Beware of Me (Dark Obsession 4)

Ethan hadn’t given a statement, but he had gone through several closed-door meetings with FBI Brass. He hadn’t wound up in jail after those meetings, but she was still afraid.

Worried their enemies would keep coming.

“I don’t run,” he said. “Not usually. But for you, baby, I’d do anything.”

He eased down onto the couch beside her. “The FBI has offered to set us up with new identities. New names, a new place. And one hell of a lot less looking over our shoulders for our enemies to come calling.”

Her breath caught. “You’d…do that?”

“I told you before…I’m done. Done with risking you. Done with anything that will put you in harm’s way. You want a new life? I can give it to you. Just say the word, and it will happen.”

Her heart raced too fast. “I do want a new life.”

He nodded. “Then we’ll leave tonight. You won’t need to ever be afraid again and—”

“I want a life with you. I don’t really care where we are. I just want you with me.”

His gaze searched hers.

“You aren’t the type of man to run,” Carly said.

“I am if it means keeping you safe.”

She had to know this. “How many others will come after us?”

“That drug lord Hastings was the last ally that Quincy had. Despite the bullshit Nelson was spouting, there are no other threats from that end. Hastings and Curtis were it, and they’ve been eliminated. Curtis is in the ground, and as for Hastings, the Feds discovered enough evidence in his car and on his laptop—fool had it with him in the trunk—to lock him away for the next fifty years.” He shrugged. “Maybe…I helped a bit with that discovery. I might have known where Hastings had hidden some secrets.”

She’d just bet that he had.

His fingers slid over her shoulder. She had a scar there, one still bright red. It would fade over time, but the memory would always be there. Death, coming too close.

“The life I’ve built isn’t an easy one. It’s built on danger and death and too many lies.” He nodded. “Maybe it’s time to move on. Maybe it’s time to find more. I’m sick of the betrayal. I want something…better. I want you.”

“You have me.”

He was quiet a moment, then Ethan said, “You told me before that you didn’t want to give up your life in NY.” He drew in a ragged breath. His fingers slid down her arm and his hand caught hers. Held tight. “I can make that happen. I can make it so that you can stay here. I just need some time. I can apply the right pressure, I can make the right deals, and every enemy will go away.”

She actually believed he could do that. She knew exactly how powerful he truly was. But… “I think I’d like for us to both start fresh. A clean slate.” They’d both paid enough for the past. “Can we really do that? Will the FBI let us?”

His smile was grim. “Oh, yeah, baby. They will. I have something that Agent Monroe wants very badly. I’ll give it to him, and in return, he’ll give us what we need.”

Her breath came faster. “Are you really going to be able to walk away from it all? I know just how much pull you have in D.C.” And leaving that kind of empire…

“Baby, I’ll take plenty of money with me. I’ll make sure you always have everything you ever want.”

He was all that she wanted. “Ethan—

“And don’t worry. You’ll still get to contact your step-sister. I guarantee it. You won’t lose Julianna. I can make that work.”

“But everything is about me.” Her hair slid over the couch as she shook her head. “What about you? When do you get what you want?”

He leaned toward her and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “Carly, I already have what I want. Everything I want,” he whispered. “And as long as you’re with me, that’s all I need.”

There was so much emotion in his eyes. So much love. Shining right there for her. The rest of the world might look at Ethan and see the big, bad wolf, but she saw the man she loved. The man who hadn’t given up on her.

Just as she hadn’t given up on him.

And now, it truly was their time. “When do we leave?”

He smiled. A drop dead gorgeous grin.

Ethan Barclay. Fucking dangerous and fucking sexy Ethan Barclay.

The man she’d love for the rest of her life.

***

“I’m supposed to let you walk away with a shit-load of cash and no charges pending against you?” Victor marched around his office, but the marching was a bit hesitant. Probably due to the still recovering injuries that the agent had.

Bullet wounds could be such a bitch.

“Why the hell…” Victor muttered. “Would I agree to a deal like that? Because I’m an idiot? Because I want to get demoted at the Bureau? I mean, yeah, okay, so I was a bit wrong about you and Carly and you weren’t the ones killing those guys in New York—”

“Tied Keith and Curtis to those disappearances, didn’t you?” But Ethan already knew the truth about those crimes. Carly had told him all, and he’d held her in her hospital bed as she’d cried for those men. Pawns in a deadly game.

Ethan was sick of pawns getting hurt. He was actually sick of so many fucking things. Violence. Death.

He was ready for a better life.

“Yes,” Victor gritted out. “We found concrete proof. In the shrink’s own office. The guy wrote down every detail about the crimes. About how he offered up the victims to Curtis. How Curtis stalked them and killed them.” His jaw clenched. “Even how he ditched the bodies.”

“Sounds like interesting reading.”

“The shrink is a psycho.”

“That the clinical term?”

Victor squinted at him. “You trying to be funny? Really? Now? This is the moment you pick?”

Ethan shrugged.

“Dr. Nelson got in with the mob—hell, with killers—back when he used to work at Falling Waters State Hospital, a place in upstate New York for criminals deemed…unstable. That’s when he made his connections and he started bartering secrets. Seems that Nelson had a very unhealthy fascination with the minds of murderers. Over time, he starting selling the secrets he learned.” Victor ran his hand over his face. “The jerkoff loved hearing about the brutal crimes, and he sure liked the money he got paid from those bastards.”

Ethan paced toward the window. “I’m guessing he’ll have plenty of time to talk with killers now.” He’ll be locked away with them.

“Will he?” Victor demanded.

Ethan looked back at him, making sure his expression appeared all calm and non-threatening.

“Will Dr. Nelson have lots of time to chat? Or will the guy wind up dead within the next few weeks, maybe months? Will someone…like you…give an order tha

t he’s to be punished for his crimes?”

Again, Ethan shrugged. “I guess that could happen.”

“I know you aren’t going to confess your plans to me.”

Hell, no, he wasn’t. Did he look like an idiot?

“But you could still pull strings, right?” Victor pushed. “Or maybe you’ve already pulled them. Set the guy’s death in motion because he hurt her.”

Ethan held his gaze. “Do you really think anyone would mourn for Keith Nelson? I’m sure the families of Tage Price, Josh Lavelle, and Ace Patton wouldn’t.”

“Don’t feed me that line. For you, it’s not about them. It’s about her. What he tried to do to her.”

Ethan paced toward the agent. “You haven’t ever been in love, have you?”

“Fuck, no.”

His lips almost twitched. “Love can change a man. Make him less of a monster.”

“So you’re saying you aren’t going to kill Nelson?”

No, he wasn’t saying that. But he was also thinking that rotting in prison might just be the punishment that drove the doc to the edge. Then over it. Some people have to suffer first, that way they can truly regret their sins. “Justice will come around to him, sooner or later. Of that, I have no doubt.” And he’d say nothing else. After all, he didn’t want to incriminate himself, not when he was still working this deal.

Victor crossed his arms over his chest, but then flinched at the move. Obviously, his wounds still pained him.

Ethan whistled. “I hope you can get back to fighting form soon. Zoe is going to need you.”

The faint lines near Victor’s eyes deepened. “What do you know?”

“I know Zoe’s friend Michelle recently vanished in Vegas…and Zoe rushed back to Sin City in order to save her.”

“What?”

“You really need to keep better track of your…assets,” Ethan said carefully. After all, if Zoe was tied up with the FBI, then she counted as one of their precious assets, didn’t she? “Don’t worry. I had a team intercept her. She’s currently waiting in a Vegas hotel for you, with twenty-four hour guard service. Those guards will stay there, with her, until they get a call from me saying that you are the man who will be taking over her protection.”