Chapter 17

Chapter

Seventeen

Darcy couldn't sleep.She should be exhausted, but she was too happy, exhilarated really. Nick had come with her to her house. He was incredible with the children, and he was here for her, putting her first.

Maybe she should stay away, but it couldn't be wrong to sneak downstairs and snuggle on the couch, talk, maybe plan a tentative future. Would that be pushing him too hard? She could content herself with more sweet kisses. He still had that elusive ‘job' he had to take care of. As long as he came back to her after each job, she'd trust him to go.

Creeping out of bed, she pulled on a T-shirt and some joggers, applied some mint lip gloss, pulled her hair out of the ponytail holder and fluffed it with her fingers, and slid into some flip-flops. She slid out of her room, down the hall, and down the stairs. Her smile grew as she approached the smaller living room where they'd set up his bed.

It was too dark to see more than the shapes of furniture.

"Nick?" she whispered, creeping to the couch. "Nick?"

She listened but didn't hear his soft breathing. She walked around the couch and patted where his leg should be. Nothing but the sheet. Flipping on a lamp, her smile faded when she looked over the couch. Nothing but the sheet and pillow. Where was he? Bathroom or getting a drink of water?

The room felt more than empty. Something was wrong.

Headlights beamed through the gate. It swung open, and she stared as two large vehicles drove along the gravel and parked near the kitchen door. Johnny's men sometimes came late at night, but not two vehicles of them. She flipped off the lamp and crept toward the window, watching as eight men climbed out of the two vehicles. Their headlights shut off, and it was too dark to see their faces clearly.

She wanted to find Nick and go hide in her room until they went away. Why would so many men come to her house? Most of them walked toward the basement room. Fine. They could go downstairs; she'd find Nick and he'd keep her safe until they went away. Johnny's men had made her uneasy at times, but not like tonight. She felt even more uneasy that Nick had disappeared.

The alarm beeped and the kitchen door opened. Darcy froze. They were coming into her house. They'd never come into her house before.

There was no way to get back to the bedrooms without running right in front of the men. She eased back against the wall and hid behind a long curtain. Were these Johnny's men or someone else? They could be traffickers. What if they tried to go for her children? Where was Nick?

The men's footsteps eased through the house. Her breath came in shallow puffs. Could they hear her?

They walked into the front living room, and she could hardly catch a breath. She didn't want them after her children. She'd sneak after them and fight them if they tried to get to her babies. But to have them walking straight into the room where Nick should be sleeping and she was hiding was unnerving.

Striding straight up to where she was trying to hide behind the curtain, she couldn't understand how they knew exactly where she was.

"Hola, lady," the one man said, clamping his hand over her mouth as she squeaked out a scream and yanking her away from her hiding spot.

She swung and kicked at him.

He flipped her around and pinned her arms to her sides with one arm securely around her chest and arms and his other hand over her mouth. The other man picked up her legs and held them tightly. They rushed through the house as she flailed and bucked and tried to free herself.

Why were they kidnapping her? Did it have anything to do with Nick? She was relieved they weren't after her little ones, but that was the only comforting thought at the moment. Where on earth was Nick?

Bursting out the kitchen door, they went down the outside steps and around to the basement door. It was open wide.

They carried her down the stairs and into the lit basement room. She'd seen the sparsely furnished room through the basement window, but she'd never come in here. She figured if Johnny's men left them alone, she'd leave them alone. The status quo was vastly off tonight, and she had no idea why.

Where was Nick? He'd never let anyone hurt her.

The men holding her stopped in front of four other men. Where had the other two gone? One man wore a Brioni suit and had his back to her. His dark-brown hair and tall, lean frame reminded her far too much of …

He turned and gestured to his men.

Johnny!

The one released her legs, and they slid to the ground. The other kept her mouth and upper body pinned against him.

"Darcy." Johnny looked her over. "Have you missed me, princess?"

The man holding her released her mouth but kept his tight grip on her chest and arms, as if she could lash out and hurt his boss.

"Not for a minute," she spit at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, doll, I paid for this house, so that makes it mine. I can come here anytime I want."

Arguing with him would accomplish nothing. "What do you want, Johnny?"

"I'd like to know how you dared betray me."

"Betray you?" She stared at him. His men surrounded him, faces impassive and hands on weapons. "You cheated on me repeatedly. How have I betrayed you?"

Johnny strode up to her. She'd never feared him before, but there was something in his dark-brown eyes that made him look even darker, disturbed truly. He placed his soft palm against her cheek. She flinched, but the man behind her grasped her chin and held it tightly.

"I own you, princess, and I always will." Johnny looked her over like she was nothing more than his possession. His fingertips trailed down to her locket, and her skin crawled like a spider was on her. "This locket always shows me where you are." He smiled. "Had a good trip to the Caribbean? Brought back a little souvenir, did you?"

"You've been tracking me?" She shouldn't have been surprised, but it was another betrayal. The locket she loved had been turned into a tracking device.

He rolled his eyes and lowered his hand. "I've been too good to you. I gave you far too much money in the divorce, and I sent my men to watch over you. As long as you played Mama to your little orphans and lived like a nun, staying true to me, I was fine with the situation. You have no idea how liberating it is to sleep with my ladies wherever and whenever I want and not have to worry about keeping up the ploy of faithful husband."

"You were never faithful, you skunk."

His eyes flashed a warning.

"I don't care about you or want you in my life," she said, glaring at him. "Go have your women and leave me and my children alone."

"No!" he roared, leaning closer. "You messed this up. Not me. You dared to bring a man here, and not just any man. Lieutenant Nicholas Jacobs." He sneered as he said Nick's name. "The very man who won't quit trying to ruin me and my businesses."

Nick was doing … what? That made no sense. Nick was a security op. Unless …

Her eyes widened. "Nick would only be after you if you were doing something horrible like human trafficking or drugs or murder. He's a great man, protecting others and righting wrongs."

"Oh, really? Well, I hope you enjoyed your little fling with him. When I find Jacobs, I will fillet him and you'll get to watch."

"No!" she screamed, struggling to free herself. "Don't hurt him!"

Johnny smiled. "After he's dead, you'll remember your place and who you belong to. I granted you a quick divorce because everybody claimed it was the only way to keep my organization safe. But you're mine, no matter what the legal documents say."

"Ah, Trattori," a deep voice said from the stairway. "You are as delusional as you are ugly and corrupt."

Nick flew down the exterior stairs to the basement, literally flew through the open door. He tackled two men to the concrete floor. Their heads thudded loudly against the unforgiving surface. The one didn't move, while the other groaned and rolled onto his back, panting in pain.

Nick sprang from the floor like a tiger going after its prey. He launched himself at the man holding Darcy. He slammed his fist into the man's face, grabbed the man's arm, and yanked the guy toward him as he kneed him in the side. Darcy heard the crack of ribs breaking as the man released her.

She would've fallen, but Nick wrapped her up and carried her away from the men and toward the corner of the room, shooting at the men behind them with a pistol in his free hand.

He released her and yanked the table off its legs and onto its side in front of them. Then he pulled the mattress from the other direction and shoved it against the table lying on its side.

Bullets slammed into the table, but they had a double layer of protection.

Smiling at her, he pulled a large gun off his back. "Are you all right?"

"Nick! What is going on?" She was confused and terrified and were there really bullets slamming into this table? What if they shot through the table and the mattress? They'd die right here.

"Just a moment, beautiful."

He edged the end of the gun around the table and started shooting back. Bullets were going like crazy, and she heard screams of pain and cursing in Spanish, but the bullets slamming into the table and mattress slowed and stopped. They weren't shooting back.

"Stop, stop!" Johnny yelled.

Nick did stop shooting. "Are you ready to turn yourself in to the authorities, Trattori? Confess to all the drug dealing, murder, and thievery?" Nick called to him, edging toward the side of the table.

Darcy heard the sound of a door opening and closing.

"Oh, sure. After I gut you and take my wife back."

"Yeah, that's happening." Nick's voice was taunting and hard. He looked at Darcy. "Pardon me while I kill your ex."

"Argh!" Johnny screamed, and the bullets slammed into the table again. Bullets tore through the table and the mattress.

Nick pushed her flat to the cement floor and covered her with his body.

The bullets stopped as quickly as they'd begun.

".308 full metal jacket rounds," Johnny called out. "We had them hidden in the other room. Now, I suggest you bring me my wife. Unless you want her death on your hands too."

Nick looked down at Darcy as she was pinned underneath him. "I love you," he said softly.

Darcy's eyes widened. She'd told him she loved him twice, but he'd never said the words. His deep-brown eyes told a story of their own. He did love her, and he was about to do something reckless and dangerous.

Nick eased his weight off of her, his fingers tightening on his gun.

"Please, Nick," she begged.

"You'll be safe," he said, smiling at her. "Stay flat." He eased his gun around the table and started shooting.

The return fire terrified her. She prayed and clapped her hands over her head and could swear the world was ending. The entire room shuddered.

Nick was lying down next to the edge of the table. Was he hit? She screamed in horror.

The rumble of tires thrummed from somewhere deep in the basement. It was almost as loud as the bullets, and then everything exploded. Plaster and dust shot through the air and then rained down on them. The house seemed to shudder from the impact. She prayed it wouldn't collapse and hurt her little ones.

"Nick?" she called out.

He scrambled over to her. He looked unharmed. Oh, thank heavens.

"Are you all right?" she begged, clinging to his arm. "What just happened?"

"I'm fine. Paul is what just happened." He grinned at her. It was his confident, alluring grin, but she was too upset, terrified, and confused to know how to respond. "Don't move for a moment."

"Nick?" a man's voice called.

"Paul. Clear?"

"Yes, sir."

Nick stood, hefting that huge gun and looking like a military hero. He'd rescued her and was her hero, but there were too many questions surfacing in her mind. He'd been after Johnny? Was that why he'd come here with her? The entire thing had been a setup to capture or kill Johnny?

Johnny was a criminal. That made sense. She'd wondered if his businesses were illegal or at least unethical, but never had any proof. But he was worse than unethical—drugs and murder?

She was so confused. Her head hurt.

"Did you see two more men?" Nick asked.

"Took them out on my drive back through the tunnel."

"What was on the other end?"

"Loads of drugs, a rundown house on the American side of the border, and two now incapacitated and tied up criminals."

"Nice work." Nick bent down and offered his hand to her. "It's safe, Darcy. Let's get you out of here. My boss will be here shortly with the authorities to do cleanup."

She took his hand and let him help her up. He quickly tucked her head into his neck and whispered, "You don't want to see this. Trattori used his men's bodies as shields. He's under a pile. I've got you."

Darcy wanted him to ‘have her,' but did she really? Had her hero lied to her and manipulated her? She didn't want to believe it, yet how could she not? Had he known who she was the entire time they'd known each other?

"Princess," a voice croaked. "I'll kill him."

Nick whipped Darcy behind him to shield her. She heard a crack and a squeal. She peeked out to see Paul, she assumed, with his foot grinding Johnny's hand into the concrete, and then kicking a gun away.

"Don't try anything else," Paul warned.

Johnny moaned. "You'll never escape me."

"You've got him?" Nick asked.

"For sure. Go make sure all of her children are safe."

"My babies!" Darcy cried out. Strength returned to her legs. She ran for the stairs, tripping over a body. Screaming out, she would've fallen, but Nick's arm came around her waist and lifted her up.

He helped her away from the awful death in this room and up the stairs. They burst out into the night and then hurried to the back porch step. She rushed in and looked around, listening for cries and screams. She heard a baby's cry, but it was soothed quickly. Nick didn't say anything as they hurried to the steps and up to the second level. He simply supported her.

Gary was in the hallway and turned at their approach. "What happened?"

"Johnny Trattori and his men," Nick said shortly. "Running a drug smuggling operation through the basement. We've killed or incapacitated him and his men. You'll be safe now. Are the children all right?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"Well, thank you, son. It sounds like you rescued us all."

Nick looked down at her and then shrugged. "Just doing my job."

Those words pierced her heart. Just doing my job. Nick was only here for a job. He didn't love her. He'd said he loved her right before he went to sacrifice himself in the basement. Had that been a ploy? Had the man she'd fallen for used her and lied to her and … She wanted to cry in pain and anguish, but she murmured, "Excuse me while I check on everyone."

"I need to clear each room first," Nick said.

Darcy nodded and leaned against a wall as Nick eased through the first door. Gary looked at her. "Are you all right?"

"Yes." Her lip quivered. "Nick kept me safe."

"What a guy, huh? I can see why you love him."

Darcy managed a smile. She did love him, but she didn't trust him. She'd fallen for him much quicker than she had Johnny. Nick wasn't a criminal and a cheater like her husband, but he'd lied to her and broken her heart even worse.

Earlier tonight, she'd imagined the hardest thing in the world would be watching Nick leave to go do his jobs and waiting for him to come home safe.

Knowing she was his job and meant nothing to him? The only pain she could think of that compared to this was finding out her baby was dead and then burying her.

She was devastated.