And that’s when Alex knew why he put them on display. He hadn’t meant to kill them. His twisted sadistic desires killed them, and he presented them in a way they were beautiful again. Her stomach roiled, and she swallowed back the bile in her throat as a shadow appeared just off to Lewis’s right shoulder.
Everything that was wrong was suddenly right. Warmth began to replace the cold and she slowly smiled. “You’re right, I am strong, but there’s a problem with that which I’m sure you didn’t count on.”
Lewis paused, lifting his eyebrows. “Do enlighten me.”
She put all of her hatred into her expression and grinned, showing teeth back. “I’m also smarter than you.”
His brows slowly drew together, his breathing faltered.
“You were an arrogant fool once,” she told him. “I knew you’d bite again. But I can’t take all the credit for this one. I only found your location and offered myself up as bait.” Which had earned her a full twenty minutes of being told no by both Rowan and Ryder, until they finally got over themselves and saw that she was onto something. Lewis was pure ego, as he’d already shown when he brought her in for questioning before, and when he came to visit Mia in the hospital. She knew that same ego would show itself again if they set him up. To the right of Lewis was another shadow, slowly closing in. Alex kept her eyes trained on Lewis.
The shadow behind Lewis suddenly struck with lethal precision. Rowan took Lewis down to his knees, his knife at his throat. “I provided the tracker that’s currently sitting in her belly that you could never trace.”
Ryder stepped out of the shadows. His gun aimed at Lewis. “I provided the logistics.”
Alex watched the color drain out of Lewis’s face. The dark arousal that had been swirling in his eyes was gone, replaced by the knowledge that whatever plan he thought he’d do tonight, whether that be to make Alex his final kill before taking himself out, or whatever sick thing his mind came up with was over as Ryder moved in and cuffed Lewis.
“Kill me,” Lewis said as Rowan slowly pulled the knife back. “You know that’s what you want. For Mia.”
Rowan’s expression flashed with uncontrolled rage. The knife bobbed on Lewis’s Adam’s apple. “I’ve considered it,” Rowan eventually said, “but in the end, I think it’s too easy. I want you to watch your ego crash around you.” He left a little nick on his neck where a line of blood trickled down.
Alex got the feeling that wasn’t by accident.
When Lewis was finally restrained, Rowan hastily moved to Alex, cutting her down. She gasped in relief as her wrists and ankles were free of the pain, but her relief was cut short by a near deafening blast of gunfire tha
t had Rowan dropping to the ground over Alex. She glanced up, watching the blood pour down Lewis’s face from the gunshot to the middle of his forehead. Then she looked to her right and found Luke, slowly lowering his gun.
Luke’s firm stare flicked from Lewis dead on the ground to Rowan. “He would’ve dragged this out in court for years. The victims—your sister—would have had to relive this hell for the rest of their lives. This was right. Now it’s done. They can start to rebuild their lives again.” He looked at Ryder. “Do whatever you have to do.” Then he dropped the gun onto the floor and walked out the way he’d obviously come in.
“I think Mia has found herself a friend,” Alex said after a long moment, breaking the heavy silence, now understanding why Luke had asked to come along.
“She’s got that effect on people.” Rowan looked at Alex then. He frowned at the cut on her arm, then used his knife to cut some of his T-shirt free and then wrapped her arm tight. “That is the first, and last time, you are ever to be used as bait.”
“You won’t get any objections from me.”
“I’m glad we’re all in agreement about that,” said Ryder, just as someone called his name. He vanished out the same way Luke had left and returned a moment later. “CIA and FBI are on the way. They heard the explosion.” To Rowan, he asked, “How do you want to handle this?”
The loaded question lingered in the air. Rowan glanced between Alex and Lewis and the scene. He helped Alex to her feet. “Go and get stitched up.” He nudged her along until Ryder had her in his arms.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, digging in a little as Ryder attempted to guide her away.
He dropped to his knees and wiped the gun with his shirt before he held it, clearing away Luke’s prints, and putting his on it instead.
“You don’t need to do that,” Ryder said. “We can use the same self-defense story and get Luke off of any charges.”
“He’ll have to face an inquiry from the CIA and the FBI,” Rowan countered. “I won’t.”
Ryder studied Rowan for another moment before tugging at Alex to leave. Her feet dragged against the dirt. Something deep in her chest told her not to leave. That if she did, she wouldn’t see him again. “Wait.”
Rowan stared at her. Intently. Passionately. Then he was there, the heat of him so close, she wanted to shut her eyes and lose herself in its comfort. But then it was gone just as fast as Rowan dropped a kiss on her forehead. A kiss that felt as intense as the kiss she’d given him in Paris. Right before they walked away from each other.
Obviously feeling that same familiarity, Rowan broke away with hard questions in his gaze. “Will you say it, Alex? Will you finally tell me to stay?”
A thousand things sat on the tip of her tongue. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Sweat coated her flesh. “Rowan…I—”
Sirens suddenly filled the silence.
Hurt crossed his expression before he turned away. “Go. Now.”