Renegade Alpha (ALPHA 5) (25 page)

“Jesus Christ, I’m going to kill the bastard now!” Lijah’s voice rasped harshly over Callie’s earpiece.

No!

Obscene as this was to her, Callie wanted Richard Stockton to suffer, slowly, for what he’d done, and not be taken out by a merciful bullet from Lijah’s gun.

“Callie’s too close for a clean shot!” Jonas’s voice instantly warned.

Stockton finally wrenched his mouth away from hers to look down sneeringly into her pale face. “Was that man enough for you?”

Callie gave him a pitying glance. “There was nothing manly about shooting Michael when he was tied up and helpless. There was nothing manly about keeping my father a prisoner after you shot him.”

“You just never know when to stop, do you?” he bit out in disgust.

“Telling the truth about you? No, and I’ll never stop,” she assured him. “Not now. Not ever. I’ll tell anyone who wants to listen exactly who and what you are. I’ll never go away. Never. And even if people don’t believe me at first, eventually some of the mud will begin to stick. I wonder how Mummy and Daddy will feel when your future career in politics comes crashing down about your ears? Do you think they’ll continue to support you, claim you as their son, or for the sake of your father’s career, and his friendship with the president will they want to distance themselves from you and the stories circulating about you?”

“Jesus, Callie, stop!” Lijah muttered in her ear.

She couldn’t stop, not now. She needed this man to admit what he had done, and she no longer cared whether she lived long enough to see him suffer for it.

Stockton gave a weary shake of his head. “All you had to do was walk away six months ago and keep your mouth shut.”

“For my sins, I did keep my mouth shut—and you killed my father anyway!”

“Because he came snooping around asking questions.”

“So you admit you did kill him?”

He gave an unconcerned shrug. “It really doesn’t matter now, not when your boyfriend and associates will all soon be dead. I’ll then destroy the recording they’re no doubt making of this conversation.”

“
Did you or did you not have my father killed?
” Callie pressed fiercely.

“I didn’t even realize he was your father to start with. His passport said he was Paul Mitchell. Even after three days of my men working on him, he refused to tell us the truth.” His mouth turned back in a sneer. “But I found out who he was anyway, had one of my security detail look into who and what he was. I didn’t tell the idiot why I wanted to know, of course, just said it was a matter of national security. Amazing how that phrase can open so many doors to so much information.”

“I want you to say it!” Callie persisted forcefully. “Admit that you killed my father!”

He gave an unconcerned shrug. “I did warn you not to tell anyone what happened that night at the gallery, didn’t I? Told you I would kill your whole family and then start on your friends if you told anyone. I should just have killed you that night, along with your boyfriend,” he added disgustedly. “It would have saved me a whole lot of trouble.”

How could this man talk so calmly, so dismissively of taking Michael’s and her father’s lives?
Because he really is insane
, came the immediate answer.

It was said power corrupts, and it would seem that the son of one of the most powerful men in the United States, godson of
the
most powerful man in the United States, was totally corrupt, mentally as well as morally.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” Callie could barely talk now, her throat was so clogged with emotion.

“I’d never killed a woman before. At the time, I thought I was being merciful. After all, you hadn’t seen me.” Stockton gave another shrug. “A mistake on my part. I knew something was wrong when the man who turned out to be your father arrived in Washington a week ago, poking and prying and asking too many questions. It was far too much of a coincidence when you turned up at the White House last night too. I knew when you looked at me that you’d recognized me. Having met you again, seen the fire in you, I can’t help thinking it might be fun to fuck you before you die.” He studied her admiringly.

Callie recoiled from the lust she could see burning in his eyes. “You disgust me!”

“It isn’t necessary for you to like me,” Stockton scoffed. “In fact, I think I would prefer it if you fought a little.”

Before leaving the house earlier, Callie had taken Lijah’s small pistol and hidden it in her boot. Just in case, she had assured herself.

She had no doubt now that she would use it if or when the time and opportunity came. “Is that the only way you can get it up nowadays? By hurting a woman?”

His mouth thinned. “I’m going to enjoy strangling you as I fuck you. You might even come before you die. I’ve heard that asphyxiation creates an amazing sexual high.” He gave a taunting laugh.

“Okay, that’s enough!”

Callie stumbled as Richard Stockton was pulled roughly away from her by a blazingly furious Lijah, the other man falling down like a felled tree after Lijah’s fist swung up and hit him squarely on the jaw.

“Take Miss Morgan and leave with your men, Mr. Smith. You may safely leave me to deal with this situation from now on.”

Callie gave a gasp of recognition as she looked past Lijah and saw Senator Stockton standing alone just feet away, his face tinged with gray. A small crowd of tourists was being held out of hearing distance by several men in dark glasses and suits, along with the four men from Grayson Security.

Had the senator been here all the time? Had he been
listening
as she used those foul taunts to goad Richard Stockton into the anger she’d hoped would break through his veneer of arrogant confidence and reveal the murderer he truly was?

The sorrow and disgust on the senator’s face as he looked down at his son said that he had.

Lijah was breathing hard, fists still clenched at his sides as he stood over the unconscious man and fought against the urge to kill him with his bare hands.

For having terrified Callie into silence all these months with his threats.

For murdering two men that he knew of, one of them like a father to him.

But most of all for daring to touch Callie.

He wanted to kill the bastard. Rip him apart one limb at a time. For touching Callie. For kissing Callie. For daring to threaten her.

“Lijah?”

Callie’s voice, her hand placed gently on his arm, pulled him back from the edge of the murderous anger that would make him no better than the man lying on the ground.

“He isn’t worth it,” she cajoled softly.

Lijah turned narrowed eyes on the senator. “You got the rest of them?”

“Already in police custody,” the older man confirmed.

Lijah looked down at Richard Stockton. “This piece of garbage goes away, and he stays away.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes,” the older man confirmed gruffly. “I give you my word on it. Everything you told me—everything you said this morning, it all checked out,” he acknowledged shakily. “Richard’s hunting lodge where he had that poor man held prisoner. His house in Texas had a hidden room in the basement where he kept the things he’s stolen.” He closed his eyes briefly before continuing. “I promise you that everything will be returned to its rightful owners, and that—that Richard will be dealt with appropriately.”

“I want him locked up and the key thrown away,” Lijah insisted. “Anything less, and I have enough evidence to finish him myself.”

“You have my word,” the senator said again heavily.

Lijah continued to look at the older man through narrowed lids for several long seconds, before giving an abrupt nod. “Good enough.” He turned back to Callie. “Let’s go home, hmm?”

Callie had no idea if by home Lijah meant England or Lucien Wynter’s estate.

It didn’t really matter which, as long as she was with Lijah.

“I paid the senator a call at his office this morning and told him everything, and advised that he have all of his son’s properties thoroughly searched,” Lijah revealed grimly as he and Callie sat together in the sitting room at Lucien Wynter’s Washington home.

Callie had been white-faced and on the edge of collapse by the time they arrived back at the house, Lijah quickly dismissing his men before taking Callie inside and pouring them both a large brandy.

“I also made a call to the private number he gave me once I knew the meeting place and time,” he continued softly. “The senator then arranged for his own private security detail to deal with his son’s thugs, and in exchange I provided him with an earpiece so he could listen in on your conversation with his son.”

“You might have told me that’s where you disappeared to this morning. That Senator Stockton now knew everything.” She gave a shake of her head. “I would never have said any of those things if I’d known the senator was actually listening in!”

“Which is exactly why I didn’t tell you.” Lijah had made himself comfortable in the chair opposite where she once again sat on the couch.

They had driven back to the estate in separate cars. Lijah hadn’t then, and still didn’t, trust himself to be close to her, not when the rage was still churning inside him. It was the sort of rage that could only be assuaged by physically claiming her, and he knew he wouldn’t, couldn’t be gentle. He wanted to bury his cock so deep inside Callie, she would be able to feel him there for days afterward, and the last thing Lijah wanted to do was hurt her when she had already been through so much. Keeping his distance was the safest option, for both of them.

“The senator wasn’t inclined to believe me at first.” Lijah grimaced. “Not until I showed him your father’s folder of research, along with the fact that Peter had been shot and killed right here in Washington two days ago. There was also your own recognition of Stockton at the White House. Even so, I still don’t think he believed me completely. But there’s no way he can deny the evidence he found in Richard’s homes, and the vile words he heard come out of his son’s mouth tonight.”

Callie gave a pained wince. “What happens now?”

Lijah sighed heavily. “I believe a psychiatrist will find that Richard Stockton has psychopathic tendencies rather than an Oedipus complex.” He gave her a pointed glance. “With any luck, he’ll spend the rest of his life in a secure facility confined in a straitjacket. It will all be hushed up, of course. I’m sure the official story will be that Richard has had a mental breakdown and been confined to a nursing home for his own safety. I don’t care how the senator spins it, as long as he ensures his son is locked away and never comes out.” He looked at her searchingly. “Are you happy with that, or would you rather I pushed for him to go to trial?”

“No,” Callie sighed. “I don’t believe the whole family needs to suffer, or—or the American presidency be tainted by association. Besides, I’d rather he lived and was locked away for the rest of his miserable life.”

Lijah perfectly understood Callie’s feelings. He felt the same way himself every time he thought of Stockton’s threat to fuck and kill her. “Could I have my pistol back now…?”

She looked at him sharply. “You knew I’d taken it?”

“Oh yes.” Lijah had been relieved to know Callie had taken a weapon to defend herself, at the same time as he had hoped she wouldn’t need to use it.

Callie slipped the pistol from her boot and placed it on the coffee table before taking a sip of the brandy in an effort to thaw some of the ice inside her. “Do you trust Senator Stockton not to go back on his word?” Her last sight of Richard Stockton had been as he was being taken away by his father’s secret service detail, fully conscious and vehemently protesting his innocence.

“Yes,” Lijah grated. “And if he does, I still have Peter’s research, plus the recording of your conversation tonight with his son.”

She gave a pained frown. “You may have just made yourself an enemy and a target. This is Washington, after all.”

“And I have to trust that the senator is an honorable man.” Lijah shrugged. “There are still some left in the world, I believe.”

Callie had firsthand knowledge of that. Lijah was an honorable man. Her father had been an honorable man. The men who worked at Grayson Security were all honorable men.

And her question as to “what happens now” hadn’t only been in regard to Richard Stockton’s future.

She also wanted to know what happened in the future between herself and Lijah?

Did they fly back to England together and then return to their separate lives?

Or would Lijah want to see her again once they were back in England?

As she wanted to see him again.

Chapter 18

Two
months later

“Thank you so much, I hope you enjoy your purchase.” Callie gave a warm smile as the last customer of the day left her small art gallery. She shut and then locked the door behind them before turning the CLOSED sign outward and letting down the blind.

“Art gallery” was probably a slight exaggeration for the space where she displayed the paintings of local Cornish artists and hopefully managed to sell a few of them too, for a small commission.

She had opened the gallery three weeks ago, having spent the first month after returning to England and then Cornwall dealing with her father’s funeral arrangements and the paperwork involved in settling his estate. Dair Grayson, as the other executor, had helped with that, after flying in to a private airfield nearby, along with his pregnant wife, the day after Callie’s return from Washington. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that the deep love the Graysons shared was the reason Dair had stepped back from the day-to-day involvement with Grayson Security. As Lijah put it, “tamed and loving it.”