Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Evie carefully made her way closer to the stairs. Walking behind her, Landy kept his gun pointed straight at her spine. The weapon meant to, as he’d put it, “keep her in line”.

This can’t be happening.

This couldn’t be the way her story was supposed to end. Not after everything she’d already managed to survive.

And yet…

She tripped, nearly tumbling up the first step when the toe of her silver stiletto caught the hem of her gown. In another life, she’d think the white sequined dress was stunning. But in this one…

It’s what Landy forced me to wear for the man on his way to buy me.

After the horrific scene with him and his guard the day before, Landy had forced her back into the same cabin she’d escaped from, tied her up once again, and then he’d left her there alone for the rest of the night.

This morning he’d come in with a cup of coffee, some eggs, and a smile. But Evie was still too sickened by the man he turned out to be, she couldn’t even think about putting a drop of anything into her stomach.

Her sense of nausea had only grown worse when he’d forced her to shower at gunpoint. Thankfully, Landy had at least had the courtesy to stand just outside the bathroom, rather than watching her like a disgusting perv. But he’d threatened her with death if she tried anything on him like she had the man he’d killed.

And for some reason, despite their history, Evie believed the threat to be very, very real.

So, she’d showered, done her makeup and hair with the items Landy had so generously provided, and then she’d gotten dressed in the gown he’d had boated in for the special occasion.

This must be what it feels like to take that final long walk as a prisoner leaving death row.

It was a macabre thought, and one that would no doubt be offensive to some. But as far as Evie was concerned, if this happened—if she didn’t find a way to escape her most recent nightmare—then her life may as well be coming to an end.

There was a monster on his way here this very moment. One who fully believed women like her existed solely for his sick and twisted pleasure.

So yeah, if Landy handed her over to someone like that, Evie may not be killed. But she’d be as good as dead inside.

Please, don’t let this happen.

She silently pleaded with God as she slowly made her way up the stairs. This couldn’t be her future. Not when she had another one all planned out.

A future filled with love and laughter and joy. One she’d dreamed about every night since Beckett came into her life.

But now that future was about to disappear. Stolen from her by a man she’d considered part of her family. But that family was nothing more than a farce. A smokescreen of wealth and prosperity built on a foundation of lies.

The man behind her had been a part of it all along. Unfortunately, Evie had been too blinded by the need for some semblance of familial love to notice. Now Landy was leading her to a life worse than death, and unless she found the perfect moment to act on a plan she wasn’t sure would even work…

It’s the only way, Evie. You have to at least try. Otherwise, you’ll never see the man you love again.

Tears sprang to her eyes, spilling over her bottom lids. Her mascara was probably streaking down her cheeks, but she didn’t care.

The only thing Evie cared about was the fear of never getting to see Beckett again. And that, more than anything this man—or any other—could ever do, was the one thing she didn’t think she’d survive.

“Watch your step,” Landy offered as they approached the top of the stairs. “Wouldn’t want you to fall.”

As if you give a shit what happens to me.

But Evie did watch her footing, because there was something Landy didn’t know. A secret she’d been keeping hidden since the day before.

She reached down, gathering the gown’s thick, shimmering material to keep from tripping a second time. As she did, Evie inconspicuously ensured the knife she’d stolen from Muscle Man the day before was still secured to her inner thigh.

The night before, after she’d been caught trying to escape, Evie had managed to talk Landy in to letting her use the restroom before being retied to the bed like before. While in there, she’d hidden the weapon for safe keeping.

When he’d forced her to shower a couple hours before, Evie had taken advantage of the opportunity and retrieved the knife from its hiding place under the sink. With the shower concealing her movements, she’d then used the silk thong Landy had so generously provided. Using it as a makeshift thigh strap to secure the knife to her inner thigh.

A jolt of adrenaline rushed through her as the heel of her hand brushed over the hidden hilt on her way up the last of the steps. But she’d checked herself in the mirror countless times before leaving the room, and as long as she moved or stood just-so, there’d be no reason for Landy to suspect she was armed.

Yes, he had a gun, but at least with the knife, Evie wasn’t completely helpless. And the first chance she got to use it?—

“Stop right there, Granger!” A man yelled as she and Landy cleared the top step. “Put the gun down, and let the woman go!”

Evie’s eyes flew to her left. It took her a full two seconds to realize who’d just given Landy the order, but once she did…

“Beckett?” She instinctively took a step toward him.

But Landy grabbed her upper arm and yanked her back. The cool barrel of his gun pressed against her temple as he kept the back of her body flush with his front.

He’s using me as a human shield.

One more bit of proof the man only cared about himself.

“Drop your guns, or she’s dead!” he shouted next to her ear.

Evie winced when the gun’s cold metal began cutting into her skin.

“P-Please, Landy,” she tried begging. “If they’re here, that means there’s no way out.”

“She’s right,” Beckett spoke directly to Landy. “It’s over, Granger. So put down the gun, and let Evie go.”

He’s really here! Beckett’s here, which means everything is going to be okay!

But even as the wistful thought drove through her frantic mind, Evie knew his team’s presence alone wasn’t enough to secure a positive outcome. And until Landy agreed to lower his weapon…

“Please, Landy. Do what he says, and no one else has to get hurt.”

“It’s too late for that,” her father’s partner growled.

“No, it’s not.”

“Enough with the bullshit, Granger,” Digger chimed in. “Drop the gun and step away from the woman, or you’ll be as dead as the rest of your crew.”

“Wait!” Evie heard herself coming to Landy’s defense. Not because she forgave him for what he was doing, but because she didn’t want to see him or anyone else get killed. “Y-You need money, right?” She spoke directly to Landy. “You said you made some bad investments, so you used your clients’ money to cover it. And when that didn’t work, you came up with the plan to use me to get money from Phillip. And because that fell through, we’re here, right? But we don’t have to be.”

From her peripheral, she could tell Landy was already shaking his head.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he dismissed her completely.

“Yes, I do!” she pleaded with Landy as the man held her in place with a gun to her head and an arm around her neck. “And I think I have a way we can all get out of this thing without anyone else getting hurt.”

Beckett and his teammates remained quiet as Landy considered what Evie had just said.

“How?” he finally asked after a long, tortuous few seconds of silence.

“My trust,” Evie announced. “My grandparents on my mom’s side set it up for me shortly after I was born. It’s a living trust, and one my father can’t legally access. But I’ll be able to as soon as I turn thirty-two, which is in just a few?—”

“Months?” Landy’s laugh held no genuine humor. “I can’t wait months, Evie. The men I owe will kill me long before that time comes.”

“Yeah?” Apollo shot daggers from his deadly stare. “What do you think we’re going to do to you if you don’t drop that fucking gun and let Evie the fuck go?”

“It will work, Landy!” Evie kept fighting a losing battle. “You can live out here in the middle of nowhere until after my birthday. I’ll wire the money to whatever account you want, and?—”

“Shut up!” He pushed the barrel even harder against her temple. “Everyone just shut the fuck up!”

“P-Please, Landy. I’m b-begging you.”

“He doesn’t care, do you, Granger?” Beckett taunted the man with the gun to her head. “Then again, I know the real reason we’re all here.”

Real reason?

“Wha…what do you mean?” Evie asked.

“You wanna tell her, or should I?” Beckett asked. The question must’ve been rhetorical, because with his next breath, the man she loved said, “Never mind. I’ll give it a go. But feel free to stop me if I mess up.”

He brought his gorgeous brown eyes her way, and for just a moment, Evie almost forgot she was facing imminent death.

“I don’t know what you’re?—”

“It’s pretty easy to follow, really,” her hero continued. “Basically, you pulled an impressive Madoff impression, right? Although, from what we were told, your Ponzi scheme would’ve put his to shame. You know, if you’d actually gotten away with it.”

Evie frowned. “Ponzi scheme?”

“That’s right, darlin’. Turns out, Granger’s spent the last several years bilking his clients out of hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“You don’t understand?—”

“You’re right!” Beckett shouted. “I don’t understand how someone as smart as you could be stupid enough to think you’d get away with stealing other people’s life savings. Not to mention the additional crimes of colluding with known terrorists for the purpose of kidnapping young children and an American woman. A woman you practically helped raise, for Christ’s sake! But none of that matters to you, does it? She doesn’t matter to you. That’s evident by the fact that you made a deal with the fucking devil himself and tried selling her to a goddamn sex trafficker! ”

Evie had never seen anyone as angry as Beckett was in that moment.

His face was beet red, and there was a bulging vein running vertically down his entire forehead. He was on the edge of no return, and though she wanted this to be over more than her next breath, she also didn’t want to be the cause of another death on Beckett’s shoulders.

“Please, Landy,” she whispered softly, trying to reach the man she’d once thought of as blood. “Please, listen to what he’s telling you. You can still get out of this. There has to be a way. There has to be something we can?—”

“Shut up!” Landy turned into someone she didn’t recognize. “Jesus Christ, Evie. Don’t you see? No matter how hard you try to put your Pollyanna spin on it, the only way you’re getting out of this alive is if your boyfriend and his buddies drop their fucking guns!”

Tears flooded her vision, but Evie blinked them away as best she could. The time to act had come. She could feel it deep inside her bones. If she didn’t do something now, it was going to be too late.

If she did make it out of this alive, she’d look back at this moment and mourn the man she’d once looked up to. A man she’d loved as much as if he’d actually been related.

There was a time she would have trusted Landy Granger with her life. But now, he was trying to take that same life. Threatening to put a bullet in her head if Beckett and his teammates didn’t let him go free.

Well, she knew one surefire way to guarantee that didn’t happen. And despite the risk to her own safety, Evie knew exactly what she needed to do.

Landy’s movements became more and more erratic. He yelled at Beckett and his friends to put down their guns. The men of Tac-Ops shouted back for him to do the same.

The confrontation was the perfect distraction.

With her left hand still holding onto the meaty arm wrapped tightly around her neck, she slowly lowered her right hand down until it hung loosely in front of her thigh. As the men continued yelling back and forth at one another, she used just her fingers to inch the sequined material further up her leg.

Evie kept a close eye on the men standing in front of her, which is how she’d noticed the way Digger’s gaze caught the slight movement of her hand. Apollo, too, though neither man reacted.

Instead, they brought their focus back up to Landy. Acting as if nothing about the situation had changed, even though Beckett saw the knife secured at her trembling thigh.

His gaze immediately became fixed with hers. Evie thought for sure he’d give her some sort of negative signal. A way to let her know he was not on board with what she had planned.

However, in true Beckett form, the incredible man took her by complete surprise when he gave an almost indiscernible dip of his chin.

He knows what I’m going to do. He knows…and he’s ready.

The sound of her racing heartbeat filled her ears. With her time dwindling faster by the minute, she pushed past her fear, envisioned what she was about to do, and put the plan in motion.

Three more men entered the room, and Evie recognized Falcon immediately. She had no idea who the other two were, but she didn’t care. They were clearly working with Tac-Ops, which meant the two strangers were on her side.

“Who the fuck are you?” Landy shouted as he took two jerky steps back, away from Beckett and the others. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You can all go straight to hell, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Tell it to the jury, brother.” One of the men she didn’t recognize held the big gun in his hand steady.

“Jury?” Landy snorted. “You think I can get a fair shake after everything I’ve done? No.” The gun at her head began to shake. “I’ve worked too fucking hard to just give up and quit now.”

As the crazed man continued ranting about what he was owed and how he planned to get what he was due, Evie repositioned the knife in her fist, so she had a better, tighter grip on its handle.

With the blade pointed backward, toward the man using her to keep himself alive, she waited for the perfect moment to strike. Landy’s voice grew more turbulent, and the gun pressed against her head pulled away just a touch, and Evie knew it was now…or never.

I choose now.

Moving lightning fast, she swung her fist backward, bringing the blade toward the meatiest part of Landy’s right thigh.

“Ah!” The man cried out as the tip of the knife pierced his skin and beyond.

On reflex, Landy dropped the gun. His hand going straight to the knife still sticking out of his leg. In a quick, swooping motion, Evie swung her left foot out toward the fallen weapon.

She kicked the gun away. The sound of metal scraping against wood tore through the chaotic scene as the pistol skidded across the floor to where Beckett and his teammates stood.

Landy started to pull the knife free. “Fucking…bitch!”

“Evie, run!” Beckett shouted for her to get herself to safety.

But she was already reaching for the knife. If given the chance, there was no doubt in her mind, Landy would use it to kill her long before she ever got away.

They each had a desperate hand on the knife’s leather handle. Evie struggled against his tight grip as the two fought for control of the weapon.

A sickening, wet sound reached her ears as the blade slid free from Landy’s bleeding, wounded flesh. He howled again, but his hold on the knife never wavered.

As their fight to the death continued, Evie found herself in a twisted dance of deadly survival. Her arms were stretched out as far as they would reach, both hands coated with Landy’s blood. And for the next several, terrifying minutes, the pair swung themselves back and forth with their battling efforts to gain control.

She could hear Beckett screaming her name from somewhere close behind her. But she was too busy focused on the slick blood that had dripped from blade to hilt.

Her immovable grip she’d vowed never to lose began to slip as her palm became coated in Landy’s blood.

“Beckett!” Evie shouted his name as if there was something he could do.

The knife slid against her palm, partially giving way to the man’s forceful pull.

No, no, no, no, no!

“Evie!” Beckett shouted for her again. His desperation clear from the heightened tone of his panicked voice.

Everything that happened next did so as if time and space began moving in super slow motion.

The knife slipped from her hand. Landy pulled his elbow back, positioning the weapon so the bloody blade pointed straight at her gut.

“Landy, please!” Evie’s shouted plea came as she started to lift a hand to block the attack.

But his deadly decision had already been made.

She looked up into the eyes of a man she’d once loved and respected as he started to swing the knife toward her. The deafening sound of gunfire drowned out everything else around her, and Evie thought she may have screamed when Landy’s body jerked beneath the force of the bullets.

What felt like minutes later but was actually less than a handful of seconds, she found herself standing over the man’s dead body.

“Evelynn!”

Evie blinked, and Beckett was there, pulling her into his arms the same way she’d prayed he would.

She wanted to hold him close. To wrap her arms around him and never let go. But her hands were trapped between their bodies, pressing against the fire that had been ignited from somewhere deep inside.

“God, baby!” Beckett pulled away long enough to give her a kiss. “Are you okay? I was so fucking scared.”

“B-Beckett?” Evie glanced down, confused by the growing inferno in her belly.

“Evie? What is it? What’s…” His sharp intake of air sounded as he saw what she was seeing.

Thick, bright red blood had begun seeping out from between her fingers. She pushed harder against the wound, hoping to stop the hemorrhaging. But the move caused even more blood to escape, and soon her entire hand was covered.

“Ah, Christ.” Beckett sounded sick to his soul as he cried out to the others, “She’s hurt!”

“I can’t…” Evie’s legs gave out from beneath her, but he was there to break her fall.

Just like he was always there, having put his life on the line for hers…again. Only problem was, this time, he may have been too late.

“Open your eyes, Evie!” he yelled from somewhere far way. “Come on, darlin’. Let me see that gorgeous stare of yours.”

They’re closed? When did I close my eyes?

Evie’s lids fluttered open to find Beckett’s wild gaze hovering directly overhead.

“There you are.” He smiled, placing his hands over hers to apply more pressure to the still-bleeding wound. “That’s it, Evie. Just keep lookin’ right at me.”

There’s nothing else I’d rather see.

Tears fell from the corners of her eyes. “I-I’m…sorry.”

“No, darlin’,” he soothed. “Nothin’ about any of this is your fault.”

“Need to…t-tell you…something.”

“I’m right here.” The corners of his lips curved even as his eyes shimmered with what appeared to be a sudden well of unshed tears. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” Evie forced a weak smile of her own. “’Cause I l-love you.”

The moisture she’d suspected were tears fell over his rugged cheeks. “Ah, Evie.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. “I love you, too. So fucking much.”

“Y-You do?”

“More than I’ve ever loved anything or anyone.” His watery smile filled her overworked heart. “And I gotta say, it’s a damn good thing you love me back, because I have all sorts of plans.”

“P-plans?”

“Oh, yeah. But you just relax for now, because we have the rest of our lives to talk about all that.”

The rest of their…

The world around her began to fade, but Evie was determined to keep the darkness pulling her under at bay.

“I want to…hear the…p-plan.”

His worried stare closed in on hers, but he kept his voice calm and light as he spoke of her dream come true.

“Basically, you’re stuck with me,” he told her flat-out as his hands worked to keep her stable. “And I want it all, too. We’re going to get married, have lots and lots of wild, crazy monkey sex…and babies.”

“B-babies?” Her heart swelled at the idea of the two of them creating a family.

“Oh, yeah.” Beckett nodded. “As many as you’ll agree to have. I’m serious, Evie.” He brought his loving gaze back up to hers. “I want it all. With you. From now until forever.”

Until forever…

Evie felt her eyes falling shut, and this time, there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it. But as she gave herself over to the darkness, she sent up another silent prayer, begging God to let her live. To give her a chance at the future that had just been described.

Because spending forever with Beckett Stone…

I can’t imagine anything better than that.