Chapter 6 - The Night Tessa Became the Target
Tessa stared at the photograph until the letters blurred.
Her father.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
Rafe took the phone from her before she dropped it.
"Tessa."
"Give it back."
He did.
She enlarged the image.
Thomas had lost weight.
His hair was almost entirely gray.
A scar crossed his cheek.
But those were his eyes.
There was no question.
"Three years," she whispered.
Rafe understood.
Three years believing Elena dead.
Two years Tessa had believed Thomas gone.
Different grief.
Same cruelty.
"We get him back," Rafe said.
Tessa looked up.
No hesitation in his voice.
"You don't know where he is."
"We find out."
"Marcus wants me."
"He's not getting you."
"You can't make that decision."
His jaw tightened.
She almost smiled despite everything.
They had returned to that argument again.
"Tessa."
"If trading me gets my father out—"
"No."
"Rafe."
"No."
She stared at him.
"You walked into a hotel because someone threatened me."
"That's different."
"How?"
"It was me."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
Tessa stood in the moving vehicle as much as the roof allowed.
"Do you hear yourself?"
Rafe looked at her.
"If I die protecting someone, acceptable. If you do it, unacceptable."
"Correct."
"That's insane."
"Probably."
Elena turned around.
"You're both exhausting."
Neither listened.
Tessa lowered her voice.
"My father may have spent two years as a prisoner because he saved your sister."
Rafe's face changed.
"I know."
"I won't leave him."
"I know."
"Then stop saying no."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Rafe went silent.
Tessa waited.
Mateo looked at the road very carefully.
Elena suddenly became interested in the window.
Rafe finally said, "Because I don't want to lose you."
No one moved.
Tessa's anger disappeared.
Rafe looked almost irritated that the truth had escaped him.
"We met tonight," she said softly.
"I know."
"That's ridiculous."
"I know."
"You barely know me."
"I know."
She waited.
He added, "It doesn't seem to matter."
Tessa sat again.
For several seconds, she didn't know what to say.
Then she reached over and took his hand.
Rafe looked down.
"You keep doing that."
"You keep needing it."
A faint smile.
"That sounds like pity."
"It's not."
"I know."
This time he believed her immediately.
That mattered.
Mateo interrupted.
"Marcus owns six properties."
Rafe's expression hardened.
"Which one has private medical facilities?"
Mateo thought.
"The Mercer estate."
Elena nodded.
"His wife was ill for years."
"Security?"
"Heavy."
Rafe took out his phone.
"Then we don't attack."
Mateo looked surprised.
"What?"
"We make him believe Tessa is coming willingly."
Tessa smiled.
"Now you're thinking like a combat nurse."
Rafe didn't smile.
"I'm still not letting you near him."
"Then your plan is already bad."
They argued for twenty minutes.
Eventually a compromise emerged.
Tessa would appear to arrive alone.
Rafe's people would enter the estate through a disused drainage route Elena remembered from childhood.
Federal agents would wait nearby, but not move until Thomas was located.
It was risky.
Everything about the night had been risky.
Before they separated, Rafe pulled Tessa aside.
They stood in a dark garage beneath one of his properties.
"You can still walk away."
"No."
"I had to ask."
"I know."
He looked at her for a long time.
Then removed a small ring from his little finger.
Black metal.
Heavy.
He placed it in her palm.
"What is this?"
"Calder family seal."
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"If one of my people sees it, they'll follow your order."
Tessa looked at the ring.
"Even over yours?"
Rafe hesitated.
"Yes."
Her gaze lifted.
"That's a lot of trust."
"Don't make me regret it."
She closed her fingers around it.
"Rafe."
"What?"
"If this goes wrong—"
"No."
She smiled.
"Now who's interrupting?"
"I know where that sentence goes."
"You don't."
"Some heroic goodbye."
"Actually, I was going to tell you that if this goes wrong, I'm still going to be angry about you hiding that photograph."
He stared.
Then laughed.
A real laugh.
Tessa smiled too.
"Good."
"What?"
"That's the first time tonight you looked like someone who wasn't carrying the entire city on his shoulders."
Rafe's smile disappeared slowly.
"There's something you should know."
Tessa waited.
"The headline people use about me isn't entirely wrong."
"What headline?"
"That women reject me because of my size."
She frowned.
"I thought that was gossip."
"It became gossip because enough pieces were true."
His eyes moved away.
"When I was younger, I was already bigger than everyone else. By twenty, people crossed rooms when I entered. Women would flirt from across a table and flinch if I stood too quickly."
Tessa listened.
"Then I became Calder."
"Your reputation."
"That made it worse."
"Or easier for shallow people to reveal themselves."
He looked at her.
"Maybe."
"Madeline didn't reject you because of your size."
"I know that now."
"But for years you thought she did."
"Yes."
Tessa stepped closer.
"You believed something cruel because it sounded like something you'd already told yourself."
Rafe's expression went still.
She touched his chest lightly.
"That's not the same as truth."
He stared down at her.
"You're very direct."
"You've noticed."
"Hard not to."
Tessa rose onto her toes.
For a moment Rafe looked almost alarmed.
She kissed his cheek.
Nothing more.
Then stepped back.
His expression was priceless.
"What was that?"
"Not pity."
He didn't speak.
She smiled.
"See you inside."
Tessa drove alone to Mercer estate.
The gate opened automatically.
A long drive led to a stone mansion.
Marcus Redd waited at the front door.
He was in his sixties.
Silver hair.
Elegant suit.
Warm face.
The sort of man who looked more like a retired senator than someone capable of murder.
"Tessa Ward."
"Marcus Redd."
He smiled.
"You look like your father."
"I've heard."
"Come inside."
She did.
No visible guards.
That meant nothing.
Marcus poured himself a drink.
"Rafe came?"
"No."
"Lie."
"Then why ask?"
He smiled again.
"Your father was difficult too."
"Where is he?"
"Safe."
"Show me."
Marcus gestured toward the hallway.
Tessa followed.
They entered a private medical suite.
Thomas Ward lay on a hospital bed.
"Tess?"
Her entire body stopped.
"Dad."
He tried to sit.
She crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him.
For a few seconds, she was not a combat nurse.
Not security.
Not brave.
She was simply a daughter.
"You were dead."
Thomas held her tightly.
"I'm sorry."
She pulled back.
"Two years."
"I know."
"You let me bury you."
"I know."
"Why?"
Marcus answered.
"Because I made him."
Tessa turned.
Thomas whispered, "Don't trust him."
Marcus smiled.
"Thomas, we've moved beyond subtlety."
Tessa stepped between them.
"You killed people."
Marcus sighed.
"Some."
"Elena?"
"I tried."
"Why?"
"Because she discovered something expensive."
"The witness network."
Marcus's smile vanished.
"It wasn't a network. It was leverage."
"People were sold."
"People are always sold. Politicians sell promises. Police sell protection. Businesses sell loyalty. I simply understood the market better."
Tessa felt disgust.
"And my father?"
"Refused to cooperate."
Thomas said, "He needed me alive."
Tessa looked back.
"Why?"
"I kept the original identities."
Marcus nodded.
"Insurance."
"Where?"
Thomas looked at him.
"I never told you."
Marcus's eyes hardened.
"Tonight you will."
Tessa heard something faint in her earpiece.
Two clicks.
Mateo's signal.
They were inside.
She needed time.
"So why threaten Rafe?"
Marcus laughed.
"Because Rafe is the most predictable man I've ever known."
"You don't understand him at all."
"I raised him."
"You taught him fear."
"I taught him power."
"No. You taught him everyone eventually leaves."
Marcus's expression sharpened.
"You think you're different?"
"Yes."
"After one night?"
"Yes."
He stepped closer.
"You'll fear him eventually."
"No."
"You'll wake up beside a man twice your size whose hands have killed people and you'll wonder whether you've made a mistake."
Thomas said, "Tessa—"
She kept her eyes on Marcus.
"I spent years treating men who were missing limbs, screaming in pain, covered in blood. Bodies don't scare me."
Marcus smiled coldly.
"His should."
"Why?"
"Because Rafe killed your father."
Silence.
Tessa stopped.
Thomas shouted, "That's a lie."
Marcus produced a photograph.
Rafe.
Outside Thomas's home.
The night Thomas supposedly died.
Tessa stared.
"No."
"Ask him."
Thomas tried to stand.
"Tessa, listen to me."
Marcus continued.
"Rafe was there."
Her heart pounded.
"Why?"
Thomas looked at her.
"Because I called him."
Tessa turned.
"What?"
"I needed help."
Marcus's smile faded.
Thomas continued.
"I knew Marcus had found me. I called Rafe because your mother once treated his mother."
Tessa blinked.
"What?"
"Years ago. Before you were born."
Marcus interrupted.
"Enough."
Thomas ignored him.
"Rafe came to protect me."
Tessa's breath returned.
"The photograph..."
"Shows him arriving."
Not killing.
Marcus had manipulated everything.
Again.
Footsteps approached.
Marcus heard them too.
His face changed.
He drew a gun.
Thomas shouted.
Tessa moved.
She struck Marcus's wrist.
Gunshot.
The round hit the ceiling.
Marcus slammed her against the wall.
Rafe crashed through the door.
He hit Marcus hard enough to send him across the room.
The gun slid beneath the bed.
Rafe moved toward him.
Marcus laughed from the floor.
"There he is."
Rafe stopped.
"The monster."
Tessa saw it.
The trap.
Marcus wanted Rafe angry.
Wanted him violent.
Wanted witnesses to see exactly what everyone already believed.
Rafe's fists clenched.
Marcus smiled through blood.
"Do it."
Rafe raised one hand.
Tessa touched his arm.
"Rafe."
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
His hand lowered.
Federal agents entered seconds later.
Marcus's smile vanished.
They cuffed him.
Thomas closed his eyes in relief.
Tessa leaned into Rafe for the first time.
He wrapped both arms around her carefully.
Very carefully.
As if still afraid his size might hurt her.
She whispered, "You can hold me tighter."
He did.
Her father watched.
And smiled.
For one moment, Tessa thought the worst was over.
Then Mateo entered.
His face said otherwise.
"Rafe."
Rafe released her.
"What?"
Mateo handed him a phone.
"Marcus wasn't running the network alone."
On the screen was a bank ledger.
Thousands of payments.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Rafe stared at it.
Thomas whispered, "I knew there was another partner."
Tessa looked over Rafe's shoulder.
The name belonged to someone standing inside the room.
May you like
Someone who had been beside them since the gala began.
Elena Calder.
