With tears in her eyes, she turned and fled the office. Connor. She would get to Connor and he would handle this. He would take care of things and she would never have to deal with this again. She would bury herself in work.
“Lara, wait for me. I’ll drive us to the police station. We need to get there before she has a chance to clean this shit up. Now that I think about it, I saw her with a phone I hadn’t recognized a couple of days ago. Do you think it’s one of those burner phones? Is that how she’s sending you all those threatening texts? That should get her some jail time, right?” Tom was hard on her heels.
Halfway through the kitchen, Lara stopped as the door opened. They were out of time.
Kiki stood in the doorway, a gun in her hand. “I left it unlocked, didn’t I?”
Tom stepped beside her. “What? The front door? No. I used my key. I came to pick up the brief. It’s due tomorrow. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. What’s with the gun?”
She had to give it to Tom. He was cool under pressure. She hadn’t expected that. She tried to follow his lead. “I came down to get Lincoln’s treats. Connor and I are leaving town until we can figure out who wants me dead.”
“I think you know.” Kiki frowned and nodded toward the back of the apartment. “Someone didn’t shut the office door completely.”
Kiki didn’t make the same mistake. She shut the front door and turned the dead bolt into place. Tom didn’t even have the knife anymore. He’d left it just outside the office—too far away.
Tom took a shaky breath. “Sweetheart, why don’t we talk about this? I had no idea you felt this way about me. I thought we were just casual. If I’d known, I never would have broken up with you.”
“Broken up? That would mean we were together in the first place,” Kiki said, her voice lower and nastier than Lara had ever heard it. “You hid me. You told me she couldn’t know. You were ready to marry her, but I was your dirty little secret.”
Tom stepped forward slightly, putting himself between her and Kiki. “That wasn’t how it was. And that’s not how it is. You were the one who always said we were casual. Lara is just convenient. I want to go places. I don’t want to be one more lawyer in D.C. She’s actually quite connected, but that’s as far as it goes. It’s really you I want.”
She knew he was telling Kiki what she wanted to hear, but it still hurt. It was what she’d suspected deep down. Tom was ambitious and he thought she would make an advantageous wife.
“Then you won’t mind if I shoot her, will you?” Kiki’s eyes were bright, her face a mottled red as she pointed the gun in Lara’s direction.
“You don’t want to do that,” Tom said evenly.
“Tom, I love you. I’ve always been the one who loved you. I’m the one who supported you while she just dragged you down. How can you pick her over me?”
“I’m not. I just don’t want you to go to jail,” Tom tried.
“Here’s a choice for you, lover. I’m going to shoot in a minute and if you’re in the way, I’ll know you picked her again.”
“Please, don’t do this,” Tom began.
“Don’t hurt your precious Lara? I hate her. I can’t tell you how hard it’s been to have to sit around and listen to her whine about shit that doesn’t matter. I did it to stay close to you. You have to see that she’s not the right woman for you. She’s a pathetic child who wouldn’t know real love if it bit her in the ass because all her life she’s been an entitled princess.”
Princess. That was what Connor called her. She kept her mouth shut because none of this seemed to really be about her. If she could stall for a little more time, her five minutes would be up and Connor would come looking for her. She had to believe that. He always meant what he said. He’d lied, but he’d also kept her safe time and again. Even when he could have taken the information he’d been looking for and left her behind, he’d made sure she was safe. He would come.
“Just put the gun down, Kiki,” Tom begged.
“Her or me, Tom.” Kiki cocked the gun, the sound distinct and chilling. “Make your choice. If you don’t move away from her, I’ll shoot and I’ll kill you. Are you going to be her savior and martyr?”
She was just about to beg for Tom’s life when he moved—to his left. He took several steps away from her, leaving her with nothing between her and the crazy woman with the gun.
He’d told her he loved her, then left her to die.
“Sorry, Lara,” he mumbled, his gaze not meeting hers.
She looked up and into the face of a woman she’d never really known. Kiki had worn a mask all the time. Lara raised her hands, though she knew they wouldn’t stop a bullet. “What did I do to you?” She had to keep her talking, give Connor time to come for her. “I walked away from Tom. You convinced me to. Now I have a new lover. I would never have gone back to Tom. He’s all yours.”
“What did you do to me? What do all you rich bitches do? You take what you want and leave the rest of us crumbs. I’ve known people like you all my life. And I’ve hated every single one of you. You know I didn’t intend to kill you.”
“No, you just wanted to scare me enough that I would leave D.C.,” Lara surmised.
“I wanted to scare you enough so Tom would see that under your crusading bravado, you’re just a cowardly shit. I wanted him to understand that he was better off without you.”
“Cowardly? I’m not the one who said I loved someone before leaving them to face danger alone,” Lara pointed out.
“I really am sorry,” Tom said, his gaze cast to the floor.
“Don’t be sorry, baby. With her out of the way, we can be together like we always should have been,” Kiki said. “You don’t need her and you don’t need her father. That’s the only reason he wants you back. He wants to leave his job and move up. He thinks your dad can help him.”
“You can’t just shoot her here,” Tom said quickly. “Everyone will hear. You should take her somewhere else, somewhere more private.”
Tom didn’t sound as if he cared much what happened next.
Just as Kiki was about to speak, a mighty crash splintered the door.
Lara dove to her right, to the relative safety of the table. She crouched down and all she could see were feet and legs. Tom’s quickly dashed out of sight, but Kiki’s flats remained rooted in place. Lara prayed she didn’t start shooting.
All around her the air burst with shouts and screams and the sound of that door being torn off its hinges. Two pairs of dark loafers entered the room.
“Put down the gun,” a staccato voice commanded.
“Put it down or we’ll shoot,” another even voice ordered.
“Lara! Lara!” This voice wasn’t even or calm. It was panicked and she was almost certain that was a completely new experience for the man shouting. And she knew those boots.
Connor had come for her.
“I’m here,” she yelled back.
She was about to risk sticking her head up when a gunshot blasted through the air. She watched in horror as Kiki’s legs wobbled, and then the woman she’d thought had been her friend for years hit the ground, her dead eyes staring right at Lara, blood gushing from a wound at her temple. She clutched the gun in her hand, still smoking.
Lara stared in horror before strong arms lifted her into the air and she found herself in Connor’s embrace.
“Did she hit you?” His voice was a gravelly mess, as though all his shouting had roughened his throat. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head and put an arm around his neck. Safe. No matter what he’d done, she was safe with him. She buried her face against his chest so she couldn’t see the body again. “She killed herself?”
His arms tightened around her. “She’s lucky I didn’t get to her.”
“Lara,” Tom called out to her.
She didn’t look up, didn’t want anything or anyone but Connor. She’d thought Tom was being cool under pressure, but now she had to wonder if he hadn’t just been playing them bo
th. He would have let Kiki kill her. She would never have let that happen to him.
“Lara, come on. You can’t hold that against me,” Tom whined.
“Hold what against you?” Connor’s voice sounded as warm as an arctic breeze.
She brought her head up. “It doesn’t matter. Get me out of here.”
“What did he do?” Connor turned to face Tom. She noticed the Secret Service agents who had previously been standing at her door were in the apartment. One of them kicked away the gun in Kiki’s hand, though Lara could have told him it was useless.
“Connor, I’m going to ask you to stay calm. I can work a lot of miracles, but I would hate to have to pardon you for murder.” Zack Hayes stood outside the door, another Secret Service agent at his side. “Lara, are you all right?”
“Yes, sir.” She nodded his way, suddenly grateful that someone could keep Connor in check.
“We’ve got a team on the way, Connor,” Zack said. “We’ll make sure this doesn’t hit the press.” He turned to Tom. “Young man, do you know who I am?”
“Yes, Mr. President,” he stammered.
“Then you know what I’ll do to you if you don’t follow instructions. If you make my friends’ lives difficult, I’ll do the same to you. Who do you think is better at that?”
“You,” Tom replied. “I’m sure you are so much better at it than I am. I don’t have any desire to ever tell this story. I swear. Any cover-up you want to use, I’m here for you.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Connor, I don’t think Lara needs to be here. Everly is packing for her. Bring her to the limo with me and we’ll get you both home. She needs rest and care. It can be a terrible thing to find out the people we care about aren’t what they seem.” Zack headed for the door and two of the agents flanked him.
“I can handle this. So far the cops haven’t been alerted. We’ll call it a suicide. Naturally since the president was visiting his friend, the Secret Service investigated.” The agent looked at Tom. “You’re her friend?”
Was anyone really friends when the chips were down?
“I’m whatever you need me to be, sir,” Tom replied.
“You broke down the door when you heard the gunshot. You’re terribly upset, of course.”
“So upset,” Tom agreed.
The agent nodded to Connor. “Go with the president. There’s no need for her to stay.”
She could tell from the set of Connor’s jaw that he really wanted to say a word or two. She hugged him close. “Please, can we go?”
He immediately softened. “Of course.” He looked back at Tom. “Know that while the president might be very good at threatening people, I’m equally skilled at torturing them. If I find out you’ve caused Lara a moment’s distress, you’re going to see just how good I am.”
“Not at all. Lara and I were in that together. Kiki was the crazy one.”
Connor started walking and she looked over his shoulder, wondering if she’d ever really known her friends at all.
FIFTEEN
Connor looked at Lara across the table. In the morning light he could see how pale she was. Despite the dark circles under her eyes, she was still the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. It had been so damn hard to leave her alone the night before. After they’d been dropped off at his house, he’d tried to talk to her, tried to get her to eat, to have a glass of wine. Anything. She’d wanted a shower and to go to sleep, but he suspected she’d been up most of the night working, researching that series of names she’d been given in connection to Natalia. He’d sat up most of the night watching the light under her door, wishing she hadn’t closed it between them.
The morning had brought no sudden reversal. A cup of coffee sat in front of her, but she hadn’t taken a sip. She’d simply nodded when he’d taken Lincoln for a walk. Now she was so quiet he was beginning to get worried. Gone was the chatty, positive Lara he knew, and in her place was a ghost. She responded when someone spoke and did what was asked of her, but there was no animation behind her calm facade.
“Do you want me to call your father?”
She looked up from her laptop. “Why would you do that?”
She sounded slightly accusing, and Connor held in a sigh. “Because you went through something terrible yesterday. You need to talk to someone and you won’t talk to me.”
“Do you talk after a mission?” A brow arched over her right eye. “Do you come in from killing a few people and feel the need for emotional closure?”
She seemed determined to lash out at him, but he understood the impulse. He was the only one here. He was also the person who’d hurt her in the first place. Despite everything that had happened, he knew at the core she was still angry with him. “I don’t talk about it because no one would care. I’m a weapon. No one particularly wants to know how a weapon feels after being used. Besides, this isn’t an Agency debrief. This is a man who’s worried about his woman.”
That arrogant brow came down and she swallowed. “You’re not a weapon to be used.”
“I am. I have been for a long time. I’m necessary and when I leave, someone else will take my place because this country needs weapons. I just hope there’s some reward for doing my duty.”
“What kind of reward?”
“I would love some peace, Lara. I’ve been at war most of my life so I would like some peace. And normalcy. Please talk to me. Tell me what happened. You haven’t cried.” That was the worst part. She was bottling it all up, shoving it deep where it would fester. “You don’t know what not dealing with this will do to you.”
“Maybe it didn’t affect me as much as you think.”
“I think you watched a person you thought was a friend turn on you in the most vicious way possible.” He’d seen it before, even experienced it in a way, though he’d never thought of those people as friends. He knew who his friends were. But Lara hadn’t lived in the same world. Lara looked at everyone she met as a potential friend.
“She called me princess, too. I guess you both agree on that.”
His heart sank. “My feelings have nothing to do with hers.”
“You both think I’m entitled and ridiculous.”
He shook his head. She didn’t understand at all. “I don’t mean it like that when I call you princess. When I first saw you, I thought you looked like a cute little pixie. Like a fairy princess. I thought you were the kind who would jump from flower to flower and wave your little wand and make everything all right. That’s why I call you princess.”
Her eyes watered. “Really?”
Finally he was getting to her. “Really. The whole time I was lying to you, I thought about the fact that I was the troll in that story.”
She snorted a little. “Yes, because trolls are known for being ridiculously handsome.”
No one ever made him feel the way she did. He couldn’t lose her. “I want to talk about everything, Lara. I want to apologize and ask for your forgiveness.”
“That’s not fair.”
It wasn’t fair. He was getting her while she was vulnerable. “I am a ruthless bastard, but if you let me, I’ll be your ruthless bastard.”
“Connor . . .” Her eyes found the screen again. “I can’t yet. Everything just hurts right now.”
“Then we don’t have to talk about us tonight. We’ll talk about you.”
She shook her head. “I’m not ready. How about we discuss the case? I think I found the connection.”
Right now, he didn’t give a damn about the connection. “And we’ll get to that. But I care about the fact that you went through something horrible and you’re shutting down.”
Her eyes zipped up and this time they flashed with anger. “This case is the entire reason you met me in the first place. I would think you would be thrilled that I’ve almost cracked it. You’re going to get everything you want.”
He had to make her understand. The mission goal had changed. At some point, finding Natalia had become secondary to securing a place in Lar
a’s life. “The only thing I want is you.”
She shook her head. “What would a man with as much power as you need with little old me? Connor, I’m cooperating. As soon as I