AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was family.
She was mine.
She let out a moan, her breaths racing, forcing me to open my eyes. I looked down at her, and it hit me like a sledgehammer…just how lucky I was. I was so fucking lucky…so fucking blessed to have found her.
A woman who knew the ugly truth about who I was…and still stayed.
I eased out of her body, leaned down, and kissed her. “Better get prepared.”
She just nodded, staring up at me. I hated leaving her, hated letting that heat I finally captured once more, cool between us. But Lazarus and the Commander would be here soon. Then plans would be made. Plans to go to war against my father, and pray we came out alive.
I pushed up from the floor, holding out my hand for her. Together, we walked out into the bedroom and got dressed. I spent the next few hours checking out the compound, getting the cabin ready and thinking of the plan in my head. When the sound of an engine drew my gaze, I knew instantly who it was.
I lifted my cell, pulling up the hidden cameras along the track and caught the black blur of Lazarus’ gunmetal-gray Silverado as it cut through the fence line and headed toward the compound. I slipped my phone into my pocket, watching as he climbed out. Then Kat followed, her red hair vibrant in the sun.
She glanced my way, then looked behind me to the cabin as Anna stepped close. Kat left the door to the four-wheel drive open and raced toward us, tearing past me to throw her arms around Anna.
They hadn’t seen each other in months, not since… the Facility. Ann let out a sob, hugging her back just as fiercely as Lazarus rounded the front of the truck and moved to the backseat, pulling out the most beautiful raven-haired baby girl I’d ever seen.
But I knew…
I knew as soon as I looked at her…
Knew who her father was, and it wasn’t Lazarus. Still, he handled the child with the kind of love only given to those he loved. He strode forward, meeting my gaze before he glanced to Anna as Kat released her and turned, taking the baby from his arms.
“Anna,” he murmured. “It’s good to see you.”
“Laz,” she answered. “You look…well.”
“Come on.” Kat grabbed her hand, holding the baby against her. “Show me this gorgeous little hideaway.”
No one would think she was one of the richest women in the country. Not unless she shared her former last name. The VanHalens were not just filthy rich and powerful, they were dangerous, too. But they paled in the face of Kat’s father’s most trusted friend, Haelstrom Hale. The most sadistic and foul piece of shit who ever walked the face of the earth.
And the father of her baby.
“Brother,” I greeted Laz as he watched Kat and Anna disappear.
The fire in his eyes burned until he shifted that searing focus my way. I knew he wanted to kill Hale. Knew he’d tried to as well. But power came with protection, and there was no one more protected than Hale.
“We doing this?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, we’re doing this.” I walked with him back to the truck and hauled his things out, most of them for the baby, and carried them to the cabin.
We settled them in the second bedroom, which was big enough to fit the portable crib as well. Then we went outside, checking the perimeter.
“You know you might have to kill him, right?” Lazarus turned to me as I checked the camera. “I need you to be okay with that. Because it has to be you, brother. No one else.”
I nodded, lifting my focus. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come down to that.”
Beep.
My cell gave a buzz. I glanced down at the message.
Mateo: We have him. We’ll see you in three hours.
“They have him. They have Anna’s father.”
“Thank fuck,” Lazarus muttered. “Now all we need is for this damn hard drive to surface and we can close this damn chapter once and for all.”
