Conviction (A Stand-alone Novel): A Bad Boy Romance (27 page)

Her hand drifted to my hair and then spread sweet comfort down my spine. She rubbed my back one handed as I filled our glasses with the heady Zinfandel.

"I think you're right," she said. "We need to relax. Whatever is on your mind, you have to let it go. At least for tonight."

My eyes flitted over the white marble and limestone details of the modern fireplace. The living room was designed in a series of ivories and white, but in the soft light of the fire, it glowed with a golden light. All I could think about was my past regrets, the choices that I had made that had cost me so much. Autumn’s gentle caress and soft words turned my frenetic mind from regrets to my future.

Risking red wine stains on the cream-colored sofa, I leaned over and captured Autumn's lips in a lingering kiss. She returned the sweet caress and then sat back to smile at me. I scooted closer and kissed her again.

Every time our lips met, my mind cleared. Autumn was the source of my clarity, the wellspring of my future plans, and it was time I shared that with her.

"Sometimes all I can think about is regrets," I confessed to her. "Not that I regret what I did for Jace, but the time I lost weighs on me everyday. I don't want to lose any more time."

She scooted closer and kissed my cheek. "That is all in the past, and you should have no more regrets. Everything you've done since you got out is something to be proud of."

I shook my head. "I keep focusing on the wrong things. I feel like I'm spinning my tires but never getting to where I want to be."

"Where do you want to be?" she asked.

"Here. With you. I know I'm screwing it all up. I don't know how to be here for you. I don't want to step on your independence," I trailed off, at a loss.

Autumn shook her head, and her golden blonde hair caught the colors of the fire. "I wouldn't be here if I felt suffocated. Ayden, I'm sorry I was so resistant to being protected. I underestimated everything we're up against. Still, despite it all, I know if you and I are together, then we'll make it through this."

I kissed her briefly and then pushed her back so I could look her in the eyes. "I dreamed that things would be different. I didn't want it to be like this."

Autumn's eyes flared. "Oh, god, really? You're breaking up with me. I should have known. It makes sense."

"Breaking up? What are you talking about?"

She put down her red wine and tangled her fingers together. "I understand, Ayden. It’s okay. I mean, you just got out of prison, and I can't expect you to settle for me."

"Settle for you?" I threw my head back and laughed. "Oh, god, Autumn. I'm doing this all wrong. Wait here."

I ran to the hallway and grabbed my carry-on. I dropped it to the floor in front of the fireplace and with Autumn watching, I dug out the small, distinctive robin's egg blue box tied with a wide white ribbon.

"This was what the whole trip to San Francisco was supposed to be about," I said.

She watched in shock, unable to move, as I unwrapped the ribbon and opened the ring box. Inside the Tiffany's box was a Schlumberger's Two Bees engagement ring. The center diamond caught the firelight and sent rainbows across Autumn's face.

* * * * *

"The side diamonds are arranged to look like bees," I explained. "Bees were used to represent royalty and that is what you are to me. Autumn Bishop, will you marry me and let me spend my life treating you like the queen you are?"

Autumn slipped to the edge of the cream-colored sofa and held her hands to her mouth. At first I could not tell if she was crying or smiling, so I tried to plead my case.

"I know I've been distant. I know I've been distracted, but you are really the only thing I have been thinking about. You understand what I feel I owe Jace. You love his memory and his company as much as me. Everything I've been doing has been to secure a future for us. I want us to get past all of this and build our life together."

Autumn nodded, her hands still firmly in place over her mouth. I reached up and pulled her fingers away. She let them drop to her lap as I pulled the ring from its box and held it up in the firelight.

"Is that a yes?" I asked. The words caught in my throat. I had no idea what I would do if she said no. There was nothing else for me. Autumn was the central hope and focus for my future.

She nodded again, the grin now apparent despite her rolling tears. Autumn leaned forward, wrapped her arms softly around my neck, and collapsed against my shoulder.

"Yes, of course, yes! I hoped, I hoped, but I had no idea how you really felt," she gasped against my neck.

"Do you know now?" I asked.

Autumn straightened up and pulled herself together with a beautifully crooked smile. "Yes."

I picked up her hand and slipped the Tiffany's ring into place. "I had planned to propose to you underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, but everything unraveled after our dinner at La Folie."

"Really? That's so romantic."

"I know. I'm sorry this is a poor second. This wasn't the dream proposal you were supposed to have. You deserve so much more," I rocked back on my heels and looked at the floor.

Autumn tipped my chin up with both hands and placed the sweetest kiss against my lips. "This was much, much better."

I smiled and jumped to my feet. "It will be once I get the champagne," I said.

I paused in the hallway and glanced out the front door. Alan's car was still parked in front of the wrought-iron gates, but something was different. I leaned closer to the windows that flanked either side of the front door. His driver's side door was hanging open and the gates had been pulled apart far enough for someone of his impressive size to slip through.

I wondered if he had seen something suspicious and had gone to investigate. The thought sent a sliver of unease down my back. I looked at the alarm system and it blinked back.

"You okay?" Autumn called.

"Everything's fine," I said, trying to assure myself as well. I turned back to the foyer and made my way to the kitchen.

The champagne was tucked into the lower left hand crisper drawer. I pulled it out and popped the cork. My thoughts vacillated wildly between the soaring joy of Autumn accepting my proposal and the strange unease the scene outside caused in my gut. I tried to write it off as nerves, too much had happened in too short a time, and forced myself to relax. Nothing could happen to Autumn and I in the secured mansion.

I filled two crystal flutes and paused as I checked the amounts. I thought I heard voices from the other room and straightened up. Autumn had never mentioned family, and I wondered who she would call to immediately share the good news of our engagement.

The image of Autumn telling a shrieking Darla popped into my head and I laughed out loud. The front desk secretary of Knight Holdings would be delighted. She had hinted at our marriage ever since she first saw Autumn and I together. I looked at my watch and figured if it was Darla that Autumn was speaking to, the news was sure to be all over Knight Holdings by midnight.

"You know I haven't even imagined a wedding," I said, carrying the champagne flutes back down the hall to the living room. "I don't have any family to stand up for me. Maybe it would be best if we just elope. What do you think about asking Alan and Darla to be witnesses? To be honest, I think there is a little something going on between those two."

The voices had stopped and I wondered if I had imagined it.

Autumn stood by herself in front of the fireplace. She held her left hand up and studied the engagement ring in the flickering firelight. I was pleased that the multi-faceted Tiffany's ring sent tiny rainbows all over the mantle and Autumn's face.

Her face was streaked with tears. She made no sound, but they flowed silently down and caught the firelight, the same as the bright diamonds.

"Autumn? You're not regretting your decision, are you?" I asked. I could not bring myself to take another step.

She saw me and the tears flowed harder. Autumn shook her head. "I love you, Ayden. I love you so much, and I want nothing more than to marry you."

"Then what's the matter?" I asked. Something in her expression had my insides in tight knots.

Autumn shook her head and raised her left hand to look at the ring again. Her hand shook.

"Is this how all women are? I mean, I have never asked a woman out before much less proposed. This is probably all totally normal, right?" I asked. I took a step into the room.

Autumn caught my eyes and shook her head fiercely. An arrow shot of fear pierced my heart. She was not crying tears of joy, Autumn was afraid. She was deathly afraid and did not want me to come any closer.

"How about you?" I asked, catching her eye but not moving forward. "Has anyone else ever stood in a room with you like this before and proposed?"

Autumn glanced at the far corner with only the slightest movement of her eyes before she nodded. I thought about making up an excuse and making my way down the hallway. I would have a better shot at the intruder from the other end of the living room. Or I could be sensible and try to call the police.

Only the look in Autumn's eyes was so terrified, I could do none of those things. I had no choice but to enter the room and see the person that frightened her.

The looming thug stood in the corner next to the thin, elegant patio doors. He must have opened both to fit inside, but they were now closed tightly behind him. His clothes were dark but subtle, a pair of black jeans, a dark grey tee shirt tight over his impressive girth, and a black sports coat that strained when he shifted his wide shoulders. He wore a black knitted cap over a Yankees baseball cap. Outside he could easily pull the brim down and go unrecognized, but now he had it pushed high on his forehead as he leered at us.

None of that mattered. The only thing that made any difference at all was the snubbed nose of the gun pointing straight at Autumn.

The thug leered when I noticed it. "You should take the ring back, man. She'll make a terrible wife. All I asked her to do was deliver a simple message, and it seems she failed to do that. So, here I am to deliver it myself."

"I'll hear your message outside. Now," I snapped.

He laughed, a cold, brittle sound. "You should have taken the hint. My colleagues tried to be polite. They tried to warn you what would happen if you didn't honor the deal. And now it’s come to this."

I put the champagne flutes down on the cherry wood sideboard. "You say it like this is the only outcome. Please, there are at least a half dozen ways out of this, and that's only what I've come up with so far."

"Oh, great, a clever one," the thug sneered. "There's only one thing that's going to happen. You're going to sign this deal, and I'm going to leave. Or else." He reached into his back pocket and tossed a folded contract across the room.

It fluttered onto the carpet in front of the fireplace. I could see a defiant glint in Autumn's eyes, and I prayed she would not act on her impulse to pick it up and toss it in the fire.

"The first way out of this," I said, ignoring the contract, "is for you to just leave. But, I don't want you to have wasted a trip, so I am willing to make it worth your while."

"You're not going to bribe your way out of this," he said with a smug shake of his heavy head.

"Go ahead and name your price."

"Your signature, there, on the dotted line. Or your little wifey gets a new scar no wedding dress will cover up."

The embers in Autumn's eyes were glowing brighter. She was swinging from terrified to enraged in a sharp arc. I had to get the situation under control before she did something rash.

"All this is a moot point. Your bosses will be gone come morning," I said. "The Mertz brothers and every arm of their conglomeration will be taken over by the FBI come breakfast. So, unless you want to get paid now and clear of the coming storm, we really have nothing else to say."

"I'm not scared of prison if that's what you think. I've been there a few times," the thug said with a proud snarl. "Now I'm gong to ask you one more time to sign that contract. Need a pen?"

He moved quickly for a large man and was across the room in heavy strides. Autumn jumped in between him and me and held her arms open at the sides. The thug chuckled low in his throat as he stopped and took slow, deliberate aim right between her eyes.

"A shame she'll never even have the chance to become a widow." He licked his lips and pulled back the hammer on the gun. "Sign the deal now, or I'm going to be the only one to keep my vows."

* * * * *

Autumn's brown eyes narrowed and her chin jutted out. Before I could force a sound out of my constricted throat, she took a step towards the gun. The sneering man was surprised and had to adjust his aim. It was the opening I had hoped for.

I lunged around Autumn and swept both forearms across his. There was a crack as our arms collided. I quickly wrapped one arm over, and with his trapped between mine, I yanked down hard. There was a sickening snap and the man howled. The gun clattered to the floor and I kicked it away.

The man shoved me back with his other arm, and I hit the edge of the fireplace. I felt the burn along my leg but pushed back. I hit the man directly in the chest, and we toppled backwards, shattering the coffee table. I struggled to stay on top of the huge man as he heaved me off with one thick forearm. His other arm dangled at a wrong angle, and I brought my elbow down hard on it.

Again he howled in pain and flung me off. I rolled and sprang to my feet, waiting to see which way he would move.

Autumn appeared at my side and brandished a fireplace poker. The sharp, pronged end stabbed close to the intruder's eye, but he rolled away and managed to get to his feet. Cradling his broken arm, he charged us. I shoved Autumn out of the way just before I was knocked backward by a full force tackle.

I twisted and landed the way Jace had taught me, but the corner of the hearth dug hard into my shoulder. The pain exploded over my sight and I blinked. In the shuttered openings, I saw the man squirming over me and reaching for the gun. I brought my knee up and knocked enough air out of him to slow him down. With a hard push of my feet, I shoved myself backwards far enough to grab hold of the gun.