Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

CHRIS

When Reed came crashing through the door, I jumped to my feet, thinking it was the Yuri guy Nicky had mentioned. It wasn't until my face was buried in a familiar flannel shirt, a pair of strong arms wrapped around me tightly, and a warm, woodsy scent filled my nose that I realized it was over.

Reed was here, which meant I was safe.

"Baby," Reed murmured into my hair. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think…" I croaked, nestling into him further. "Now I am."

The first instant that Nicky had stepped out of the woods in front of me earlier like some kind of demon in a horror movie, I'd been terrified, but by the time he'd forced me down on the pine needles so he could bind my wrists, marched me here at gunpoint, and started his ridiculous speech, my fear had turned to anger.

How flipping dare he blame me for everything? How flipping dare he try to intimidate me? How dare he manipulate me and ruin everything for Reed?

The anger had cleared my head a lot. It helped me remember that Reed would find me—he'd raze the forest to the ground to protect me if he had to, I knew that for sure—so the most helpful thing I could do would be to stay calm and keep Nicky distracted.

I wasn't sure what had come over me when I'd noticed the ceiling fan hanging right above Nicky and recalled how wobbly it was, but I was pretty sure it had been Nonna's voice in my head saying You can't fight gravity, sweetheart that had given me the idea.

I couldn't wait to tell Reed about that. To hear his laughter.

But not yet.

Because the moment I knew I was safe, all the fear and longing and guilt I'd been holding at bay came crashing back like a tidal wave, and I found myself sobbing.

"Stay still, baby," Reed said as I tried to squirm myself further into his embrace. "I need to free your hands."

He pulled something from his pocket and, without stepping away, he managed to cut the zip tie. The second they were free, my arms flew around Reed's waist and I fumbled to hold him with hands that had gone numb.

"Hold me," I begged through my tears, though he already was. "Don't let go."

"Not on your life," he muttered. "Not ever again." And as if to prove it, his arms tightened, squeezing the breath out of me.

I didn't mind.

"Nicky? Nicky!" I turned my head in surprise and found Uncle Danny on his knees beside my cousin, tapping him gently on his face. Nicky lay on the floor on his back, the weight of the ceiling fan pinning him down. He looked dead, but thankfully, I could still see his chest rise and fall. "Christoforo, come help me. "

It was a measure of how overwhelmed I was that I hadn't even noticed Danny was here until he spoke.

It was a measure of how much things had changed that I didn't feel the slightest urge to step away from Reed to go to him… not that Reed wanted me to.

"No fucking way. Chris doesn't need to go anywhere near Nicky," he told Danny.

Danny's eyes narrowed as he glanced between us. "Christoforo, I said come here."

"You're not calling the shots right now, Dante," Reed reminded him.

"And you think you are?" Danny pushed to his feet with some effort and I wondered if his arthritic knees were acting up.

"No," Reed said. "I think Chris is."

I glanced up at him in surprise but he was looking steadily at my uncle.

"Chris is my nephew," Danny said. "My family. He knows he's safe with me."

Reed's body went stiff with anger, his voice arctic cold. "Yeah, I saw how you protected him when you wouldn't let me take the shot out there." He nodded at the cabin window. "Nicky could have killed him."

"He wouldn't." Danny set his jaw, a stubborn look I knew well. "Nicky?—"

"Was going to let someone else kill me," I said, quiet but firm. My hands fisted in the back of Reed's shirt, locking his big body to mine. "Which is basically the same thing, isn't it?"

Danny's mouth snapped shut. "Christoforo, I'm sorry. This is my fault—" He spread his hands pleadingly and took a step in our direction. "Let me explain."

Reed spun us, positioning himself between me and Danny. "That's plenty close enough. Say what you need to say, and then I'm calling the police and an ambulance."

"I don't need interference from Chris's bodyguard ." Suddenly Nicky's gun was in Danny's hand, aimed right at Reed, with a speed that suggested it wasn't the first time Danny had held a gun on someone. "And you're not calling anyone. You'll leave my nephew with me?—"

"The hell I will." Reed let go of me, but only so he could tug me behind his back and pull out his own gun. "Put your weapon down. The only reason I haven't already shot you is because your nephew is the man I love, and he wouldn't like it. Unless he tells me to go, there's no way I'm leaving him here with you and that murderous asshole you call a?—"

"This is none of your—" Danny began.

"Stop!" I yelled, stepping around Reed. "Both of you stop it. Put your guns away right flipping…" I froze, blinking. I turned to Reed, staring in absolute shock. "Wait. Did you… did you say you love me?"

Reed's gaze flicked from me to Danny for a beat, like he was gauging the danger. Then he tucked his gun away, swallowed hard, and focused on me as though Danny and his gun no longer existed. His green eyes heated, and his cheeks went red. He swallowed again, showing an un-Reed-like uncertainty that was almost funny, considering he'd been seconds away from a gunslinger showdown with my uncle and hadn't shown a hint of fear.

He looked incredibly, wonderfully awkward. The kind of awkward that told me he'd meant every word he'd said.

"Yeah," he said softly. He reached out one big hand and adjusted my glasses. "I really do, Chris."

"I see." I nodded. "That's… great. But, um…" I was hyperventilating a little, but I couldn't help it. "Is there any chance this might be, you know, an adrenaline thing? Beca use I've heard adrenaline can make people do all kinds of?—"

"No." Reed smiled and cupped my jaw with both hands. "Not adrenaline. Not protectiveness, either. And definitely not professional responsibility. I wish I'd told you at a better time. Like this morning, when it finally hit me exactly what I'd been feeling for you. Or a week ago, when you jumped in a lake and I knew nothing in the world, no career or assignment, was more important than having you in my arms. Or… fuck, the first day I met you, when I already knew you were more than a job to me. I love you, Chris."

I was not going to do anything embarrassing like cry. Not when Reed was saying everything I'd ever wanted to hear from him.

"But… how?" I choked out instead, which was arguably more embarrassing.

"How did I fall in love with you?" He frowned. "How could I not? You're the most gorgeous, most selfless, most genuinely good man I've ever met. I don't know how anyone could resist you. Just look at how Watt Bartlett can't keep his moony eyes to himself."

I didn't dignify his teasing about Watt by acknowledging it. Especially since Watt didn't even date men, as far as I knew.

"What about your job?" I demanded. "Reed, I know how much you love it, and I know that's one of the reasons you don't want a relationship?—"

"Fuck the job," he growled. "Because I already have a relationship, and I'm not giving it up. I don't know exactly how it'll work, but I told Janissey today what my top priority is from now on." He pressed a soft kiss to my lips and then pulled back. "It's you, just to be clear. This is definitely me picking you up right now. Permanently."

"Yeah?" My cheeks went hot. "Well, that's pretty convenient because I?—"

"Christoforo, he's lying to you." Uncle Danny's voice was like jumping in the deep lake water again, an icy shock that stole my breath and very nearly stole my joy.

"What?" I demanded, looking away from Reed.

Danny had managed to pull the fan away from Nicky, but Nicky was still out cold.

I was pretty sure I should have felt worse about that, but there was no part of me that did. I didn't want any kind of relationship with Nicky ever again.

What bothered me now was the gun Danny still held, pointed directly at Reed. I noticed Reed keeping a keen eye on Nicky's still form and the gun in Danny's hand.

"You heard me. The things he's saying? Lies." Danny's face was mottled red. "You say you're in love with my nephew?" he demanded of Reed, waving the gun in an arc. " Ridiculous . You've known him for two weeks. That's what these government people do, Christoforo," he said, turning back to me. "They lie. That's how they got me to turn myself in. Make a deal, Dante. Bah. " He spat. "Then once they had me in their clutches, they refused to let me go. Refused to even let me serve my time, when I heard that Robert Evanovich might go after you if I testified. Sign the paper and testify, they told me, and we'll protect Chris. Refuse to sign, we'll tell Robert Evanovich you're testifying anyway, and let him come after your nephew." He shook his head. "Lying, cheating snakes, that's what they are. Don't trust a word this man says."

My fists tightened until my nails dug into my palms and I moved out of Reed's embrace. Reed clutched at me briefly, but I gave him a look—a look that said trust me —and he let me go, though his eyes remained fixed on me with that same laser focus I'd felt back at the roadhouse.

I liked it a hundred times more now.

"Uncle Danny." My voice vibrated with anger and I made no attempt to conceal it. "‘This man' is Reed Sunday, and he has never lied to me. You have."

Danny's face looked almost comically surprised, maybe stunned that I'd disagreed. That I'd argued . But he recovered quickly. "I… yes. I know I have," he admitted. He dropped the hand holding the gun to his side and had the grace to look ashamed. "All sorts of lies, from the time you were small. My father started the Cellar and took the business down a certain path. He raised me to take it over. I was already in it before I ever realized I had the option to say no. But Carmelita wanted a different life for herself. For you. If your Nonna or I wanted to spend time with you, she said, we had to promise not to tell you anything about the business—the real family business—until you were old enough to make the choice for yourself." He sighed. "She never expected to die so young. To have your father follow her so quickly. But we honored her wishes. And then…" He broke off.

"And then?" I prompted.

Danny's mouth opened and closed, his dark eyes beseeching me for understanding. "Then I saw how you were. My sweet boy. Heart of my heart. A person who always did right, even when it cost him. Who never wanted to hurt another living thing. I'd already told Nicolas the truth about the business. Given him the choice to join me. Witnessed how that choice… changed him." When he looked down at Nicky, Danny's face was drawn with shame and pain. "I couldn't tell you the truth, Chris. Not af ter that. I lied to protect you. Protect one of my boys, at least?—"

I stared at him wordlessly. If he'd told me this months ago, even weeks ago, I would have been incredibly moved. I would have forgiven him anything. But the man holding a gun on Reed wasn't the uncle I recognized.

Reed's arms wrapped around me from behind, supportive without restraining, and I leaned against him, taking the comfort and strength he offered.

Watching this, Danny shook his head again. "You see? You're so trusting, Christoforo. This is why you needed my protection?—"

Behind me, Reed straightened. "You know what? No." He gave me a reassuring squeeze, then stepped forward so we were side by side. "You do not get to say that to him. Not while I'm around. Yes, Chris is trusting. He believes the best in people. But that doesn't make him an idiot, Dante. It doesn't make him less than. It doesn't make him a child who needs you to strip his choices away and decide what he should know. It makes him a goddamn miracle. A fucking angel on earth."

"I never said he—" Danny began, but he shut up quickly when Reed talked over him.

"Chris treats every person he meets—every single one, no matter their circumstances—like they are good and decent and worthy of respect. So you know what it means when someone takes advantage of him? When someone lies to him and he believes them anyway, especially when the people doing the lying are his family? It means they are assholes. So if you were ashamed of who you were and what you'd done with your life? I get it. You should be fucking ashamed. You didn't want Chris to know the truth? I don't blame you. But don't you make it sound like you kept this secret for him. Don't pretend that decision was about protection when it's mostly about your own fear of how he'd look at you if you told the truth."

My eyes were wide and I was pretty sure Danny's would be too, if I were able to look away from Reed long enough to check. Reed was magnificent. A broad-shouldered, glowering, avenging angel I wanted by my side always.

"You know how I know that, Dante?" Reed went on. "For fifteen years, I lied to my family about what I did for a living because it was easier to keep lying than to admit I'd lied in the first place. But this week, I started being honest… because of this man right here. Because when Chris sees the best in me, it makes me want to be better. To be seen. To tell the truth. To stop pretending. To be worthy of him. And if you love him, Dante , then own your choices. And do not insinuate that he needs to change one fucking molecule of his personality in order to earn your respect. You hear me?"

The things Reed was saying, the emotion on his face, the light in his eyes was better than any declaration of love?—

Or, okay, no, but it was at least as good.

Because Reed had told me days ago that he saw me. That he couldn't help but see me. And at the time, I hadn't entirely believed him. Now I knew without a doubt that it was true.

I wrapped both arms around his waist. "Thank you," I whispered, low enough that only he could hear.

He dropped a kiss to the top of my head. "No need to thank me, baby," Reed said, making those words sound better than John Ruffian ever had, even in my wildest fantasies. "Never stop being exactly the way you are. I want you to fly like a butterfly. And I promise I'm strong enough to handle the lifts and throws."

A rush of warmth filled my chest and expanded outward, further and further, until every part of me tingled with a sense of security and belonging stronger than anything I'd ever felt before.

Making the worst day of my life into the best one.

"I'm sorry," Danny said softly, drawing our attention. "I'm sorry, Chris. He's right. I knew what I was doing was wrong. That's why I never told you. I was willing to lose the house, my cars, my money, my business. But I didn't want to lose your respect." He looked down at Nicky worriedly. "I've failed both of my boys. I don't know what to do."

"I'll tell you what you're going to do about Nicky," Reed said, his tone daring my uncle to disagree. "He's going to jail, Dante. He abducted Chris. He would have killed him, or had him killed, and if you let him go, he'll try again. You know that. Besides," he went on when it looked like Danny would interrupt. "It's only a matter of time until the FBI gathers enough information on his crimes to make charges stick. Nicky knows that. That's why he was desperate enough to try this." He waved a hand to indicate the cabin.

Danny hung his head and nodded, his face more drawn than I'd ever seen it. He rubbed a hand absently over his chest. "I suppose that's for the best."

"Have you been taking your heart medication?" I blurted. Maybe it meant I was still naive, but I loved my uncle too much to stop caring about his welfare. Even if he'd lied. Even if I was seriously hecking mad at him.

Reed pulled me against his side and squeezed my shoulder affectionately, as if he'd expected nothing less.

Danny's eyes softened. "I am, Christoforo. I promise. It's been a strain, these past few months, trying to do the right thing and keep everyone safe… despite not doing a very good job of it." He ran a hand over his thinning hair an d sat down heavily on the bench, staring at the gun held loosely in his hands. "I got your email, you know. I thought… I thought you were safe and everything would be alright. But then I overheard one of the Marshals saying Nicky had managed to slip away from the FBI agents who'd been monitoring him. They said he'd been looking for you, but he'd never find you in Copper County. I knew better. I didn't think he'd hurt you, but I knew he'd try to… to manipulate you. Maybe even use you against me somehow." He glanced at Nicky again and let out a shuddering breath. "He'd probably even think that was the Fromadgio way."

"He did manipulate me," I admitted. I pushed up my glasses with one finger. "He emailed me and claimed to be in a panic because the Evanoviches were after him. I… I borrowed a phone to check on him and forgot about Caller ID." I looked down at my feet. "I'm sorry, Reed. It was my fault he knew what town we were in, and since pretty much everyone around here knows the honeymooners of Copper County and where we're staying?—"

"Everyone knows Chris Sunday ," Reed corrected. He cupped my chin and forced me to look up at him. "And likes you exactly as you are. So please don't beat yourself up over this. I hate that he manipulated you, but it's not your fault. You heard what I said a minute ago, right? This was on Nicky, not you. You did nothing wrong."

"See, that, Bob? They didn't need our help after all." Dolores, still wearing her raincoat, strolled into the cabin with Bob at her heels, and gave a single comprehensive glance at Reed and me, at Danny still sitting on the bed, and at Nicky prone on the floor. She nodded approvingly at me. "Nice work, sweetheart."

"Dolores!" Wide-eyed, I pulled away from Reed and stepped in front of her, trying to block her view of my cousin. "This, um, isn't what it looks like?—"

She held up a hand. "Oh, I think it's exactly what it looks like. On the way back over just now I told Bob, ‘That Chris is stronger than anyone gives him credit for. Mark my words, he'll have saved himself.' Isn't that what I said, Bob?"

"That's what you said, Dolores," he agreed. He headed straight for Nicky and kneeled beside him to check his pulse, then patted Nicky's pockets and produced some of the zip ties Nicky had used to bind me. He rolled Nicky over and secured his wrists behind his back with a kind of casual ease that left me blinking.

How had he…?

"Bob and I just took care of a little family business ourselves. Yuri is not going to be a problem anymore," she said grimly. When she saw me staring at her, wide-eyed, she smiled softly. "Let me back up. Dolores Evanovich, honey." She pressed a hand to her chest. "Smith's my maiden name. And I promise, we only ended up in Copper County ‘cause I wanted maple bacon cupcakes. Just a… a happy coincidence you might say." She glanced at her husband and added in an undertone. "I could explain more, but Bob gets tetchy when anyone starts talking about Robert, Junior."

"Can you blame me?" Bob muttered.

I glanced at Reed, stunned, and he nodded grimly. "Dolores saw your email from Nicky and recognized him in the woods later. She's the one who knew where he'd taken you."

"What are the hecking chances?" I whispered.

"Did someone call an ambulance?" Dolores wondered. "Looks like he might have a concussion." She tilted her head and studied Nicky, who was muttering and cursing as he finally came awake. "If you ask me, he got off easy."

"I haven't called it in yet. It's been kind of a busy ten minutes," Reed said. He took his phone out of his pocket, but hesitated. "Danny, when I call this in, you know what's going to happen."

Uncle Danny nodded once. "Back into custody. Possibly jail, since I left, ah… abruptly and without signing the plea deal. I knew the risk. But I couldn't not come when Chris needed me." He smiled at me, and this time, it was the smile I knew and loved. The same smile he'd given me when I did something he was particularly proud of. "Though it looks like Chris didn't need me quite as much as I thought."

My stomach flipped and my lip quivered. I took a step toward him, then another, then Uncle Danny was on his feet and I was hugging him nearly as tightly as Reed had hugged me a few minutes ago.

"I need you," I whispered. "I'll always need you. Not to protect me, but to love me. Thank you for coming. Thank you for… for everything. I love you. And I'll write to you. And visit. And… I'll miss you."

"I love you too, Christoforo." He patted my back gently. "For all that I've done wrong, never forget that, okay?"

"There is another option," Dolores said slowly. "Isn't there, Bob?" She arched one bright red eyebrow at Bob, and Bob nodded. "We—that is to say, Bob and I—have made a last minute change of plans. We're going to be leaving Copper County tonight."

"You are?" I said, disappointed. "But you said you wanted to stay for the pumpkin festival. And there's your charcuterie board?—"

"I'll leave you my email, honey. We'll stay in touch, and I'll come back for a visit soon. But I was saying to Bob earlier, ‘Bob, my sweetheart, my darling, my precious pearl, there is another bakery I'm dying to try in…' Was it Biloxi, Bob? Or Buffalo? Or possibly Billings?"

Bob nodded. "One of them."

"Who knows, we might even cross into Canada at some point." She shrugged and her raincoat made a little squeaking noise. "Bob loves Canadian baked goods."

"Can't get enough," he agreed.

"So maybe, Reed, we should say our goodbyes to you now…" She gave Reed a long look. "And then you can run back to your cabin and get Chris a… a fresh shirt." She ran a hand down my arm. "Since his sweatshirt is very damp, and as a trained Division agent , you'll want to make sure he stays warm and dry. Meanwhile, the rest of us will say our goodbyes. And then when you come back in… oh, let's say twenty minutes? Bob and I—just Bob and I, obviously—will have skedaddled, and you can… finish up your assignment. So to speak."

When Dolores finished speaking, she, Bob, Uncle Danny, and Reed shared a series of long, intense looks I didn't understand at all.

"Hey, um. Sorry to interrupt." I raised a hand. "But I… I think I'm maybe missing something here?" I looked from Reed to Dolores and back again. "Also, what kind of special baked goods do Canadians have? I'm curious."

Danny pressed his lips together like he was fighting a smile.

Bob ducked his chin and kept his eyes on his toes.

Reed huffed out a laugh, shook his head, grabbed my hand, and pulled me toward him for a kiss. "I love you, Chris. I really do," he said, which was always nice to hear but not exactly an answer to my question. Then he added in a voice so low I almost missed it, "And to think I told Oak I wouldn't upend my life for cute . "

Dolores was the one who finally answered me. "I'm suggesting that Reed could pretend he hadn't seen Dante today, honey, and that your uncle could leave with me and Bob before Reed makes his phone call."

"You… what?" I whispered.

"Oh, and flapper pie is my personal favorite Canadian baked good." She patted my arm. "I'll send you the recipe."

"But…" I looked at Reed, jaw slack. "But your job, Reed. You can't…" I caught the look in his eye that said maybe, possibly, for me, he could , and a surge of hope filled my chest. I sucked in a breath. "Can you?"

"I think you should step outside the cabin with me now that the rain's stopped," Reed said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "There's supposed to be a meteor shower later tonight, and I have it on the very best and most fact-based authority that if you make a wish on a falling star, it's guaranteed to come true."

"My mother used to say that," Danny said with a frown.

"I know." Reed grinned.

Danny's eyes were suspiciously shiny. He said gruffly, "Take care of him."

I wrapped my arm around Reed's waist and smiled. "I think we'll take care of each other."

As the frogs around Copper Lake croaked their twilight song, Reed and I stood in the clearing by the dilapidated cabin in the woods with our arms around each other and tried very hard not to notice the sounds of two—possibly three, given Dolores's knack for minding Bob's business—retired criminals hustling their way to their oversized green getaway vehicle, while the other criminal still inside the cabin protested loudly the way he'd been securely tied to a bed frame.

It was absolutely not a romantic scenario—seriously, not kidding, the least romantic situation a person had ever been in, in the whole history of romance—but my love for the man in my arms bubbled up inside me anyway, sweet and pure and impossible to ignore. And since I didn't have to hide it—didn't have to hide anything anymore—I didn't try.

"I love you," I said. "I love you so much, Reed Sunday."

He grinned. "Thank fuck. I wondered if you'd remember you hadn't said it yet."

"In my defense," I argued, because I'd decided I liked arguing, especially with Reed and especially when it was important, "I've had a really eventful day. I was kidnapped... for the second time, which was way less enjoyable than the first?—"

"Don't joke about it," Reed growled, nipping at my lip. "It's too soon. It will always be too soon."

"—and subduing my cousin?—"

"If there's ever a next time," he noted as Nicky's demands for freedom grew louder. "Subdue him harder."

"—and confronting my uncle about decades' worth of lies?—"

"Like a fucking badass," he whispered. "I'm so proud of you, baby."

"—and that's a lot," I concluded. "Since I'm actually an extremely boring person."

Reed laughed so hard he startled the owls from their perches in the trees and seemed to frighten Nicky into silence.

"Chris Sunday," he said when he could finally speak again, "there is not a single part of being with you that doesn't thrill me. So if you want to live in New Jersey, we will. Or if you'd rather make a home in the Hollow, let's do that. Or if you want to stay here in this tiny town you have, against my will, made me actually sort of like?—"

"Yes, please," I whispered.

"Then we'll be Coppertians," he said firmly. "Whatever you want, wherever you want, I will be very happy to live this extremely boring life with you for as long as you'll have me."

"It's going to be a very long time," I warned. "Quite possibly forever."

But Reed didn't seem put off by that at all. He fixed my glasses for me so they sat just right on my face, and then he kissed me long and slow and deep, until our every gasp became a promise, our every sigh an affirmation that we were seen and known and loved. That we were home .

And later that night, when we crawled into bed and I nestled in Reed's embrace, I thought I might actually feel a teensy bit bad for poor John Ruffian. The man was always going around pretending to be things—doctors and oil magnates and undercover vigilantes—which might be exciting, for a little while.

But I couldn't think of any pretend life more exciting than my own—being Christoforo Winowski (sometimes Sunday), a man who got to build his future in beautiful, tiny Copper County with the love of his life.