Chapter Twenty

The Paternal Instinct

Tucker

“Alexander.” Ella stared at the man who’d fathered her blankly, clutching the top of her oversized robe and pulling it closer to her body. “I can’t believe it’s you. You frightened the shit out of us.”

“I’m sorry.”

Bennett looked genuinely contrite as he perched on the edge of one of the sofa’s Tucker housed at the edge of the enormous kitchen, his gaze scanning between the two of them as he gripped his coffee cup. His eyes burned red as though he’d spent the last hour crying, but Tucker found that hard to believe. The last time he’d seen Bennett, he’d offered Tucker his daughter as collateral. Bennett was a monster.

“I didn’t think about the time. I just knew I had to get here before Collins, and he said he was coming tonight.”

“Yeah.” Tucker ran his digits over the gun waiting on the counter where he stood.

He and Ella had been listening to Bennett’s version of events ever since he’d funneled the unexpected intruder into the kitchen and gone to find her in the bathroom. He couldn’t say he believed or trusted the things Bennett said, but he was inclined to agree that Collins was still a latent threat.

“Tell me again what Collins said to you.” His gaze settled on Bennett as he contemplated for the hundredth time how a worm like Bennett had managed to produce someone like his little girl. Seeing them there together only reinforced the absurdity.

“Like I said.” Bennett’s attention slipped to him. “Collins told me Kenner was paying him to kill you. He also inferred that Ella was in danger, and that’s why I’m here.”

“We appreciate that.” Ella’s tone was far more diplomatic than Tucker’s might have been. “But why not just tell security and have them message us? Why break into the apartment in the middle of the night?”

“Exactly.” Tucker couldn’t help piggybacking her important point. “What I’d like to know is how on Earth you persuaded the guys down there to let you up here in the first place.”

Hadn’t Tucker spent days reiterating the significance of his and Ella’s security to all of his security staff? Could any of them have been foolish enough to have disregarded his instructions so soon after receiving them?

“I didn’t.” Bennett’s brow rose. “I was going to mention that. There were no security guys down there when I arrived. I looked around but couldn’t find anyone. It took me ages to find the emergency stairwell and pick the lock. Fortunately, our youth taught me something, eh, Bowman?” He chuckled as though he’d said something amusing, but Tucker’s mind was racing.

“What?” Tucker gripped the edge of the counter, his gaze darting instinctively to Ella. Where the hell was their security? “There are always two men on duty downstairs. Someone should have been there.”

“What does that mean?” Ella’s voice wavered as she glanced between him and her father. “Where are they, Tucker?”

“I don’t know.” He noticed how she’d reverted to using his first name in Bennett’s presence, but he supposed he could understand why. She had a complicated enough relationship with her father without needing to explain her complex one with him. “But I don’t like it.” He turned to glance at the door behind him. “I should go down there and see what’s going on.”

He hated what he was about to suggest, but the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach assured him there was no choice. If Bennett’s information was right—and his gut told him it could well be—Collins was already on his way, and he would be armed. The only way to ensure Ella was safe was to leave her with the man on his couch. Bennett was a callous asshole, but he had traveled across the city to warn them about Collins. Maybe monsters could still have consciences after all?

“Stay here with your dad until I’ve figured this out. I—” His sentence was stopped short as the power around them ended abruptly. Thrust into darkness, the kitchen took on a sudden, eerie ambiance.

“What?” Alarm reverberated in her voice as she rose to her feet.

“It’s Collins.” Bennett’s voice was resigned. “He’s cut the power.”

“What do you mean, he’s cut the power?” Ella darted to Tucker’s side.

“Bennett’s probably right.” It grated on him to have to admit it. “If I was planning a hit, I’d do the same. Likely, he took out the security guys, too.”

Tucker’s stomach lurched as he considered what Collins had probably been putting his guys through while they sipped coffee with Bennett in the kitchen. Collins hadn’t been much of a soldier, but he was more than capable with a blade and a gun, and if money was his motivation, Tucker had no doubt about his inclination to torment and maim. Collins was trouble, and much though he hadn’t appreciated the Alexander wake-up, Tucker was glad for the heads-up.

“Oh God.” Ella’s breath was warm on his shoulder. “What are we going to do?”

“It’s true, then.” Bennett’s tone was wistful from the couch as he watched his daughter cling to Tucker. “There’s something going on between the two of you.”

“Now’s not the time, Alexander.” Ella sighed.

“Yes, it’s true.” Something about Bennett’s disappointed tone riled Tucker. “What of it?”

“Collins told me, but I didn’t believe it.” Bennett shuffled over to join them at the marble island.

“Well, believe it.” Tucker couldn’t quite believe he was having this conversation with Bennett, let alone when the power had just gone off, and the shadow of Collins loomed so large. “I love your daughter, and I’ll kill anyone who gets in our way.”

“Aww, ain’t that sweet?”

Tucker froze at the male voice behind him, reaching for the gun on the counter as he spun to face its owner. He didn’t need to see the face of the latest unwelcome visitor to know who it was.

“Collins…” Tucker growled his name between gritted teeth as he did his best to position himself in front of Ella. “This must be the night for old hauntings.”

“The only one making an appearance in the afterlife around here is you, buddy .” Collins employed the same sneer Tucker recalled from the hospital all those years ago.

“Get her out of here.” Tucker spat the command at Bennett, hoping, for once, his paternal instinct would kick in, and the guy would do the right thing by his daughter.

“No one leaves.” Collins’ voice came from the direction of the doorway, although it was still difficult to see him in the darkness.

“I don’t want to leave!” Ella’s defiance suggested Tucker hadn’t done a good enough job of tanning her pretty hide in recent days. If they got through this, he made a mental note to do better.

“Get down.” Bennett lowered his voice as he jerked Ella behind the counter.

“You know why I’m here.” Collins’ voice was louder that time, suggesting he’d taken a step toward Tucker.

“A little birdie told me you’d been paid to finish me.”

There was no fear as Tucker spoke, only growing anger that this moron, who’d already attempted to screw him over once, was back to add more misery to his life.

Why won’t these idiots just leave me alone?

“A birdie called Bennet, by any chance?” Collins’ chuckle sounded as shallow as Collins was.

“Fuck you.” Bennett shot the insult from Tucker’s left. “You think you can just threaten my daughter, and I won’t have anything to say about it?”

“Oh, yeah.” Collins was much closer now, his silhouette visible as he moved. He was close enough that discharging any firearm could prove to be fatal for Tucker, a fact that wasn’t lost on Tucker as his finger brushed over the trigger of the gun he’d stolen from the moron in the forest.

I could do it. His pulse quickened. Since leaving special ops, he’d never intended to take another life, yet now the thought was all too appealing. One simple action and I’d pump enough bullets into Collins that he’d never get up again.

“Silly me.” Collins’ laughter crashed over Tucker. “I forgot you’re father of the fucking year, Alexander!”

“You told me you were coming here to deal with Bowman and that Ella was with him.” Bennett sounded like he was hyperventilating. “Why do that if you didn’t want me to show up and warn her?”

“That’s precisely why he did it.” Suddenly, the plan unfolded in Tucker’s head. “He got you here because he wants you dead, too, Bennett.”

“Correction,” Collins interrupted. “ Kenner wants you dead. I’m just a gun-for-hire.”

“Just go!” Ella sounded close to tears. “Just go and leave us alone.”

“I don’t think so,” Collins snarled. “And much though I’d love to get to know you better, Miss Bennett, it seems your standards are too low, even for me.”

“That’s enough!” Tucker’s free hand balled into a fist at the insult. “You’ve said what you wanted to say. How about you and I do what we should have done years ago and finish this? Let’s take this outside, Collins.”

Tucker didn’t want to shoot him in front of Ella. Even in the darkness of the power cut, he wanted to avoid the hurt he’d seen etched into her eyes after he’d killed the ginger git in the woods, but increasingly, he knew that’s what had to be done. Collins wouldn’t leave there of his own accord.

“Hmmm.” Collins’ alleged playful deliberation only protracted the burgeoning sense of doom. “I don’t think so.”

“What?” For the first time since he’d grabbed his weapon, Tucker felt control of the situation slipping from his fingers. “If you want me, I’m here. Just shoot me.”

Tucker hadn’t seen Collins with a gun, only because the bastard had relieved them of electricity before he arrived, but he couldn’t imagine any scenario where Collins would turn up there unarmed. He was willing to bet Collins had one pointed at him right then.

“No!” From past the island, his little girl protested. “Don’t shoot. Just go!”

“Again, no.” Collins’ voice resounded only seconds before he fired. For a fraction of a moment, the center of the kitchen was illuminated by the blast, Tucker’s heart briefly stopping as he acknowledged the direction of the bullet.

Yet again, Collins hadn’t done the decent thing. He hadn’t aimed the shot in Tucker’s direction. Instead, it was speeding toward the woman he loved. In the split-second he had to register the fact, he realized there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

“No!” He leapt in Ella’s direction, regardless, throwing the gun ahead of him.

Unable to just stand there and watch his worst fear playing out, Tucker was resolved to do anything he could to save her, but before he even made it around the counter, the victim’s pained cry pierced the air.