“Sir, I’ve told you I don’t know. You left earlier and she immediately got dressed and came out here and asked to be signed out. We had to let her leave, it’s the law. The only thing she said to me was that she had to get away from here.”

  “How did she leave?”

  “How?” the nurse looked confused.

  “Yes how? She didn’t drive here so how did she leave?”

  “Taxi. A taxi took her to the airport, I heard her ask to be taken to the airport.” The nurse let out a sigh of frustration and turned away from Alec.

  He roared a sound, almost like that of an injured wolf, of anger and pain and the entire hospital stopped in their tracks. Alec took long strides toward the large double doors.

  “Sir! Sir!” He turned to see the nurse racing after him. “She left this on the bed. The orderly just found it.” She handed him the folded paper and Alec opened it.

  Don’t follow me…please…I need to time to be alone. Thank you Alec…I’m sorry.

  “Fuck!”

  Think Alec … where would she go? She has nothing…no clothes…no girl stuff…whatever that is.

  She’s not going to the airport without clothing. She’s headed to her apartment. Alec swung the big black truck around and gunned the accelerator, heading toward Lissa’s apartment. Pulling to a stop across the street from her building, he spotted the taxi sitting outside the door.

  “Hey!” he said tapping the window. The driver jumped and shook his head.

  “I don’t carry any cash.” He said holding both hands up as if surrendering.

  “I’m not robbing you asshole! Are you waiting on a pretty blonde? Long hair, big brown eyes?”

  “Y-yes…she said to wait.” He pulled out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to the driver.

  “Don’t. Leave now.” The driver nodded and pulled away from the curb. Alec took the stairs two at a time reaching her apartment door. Christ! She hadn’t even shut it all the way. Pushing the door open he saw her hobbling around the room, gathering items and shoving them into a large bag.

  “Need some help?” he asked with his arms folded across his chest.

  “A-Alec! How did you…”

  “How did I know where you were? Again, it’s what I do for a living Lissa. Why did you leave?”

  “I-I’m a mess Alec… a fucking wreck…it’s not fair of me to burden you with my basketful of issues. I just can’t do that to you. You tried to help me and I couldn’t trust the one good guy I’ve met in the last four years.”

  “This isn’t your mess Lissa. It’s a mess created by Yevgeny who is dead. Done. Never going to bother you or anyone else again.” He stared at her frozen in place in the middle of her living room. “Now, you have two choices. You can wallow in self-pity and do exactly what he was going to do…destroy who you are. Or…” He took another big step toward her, so close she could feel the heat coming from his body.

  “O-or…” she whispered looking up at him.

  “Or you can take a chance on us…on me Lissa. Trust me. We can do this slow…easy…hard…fast…whatever you need. You take all the time you need to figure out what you want to do, what you need to do. But figure it out with me Lissa.” He held her hands in his now and she shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

  “W-why? I’m such a wreck Alec. I have no job. I have no real skills to speak of and I think my experience with Jack Winters proves I have terrible taste in men.”

  “You’re not a mess baby. You’re tired and hurt and maybe even a little broken, but aren’t we all. I haven’t exactly had the best luck with women. Lissa honey, I have scars and stories and I’m a mess of a whole other variety…hell I’m in a class all by myself. But together, together I think we can maybe be whole again.”

  “You said I was too skinny…at the diner…” He laughed at her and then grabbing her beneath the cheeks of her ass, he lifted her so she was looking him in the eye, her feet dangling a foot off the ground, swinging back and forth.

  “Baby, I said you were skinny, not too skinny. And we can fix that if it’s something you want to fix. But I think you’re beautiful just the way you are. I can’t explain it Lissa, but I know that I like who I am when I’m around you. When I’m with you, the darkness somehow seems less dark if that makes sense.”

  “It does make sense,” she said nodding. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sweetly, lacing her fingers through his hair. “What now?”

  “Now, we finish packing whatever you want to take with you and we drive out to Belle Fleur and get settled. Tomorrow, you start helping me pick out furniture for my house…that I sure hope you’ll want to call our house one day. But no pressure,” he said grinning at her.

  “No pressure huh?” she said running her fingers through his hair. She ran her hand down his back and felt the ridges, but didn’t even wince. There was no look of pity or sorrow on her face, only questions and…love.

  “Scars. We all have them,” he said staring at her.

  “Scars don’t matter to me Alec.” She pulled him closer and kissed him passionately, her tongue sliding inside his mouth, tasting him, dancing with his tongue. But when she suddenly pulled back, frowning at him, she said, “You taste like pizza. Did you eat a slice without me?”

  “Hey, I was hungry!” She couldn’t help but burst out laughing. This man, this brave, ferocious man was holding her as if she weighed nothing and was making her laugh. When was the last time anyone made her laugh?

  “Can we go home now?” he said looking down at her.

  “Yes, let’s go home.”

  Damn! She said ‘home’ and isn’t that the sweetest fucking sound he’s ever heard?

  Chapter NINE

  Baptiste…three years earlier…

  “I think it’s time I get out brother,” said Baptiste looking at his twin, Raphael. They called him Rafe, but there wasn’t anything short for Baptiste. In French it literally meant ‘to dip’ as in baptism. But no man wanted to be called a dip.

  “I know what you mean, brother,” said Rafe looking down at the Army rucksack he was unpacking. “I feel as though my body is ten years older than it is. This last mission, man talk about a total fuck-up.”

  “I agree. Maybe we should consider retiring? I mean Pierre, Gaspar, Luc, Antoine, and Gabriel have all said they’re considering the offer from REAPER. We could start a New Orleans division, which would mean we wouldn’t have to leave home.”

  “Yea, I’ve been thinking about that too. I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately.”

  “I know what you mean,” said Baptiste sitting on the edge of his bunk. “I can’t get the face of that woman out of my head.”

  The search for the children was going on its fifth day when they got the anonymous tip. Rafe and Baptiste were exhausted. They were working a joint mission with SEALs, Delta and Rangers. He loved these kinds of missions because you knew that you were working with the most elite men the military had to offer. But sixteen children had gone missing from an Afghan schoolhouse, along with their teacher, all girls.

  “Ranger one take building three. SEAL one take building two. Delta one building one.” He heard the commands of their leader and signaled the ‘roger’ call sign.

  The buildings looked deserted, but intel had told them the woman and students were brought this way. There were no windows on the buildings, only holes where windows or curtains should be. Rafe took the rear with another Ranger and Baptiste took the entrance with his partner.

  Going in low, his eyes adjusted to the dark and he blinked. He couldn’t be seeing this, he couldn’t be seeing the bodies. He blinked again and stood, his partner behind him turning and vomiting.

  “SEAL and Delta one…Ranger one…you…you need to get…” Baptiste couldn’t even speak. The girls were all naked, hanging from ropes from the rafters of the small hut, their hands and legs tied spread-eagle. Their breasts had been sliced off if they had any and if they didn’t, the skin had been removed. Pools of blood beneath their bodies made Baptiste look up, seeing what he couldn’t fathom.

  The men had sliced between their legs from belly button around to their anus, their insides, literally falling out while they were hanging there. He heard a moan and turned to his left. Could it be possible someone had survived?

  A woman of about forty was lying on a table, her body beaten nearly unrecognizable. Blood covered the table, her head shaved and sliced open. He leaned toward her.

  “It’s alright…you’re going to be alright.”

  “No…” She moaned in English. She then slipped into Farsi and Baptiste listened carefully. The men had taken their turns with her, raping her and beating her until they thought she was dead, but not before making her watch what they had done to the girls.

  Men surrounding him now, big, strong, alpha men…their eyes filled with unshed tears. When the woman finished she gave him one name…Ghost. It was a name they all knew too well. It was a name associated with more than a hundred crimes in the region, but no one seemed to know anything more about him.

  “Just hang on…” he said as the woman looked at him with her one good eye. She closed it and he heard her slip away. Her last breath sounding as though she were relieved to be done with this world. Baptiste turned to see the other men just shaking their heads. What the fuck?

  “Let’s get them on the truck and home to their families to be buried properly.” The commander looked at all of the men, knowing this would be difficult. But it was Baptiste that carefully picked up the teacher and lay her on the back of the truck, covering her body with a white sheet.

  God help me find the sick animal who did this so I can rid the world of him.

  “Hey, hey man, look at me,” said Rafe. He looked at his brother, the mirror image if himself sitting across from him. “We could not have done more. Someone has to find this Ghost, but it won’t be me. I can’t do this anymore brother. Not like this.”

  “I agree.” He said standing from his bunk. “Let’s go home.”

  Chapter TEN

  Baptiste waited in the front reception area of the shelter for Rose to come out. He had already spoken with Jess and told him what he was planning to do, but he hadn’t had a discussion with Rose yet. She was such a complex woman, not easy to read at all, he thought.

  Obviously smart, an MBA that had a great job and was making good money before all this happened. She was popular in high school and college, had a wide circle of friends and then married her high school sweetheart. Her boss said she was confident, strong, and seemed to have her life together.

  Baptiste was having a hard time seeing that with the woman that always stood before him. Her long dark brown hair pulled back, away from her face. She never wore any make-up, she never dressed in anything other than sweats or leggings with long t-shirts. She rarely spoke and when she did, it was usually one-syllable responses to his questions.

  She was trying to go unnoticed. That’s what all this was about, she was trying to hide and become the wallpaper in the room and damned if she wasn’t doing a fine job of it. Baptiste wondered how he could help this woman. In an odd way, he found her attractive but he hadn’t really let his thoughts go there since she was still hurting from her ex and she was pregnant.

  Sid and Kari were working on obtaining a divorce for her, without her having to be present and facing her husband. The photos of her injuries, medical records, x-rays and more were going to go a long way in convincing the judge. But what concerned Rose the most, was that she hadn’t told her husband she was pregnant and she didn’t want him to know.

  Her full name was Rose Ellis Tyson, but if she went by either name her ex would most assuredly find her. So Gaspar and Baptiste had suggested she use her grandmother’s maiden name, something he might not know. So Rose Cole was born. But it didn’t feel that way, it felt like death to her. She would never be safe, never have a life as long as Chuck was out there.

  Jess opened the door that led to the private quarters for the women and Rose stepped out in her usual black leggings and long-sleeved Saints t-shirt that hung to her mid-thigh. She wasn’t even showing yet, but still covered her entire body. Her head hung down, the standard ponytail in place. But what bothered Baptiste, was that she looked so incredibly pale.

  “Hi Rose,” he said quietly. He learned early on that if he used his deep voice at normal pitch, it frightened her. So when he greeted her, he always used a low, soft register.

  “How are you feeling Rose?” he asked. She shrugged her shoulders, looking up briefly but biting her lip.

  “Rose, please take a seat.” She looked at the chair he offered around the conference table and nodded to Jess. With Jess leaving the room, Rose suddenly felt unsure and frightened about why she was alone with this man. “Rose, you and I have been seeing each other here a lot, there’s no reason to be afraid of me. You know that I’m here to protect you.”

  “I’m s-sorry,” she whispered.

  “Rose, don’t be sorry. Please look at me. Please.” She looked up to meet his gaze and his stomach flipped, her green eyes meeting his. “That’s better. Now I can see those pretty green eyes.” He gave her his best, playboy Baptiste smile, but she didn’t even grin.

  “Listen Rose, my colleagues and I have been talking, until we get everything finalized for you we feel it might be best if you stay with us out at the compound.”

  “C-compound?” She looked frightened and ready to run and Baptiste cursed himself once more for not bringing Gray or Rachelle with him.

  “It’s really just a lot of land with a lot of houses. My parents’ home is located in the center and we all live in houses on the property. It’s completely gated and fenced in. The security is high level, top notch, no one gets on or off property without us knowing about it.”

  “Wh-where would I stay?” she asked nervously.

  “We have guest cabins, so you would have a place all to yourself.” Her head popped up and he heard her gasp. The tears pooled in her eyes and she shook her head back and forth. “Hey, hey, it’s okay…if you don’t want to stay alone I have extra rooms in my house. You can stay with me. Would you like that?” Geez where had that come from?

  “I-I just get scared when I’m alone. I promise not to be in the way…I can cook for you…I could…”

  “Rose,” he said holding up his hand, “you don’t have to cook or clean or do anything except get healthy, keep that baby healthy, and find your new life…your second chance. Once you’re good and the divorce is final, we’re going to get you a new identity and a new location that will be safe for you.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked through narrow gaze.

  “Because I hate men who hit women and I really hate men that think they can get away with it. So I’m telling you he will not get away with it and I will damn sure be the one to ensure that.” She nodded at him and looked down at her clasped hands. “So is that a yes?”

  “Y-yes,” she whispered.

  “We’re going to have to work on your communication skills,” he said smiling at the young woman. “I’m a talker. I even talk to myself so if we’re going to be living together for a while, you might want to start chatting with me or my feelings will be hurt.”

  And that one statement, that one simple word, caused her to give him the slightest grin. Nothing could have made Baptiste happier in that moment.

  “Why don’t you go gather your things and we’ll pick up anything else you might need. Okay?” She nodded standing from the table. He stood and backed up a few steps, knowing that his size probably intimidated her. She started to open the door and turned toward him.

  “Thank you Baptiste.” He nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. He texted a message to Gaspar and his mother that he was bringing Rose home, but no big loud parties. His mother assured him that she would cook, but it would be just the family.

  Just the family? That’s nearly fifty people!

  Chapter ELEVEN

  Rose…two years ago…

  “You think you’re so fucking smart don’t you?” he was screaming at her again. His fist had come down hard on her nose and she thought for certain her nose was broken.

  “Chuck, I don’t understand, why are you so angry? I just asked a question.” She said the words through sobs of hurt and anger. She had asked an easy, simple question. Where had the deposit of nearly thirty thousand dollars that was placed in their account yesterday, come from? Where?

  “You don’t get to ask me questions about my business, do you understand?” His big finger was in her face again and she nodded, biting her lip. She knew that now was not the time to question him further. It would do her no good at all.

  His angry fits had become more and more common and Rose knew that her time was running short. She couldn’t figure out where the change had occurred, except that everything started after they got married. They had known one another since high school. She went off to college and Chuck had joined the police force.

  They had always talked about marriage and she knew that once she completed her MBA they would get married. But only days after their wedding he was already hitting her.

  “Never question me again Rose, never. You think you’re so fucking smart with all those college degrees, well let me tell you that you are not! If you ever stick your nose in my business again I will cut the fucking thing off!”

  He slammed the front door of their tiny house, the windows rattling as he did so. She huddled on the floor, blood dripping onto her white silk blouse she had worn to work. Everything was falling apart. Nothing was as it should be.

  And for Rose everything was about to get worse. Chuck didn’t apologize for his outburst when he returned the next day. She didn’t dare question where he had been, but it was clear to her that he was on drugs of some sort. His eyes were black and his heart, as it turned out, was even blacker.

  Week after week, she walked on egg shells in her own home and week after week he got worse. When she would try to leave, he would beat her again, worse than the time before. Mr. Wilkins, her boss, had been kind and understanding, trying to help her. But with Chuck a detective on the force, it was difficult to get anyone to listen.

 

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