Rendezvous with Danger (Reunited Series) (7 page)

“When I’m at the hospital, I keep to myself and do my job. I can’t afford for people to start asking questions, and besides, our marriage is in name only.”

She knew she’d said the wrong thing the moment the words left her mouth. Quinn took commitment and his responsibilities very serious and her suggesting otherwise was like a slap in the face to him. His jaw tightened, and the color drained from his knuckles when he gripped the steering wheel tighter. He pulled up to a small two-story house between a corner store, and a large vacant lot. Alandra recognized the address as being the one Isabella had given her.

Quinn unhooked his seatbelt and faced her, a lethal glint in his midnight eyes. “To you, our marriage might be in name only, but when I professed my love for you that day in Vegas, I meant every damn word. I never would’ve left you, the way you left me. So if our marriage is in name only, it’s because you had me thinking you were dead for the past three years.”

Alandra stared down at her hands clutching the handle of her bag. One day he’ll understand why she stayed away. Whether he’d forgive her, was another story.

 “I never meant to hurt you.” She raised her eyes to him.

Relief swept through her when his cell phone rang and before he had a chance to stop her, she leaped out of the vehicle saying, “I’ll be back.”

****

No matter how angry Quinn was at her, it didn’t stop him from zoning in on her shapely derriere as she moved up the walkway to the house. She had changed out of her hospital scrubs before leaving the hospital and now sported a black turtleneck under her jacket, and fitted blue jeans that tapered into black ankle boots. After so many years apart, his body still reacted to the sway of her tempting hips.

His phone rang again.

“Yeah, this is Quinn,” he growled.

“Hey, man, what’s up with the attitude?” Tyler Hollister, Quinn’s business partner asked.

“Sorry, nothing. What’s up?”

“Sorry to call so late and I’m not going to hold you. I wanted you to know the Bridge Town property is delayed again, a water main break.”

“Oh, damn.” Quinn banged his fist on the center console of his truck. “At this rate, that project is never going to get done.”

“Yeah, I know. Also, can you stop by the penthouse this weekend and sign the papers we talked about this morning?”

“Will do,” Quinn said absently, staring at Alandra who was still waiting for someone to answer the door.

“Good. I’m heading out of town next week and figured that will be one thing I can scratch off my list of things to complete before leaving.”

Quinn swore under his breath when Alandra descended the stairs and walked around to the side of the house. It was too late and too dark for her to be roaming around outside alone.

“Q, is everything all right?”

“Uh, yeah, everything’s fine.”

Quinn glanced at his surroundings. The store to the left of the house was closed, and on the other side of the house was a vacant lot where a structure once sat. Across the street were small single-family houses and a brick apartment building on the corner that probably housed about eight to ten units. Several streetlights were out and there weren’t any vehicles on the street. Yet, something didn’t feel right. The moment the thought entered his mind, he saw two guys running from behind Isabella’s house and across the lot.

“Ty let me call you back.”

Chapter Five

Quinn disconnected the call and patted the front of his jacket for his gun. He didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, but after several seconds went by and Alandra hadn’t reappeared, he hurried out of the truck.

He did a walk-jog up to the two-story bungalow which was dark at the front of the lower level, but a soft light showed in an upstairs window on the south west corner of the house. Quinn followed the route Alandra had taken. Lurking around someone’s house is not how he had planned to spend his evening. He slowed when he arrived at a side entrance and climbed the four stairs leading into the house. The door was ajar and the inside of the house was quiet. Too quiet.

He pulled out his gun, nudged the door further open and glanced around. He took in the dimly lit kitchen littered with broken glass, cabinet doors hanging by their hinges, and a refrigerator door standing open.

Quinn eased inside, glass crunching under his feet. He listened for any sign of Alandra while he moved through the kitchen and into the semi-dark dining and living room. Silence enveloped the space and his heart thundered in his chest, afraid of what he might find.
God, if anything happened to her….
Tension built between his shoulder blades with every step he took. Flashbacks of that night in Tzbekystan rioted in his head, his mind a crazy mixture of apprehension and irritation.
Where the hell is she?

He noted the overturned furniture. Chair and sofa cushions cut to shreds, a storage ottoman was tilted on its side with papers hanging out, and a coat-closet door stood open, clothes blocking the entrance. Whoever did this was looking for something. He kicked several pillows out of the way en route to a set of stairs.

“Isabella, don’t you die on me.” Alandra’s frantic voice floated through the house.

Relief flooded Quinn’s body and his pulse slowed upon hearing her, but concern quickly replaced it as he climbed the stairs, following the sound of her voice, which was getting more hysterical.

“Dammit. What about the book?” she ground out.

Quinn stood outside a bedroom where he could hear Alandra, but the door blocked his view of her. Dresser drawers hung open, and papers covered the portion of the bed he could see. He slowly pushed the door open.

What the hell?
Alandra was on the floor, kneeling over a white woman, shaking her at the shoulder. “Isabella, what about the book?” she kept asking, her words getting louder and more panicked, her long wig hiding part of her face. Quinn quickly took in the scene, making sure they were the only ones in the room before he shoved his gun into the back of his waistband and under his jacket. Fear gripped him when he spotted a small puddle of blood tinting the area of floor near the woman’s side and his gaze jumped to Alandra. Her hair was wild, tears and mascara stained the part of her face he could see, but she didn’t appear to be injured. A haunted, glazed look of despair spread over her face.

“Isabella, you can’t do this to me,” Alandra yelled. “Please don’t do this to me.” She slumped forward in defeat, her next few words garbled against the lifeless body.

“Lan?” Quinn said just above a whisper and moved toward her, but stopped short when her head snapped up and within a blink of an eye, she had her gun trained on him.
Damn
. Her reflexes were definitely on point.

“It’s me, baby,” he said, his hands out so she could see he wasn’t armed. “It’s just me.”

For a few seconds, she looked at him as if she didn’t recognize him, the gun shaking in her hand, and her resolve crumbling before his eyes. He had no idea what she would do. Color drained from her face and confusion showed in her gaze. He hated to see her in so much pain, but until she lowered the gun, he couldn’t help her. There was a time he knew she’d never do anything to harm him, but it had been years since they’d seen each other and he had no idea what she was capable of or what she was thinking. Seconds passed, he maintained his position and she slowly lowered her gun.

“I can’t take this anymore,” she cried.

“Come on, baby, let’s get you out of here.” He reached down and grabbed her gun, then helped her stand. “We can call the police once we’re in the truck.”

“Nooo, I can’t leave,” Alandra sobbed. Her body trembled against him, her words full of torment. “She knows. She knows what happened to me!”

Quinn’s eyebrows drew together. “What?”

Alandra scurried away from him and the body, anxiously looking around the room, helplessly wiping her tears. “She told me she knows who framed me and tried to kill me. She told me she had answers to my questions, and proof.”

Quinn reached out and grabbed Alandra from behind, pulling her close against his body. “Baby, I don’t know what this is all about, but we need to get out of here.”

She slumped against him and sobbed. “She was my only lead. It took me over a year to track her down.” She shook her head and swiped at tears that traveled down her cheeks. “I can’t live like this anymore. I need an…answers,” she cried harder.

“Okay, okay, calm down.” Quinn’s arms knit tightly around her. He placed a kiss against her temple and whispered calming words into her ear. He didn’t know who this woman was to Alandra. His main concern was to get her out of there. “I promise you. We’ll get answers, but right now we have to go. Whoever trashed her house might come back.”

Sucking in a deep breath, she nodded and wiped her remaining tears with her shoulder. Not used to seeing her so vulnerable, Quinn grasped her hand, kissed the back of it, and headed toward the bedroom door. They made it a couple of feet before Alandra stopped.

“Wait.”

She backed up and moved to the nightstand staring at a pile of books scattered on the floor near the bed. Quinn had no idea what she was looking for, but she shuffled them with her foot before bending down and picking one up.

An uncomfortable sensation Quinn couldn’t explain settled around him. He stepped to the doorway of the bedroom and listened. Hearing and seeing nothing still didn’t satisfy the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. His gaze went to Alandra.

“Let’s go. Now!”

She looked at him and he wasn’t sure if it was the tone in his voice or something she saw on his face, but she moved quickly toward him, shoving the items she’d collected into her bag.

Quinn practically dragged her down the stairs, knocking pictures off the wall and even skipping a couple of steps. The prickling feeling of unease grew stronger when they made it to the main level and a sense of urgency clawed at his peace of mind. He glanced out of the living room window. Seeing that the streets out front were clear except for his vehicle, they bolted out of the front door and sprinted to his truck. They were barely in before Quinn peeled away from the house.

Less than a block away an explosion lit up the sky behind them and the earth shifted, propelling his truck forward.
What the hell?
He looked back over his shoulder and then in his rearview mirror, not believing his eyes. Flames and debris clouded the block they were just on, and he saw people filtering out into the street. Seconds. They had only escaped by seconds.

****

Alandra hadn’t said a word since leaving Isabella’s house, still shocked they had escaped before the explosion and she couldn’t believe Isabella was dead. All the time she’d spent searching and she didn’t know much more than she had before finding her.

Quinn focused on the road. She was so glad he hadn’t forced her to talk during this ride. With all that had happened tonight, she didn’t want to think, let alone talk.  

She glanced at him again in time to see him looking at her.

“Are you okay?”

All she could do was nod. Her stomach fluttered. The intensity in his eyes ripped her of all verbal ability. There was still something about this man that drew her like bees to honey.

Quinn pulled up in front of her apartment building and cut the engine. She reached for the door handle certain he would follow her. Knowing him, he wanted answers. Hell, she wanted some too and right now, she had more questions than answers.

“You don’t seem too surprised that I knew where you lived,” Quinn said, as they walked up the three concrete steps leading into her building. The brick structure housed sixteen one and two bedroom units on four floors.

“These days, you probably know more about me than I know about myself.” Tired, hungry, and frustrated, she longed for the pulsating pressure of a long hot shower and the comfort of her bed. She wasn’t in the mood to pitch a fit about him doing a background check on her, because she knew he had. She would tell him everything she knew about the time leading up to that deadly night in Tzbekystan and then send him on his way.

Alandra dragged herself up two flights of stairs to her tiny one-bedroom apartment with Quinn close behind. It was a good thing she didn’t need a lot of light to see. The hallway was lit by one dangling bulb. Even after living there for four months, she still hadn’t gotten used to the semi-dark hallways, thin walls, and loud neighbors, but it was home.

****

Quinn followed her into her apartment, but he pulled up short when he stepped further into her modest living quarters. The place, so unlike Alandra, didn’t encompass her vibrant, adventurous, and outgoing personality. Instead, it was downright depressing and definitely unsafe with the raggedy lock and paint-chipped ceiling. She tried to make it a home with sheer window coverings and throw rugs over the stained carpet, but it fell short. Despite the neatness of the space, the dingy walls, a boarded up window and a hole in the wall that was partially covered by a hideous painting, the apartment was inhabitable as far as he was concerned.

He turned to her. “Why are you living here?”

She shrugged out of her jacket and hung it with her bag on a wall hook near the door. “When I first moved to Chicago, I stayed with my sister. But I didn’t want to bring any trouble to her doorstep, so I moved here a few months ago. Not a lot of choices when you don’t have much money and you’re trying to keep a low profile.”

As fine as she was, it would be hard not to bring attention to herself. Even the makeshift disguise of red straight hair and green contacts didn’t deter her allure. In perfect physical condition at five-four, a slim but curvaceous body, beautiful smooth skin, and large expressive eyes, there was no way she wasn’t bringing attention to herself. If nothing else, people probably wondered about her ethnic makeup, knowing she was African American, but mixed with something else.

Alandra rinsed her hands in the kitchen sink, and then opened the refrigerator. “Would you like a beer or some water? Or pizza?” She pulled out a bottle of water for herself and a slice of cold pizza.