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“Well,” I said gruffly. “Here I am checking to see if you’re still dead.” My voice cracked. “I would hate you because you put me through such grief, but I would forgive you in a heartbeat if you’d just show up right now.” I took a few moments to suppress a rising sob. “Anyway”—I held up my ring as if to show him—“I’m getting married this spring. I know, I know, you told me not to be easy, but have you met Grant?” I snickered as if it was an inside joke. “Truth is, I love him, Liam, and he loves me. He can be too much and crazy protective.” I let out an irritated breath. “All right psycho protective, but after everything I put him through, I can’t blame him. If he’d been in the same danger I was, I would be a nutcase too.” The sun moved and I closed my eyes, tilting my face up and enjoyed the warmth on my skin for a minute. I lowered my head and cracked my eyes open. “You’d be proud of me. I was afraid I’d lost the will to live after the number Orlov did on me, but all I needed was time and Grant’s love to show me I had a lot of fight left in me. The thing with Orlov was only the tip of the iceberg. So many things have happened since then, but the gist of it is … your girl is scott-free.”
Footsteps sounded behindme.
“Mygirl.”
I smiled and turned to look at Grant. He accompanied me to the graveyard. I’d asked him to give me a few minutes alone with Liam. He walked over to me now and held out his hand. “Ready to go,baby?”
“Yes.” I smiled as he pulled me into his embrace. With his arms still wrapped around me, he stared at Liam’s headstone. “I’ll protect her with my life, Liam. Count onit.”
It was a bittersweet visit. Liam made it possible for me to have a full, normal life with Grant. I wouldn’t let my frienddown.
As Grant and I cleared the cemetery gates, I looked at the man I loved and looked forward to days and years ahead ofus.
Thank you, myfriend.
47
Cam Murphy
For a few days now,Cam had blended into the shadows of Chester Square in London. It was an affluent neighborhood decked with rowhouses made of warm-hued limestone in an Italian baroque style. Arched entrances were lit with cast-iron lanterns. But he wasn’t here to admire the architecture; he was here for one of itsresidents.
Ivan Yashkin was a man of habit. He rarely left his house nowadays because he’d made enemies everywhere. He’d gone from one of the most powerful men in Russia to one of its most maligned. He took money from the mob and other Kremlin bureaucrats, thinking he’d have twenty-six billion to buffer the investments he’d made for them. He was one of the masterminds who wanted the U.S. financial market to crash but, without the money from those lost accounts, he had no buffer, the investments tanked, and he losteverything.
Still, Cam considered him a threat. With this third chance for a new life, he would clean up the loose ends he’d left with his last one. He was no longer Liam Watts nor was he Lucas Myers. Leaving Liam behind was necessary. He’d tortured and eventually killed a dirty FBI agent who had the final pieces of evidence necessary to bring down Orlov and the ROC. In his rush to get Blaire back, he’d become sloppy. He’d realized his mistake too late and a tenacious FBI agent—a friend of the one he had killed—had linked all his aliases together. But Liam had been offered a second chance by AGS and, by extension, the CIA. The agency couldn’t actively operate in the homeland so they strategically placed some of their agents undercover with local first responders. What happened to Amelia Thorne had exposed the missing piece in the AGS investigation into the shakeup of the oligarchy and its plot against the United States. One of his crew during the Orlov sting was working for Viktor Baran—the AGS top man. He’d been given a shot of a life-saving drug by another undercover agent who worked as an EMT, the same one who covered him with a white sheet, so no one would notice any signs of life until the scene was completely processed. The drug jump-started his heart but kept it at an almost undetectable rate while preserving organ function. It was rarely used because agents have come back with no brain activity or brain-damaged. Luckily, as far as Cam was concerned, he was mentally stable, if not a bithomicidal.
From there he was whisked by a fake coroner and kept at a CIA medical facility; all paperwork and records doctored to show that he had died. The only regret he had was that his daughter buried a body that wasn’t his, but it was for the best. He also regretted putting Blaire through agonizing grief. He’d been conflicted, wanting to let her know that he was alive, but Blaire had come back from her experience from Orlov a stronger woman. And maybe, just maybe, letting his broken wren fly was the right thing to do. He’d been teaching her survival skills for two years, preparing her for a life without him. Maybe Liam was holding her back in a co-dependent way and he needed to cut theties.
So he keptaway.
Movement at the front door of one of the row houses caught his attention. His prey hademerged.
Ivan Yashkin would dietoday.
* * *
International Business Wire
Ivan Yashkin, CEO and owner of Yashkin Global Enterprises, died in a freak car explosion while leaving his home in Chester Square. London authorities are still investigating the cause of the incident. Witnesses report they heard a boom and saw a vehicle go up in flames at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Chester Row. Foul play is suspected. YGE is a Russian energy company specializing in the exploration, production, refinement, marketing, and distribution of oil and gas with subsidiaries involved in mining and speculative research in technology. There’d been rumors of recent financial difficulties stemming from charges of fraud and moneylaundering.
Epilogue
Grant
Grant pulledthe Escalade in front of Blaire’s log cabin. Thanksgiving was in four days and they’d decided to spend some time together locked away from the world before they joined his family in their Vail mountainhome.
He could feel Blaire’s excitement and anxiety. It was like a homecoming of sorts for her. She hopped out of the car and stared at herhouse.
“Go on inside,” Grant urged. “I’ll bring the stuffin.”
She shot him a dazzling smile before moving up the steps. He walked to the rear of the vehicle and lifted the tailgate of the SUV. This week was about them. It was easy to head out into parts unknown, but this place held a special meaning. They’d come without bodyguards. They’d left the luxury of their Manhattan and Boston residences behind. They were simply Grant andBlaire.
He lifted their suitcase and her little carry-on and loped to the cabin. The news frenzy about their engagement had died down, but their wedding next spring was sure to ramp up interest again. Blaire suggested eloping, much to the horror of his mother. He didn’t want to put too much pressure on his woman, but Grant wanted to have a big wedding. He’d admit to male pride. He wanted to declare to the world that Blaire washis.
Possessiveness surged through his veins as he dropped the suitcases to the floor. Every muscle and pulse was already responding to the idea that they were alone, no one could hear her when he made her scream with pleasure and he could fuck her to his cock’s content without their security intruding. He was already in full predator mode by the time Blaire switched the circuit breakers on and returned from the kitchen to the living room where he stoodmotionless.
“Well, I’m glad your brief stint in B&E didn’t mess up this place,” Blaire teased, still unaware that he’d already gone through several filthy images in his head of how he wanted to fuck her. Lately, she’d been wearing dresses that hit mid-thigh. She called this particular one a tunic dress. Grant called them easy-access clothes. Her tall soft boots that came up above her knees only added to the sexiness. His mouth was already salivating at the thought of spreading her open and burying his face between her thighs. His dick hardened behind his jeans, but anticipation was half the pleasure, so he watched her some more as she made her way to the farm table. She crouched beside it to straighten the tassel of the rug. When she stood and turned to look at him, her eyes widened, and her lips parted on an inhale. She finally realized she was about to getravished.
“Uh …”
