I’d never driven so goddamn fast in my life. I called Rowan three times on the way. No answer. By the time I pulled up at her parents’ house, my heart was ready to explode out of my chest.
Despite my panic, the house exterior looked like it had that morning when I dropped her off except for the absence of the security guard Alexander had stationed out front. Normally, the men stayed with him, but in light of recent events, he’d instructed one to stay and watch the house.
When I walked up the steps to the front door, I discovered the reason for the guard’s absence. He lay motionless down below in the fenced concrete cutout for basement access.
Shit. I’d been right to be worried.
Gun in hand, I swung open the door, thanking God it was unlocked. I kept my back pressed against the stone exterior, waiting to determine whether it was safe to enter. I was met with a bottomless pit of silence.
Fear unlike any I’d ever known coated my insides with dread as thick as tar.
My pulse thundered in my ears.
I took a deep breath and swung around through the doorway into the house and was met with a scene straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Broken bits of porcelain and blood splatter dotted the floor, and on top of it, Stetson sat against the wall at the far side of the entry bleeding from his left shoulder. The wound wasn’t fatal, but he hadn’t moved because Rowan sat a dozen feet away with a gun trained on him.
Her eyes were impossibly wide, face ghostly white, but her hand never wavered. She hadn’t killed him, but she would in a heartbeat. It was written on every inch of her.
I was so relieved she hadn’t. I didn’t want that memory staining her conscience.
“Rowan, baby. I’m here,” I said softly, not wanting to startle her. She should have heard the door, but she seemed to be in a sort of trance. Shock, most likely. While her one hand held a gun, the other was pressed firmly to her mother’s middle, already stained with an alarming amount of blood.
Keeping my gun trained on Stetson as well, I took out my phone and dialed 911. “A woman’s been shot, home invasion. She needs an ambulance immediately. 113 East 90th.” I didn’t stay on the line. They’d send help, and I didn’t have time for asinine questions.
Rowan’s eyes finally flicked to mine, triggering a shuttered gasp for air. She lowered the gun, her hand suddenly wrought with tremors. She’d held it together, but only just.
“Keir, my mom.”
“I know, little lamb. Help is coming,” I assured her, squatting next to her and placing a kiss on the top of her head.
She never let her eyes stray from Stetson.
“I didn’t leave. I wouldn’t leave her.” The childlike innocence in her voice wrenched my heart wide open.
“You did so good.”
Stetson groaned. “Jesus, you two are fucking disgusting. The pussy’s not that good, man.”
I slowly stood and turned my attention back to the man who had been at the center of all our trouble. “You’ve got some balls for a man with a gun pointed at him.”
“Cops are on their way. What are you gonna do?” he quipped with cocky defiance, expecting Daddy to get him out of any legal mess. Only, the sort of trouble he’d brewed by pissing me off didn’t involve lawyers.
Vile satisfaction carved a wicked grin across my face. “Your point?” I raised the gun and shot him right in the crotch. It was the least of what any man like him deserved.
A glimmer of satisfaction brightened my mood at the sound of his pained wailing. The evolutionary failure curled in on himself, attempting to protect what was left of his junk. I closed the distance between us and squatted near his grimacing face.
“It brings me great joy to inform you that you have sorely misjudged the situation,” I explained quietly, my voice a menacing purr. “This is only the beginning of your suffering.”
As if summoned by fate, two figures joined us in the room, casting an ominous shadow over my new toy.
“Fuck, man. Thought I’d never catch up with you.” Oran and one of the younger guys from the warehouse stood in the doorway, assessing the situation. “Sounded like you could use some backup, though it looks like you have it handled.”
“Yes and no. Cops are on their way, and this one’s mine.” I motioned to a weeping Stetson and handed Oran my gun. “Get him out of here for me; I’ll deal with him later.”
They didn’t even flinch. Oran kicked Stetson in the head to knock him out, then hoisted his unconscious body over a shoulder in a fireman’s hold. The two men weren’t in the house for five minutes total.
I was finally able to join Rowan on the floor. Thank God.
Her mother was still breathing but unconscious. She’d need immediate surgery, and even then, I wasn’t sure she’d make it. I pulled Rowan close, making sure she could keep pressure on her mother’s wound. Her body shook uncontrollably in my arms as sirens rounded the corner and stopped out front. When the EMTs swarmed inside, I pulled Rowan away from her mother’s side, sweeping her into my arms.
“Keir, I can’t leave her.” Her voice was shrill with growing panic.
I forced her eyes to mine. “You aren’t leaving her; you’re letting these folks do their jobs,” I said in a soothing but firm voice.
“I have to stay with her. She’ll be alone if I don’t.” Fat, heavy tears pooled on her lashes before tumbling down her cheeks.
“I’m about to call your dad. He’ll meet her at the hospital so she won’t be alone.”
“I can ride with her, though. Until he gets to her.”
I shook my head. “No, baby. You’ll be in the way. The best thing you can do for her right now is to let the medics help her.”
Her eyes clamped shut with frustration, but she nodded in short, jerky movements.
I asked the crew what hospital they’d go to and told them about the man who’d been injured out front. I had forgotten about him and had no clue if he was alive or dead, nor did I truly care.
Once that was addressed, I opened my phone and dialed Alexander.
“Keir?” he answered, worry plain in his voice.
“There’s been a development. I need you to stay calm.”
“What’s happened?”
“Stetson came to your house. One of the guards is down, and your wife’s been shot. An ambulance is here, and Rowan is fine, but you’ll want to meet the paramedics at New York Presbyterian.”
It took him several long seconds before he spoke. “Shot?” he asked in a wavering voice.
“I think she’s going to be okay,” I encouraged, maybe out of turn, but he needed to keep it together. “They’re getting ready to take her over now.”
“Right, okay. And Rowan?”
“She’s fine. I’ll keep her with me.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
The line went dead just as several police officers filtered inside and immediately honed in on us. “You two think you can step outside and tell us what happened?”
I stepped forward. “Just briefly, then I’m getting her out of here. If you need a more detailed statement, we can go to the station another day.”
“And who exactly are you?” The cop eyed me.
“I’m her husband,” I said in a low, menacing tone. “That’s all you need to know.”
The man’s lips thinned, but he nodded. “All right. Let’s step outside.”
I pre-emptively explained how Stetson was holding a woman captive and had broken into the governor’s house to stop Rowan from telling anyone. That way, all she had to do was relay today’s portion of events, though I cut in before the end and explained how Stetson had escaped just before I’d arrived. I’d considered telling them the attacker was unknown but decided linking Stetson to the shooting would be a nice explanation for his disappearance.
By the time we’d covered the basics, tremors had taken control of Rowan’s body. Shock had set in hard-core. I needed to get her warm and fed.
“That’s all you’re getting today, but it should be enough to do a search of the Wellington house, correct?”
The two officers exchanged a look. “Yeah, you said the woman is on the third floor?”
Rowan nodded. “Yes.”
“What precinct did you guys say you’re from?” I asked.
“The nineteenth. Why?”
“Just wanted to be sure.” I tipped my head and stood, helping Rowan to her feet as well. “You have my number if you need to reach us.” I didn’t wait for them to reply. My patience had run out. If I didn’t get Rowan away from there soon, I was going to lose my shit.
Just getting her in my car eased the tension knotting my shoulders. Thank God traffic cooperated. It took fifteen minutes to get back to my place. I used the time to call Conner and instructed him to ensure our guys on the force followed up on the girl at Wellington’s.
Rowan sat motionless in the passenger seat. She didn’t make a sound. She hardly even blinked.
It gutted me to see her like that when I knew how strong she was. My tough girl could have handled anything, but seeing her mother shot like that was more than even she could take.
Fucking Stetson was in for a world of pain.
Once home, I led Rowan straight to the bathroom and stripped us down. We were about to step into the shower when she suddenly stopped and turned to me.
“My mom! I need to check on my mom.” Whatever haze she’d been in was starting to thaw, allowing her thoughts to process.
I cupped her face in my hands and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Your father is with her, and he’ll call as soon as anything changes. We can’t do anything at the moment, so let’s get you cleaned up and warm.” I stared deep into her green and gold eyes, mine fixed with assurance. “She’s safe. She’s going to be just fine.”
And that was when it hit. All the emotion careened into her at once, wrenching a sob from her shuttering lungs. Heaving, cathartic sobs wracked her body.
I pulled her against me, wrapping her in my arms and moving us into the warm spray of the shower. We stood like that for a half hour. She clung to me and wept while I whispered soft words of reassurance. I wished I could do more.
That was when I realized there was nothing I wouldn’t do for Rowan.
She’d become my wife out of impulse and necessity, but she’d won my heart with the purity of hers. For me, she existed in a place without rules or reason because without her, nothing else mattered.
I’d always thought binding myself to someone like that would equate to weakness, but that was the opposite of what I felt when I thought of her. With Rowan in my life giving me purpose, I could conquer the world. All she’d have to do was ask.
