Amnesia (47 page)

“Who is your mother?”

“You mean you haven’t figured that out? My mother was Kelley Fleming, one of Quinn’s first victims. Kelley, the poor besotted fool who fell in love with Quinn when he was nineteen, the same age I am now. He got her pregnant, left her and never looked back. She loved him and hated him, all at the same time. And she never let me forget that I was his son, that I looked like him, that I had his cursed good looks and charm. When she punished me, she called me Bad Quinn.”

“Quinn is your father?”
Oh, my God!

“Yeah. Ain’t that a kick in the head. The great Quinn Cortez is my old man. Only I didn’t know his full name until two years ago. Whenever she got angry with me, which was almost every day, she’d call me bad Quinn. So I figured Quinn was his name. But not until I got old enough and big enough to stop her from terrorizing me did she tell me who my father really was. She told me his name was Quinn Cortez and he was a rich, hotshot lawyer in Houston. I knew then I had to make him pay for what he’d done to her—to us. He needed to suffer the way she’d suffered…the way I had.”

“Quinn didn’t even know you existed,” Annabelle said.

“He knew. She told me he knew and that he didn’t give a damn. And she told me she still loved him and she’d kept me only because she hoped that someday he’d come back to her. That’s when I undertsood what I had to do. I had to put her out of her misery. It was the only way to give either of us any peace. Don’t you see—she had suffered all those years and she’d made me suffer.”

“So you killed her.” His own mother!
And he’s going to kill me, unless I can find a way to stop him
.

“While she was sleeping, I put a pillow over her head and held it there until she stopped breathing. I didn’t hurt her. Not the way she’d hurt me so many times. I killed her humanely.”

“Why did you cut off her finger?”
Keep him talking. Buy yourself some time
.

“So she could never point it at me again when she punished me for being bad. Bad Quinn. That’s what she called me. But I told you that already, didn’t I?”

“Oh, Jace, I’m so sorry. And if Quinn knew you were his son—”

“He’ll know soon enough. He’s coming here. He thinks he’s coming to rescue you. I was going to let him hang for those murders, but this way is even better. He’s exchanging his life for yours. But without him, you’d rather be dead, wouldn’t you?”

Quinn knew where she was? He was coming to rescue her?
No, please, God, no. He’ll be walking into a trap. Jace plans to kill us both
.

“He tried to make me believe he actually loved you, so I told him that the only way to save you was to swap his life for yours. Do you think he loves you enough to sacrifice himself for you?”

Yes, yes he does
. There was no doubt in her mind that Quinn would lay down his life and die for her.

* * *

Quinn parked his silver Porsche in the back of the motel, directly behind the delivery truck, exactly where Jace had instructed him to park. On the drive here, to this ratty motel on the outskirts of Memphis, he had thought of nothing but saving Annabelle. She was his first priority. His only priority. He had no intention of dying today, but if that’s what it took to save Annabelle, then so be it. It was his fault that she was in this deadly situation. When he’d been a teenager, he had messed around with an odd girl named Kelley Morgan and probably broken her heart and that woman’s son had come into his life to destroy him. But why? Why would an old girlfriend’s son hate him so much? Enough to have wormed his way into Quinn’s life, pretending to be a troubled teen who needed rescuing.

Quinn felt inside the pocket of his leather jacket, reassuring himself that the Glock 30 Griffin had provided for him was still there, ready to draw and use at a moment’s notice. If he could get one clear shot…just one. That’s all he’d need.

Griffin had promised him five minutes to go in alone to rescue Annabelle. “If you can’t take charge of the situation in five minutes, you can’t do it in five hours,” Griffin had said. “I’ll make sure Jim keeps his partner out of the loop, so he won’t be there to act like some cocky cowboy and get you and Annabelle and God knows who else killed.”

“Just make sure Norton understands that if Jace even suspects that I’m not alone, he’ll kill Annabelle before I can get in there to her.”

As Quinn walked around the corner of the motel, his accelerated heartbeat hummed inside his head and a rush of adrenaline pumped through his body. He had never been so damn scared in his whole life. Nothing had ever been more important than the task ahead of him—saving the woman he loved.

A loud, repetitive knocking at the door brought all of Annabelle’s senses to full alert. Jace jumped as if he’d been
shot, then raced over to her and sat down on the bed beside her.

“Yeah?” he called.

“Jace, it’s Quinn. I’m here. Ready to exchange myself for Annabelle.”

“You’re really going to do it?” Jace asked.

“Yes, I’m here, aren’t I?”

Jace pointed the gun directly at Annabelle’s head. “If you try to trick me, I’ll kill her. And it won’t be a kind, gentle death. I’ll blow her brains out.”

“I understand,” Quinn replied. “No tricks.”

“Okay. Come on in, but keep your hands where I can see them.”

“No, Quinn, don’t!” Annabelle yelled. “He’ll kill you.”

“She’s right,” Jace said. “I am going to kill you.”

“But not before you let Annabelle go.”

The door burst open. Jace jumped, the action shaking his gun hand. Annabelle swallowed hard. Quinn stood in the open doorway, the sunlight behind him outlining his powerful body. The light partially blinded her, so she knew it must be having the same effect on Jace. She wriggled, longing to be free so she could attack Jace, to stop him from harming Quinn. But all her squirming accomplished was to agitate a nervous Jace. He pressed the gun against her temple.

“I’m not coming inside until you take your gun away from Annabelle’s head and untie her,” Quinn said.

“Hold your hands over your head,” Jace told him.

“Take the gun away from her head and move away from her, then I’ll do as you asked.”

Jace lowered his weapon. “Now, come on in.”

The events of the next ninety seconds occurred so rapidly that it was as if the world had gone into supersonic speed. Quinn stepped through the doorway, drew his gun as agilely as an Old West gunslinger and aimed at Jace. Annabelle screamed, “No, don’t! He’s your son.” Quinn hesitated for a split second, long enough for Jace to fire his weapon. The bullet hit Quinn in the shoulder. Screeching, Annabelle
fought the bonds that held her. Another shot rang out. Jace, who’d had his gun pointed at Annabelle, dropped to the floor before he’d been able to fire his weapon again. A single shot from directly behind Quinn had put an end to Jace’s killing spree. The bullet had gone in one side of his head and out the other. Blood and brain matter spattered across the floor, the bed and the wall.

Lieutenant Norton and Griffin Powell came in behind Quinn. Griffin removed the unused gun from Quinn’s trembling hand.

“How bad are you hit?” Griffin asked.

“Hurts like hell,” Quinn said as he clutched his shoulder, blood dripping between his fingers. “But I’ll live.” He glanced at Jace, whose crumpled body lay on the floor.

Lieutenant Norton inspected Jace’s body. “Would you look at that? He’s your spitting image, Cortez, with that black wig on.”

As Annabelle struggled unsuccessfully to free herself so she could go to Quinn, he came toward her. He walked around Jace’s lifeless body, giving him only a quick glance, before hurrying to the bed.

“Quinn, you’re hurt.” Tears blurred Annabelle’s vision.

He reached up, untied her hands and took her into his arms, then winced when she pressed against his injured shoulder.

She jerked away from him. “I’m sorry.”

He circled the back of her neck with his big hand. “I’m the one who’s sorry. Because of me, you nearly died.”

“And because of you, I’m still alive.”

He pulled her to his uninjured side. She wrapped her arms around him gently and laid her head on his good shoulder.

“He—he told me he was your son,” Annabelle said. “His mother was Kelley Fleming. He had to be telling the truth. With that black wig and brown contacts, he looks so much like you.” She lifted her head and her gaze locked with Quinn’s. His eyes were filled with tears. “Oh, Quinn, I’m so
very sorry. I couldn’t let you kill your own son, not even to save me.”

“I never knew. I swear to God, I had no idea I’d ever fathered a child.”

She caressed his face. “Don’t you think I know that? Despite all your faults, my darling, you would never have deserted a child the way your father deserted you.”

Lieutenant Norton cleared his throat. “Let’s get you two out of here. The local ME is on his way and the crime scene team will want everything as untouched as possible.”

“And we need to get Quinn to the hospital ASAP,” Griffin reminded them. “I’ll drive y’all there. It’ll be quicker than waiting on the ambulance.”

Griffin had stayed at the hospital with Annabelle during Quinn’s surgery and when she refused to leave, he stayed on with her throughout the night. He had left her only a few minutes ago, shortly after Quinn awoke. But before he left, he gave Quinn the report that had come in through his agents in Texas. A report on Kelley Morgan Fleming and her son, Jace.

Sitting on the edge of Quinn’s bed, feeding him his breakfast, Annabelle had never felt so thankful. She had come very close to losing Quinn and if she had lost him, she wasn’t sure she could have gone on living.

After eating half his meal and downing a full cup of coffee, Quinn told her, “That’s enough.” Then when she pushed aside the serving table, he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Since you’re still here, does that mean you aren’t going to run from me while you still can?”

“Silly, silly man.” Lifting her hand to his forehead, she brushed back several stray curls. “Don’t you know that you’re stuck with me for the rest of our lives?”

“Annabelle…” He gazed at her pleadingly. “My stupid, careless actions when I was a teenager helped create that poor boy. I got a girl pregnant and never knew it. And my
child—my son—grew up with a crazy woman who punished him because he reminded her so much of me.”

“I didn’t want Griffin to give you that report on Kelley Fleming and her son. I told him to wait until you’d recovered.”

“Griffin knew I needed all the facts he could unearth and I needed them right away. I have a great deal to work through and I can’t do that without the facts, without the truth.”

“The truth is that you’ve made some mistakes in your life. Who hasn’t? You can’t change the past, can’t go back and save Jace. But you can continue helping other kids in trouble, the way you’ve done for years. And I’ll help you do it. We’ll build a girls’ ranch adjacent to the Judge Harwood Brown Boys’ Ranch. We’ll—”

With his good arm, Quinn reached out and pulled Annabelle to him, then lifted his head and kissed her. When the kiss ended, he smiled at her. “Don’t ever leave me,
querida
. You’re my only hope for salvation. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know that I love you and you love me. And against all the odds, we found each other, fell in love and now have a chance for real happiness. I’d say that means you’re as much my salvation as I am yours.”

“Marry me, Annabelle. Marry me and help me become a better man than I’ve been in the past.”

“You don’t think being married, being tied down to one woman, will bore you in a few months?”

“Not if that one woman is you.”

Her face lit up with a deliriously happy smile. “Then the answer is yes. Yes, Quinn Cortez, I’ll marry you.”