
“No,” Nox said definitively.
I turned to the officer. “Can I try to talk to him? On a phone?”
He nodded. “We have his number. That’s how he made the demand. He called us. We’ve set up a line of communication. Our negotiator can ask him if he’ll speak to you.”
“Can you take me to the negotiator?”
A few minutes later, Nox and I were in the back of a large van talking to more of the SWAT team. “Our profiler is usually right,” the negotiator said, “but if she’s wrong? I don’t recommend going in, not until we have more information on Edward Spencer.”
I leaned forward with my elbows on the makeshift table, trying to calm the nerves that currently felt like bats or maybe dragons in my stomach. “What do you want to know?”
“We’ve contacted his mother. She’s on her way.”
“How about his father?” Just asking… saying it aloud… caused my dragons to take flight.
The officer looked at a tablet in front of him. “Marcel Spencer? He’s deceased.”
“What?” My eyes grew wide. “He’s dead? When?”
“It says here, he died eight years ago.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Bryce never said he’d died. He would have told me.”
“Ma’am, it says right here that Marcel Spencer died after a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Apparently he had a history of mental issues. I can’t be more specific.”
I looked at Nox. “Mental issues? What if Alton isn’t his father?”
“What if he is? They need to tell him what’s happening. You said yourself that he’s the one person that Spencer might listen to.”
We sat back on the small chairs as the negotiator called Alton. Part of me was surprised he wasn’t already on his way. If Suzanna was, why wouldn’t Alton be?
“He’s not far away.”
I took a deep breath. “Umm, I can’t be near him.”
“Excuse me?”
“I filed a restraining order against him yesterday. I think he can help, but we can’t be within one hundred yards of each other.”
The negotiator shook his head. “Lady, you’re not making this easier on us.”
“And you’re not putting her in danger,” Nox said.