From what Carter knew of Alfonse Pareto’s security, that couldn’t have been easy. The last Pareto captain who had been coerced by the feds into betraying Pareto had ended up dead while in protective custody.

Carter thought back to the men closest to Pareto. They were all family or longtime friends. She couldn’t think of a single one who could be turned, not even with the threat of imprisonment. Pareto was generous

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with money and took care of his men’s families if they were imprisoned or disabled. He was also ruthless and completely unsentimental when it came to meting out punishment for transgressions. A man would have to be crazy or have a major death wish to betray him.

The clock on her dashboard registered ten fifty. She’d be home in twenty minutes, maybe less. She wanted another shower and then she wanted to crawl into bed next to Rica and lose herself for a few hours in Rica’s arms. She should check in with Reese first and find out if there was any word on Marilyn’s condition. She hoped when she closed her eyes, she wouldn’t see Marilyn’s face. Wouldn’t hear her broken plea.

But she didn’t think she was going to get her wish. Even with her eyes open and riveted to the hypnotic ribbon of black that streamed beneath her headlights, she could still see the stark terror in Marilyn Allen’s eyes and hear her desperate words. Even now, the agent’s strangled voice echoed in her head.

…n…go…

She doubted she would ever stop hearing… Carter shivered as an icy hand gripped her insides and twisted. She jerked and the car veered dangerously toward the shoulder. Panic surging, she yanked the wheel and managed to steady the vehicle.

“Oh Jesus,” she whispered, fumbling for her phone. “Oh Jesus, no.”

v

Rica smiled as she slipped on the peach, thigh-length silk nightgown and adjusted the thin straps. Carter loved to undress her, and even though Carter might not be home for hours, and she’d probably be dead tired when she was, a girl could hope. She snapped off the bathroom light, padded barefoot across the hardwood floor to the bed, and turned down the covers. She reached out to switch off the bedside lamp and stopped when she heard the faint swish of the bedroom door opening behind her. Slowly, her blood stilling in her veins, she turned.

“Hello, Rica.” His mad black eyes swept over her body as he stepped into the room.

Rica saw the gun in his right hand and she lunged for the top drawer of the dresser. A fist in her hair yanked her back so violently, she lost her balance. She lashed backward with both hands, trying to find his

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face, his eyes, but his other arm came across her throat and squeezed.

She kicked and flailed until her vision dimmed and her strength failed her.

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chapteR twenty-seven

Oh God,” Tory sighed, running her fingers through Reese’s hair. “You have the most amazing, incredible mouth.”

Laughing, Reese rubbed her cheek against Tory’s stomach. “You inspire me to greatness.”

“Are you sure about the baby?” Tory asked softly, still caressing Reese’s face.

Reese kissed the soft skin on the inside of Tory’s hip bone and traced the faint stretch marks that tracked over her lower abdomen, glimmering faintly in the muted lamplight, and the long, thin line left from the C-section. Battle scars. But these scars were badges of honor celebrating life, not death. She thought of Reggie sleeping innocently in the other room, and of all the promise and wonder awaiting their child in the future. All the joy that lay in store for them as a family.

She wouldn’t change anything about her life—not her solitary years in the service or the brutal time she’d spent in combat, or the nightmares that would probably never leave her. Darkness and evil were part of the life she had chosen, but this woman, this family—they were the power that shone the light into her darkest reaches and gave her the strength she could count on. Raising herself up on her arms so she could look into Tory’s face, Reese said, “I’m positive I want another baby. If it’s safe.”

Tory’s eyes grew solemn and she wrapped her arms tightly around Reese’s shoulders. “I will never do anything to risk what we have. I promise.”

“Same here.” Reese kissed her, groaning as Tory swept a hand

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down her back and pushed a thigh between Reese’s legs. Reese deepened the kiss and thrust against the velvet skin and hard muscle, letting the pressure she’d been holding back while she made love to Tory rise and carry her toward release.

Her cell phone on the bedside table rang, and Reese groaned louder. Arms trembling, she took a deep breath and forced the tide of pleasure to recede. Rolling over with a grunt, she fumbled for the phone. “Conlon.”

A tumble of shouts, nearly incoherent at first, assaulted her, and when the words finally began to make sense, Reese jumped to her feet. “I’ll be there in three minutes. Carter,” Reese said firmly but calmly. “Carter—when you arrive, park on Bradford and call me. You do not approach the house.”

The line was silent.

“Carter,” Reese barked, harsher this time. “Do you understand?

That’s an order.”

“Yes,” Carter said hoarsely. “Yes. But, Jesus, hurry. I’m still ten minutes away.”

“I’ll be there.” Reese disconnected and grabbed her pants, yanking them on as Tory got out of bed, found her shirt, and handed it to her.

“What can I do?” Tory asked.

“Carter thinks someone’s making a move on Rica right now. Call Bri—tell her I need backup at Rica and Carter’s. Tell her to come silent and call my cell. Tell her I need her now.”

“You’re going in alone?”

“I’ll put cars on the street in case the suspect gets by us, but I can’t risk alerting him if he has Rica. A small coordinated entry team is better.” Reese unlocked the gun case inside a corner closet and removed an M16 assault rifle along with her service sidearm, a 9mm Beretta.

Tory watched Reese clip the holster to her waistband as she had thousands of times before. In moments like this, it came home to her with stark clarity that when Reese left the house, she would be in mortal danger. She could walk out the door and never come back. Swiftly, ruthlessly, Tory forced the thoughts away.

“I’ll get Bri,” Tory said, already punching in Bri’s number on the cell as she followed Reese downstairs.

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Reese grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter and kissed Tory fast and hard. “I’ll call you.”

“I love you,” Tory called as Reese bolted through the door into the night.

v

Rica sensed the light through her closed eyelids and for an instant, the golden glow felt soothing. She remembered the man in the doorway at the same time as the bruising pain in her throat destroyed any illusion of comfort. Then she registered the weight on her hips, pinning her down, and knew he was straddling her. Like any cornered animal, she wanted to flee, wanted to thrash and struggle and scream, and she had to fight hard to stay still. Calling upon every ounce of strength and pride and stubbornness she owned, she let her hatred for him surge through her, submerging the blind panic in a powerful undertow. Rica opened her eyes and stared into his flat black pupils, purposely not looking at the gun in his right hand. “I thought you were dead.”

Her voice was hoarse, and her eyes watered from the pain of forcing the words out. She grit her teeth to prevent the tears from escaping.

Lorenzo Brassi laughed. “You didn’t go to my funeral.”

“I take it you weren’t…incinerated in the car explosion…as reported.” Rica concentrated on keeping her breathing even. She knew what fear did to Enzo. He loved it, fed off it. He had always tried to trap and torment her, even when he still believed she would one day be his wife. What he enjoyed most about women was dominating them sexually and physically. Marriage to him would have been a lifelong sentence of abuse masquerading as affection. He’d dropped all pretense of caring for her in any way other than as a possession when he’d finally accepted that she did not want him, that she wanted Carter. The last time she’d seen Enzo, he had caught her alone in a deserted alcove in her father’s house and nearly raped her.

“As you can see,” Enzo said with a sardonic smile, “the reports of my death were exaggerated.”

“Not easy to fool my father.” Rica turned her head ever so slightly to glance out of the corner of her eye at the bedside table. The top

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drawer was still open a few inches. She hoped her gun was still inside and that Enzo had not seen it.

“You have your FBI friends to thank for that.” Enzo shifted his weight so his crotch rested more tightly against Rica’s stomach and traced the underside of her breast with the muzzle of his H&K. “They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I provide information on your father and his associates, they make sure all the reports, including DNA, support my death.”

“It worked. No one suspected.” Rica pushed her hips into the bed, recoiling from the press of his erection. She had to find some way to distract him so she could get to her gun, and she didn’t have much time.

She didn’t know when Carter would be home, but it would be soon.

If Enzo was still here, Carter would walk in, unsuspecting, and Enzo would gun her down. Rica had to find a way to kill him first, or give him what he wanted so he would leave.

“And since everyone thought I was dead, all I had to do was slip away from my keepers. They couldn’t very well tell anyone they’d lost me.” Enzo chuckled and slid the pistol barrel higher, dragging it painfully back and forth across Rica’s nipple. “You and I have unfinished business. I’ve watched her pretend to fuck you, you know. She can’t give you what you really need. After I show you, you’ll understand that. You won’t ever want to think of Carter again.”

Rica froze, the breath stilling in her chest. He was insane, and from the venomous way he spoke Carter’s name, she understood why he had risked his freedom to come here. Carter, in his mind, had stolen her away from him. Carter had bested him. Carter had taken what he believed to be his. Enzo was going to rape her to reassert his claim on her, but that was never going to be enough. No matter what he did to her, no matter what she said to him, he would still need to destroy the invader who had dared violate his territory. He would kill Carter, and that was something she couldn’t let happen. Her only hope was to catch him off guard. She just needed a second or two, even if she only managed to wound him enough to make him flee. Even if he killed her in the process. She wouldn’t let him take everything that mattered to her—he would not take Carter. She only had to distract him for a few precious seconds. Rica ignored the pistol playing back and forth over her breasts and reached for the button on his pants.

“What are you waiting for?”

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v

Reese’s phone vibrated and she pulled it out of her pants pocket.

“Conlon.”

“The deck door is open. The glass is cut out,” Bri said. “He’s inside.”

“That light upstairs—that’s the bedroom?”

“Yes, the master. I can get up there—”

“Negative. I need eyes in that room before we move in.” Reese surveyed the street for a possible vantage point. The house next to Rica and Carter’s was a large two-story with a wraparound deck on the second level. “Hold your position. Do you have your radio?”

“Yes.”

“Go to Tac one. Smith and Chang are on Tac two in their cruiser.”

“Roger.”

Reese quickly cut across the street to the side of the residence adjacent to Carter and Rica’s. She saw no car in the driveway but couldn’t be certain the house was empty. If she rang the bell and ordered them to evacuate, they were likely to turn on the lights, including the one on the front porch. She didn’t want to do anything that might alert the intruder to a police presence. At this point, the neighbors weren’t going to be placed in any significant danger if she didn’t alert them to what was going on. She didn’t intend to engage in a firefight. If she fired, it would be a kill shot.

Securing her rifle diagonally across her back, Reese climbed up on the railing of the rear deck, stretched upward, jumped, and grasped the lower edge of the deck above. She pulled herself up and then carefully climbed over the railing and skirted low along the side of the house until she was opposite the lighted window forty feet away. The builders had been smart enough not to place facing windows directly opposite each other, and she had a wall at her back, affording further protection to any occupant of the house if the suspect should fire at her. Resting her rifle on the railing for support, she sighted through the scope into Rica and Carter’s bedroom.