Willow
“Are you ready?” Ronan asked, a couple of hours later. His eyes were filled with concern. He knew this was going to be hard on me, but I was going to do it anyway because this was the easiest way to get our message to Tom.
“Yes. I’ve got this.” I straightened my shoulders. I’d opted to stand rather than sit because standing made it seem more like I was in control.
“You do.” He cupped my face between his hands and kissed me, then stepped back and nodded to Zeke and Oliver, who’d set up a station to record and trace the call in case things didn’t go the way we wanted.
Zeke pressed a button and nodded. “Go for it.”
I used my phone to call the number Tom had contacted me from yesterday. I felt a pang of guilt for what I was about to do, but when I met Ronan’s eyes, the awful sensation subsided.
This was the right thing. It was time for me to put myself first.
I half expected Tom not to answer, but after a few rings, he did.
“Willow, how are you?”
As if he cared.
A potent combination of rage and hurt sizzled along my nerves. He wasn’t even brave enough to admit what he’d done.
Across the room, Oliver caught my eyes. Both he and Zeke had headsets so they could listen to our conversation.
“Not great, actually. It turns out my brother is trying to coerce me into a marriage I’ve already refused.” I placed my free hand on my hip. “How could you do that?”
“I didn’t have a choice.” His voice was strained. “I told you how dangerous our situation is.”
“Your situation,” I reminded him. “And I told you I wouldn’t marry Petrov, yet he seemed to be under the impression we’re engaged. Lucky for you, I fixed that.”
“What did you do?” He sounded panicky.
“Did you expect me to go along with your lie?” Angry tears welled in my eyes, but I blinked them back. He didn’t deserve them. “I told Petrov there wasn’t going to be a wedding.”
Deathly silence followed.
“Tom?”
“You’ve killed us both,” he said baldly. “All you had to do was go along with it for a little while and everything would have been fine.” Each word grew louder than the last. “Petrov would have let me off the hook and treated you like the goddamn princess you think you are. You’d have had all the dresses and jewelry you could ever want. Holidays in Europe. A fucking house in the Maldives. A husband who would leave you alone most of the time to enjoy it. Yeah, that sounds like a real fucking hardship.”
I gaped. The man didn’t know me at all. “I don’t give a shit about material things. People should marry for love, not because their brother fucked up and is trying to avoid the consequences.”
“People like us—”
“Stop,” I interrupted. “There is no ‘people like us.’ You and I are different.” I paced the length of the room, dragging a hand through my hair. “My future is my choice. It’s not for you to decide. I won’t be bullied into anything.”
“Just think about it. I’ll call Adrian back and let him know you’re considering his offer.”
“No, you won’t.” Anger heated my gut. “You’re not hearing me. This. Is. Not. Happening. And by the way, he said to tell you that he’ll be taking what he’s owed another way.”
“Yeah, out of my flesh,” he snapped. “Jesus. Listen, Willow,” he continued more quietly. “You wouldn’t have to marry him forever. Just until I can find a way to pay him back and get control of the company again. Fortunately, I don’t need your approval to sign over Lennox Securities, but for some goddamned reason, he wants you too. He won’t settle for just the business.”
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” My knees shook, and I sank into a chair. “Ronan will pay your debts and you’ll sign Lennox Securities over to him instead.”
Tom laughed in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am. You owe Petrov money, and you can’t pay it, right? He’ll wipe your debts in exchange for the company and me. Ronan will pay your debts in exchange for the company and nothing else. It seems like a no-brainer.”
“I won’t give our father’s company to King,” he insisted. “If Petrov has it, I might be able to get it back. If King takes it, he’ll never let that happen. Do you really want Dad’s legacy to leave the Lennox family?”
I sighed. “It’s the best option we’ve got. Ronan is a good man. He’ll run the company well. We’ve been hemorrhaging clients for years. It’s time for us to accept that it would be better off in someone else’s hands. Personally, I think Dad would approve.”
Tom was quiet for a long moment, and I thought I’d gotten through to him, but then he said, “Ronan King will not get my company as long as I’m around to fight for it. Dad always liked him more than me. King was the protégé. The special one. Fuck that.” His tone was bitter. “I see him for what he really is: the bastard son of a whore, who won’t get the chance to lay a finger on my property.” He hesitated. “I’m sorry, Willow. I never meant for things to end this way. I was trying to save us, but I’ve done my part; now it’s your turn.”
He hung up.
I handed Ronan the phone, feeling dead inside. Tom and I had never been close, but I hadn’t realized his petty vendetta meant more to him than I did. Than honoring Dad’s memory did. That realization made me feel less guilty for what was going to come next. Even if he didn’t know it, Tom had already lost his fight.
Ronan
I kissed the top of Willow’s head.
Her eyes had gone blank, and while I hadn’t been able to hear Tom’s side of the conversation, I got the gist of it from her responses. He’d turned her down. Damn him for making her feel as though she wasn’t worth his pride.
I turned to Zeke. “Did we get a trace?”
He studied the screen. “He’s at the Alton Motel. Not sure what room. You’ll have to figure that out when you get there.”
“Got it. Thanks, man.” I held out a hand and pulled Willow to her feet. When she was upright, I planted a kiss on her mouth. “We’ll fix this,” I promised.
“Be safe.” She stretched onto her tiptoes to kiss me again. “I need you to come back.”
“I will.” Reluctantly, I let her go. “Kade, you ready?”
“Fuck yeah.” He was practically bristling for the chance to get Tom alone. Kade didn’t like men who hurt women. Even if it wasn’t physically.
He really didn’t like them.
Twenty minutes later, we cruised up to the Alton Motel in one of the cars that Kade’s team used for undercover work. I parked, and we locked it behind us. The motel was run-down. Based on the number of cars in the lot, it was mostly empty.
We headed to the reception area and found the desk unsupervised. I slipped behind it and flipped through the pages of the notebook beside the ancient computer. It seemed to be a log of which rooms were in use, along with nom de plumes for the occupants. I reached the newest page and saw that one Mr. Gatsby had checked in yesterday. I doubted this motel saw many high rollers, so the receptionist may as well have written “Tom Lennox is here.”
I shut the notebook and ducked out from behind the desk. “Room eight.”
Kade nodded, and we made our way down the corridor, moving carefully in case any of Tom’s enemies had also tracked him down.
We reached the room, and I tested the door handle.
Locked.
I hadn’t expected anything else. Tom was running for his life, so he wouldn’t be careless.
I jerked my head toward the door and stepped back so Kade could do his thing. He shoulder-barged the wood. The flimsy lock snapped. He darted inside, gun raised. A bullet tore through the wall to my left, two inches from my shoulder, and I zeroed in on Tom, who was sheltering behind the bathroom door.
“Lennox,” I barked, knowing he probably thought it was the men he owed, come to collect. “It’s King.”
Tom swore. “You traced the phone call.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He’d have realized it sooner if he were thinking clearly. “Come out and put the weapon down.”
The gun appeared around the edge of the bathroom door, and he lowered it to the floor. Kade strode forward and snatched it up, then Tom exited the bathroom with his hands held high.
I placed my gun back in its holster, and Kade set Tom’s on the coffee table. We weren’t genuinely worried about him making a move, but better safe than sorry.
“You love this, don’t you?” Tom sneered. “Always the golden boy. It must be a dream come true to see me staying in this dump while you lounge about in your fucking penthouse.”
I didn’t respond. Under different circumstances, I’d have taken joy in the reversal of our positions, but now all I cared about was getting Willow out of a psycho’s crosshairs.
“I’m not taking your deal.” Tom sprawled insolently on the bed as though to emphasize the fact he wasn’t afraid of us.
“Actually, you will.” I watched him in disgust. The man wasn’t worth the pricey shirt he wore. “If you don’t, we’ll turn in evidence of your illegal dealings to the police. This place is a palace compared to prison.”
He paled. “You don’t have anything on me.”
I nodded to Kade. “Show him.”
Kade brought a file up on the screen of his cell phone and held it in front of Tom. I couldn’t see the details from here but I knew it displayed a list of off-book transactions Tom had made and clients who didn’t exist according to the official Lennox Securities records. Kade scrolled down so Tom could see how far back our information went. There were years of data he’d falsified. All of the remaining color leached from his face.
“We have more,” Kade said. “That’s only the beginning, and you can be sure that your buddy Petrov has people in prison who’ll make sure you don’t have a pleasant stay.”
“Okay.” Tom held his hands out, and they trembled. “You pay my debt and get rid of your evidence, and I’ll give you the company.” His expression was a combination of disappointment and respect. “I never expected you to play this dirty. I underestimated you. You’re more like me than I thought.”
I remained stone-faced, but his words struck hard. This wasn’t my preferred way to do things, but sometimes the end justified the means.
“One more thing.” I hesitated for a brief moment, wondering if I really wanted to do this. But if I was blackmailing my old nemesis to save his sister, I might as well go all in. “Leave the state and never contact Willow again.”
Tom scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I’m not leaving Chicago. It’s my home.”
I raised a brow. “Yes, you will. Or everything we have goes to the cops.”
Kade and I exchanged a glance. We didn’t have quite as much dirt on Tom as we’d implied, although we definitely had enough to warrant a deeper investigation.
“Where the hell am I supposed to go?” Tom demanded.
“I don’t care. As long as you leave Willow alone.”
“What if I stay in Chicago but promise not to make contact?”
I mulled over the suggestion. I really wanted him gone, but we could set up safeguards to make sure he didn’t get to her. “Fine. But one wrong step and you’ll regret it.”
He sighed. “Doesn’t seem like I have much choice. You’ve got a deal.”
We shook on it.
“For what it’s worth,” he added, “I don’t think Petrov would have intentionally hurt Willow. He has a soft spot for her.”
I shook my head. “What you think isn’t worth shit. You’re a crappy brother and she knows it. Now do her a favor and get out of her life.”