Leader of the Pack (The Dogfather Book 3)

“Go down it, Christian!” Andi called. “Get on the slide, honey. Now!”

  In one smooth move, Christian flung himself into the tube, but Jeff was right behind him, both gone from sight as they disappeared into the tube. Andi darted to the bottom to grab Christian when he came out, just as the sound of a dog’s bark cut through her thumping pulse.

  She turned, seeing Jag tearing across the square at full speed, bounding through the air, his focus on that slide. He was still fifty feet away when Christian’s feet appeared, but Jeff rolled out on top of him.

  Jag barked again, loud and furious, getting Jeff’s attention. Without a word, he slammed a booted foot into Andi’s stomach, vaulted out of the slide, and swooped Christian up.

  “Jag!” Christian screamed as Jeff flung the child over his right shoulder and took off at full speed. “Jaaaaag!”

  Andi started running, but Jag flew by her and launched himself onto Jeff’s back.

  His teeth got hold of Jeff’s left shoulder, instantly making him drop Christian and fall to the ground, screaming. As Jeff threw his hands over his head to protect himself, Jag barked and slammed his paws on Jeff, holding him down.

  “Zimmer!” Christian hollered. “Zimmer, Jag, zimmer!”

  Instantly, Jag backed off, and Jeff scrambled to his feet to take off, but as he did, a man came out of nowhere, running directly toward Christian and Jeff, a gun drawn.

  As the mothers screamed in horror, Andi threw herself at Christian, covering his body with hers, smashing him into the grass to protect him.

  “Fass! Fass!” The attack order came from behind her in Liam’s voice.

  Jag leaped at the command, launching toward his victim, directly in the line of the man’s gun.

  “Jaaaaa—” Christian’s scream was cut off as Liam threw himself on top of Andi, shielding her and Christian. Under him, Andi could see Jag had the man down before any bullet was fired, coming at him with his full weight and a bite into the arm holding the gun, which went flying.

  Only then did Liam roll off them, hopping up in one move. Jag had his teeth in the man’s arm, wrestling him to the ground. Liam shouted a command, and Jag backed off as Liam took over and pinned the man with a knee to his chest.

  Liam looked at Andi and notched his head toward Jeff, who’d run about sixty feet by now and was going to be long gone soon.

  She read the question in his eyes. Send Jag? He’d have Jeff down, bitten, and trapped in seconds. And Christian would see the whole thing.

  Or they could let him go.

  She shook her head and Liam acknowledged her decision with a slight nod, but then his attention was back on the man under him, and she turned hers to the child under her.

  “Shhh.” She wrapped Christian’s quivering body into hers, trying to quiet the sobs. In the distance, she heard sirens, vaguely aware of the other children crying and being swept away by their panicked mothers.

  The man Liam pinned was muttering something that sounded like German, and Jag was right in his face, ready to attack again at Liam’s command. Andi turned to where Nora had been standing, a witness to all of this, but she was gone, although others in the park were rushing to the action.

  “I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry. I made Daddy leave. Jag bit Daddy, and I made Daddy leave.”

  “No, no, you didn’t.” She stroked his head and tried to get him up and to somewhere safe, although nothing seemed to be safe now. She started to push them both up when her hand hit something sharp.

  There, on the ground, was a four-inch-long black nail that definitely looked like it could be a few thousand years old.

  * * *

  Andi came down the stairs with a completely different expression than the one she’d worn a few nights earlier when she descended that same staircase in white lace. Instead of smiling with joy, she now nibbled on her lower lip, a frown tugging while the heavy sigh of an exhausted mom escaped from her lips.

  “How is he?” Liam asked, waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Asleep, thanks to Jag.” She gave him a weak smile. “Let’s just say I’m glad the guest room has a king-size bed, or I’d be battling a dog for space.”

  His heart dropped. So she’d be sleeping with Christian tonight.

  “I don’t know what I’d have done without you talking to him like that,” she said. “It really helped him to understand that Jag was doing his job to go after Jeff. He’s having an easier time forgiving Jag than Jeff, but that will come, I suppose.”

  He nodded in agreement, nudging her toward the kitchen. “Come on. You haven’t eaten all day.”

  “It’s the last thing I’ve thought about, but…” She put her hand on her stomach. “I am starving.”

  “Crystal left us dinner. Dad’s gone up for the night, and so has Gramma Finnie. Darcy’s staying with a cousin tonight.”

  “I really appreciate the offer to stay here…for a while.”

  “Until they find Jeff.”

  She exhaled again, this time with frustration, not exhaustion. “He’ll be back,” she said. “If he thinks I have that nail.”

  After the police arrived and arrested the man who claimed to be a German tourist, but was surely involved in a European art-theft ring, Liam and Andi had spent a long time talking to law enforcement, taking turns answering questions and calming Christian.

  Eventually, they let Christian and Jag go to Waterford with Shane, where the family did their thing, surrounding the child with love and dogs while Andi participated in more interviews at her house. She’d spent enough time with Jeff to be able to fill in many holes for law enforcement.

  Paul Batista had been there the whole time, and arranged a phone conversation with the Wytheville PD, who’d handled the investigation of Jeff’s “death.” Finally, Andi had given Paul the nail and reliquary to arrange a return to the cathedral in Germany through Interpol.

  Only then had they been able to put the day’s events behind them and concentrate on taking care of Christian, which was when Liam talked to him about forgiving Jag.

  Now, at nearly eleven o’clock, Liam and Andi could finally have a private conversation.

  He led her to the kitchen table set for two with the cold chicken and salad Crystal had prepared. “Something to drink?” Liam asked.

  “Maybe a vat of wine or two.”

  He laughed, encouraged that she hadn’t lost her sense of humor. “I opened you a bottle already.” Pouring a glass, he brought it to her, along with a beer he’d been sipping while he waited. “Here you go, sweetheart.”

  She looked up at the endearment, uncertainty in her eyes. “A sympathy ‘sweetheart,’ or did you mean that?”

  “If you have to ask, you haven’t been paying very close attention to me.”

  A sad smile flickered. “You’re pretty much all I’ve been paying attention to, Liam, and that might be the problem.”

  The words twisted inside him as he sat down next to her. “We don’t have a problem.”

  She shot him a look as she lifted the wineglass. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “I mean, obviously, we have a problem, since Jeff is still out there. And Christian was wrecked by this. But together, we can handle anything.”

  She closed her eyes and took a deep drink, putting the glass on the table as Liam’s words faded.

  “We are together, Andi.” It wasn’t a question. He refused to let it be.

  After a moment, she picked up her fork, then put it down again. “I didn’t know him,” she said softly. “I was with him for more than a few years in Boston, and another one here, and I knew nothing about the man. He was a thief? No, he was a gifted architect with a talent for restoration.”

  Restoration that included helping himself to valuable artifacts and selling them for a tidy profit. “He clearly got involved with the wrong people over there,” he said, hoping that made her feel better.

  “Was I madly in love with the guy?” she asked, almost to herself. “No, I never was. But I liked him.
I respected him. I thought I knew him. I would have bet anything and everything that he was an upstanding man who loved his son and wouldn’t hurt him.” She shuddered. “And he tried to use him as a shield.”

  “Andi.” He put his hand over hers, but she drew it away, a move that sliced him, but he understood how fragile she was.

  “It’s like I don’t even know people I think I know.”

  He sighed. “Don’t judge the world by one man.”

  “I’m judging me, not the world,” she replied. “How can I not question my own ability to decide who I should and should not have around my son or in my life?”

  “Ouch.”

  “I’m sorry, Liam, but…I’m confounded by the human race tonight.”

  “Well don’t lump me in with the rest of them, Andi. I’ve never been anything but…” In love with you. “Honest,” he finished.

  She closed her eyes, acknowledging that. “Yes, you have. But I’m reeling, Liam. Christian is wounded by this, and so am I,” she finally said.

  “What do you need?” he asked.

  “I need time,” she answered after a moment. “I need to go back to where I was, inching him into the world with love and care and one hundred percent of my attention.”

  “I can help you.”

  She sighed and picked up the wine again. “I can’t imagine trusting anyone.”

  “Andi.” He took the glass and put it down, then closed his hands around hers. “We’re married.”

  “Are we?”

  “You said the words, and so did I.”

  “It was an act. We did it to stop a custody battle, which I’m pretty sure I won. Along with Christian’s inheritance.”

  He stared at her for a long moment, trying to let this process. She’d walk? The vows meant nothing? He meant nothing? An old and far too familiar weight pressed on his chest, one that started the day she looked at him and told him Christian’s father had returned. And now—

  Bright headlights of a car pulling into the Waterford driveway flashed into the dimly lit kitchen, pulling their attention. Frowning at unexpected company at this hour, Liam stood to see who it was.

  “Paul Batista,” he muttered at the sight of the detective getting out of a car.

  “Maybe he has news.”

  The two of them walked straight to the kitchen door to go out and greet Paul.

  “We got him,” Paul said without preamble.

  Andi swayed into Liam. “You do? Is he okay?”

  Liam tried not to react to the fact that her first question was about Jeff’s well-being. He was and always would be Christian’s father.

  “He’s fine, and so is his sister. They had a fender bender on the highway and the state trooper who showed up recognized them from the alert. And the bastard was bleeding like a stuck pig from the dog bite. He was treated, and both of them are being held without bail.”

  Liam put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the tension melt away at the news that she and Christian were completely safe.

  “Assuming he talks, and we believe he will in order to get a reduced sentence, he’s going to be able to help Interpol put a lot of people in jail. This was a real coup, you two.”

  Andi nodded and turned to Liam. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  He barely smiled. When was she going to learn he didn’t want thanks? He wanted…love. Something she might not ever be capable of giving to anyone but Christian.

  Even her husband.

  “Oh, and I have some more news for you,” Paul said, coming closer into the porch light. “It might actually make this all easier for you, considering…” He looked from one to the other. “That you sort of rushed that wedding for legal reasons.”

  Denial rose up in Liam, but Andi looked straight at the man as if she couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say.

  “I did a little digging since…” Paul laughed. “That’s what I do. And it turns out that since you applied for the marriage license on Friday and Monday was Labor Day, it hasn’t been processed yet.”

  Liam stared at him, hating the words as they were spoken.

  “Not processed?” Andi asked.

  “It has to be processed for the ceremony to be official, so if you pull it before nine a.m. tomorrow, you won’t have to go through any annulment business. The marriage would be void.”

  Void.

  Now there was an ugly word. But under Liam’s hand, which was still on Andi’s shoulder, he felt her relax even more. As if this was as much a relief as Jeff being in custody.

  All he had to do was get to the town hall by nine in the morning.

  “Thanks for letting us know, Paul,” he said, stepping toward the man to shake his hand.

  “Hey, I’m sorry if I seemed, you know, dubious about all this. Nature of the job, you know. You’re a good man, Liam.”

  Yeah, and look how great that was working out for him. “No worries, Paul.”

  From the car, Hawk let out a sharp, impatient bark, making Paul smile. “And I still want to go back with a good dog for the force. You have one, right?”

  “Not Jag,” Andi said quickly. “You wouldn’t take Jag.”

  “Of course not,” Liam assured her. “Come by tomorrow morning, Paul, and I’ll introduce you to Fritz. You’ll love him, and we can do some work together training him.”

  Paul frowned a little. “Tomorrow morning. Are you sure? Don’t you want to go to the county clerk’s office and pull that marriage license?”

  Liam stood stone-still, waiting for Andi to say they wouldn’t do that. Willing her to say it. But she didn’t say a word.

  “Afternoon, then,” Liam said.

  “Sounds good.” With another shake, and a quick hug for Andi, Paul got back in his car and drove off, leaving them standing in the evening heat on the back porch.

  Crickets and cicadas hummed in the Carolina summer air, and the occasional dog barked from the kennels, a sound that was so familiar to Liam, he barely heard it.

  Andi sighed, and he sure heard that. And all that it implied.

  For once, Liam had no fight left in him. If this was what she wanted, then that’s what he’d give her.

  “I’ll pull the marriage license in the morning,” he said softly and headed back into the house, because he couldn’t stand there on the porch where his father proposed to his mother and know that the one woman he wanted didn’t want him.

  “Liam.”

  He almost stopped at his whispered name. Almost hoped that this would be it, the moment she’d let him in and trust him as the one certain thing in her life. Almost took that chance one more time.

  I can’t imagine trusting anyone.

  He could still hear her confession. Just how many times did he have to be hit by the two-by-four? She didn’t want what he wanted and he was done begging for scraps of her affection like an unclaimed pound puppy.

  He stepped inside the kitchen, but Andi stayed outside for a long time. When she finally came in, she took her wineglass and went upstairs to sleep with her son.

  And Liam went out to the kennels to be with the dogs. Because, as he’d always known, people sucked and dogs didn’t.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “It’s gonna be okay, Jag. Don’t you worry.”

  Christian’s soft whisper pulled Andi from a surprisingly deep sleep. She didn’t open her eyes, though, or give away the fact that she’d awakened. This was like the old days of listening to a toddler’s babble through the monitor in the morning, and the memory warmed her.

  “You did everything right. You know that, boy. That’s what you were trained to do, and you didn’t know that was my daddy. You stopped when I said the code word, too.”

  Jag’s only response was a dog sigh and the soft thump of a tail.

  Slowly turning her head, Andi sneaked one eyelid open to see the morning light peeking through the curtains she’d drawn last night, hoping Christian might sleep in. He sat up, Jag’s massive head resting in the nest of his crossed legs. The dog’
s tail moved up and down, patting the bed with the same rhythm that Christian’s little hand stroked his black and tan flank.

  “Mommy said Daddy had to go away again in a hurry, but you did the right thing, and then you stopped the bad guy. You did your job, Jaggerman. I’m proud of you.”

  Andi bit her lip to keep from letting out a whimper of her own pride at her son. But she wanted to hear him talk, wanted this sneak peek of the innermost thoughts that he revealed only to his dog.

  “I knew Liam would keep us safe.”

  Her heart rolled around helplessly. He’d gone and fallen for Liam as hard as she had. And yet, she’d literally sat at that table and questioned him last night. Or questioned her own judgment.

  How could she do that? Yes, she’d been knocked backward by the shock of Jeff being alive and all the terrible things he’d done. Yes, that had made her question every decision she’d ever made. And, yes, she was fragile but had to be strong for her son.

  Yet the one constant in everything was Liam. Until he left her on the porch while she was trying to find the words to tell him not to pull that license.

  So she’d stood outside and silently cried trying to tell herself that Christian needed her “one hundred percent” even though…that was how much she needed Liam.

  “I love you, Jag.” Christian leaned over and planted a kiss on the dog’s head. “I hope I can keep you and Liam forever.”

  But Liam was going to the town hall to pull the marriage license this morning. She let out a soft moan at the thought, and instantly, Jag’s head was up and Christian turned.

  “Hey, bud,” she whispered, reaching her hand out. “How’d you sleep?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “It’s a school day, Mom.”

  “You don’t have to go to school today,” she said. “You can stay here at Waterford all day with Jag and me.”

  “But I want to go to school, Mommy.”

  “Oh.” She pushed up on her elbow. “Really?”

  He nodded, looking back down at Jag.

  “I thought you’d want to stay here with Jag, and we can talk about what happened with Daddy.”

  He swallowed visibly and still didn’t answer, making Andi immediately sit up to reach for him. “Oh, honey, it’s going to be okay. I know that was awful yesterday, but I promise you—”