Second Chances (33 page)

Cade slipped in behind hi
m before the doors closed. “I spot two at the main entry and one near the stairs.”

“Two what?”
Grey barked at his uncle.

Gregory continu
ed to speak calming words to Claira. Grant ignored Grey as he punched the elevator button for the second floor then turned his attention to the smartphone in his hands. “Keep her talking, Gregory. I’ve got a tracking app on her phone. We’ll find her.”

“Where are you?” Gregory asked as
he watched Grant push another button for the third floor now. “She’s in an office. She doesn’t know where.”

“
She’s on three.” Grant barked at Cade as he palmed his phone and pulled his .45 from his shoulder holster. “You take the right. Gregory and I’ll take the left wing and we’ll meet on the other end of the floor. Check every room and keep your back to the wall. Lucien won’t be alone.”

Grey’s heart beat against his
chest and all he could see was some faceless monster dragging Claira away from him as she screamed for her life. He didn’t care if she’d lied or had a different name or, hell, she could be a damn alien. He wouldn’t care as long as she loved them. As long as he didn’t lose her. This was all happening so fast and he didn’t have a clue how to help her. He just knew that if they didn’t find her alive and in one piece, he and his brothers may not survive it. They needed her. “I’ll go with you.” He turned to Cade and wished he’d had the forethought to bring his own pistol. “Jesus. I don’t have a….”

“Stay here, Grey.” Cade
pushed past him as the doors slid open. “We’ll find her before Lucien does.”

Grey watched in a spe
echless daze as Grant and Gregory flowed out into the brightly lit hallway to the left as they’d agreed, his Uncle Cade peeling off to the right. He stood motionless for all of ten seconds then swiveled back and forth from left to right, watching in turn as the men disappeared into the first set of rooms. “Fuck!” He ran a hand through his hair and took off in the same direction as Cade.
Family stuck together, right?

Claira groaned as she pulled the suddenly silent p
hone from her ear and studied it, gritting her teeth against the pain even that small movement caused.
No! No-no-no!
The battery was dead. Dead! Dead! Dead! Just like her if they didn’t find her before Lucien. She had to get up. Get moving.  They were on her floor. All she had to do was get Daniel’s attention.

She still couldn’
t believe he was here. How had he known? Was he still following Lucien? Of course he was. He would never give up on his daughter, Natalie. He didn’t know if she was alive or dead, but he’d never give up. She hated that she wasn’t able to help him find her father’s ledger. She really hadn’t understood her father’s
business.
Not
until the Feds had filled her in after she had been arrested for her brother’s death. Her memories of otherwise nonsensical events filled in the blanks and painted an exceptionally ugly picture of her father. Uglier than she had ever dared to imagine, and that said a lot considering what her and Stephen had already endured from him.

She groaned
as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. One hand, anyway. Her injured arm screamed with burning pain as she clasped her fist into her scrub top to hold her arm to her chest and rolled back onto her heels. More sweat broke out across her forehead and upper lip as she breathed through the waves of pain and pushed to her feet, focusing hard to keep the room from tilting any further on its axis. One foot in front of the other. That was all she needed to worry about. Just a few steps and she’d be able to lean against one of those tilting walls near the door. Hopefully if she leaned hard enough it would stop moving long enough for her to see straight.

Within
moments, Claira found a death grip on the door handle and a loud clang of metal on metal made its way through the pounding in her ears. Adrenaline laced her veins as she heard the faint timbre of Daniel’s voice in the distance.
He’s here. Oh thank you God, Daniel found me!
Claira focused all her attention away from the pain filling her chest, away from the blackness closing in on her again and concentrated on turning the door knob. With an unfamiliar strength she pulled the heavy door with her good arm and nearly threw herself into the over-brightly lit hallway and straight into the oncoming path of her own personal demon.

In slow motion Grant’s arm uncoiled and a
imed a huge, black gun at her head. Her hands flew up in an inept attempt to protect herself. In the same moment she turned to run but her socked feet slipped out from under her. She tumbled backwards, her elbows and head cracking against the hard tile floor as a loud boom filled the hall and overtook her senses.
It’s over.
She pulled her knees into her chest, making herself as small as possible, covering her head as she waited for the final bullet that would end her life. When another shot rang out, she felt and heard the bullet hiss by as it passed over her head. Confusion warred with shock as she tried to process still being alive.
He missed?
She peeled her arms from her face and caught a glimpse of Lucien as he retreated down the hall in the opposite direction Grant had come from. Grant’s lean form disappeared down the hall after him, followed by Daniel.

“Claira!”
Grey’s voice cut through the pounding in her ears. Numbness flowed over her body, blocking everything out as a pair of big hands wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her up to lean against the wall.

“Grey?” Her bows pinched together as she studied the man in front of her. She heard Grey’s voice but the man in front of her was not Grey. “Who are you?” She slapped at his hands
with the one hand that wasn’t anchored to her side. “Grey!” She began to panic as things made less and less sense. Who was this man and why was Grey so far away?

“Sit tight, Gabriella.
” Cade squatted down in front of her and gently cupped her shoulders. “As soon as Gregory gives me the okay I’ll get you back to your room and get you some help.”

What?
“You know Daniel? M….Marshal Gregory?” 

“Cade! Is she hurt?” Grey shouted from down the hall and their un
cle turned just as Claira did to look for the voice that belonged to the man she loved but couldn’t see.

“Grey!” Claira bolted to her feet but instantly crashed to her knees when her legs fell out from
under her. “Grey! You’re hurt!” Ignoring the pain in her knees and shoulder, every fiber of her being, she scrambled across the hard, cold floor toward the hunched over form in the distance.

Blood.
There was so much blood.
No!
“Oh, God. Grey. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I never meant for this to happen!” She watched as nurses and doctors worked to cut his jeans from his leg. One nurse pulled a gurney to a stop near him as a rush of other nurses hurried toward her.

“It’s not bad, baby bird. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Grey rea
ched for her but a man in a white coat secured his arm as they lifted him onto the gurney.

“I’m okay!” Claira continued to reach for him, pulling against an army of arms and hands that grabbed at her. “Grey, please don’t leave me! I’m so sorry!” She sobbed as she collapsed, no longer able to fend off the forces that kept her from his side. God, she knew this would happen.
She’d done this to him. If she’d only listened to herself and ignored her heart she could have kept them safe from the nightmare that was her life.

Depressive
clouds filled the sky and an unusually cool breeze blew drops of rain under the porch roof, a few stray drops landing on Gabriella as she sat in one of her rickety rocking chairs and stared into the storm. “I can’t believe he’s dead.” She turned the hot cup of tea in her hands then toyed with the string hanging from the rim. “Everything is still so unreal to me.”

“Giv
e it time, Gabby.” Daniel reached over and took her cold hand in his warm one. He was always warm. A warm haven that always made her feel safe and cared for, no matter what she knew to be the truth. She nodded and gave him a smile she knew he would not see as reassuring. It was all she was capable of.

The screen door creaked open
and she couldn’t help the small shiver that still ran through her anytime she saw Grant Kendal. His chin came up in a silent greeting as he dropped a duffle bag next to the front door and took a few cautious steps toward her. He stopped just a few feet in front of her, crossing one ankle over the other as he relaxed against the porch railing behind him. The sounds of the rain and the late summer storm filled the air around them for an undeterminable amount of time before he spoke. “The house is finally fixed up. I put the left over can of paint under the kitchen sink in case your landlord ever needs to do some touch-ups.” He swiped a hand over his strong, stubbled jaw and then cupped the back of his neck, glancing absently over his shoulder. She wasn’t sure if it was an agent thing or if he just felt as uncomfortable around her as she did around him. “I’m sorry, again, for all the sh…trouble the fire caused.”

She peeked up through her lashes a
t the man that had replaced Lucien in her nightmares and felt guilty for her feelings toward him. He’d saved her life, for better or worse. She opened her mouth to say that very thing, to thank him at least, but she couldn’t get the words past her lips.

“
You’re going to ground.” Daniels’s voice pulled her from the slippery slope of panic. He glanced at Grant’s dull-green duffle.

Grant nodded and folded his arms over his chest. “It’s time.
I need to find a deep, dark hole to crawl into for a year or ten. Decompress.”

Daniel
pushed to his feet and reached a hand out to his friend. “I appreciate everything you’ve done. I know you said we’re even, but I consider myself in your debt on this one.”

Grant shrugged and shook the man’s ha
nd. “Don’t. That bastard deserved worse than a bullet between the eyes. Killing him felt good but didn’t get you any closer to finding Natalie.”

Daniel
shook his head and looked at Gabriella with more love than her own father had ever shown her. “She’s free now. You’ve done more than enough. I’ll find Hector’s ledger and put the rest of those bastards in hell eventually.”

Grant gave a curt nod a
nd pushed away from the railing. Taking the distance to the front door in two strides, he bent and hoisted the single strap of his bag over his shoulder then stood and faced them. Giving a quick, lazy salute he started down the steps but stopped when he heard Gabriella’s voice.

“Grant, wait!” Gabriella pushed up on shaky legs, her damaged
but healing shoulder protesting the quick movement. She slowly and cautiously crept toward the steps and stopped just at the edge of the first step, hiding her trembling hands beneath the thin blanket draped over her shoulders. “Thank you,” she breathed out. She knew the fear she had of this man was unfounded, somewhat, but no matter how hard she tried to rationalize it…. She shook her head. He deserved more than she could give him. “Thank you for saving my life and….” She swallowed back a lump that suddenly formed in her throat. “And for killing Lucien.” She paused for another swallow and huddled tighter into her blanket. Unable to look into the eyes of her killer—savior, she focused on a car parked a few blocks away behind him. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but, I hope I never see you again.”

A slight grin pulled at Grant’s lips
. He reached up to touch her angelic face but stopped when she flinched back from his hand. It was a reflexive response to the monster he was, and normally wouldn’t have bothered him. Something about this case, about her, made him regret who he was for the first time in his life. “No offense taken, Gabriella. You’ll do just fine, now.” He winked at her and jerked his chin toward his friend. “Keep him out of trouble, okay?”

She nodded and backed away from him, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders
as she stopped next to Daniel. With one last glance at the house behind them he hiked his bag higher onto his shoulder and walked through the rain to his rented sedan, got in and slowly pulled onto the street.

“Looks like you have more goodbyes to hand out, today.” Claira followed Danie
l’s gaze to see a familiar silver truck turning onto her street. It passed Grant’s car with a quick honk and pulled slowly into the spot he’d just vacated. “I’ve got a few things I need to pick up from Cade’s place before we ship out.” Daniel Gregory pulled the keys from his pocket and left Gabriella standing alone on her porch. He waved to Matt and Mason as they slipped out of Matt’s truck then slid into his Blazer and closed the door.

The twin’s gazes followed him as
he backed out of the drive. When he was gone they turned and Gabriella nearly fell to her knees at the tortured souls she saw in their sea-blue eyes. She wasn’t surprised to see that Grey hadn’t joined them. Why would he? She’d nearly gotten him killed. Nearly gotten them all killed, including their precious babies. How could she have put them all in so much danger? How could they stand to look at her?

She held herself perfectly still as the brothers, shoulder to shoulder, walked toward her and stopped at the foot of the concrete sta
irs. Lazy drops of rain fell into their sandy, brown hair and streaked their beautiful faces. She hadn’t seen them since the day after Lucien was killed. The day after he’d shot Grey in the leg and nearly killed him. The wound itself hadn’t been bad, she’d heard, but the bullet had nicked his artery and he’d nearly bled to death before they found the tear. She ached to take it all back, to make it so he’d never know that pain.