Duke tightened the rope. “Yeah, I killed them both. They didn’t deserve to suck up any more oxygen on this planet.”
“Think about it, Riley,” the Shark said. “Why did he really help you?”
She looked into Duke’s eyes, unable to pull in a breath to speak.
“Shut up, old man,” Duke said.
The Shark towered over her. “You deserve to know why he really put you on that bus. He gambled that I’d want a rematch. He gambled that I’d come looking for you and he’d get another chance to win big again. You were nothing more than a walking poker chip.”
Tears welled in her eyes as she tried to wedge her fingers under the rope. But her movements were slowing. Her vision was graying.
For the second time in her life, she teetered close to the abyss. With her last breath, she screamed.
Bowman moved as quiet as a cat through the dark, and when he saw the two guards, he assessed the order in which he would take them out. The one on the right was taller, thicker, and had the look of a linebacker. Not quick, but likely threw a hard punch. The one on the left was muscled but with a leaner frame. Bowman guessed he was the faster of the two, so he would be the first to go.
He raised the gun and fired. The larger of the two guards fell. The second guard barely had time to react before Bowman fired again. The man dropped to the ground.
Bowman approached both cautiously, and confirming they weren’t a threat, he searched the pockets of the leaner man. Nothing. He shifted his focus to the other man’s pockets, where he found several keys in his jacket.
He grabbed the keys and rushed to the front door. Methodically he began trying each in the lock. The first didn’t work. Neither did the second. Inside the house, he heard Riley scream. Hang on, Riley. Cursing, he shoved the next key in the lock. It released the tumblers. Gripping his gun, he opened the front door and then the double mahogany doors of a parlor. He surveyed the scene and in a split second identified the threats. An unknown male. An old man who must have been the Shark. And Duke on top of a still Riley.
Bowman fired twice, hitting the first man center of mass in the chest and killing him. The Shark looked up at him, his dark eyes narrowing with hatred, as he raised the phone. Knowing the man’s capacity for violence, Bowman didn’t question that the phone call meant death for someone. Lives were nothing to this killer. Only winning mattered.
Bowman fired the kill shot, striking the Shark in the chest. For a moment, the old man gripped the phone to his ear, trying to suck in a breath so he could speak. But as blood blossomed through his gray jacket, he couldn’t articulate any words. He staggered a step and dropped the phone.
Realizing the old man was neutralized, Bowman ran toward Duke. Propelled by rage, he grabbed Duke’s head and twisted until his neck popped and his body went still. Duke’s fingers went slack and his body, limp. Bowman shoved him aside and unwrapped the cord from Riley’s neck. He sat her up. “Come on, baby, breathe.”
For a moment she was still. Then Riley gasped in air, raising her hands to her marked neck.
“It’s okay,” he said. “It’s over.”
“Hanna! Here somewhere. Please find her.”
Bowman hauled Riley up and sat her in a chair. He handed her his backup gun. “I’ll find her. Shoot anything that doesn’t look right.”
“With pleasure.”
Riley’s head spun and her vision was blurry as she looked at the bodies that lay around her. The old man lay on his back, his dark eyes staring sightless at the ceiling, his fingers inches from his cell. In the corner, the dealer. And Duke.
As she looked at Duke, hints of pity mingled with overwhelming hatred and anger. He’d been her savior. Her mentor. And he’d been lying to her for years. Tears welled in her eyes; she wiped them away with the back of her hand.
“Riley?” Hanna’s broken voice cut across the gaming room, elbowing out all other thoughts.
Riley rose and set the gun on the poker table. More tears welled and spilled down her cheeks as she hurried to Hanna. Her knee pounded with pain, her jaw hurt, and her throat ached. But she didn’t care. Hanna was alive.
“Honey, are you all right?” She hugged Hanna, checking her for any signs of injury. “Did they hurt you at all? God, I am so sorry.”
The girl began to cry and collapsed against Riley, clinging to her. “I was so scared. When I woke up, there were two men in the room.”
Riley cupped Hanna’s face in her hands. “Did they hurt you?”
“No. They didn’t.”
Riley kissed her on the cheek, smoothing her hands over the girl’s head, needing a moment to control her own emotions. She’d come close to losing everything that mattered.
She looked up and saw Bowman. He checked the men in the room to make sure none were alive or capable of threat. When he confirmed the room was secure, he went to her.
He touched her bruised cheek. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She smiled at Hanna. “We’re fine.”
“Thank God.”
She reached out and touched his face. “Thank you.”
He leaned into the touch and laid his hand over hers. “I thought I lost you.”
She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” he said.
EPILOGUE
Eight Weeks Later
Sweat dripped into Riley’s eyes as she, Hanna, and Cooper finished up their run through the park. It had taken a couple of weeks for her bruises to heal, but she was physically her old self again. As they rounded the corner of their street, she noticed a black SUV parked in front of her house. Bowman stood by the car, dark glasses covering his eyes, his arms folded.
She’d not seen him in nearly two weeks and had begun to think the baggage of a teenage kid had scared him off. As always, he was impossible to read. Despite all the unknowns dancing between them, her heart beat a little faster as she stopped in front of him.
“Hey, Clay,” Hanna said. “How’s it going?”
He tugged off his glasses and tossed a warm smile at the girl. “It’s good. How are the applications?”
She groaned for effect, but it wasn’t a tortured kind of sound, more like a normal teenager reaction. “You sound like Riley.”
“She’s a smart lady. Best to listen to her.” He reached in his coat pocket and pulled out a white envelope. “This is for you.”
“What is it?” Hanna asked.
“Read it.”
She glanced at Riley, who shrugged. She had no idea what it contained. Hanna tore open the envelope. Her mouth dropped open as she read and then looked at Bowman, tears glistening in her eyes. “Is this for real?”
“You still have to get into college and keep your grades up senior year. So it’s not a freebie by any stretch.”
“What is it?” Riley asked.
Hanna handed her the paper. “Shield Security has a scholarship fund. If I get into college, they’ll pay my way.”
Riley’s breath stilled as she read and reread the words. She was shocked, pleased, and taken aback. “This is very generous.”
“I looked up her grades,” Bowman said. “She’s doing a hell of a job. College is the right path for her.”
Nothing he could have done would have touched Riley’s heart more. “Thank you.”
As she stared at him, she knew, as she’d known for weeks, that she loved him. No one had ever made her feel so complete and whole as Clay Bowman.
Hanna took the letter back from Riley. “Can I accept this?”
The pure excitement in the girl’s face made it impossible for her to say no. “Yes.”
Hanna squealed. “I need to call Julia.”
“Can you take Cooper?” Riley asked.
“Sure.” She took his leash and ran with him into the house.
Riley watched the girl bound into the house full of all the joy and happiness a girl her age should feel. She looked up at Bowman and found him staring at her. Her heartbeat skipped. “That’s pretty
amazing.”
He carefully folded his sunglasses and tucked them in his pocket. He moved to within inches of her. Energy snapped between them. “You’re amazing.”
After Bowman had killed Duke and the Shark, the cops had been called and Agent Sharp and his team arrived at the scene. There’d been lots of questions not only from state police but the FBI. In the end, Riley’s past was laid bare. And she discovered being open about her own life had been very freeing and had helped Hanna, who was more at peace with her own past.
Bowman had been by her side in the first weeks, but she’d not seen him in the past ten days. They’d spoken on the phone a couple of times, but their conversations had had more to do about the case than it did them.