Blaze’s relationship with Brandi was getting better and better. They’d gotten closer and closer in the past few weeks and his mission was coming to a close within the next few days. Brandi and he found time together when Dee was down for a nap or at night they would watch movies and found themselves to be inseparable, sleeping in whichever room they made it to first.
She’d confided in him a lot about her past relationship with her family and what it had been like growing up with the knowledge her entire family thought she wasn’t ever good enough academically or beautiful enough or, as Brandi had put it, “anything enough.” His heart broke for the younger version of Red whom he could imagine with bouncy, unruly curls and a mouth that wouldn’t quit.
They spoke about their tattoos and what they’d meant when they’d got their designs inked onto their skin. She told him more about her sister and how they had never gotten along. He was able to mostly overcome his loss of Nadia and his heartbreak. Yeah, it still hurt like hell but with Brandi around, there seemed to be a light at the end of his dark, lonesome tunnel that, had you asked him a month ago, he would have been convinced was going to last his lifetime.
They played, made love until the wee hours of the morning and traced each other’s tattoos, clowning around laughing until their stomachs and mouths couldn’t take it anymore. She never mentioned her father – good or bad, except for her childhood. But adult Brandi had made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him and Blaze couldn’t help but wonder if somehow Shell had gotten it wrong. Which he knew was impossible.
When you visit people in prison the visitor is required to fill out an application form stating who they are, where they live – all of the pertinent information about one’s self. They had to attach a valid photocopy of their license as well as answer how they may or may not be related to the prisoner. Shell had read Brandi’s driver license verbatim – Blaze knew because he had snuck into her purse one morning he’d found it lying on the kitchen counter and she had conveniently been in the shower.
Just as Shell had relayed, everything was an exact match to her license. He couldn’t figure out how she’d gotten out of his sight long enough to visit her father in the first place but there were times they hadn’t been together and she had gone off and done her own thing. It wasn’t a total impossibility, just a little unlikely.
Needless to say, she didn’t mention her father and she sure as fuck never mentioned visiting him in prison. Ever. One night they’d been lying in his bed and were talking about all sorts of handguns and shotguns. They’d gotten onto the subject of law enforcement agencies, which still made him uncomfortable to think about because of his undercover operation, and he’d brought up prison guards and what their jobs must be like, etc. Fully trying to bait her and she didn’t take the bait. She acted as if she had no clue what it was like inside prison walls. In fact, her dismissal of ever stepping foot inside a prison was embedded in his memory.
Something wasn’t matching up. It couldn’t have been her that went to visit good ole papa. The second he considered this, he also knew it was farfetched because of the documents and photocopy that would prove otherwise. He’d retrieved her phone call conversation the day he’d heard her inside the library and everything she’d later told him, was true to form.
He’d like to beat the shit out of Scott if he ever got the chance. The guy was a complete douche and why she didn’t file a complaint with the police station was beyond him. He’d personally like to take care of Scott if given the chance.
Now, he was waiting for Shell to call him to discuss a few important details for Drake’s arrest when his shipment got to Global Electronics. Blaze had heard about a few of the other men who were working on the same case but hadn’t seen them personally. These guys were straight out of the ATF office in Denver and were collaborating with Shell to complete the investigation.
The shipment was on target. It was being packed up and loaded inside a bustling warehouse in Long Beach, California off of Pier F. What no one knew, was this was a nationwide investigation into the shipment of firearms coming from international territories. Territories where Global Electronics was located. Global Electronics had some thugs in the organization and Blaze couldn’t wait to put this entire ordeal to rest.
Inside guys from the ATF were in Long Beach now, unloading the shipments into cargo trucks that were making their way to Colorado. Once here, the main contenders, Drake included, would be busted. Easy peasy. This sting had taken years to work on and finally, it would come to fruition. Not everyone would be busted but Blaze was happy that some of the major players would be going to prison.
Finally. “This is Blaze.”
“The shipment’s on its way.”
“Good. I’ll be happy to have this over.”
“Me too, buddy. Listen, you need to figure out who is making the threatening phone calls.”
“You don’t think I know that?”
“Your girlfriend went and saw him again yesterday.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. But, no, she didn’t. She was with me all day long. I fucking knew it! It’s not her. It’s someone else impersonating her.”
“It is her. I have photocopies of her ID.”
“I get that. But it’s not her. You’re positive the prison visit was yesterday?” He could hear Shell shuffling through the papers as he waited for his response.
“Yesterday…12:33pm. One Brandi Renee Parker-”
“It’s not her. I was with her then. I’m telling you, Shell. It’s someone with some damned good connections. I was with her yesterday, here at the house. I’ll pull the security footage from the computer right now.” Blaze sat at Brandi’s computer in their living room and logged on, noting he had only three minutes before the feed would erase.
“Shit. I gotta do this quick. Hang on.”
Blaze pulled up yesterday’s footage as quickly as he could, searching through the times, finding the feed of him, Brandi and Dee sitting in the kitchen of the main house eating macaroni and cheese. He clicked on the entire feed, highlighting what he wanted downloaded from the software onto the computer’s hard drive before getting back onto the phone with his boss.
“Got it. I’m sending it over to you now. I captured the time from 11:38am up until we vacated the kitchen at 1:13pm.” Blaze couldn’t ignore the adrenaline kicking through his veins. This was good. Finally, they had something. He didn’t know what this meant but he was excited nonetheless.
“Great. Who in the hell is visiting her father? Impersonating her? If not the Red Head, then who?”
“I don’t know. Can’t you get their video footage and take a closer look? I got a feeling, Shell. My gut tells me this is all related. That Brandi’s dad is once again trying to blackmail Drake. Question is, who he has working for him on the outside, if this is what’s happening.”
“Your gut’s never steered you wrong, Bryant. I’ll get the video feed from the prison. We’ll go from there.”
Blaze hung up the phone and was bathed in relief. Relief that Brandi wasn’t the one visiting her father. She wasn’t not telling him about the visits with her father because she wasn’t going to see him after all. She was being truthful about everything so far and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel terrible about keeping the truth from her about the investigation. Her heart was in the right place. His heart was in the right place; it had found the wrong time was all.
But divulging that he was undercover was not an option.
Period.
He hoped she would understand and be forgiving when the time came. That was all he could hope for. He wasn’t lying when he told his brother he was considering staying here long-term. He hadn’t known that until he’d accepted his feelings for Brandi. He couldn’t deny that he was in love with her. He wasn’t sure how it happened or when, but she’d become vital to his life and the only way he could keep her was to be honest with her and tell her.
In all of their night-long conversations, she never once hated discussing that one woman who had been a large part of his life – she was never bitter, jealous, or hateful about anything having to do with her. That was exactly what he had needed. Someone to talk to about Nadia, confide his feelings to, confess the guilt he’d felt over what had happened to her. All he needed was someone who could look into his eyes and be there for him, trust in him, take care of him and not judge him – much like he’d been judging himself for months.
The woman of his dreams walked into the house then, breezing through the screen door with more force than he thought was necessary. He could instantly tell something was wrong.
“What’s going on?” He asked as he stood from the couch.
“I’m pissed. My sister called. She said she is coming here. Here, Blaze! The bitch hung up on me before I could respond. What the fuck is she going to do here? Why can’t she just leave me alone? I don’t want her in my life. I don’t want her on my turf. Period.”
“Did she say when she’s coming?” He stood behind her as she stared out the living room window.
“No. She fucking blurted it out that she was coming and hung right up on my ass! The nerve!”
“Look, I’ll be here with you, babe, when she shows up. No worries, alright?” He would be there, come hell or high water. His only hope was that Brandi was still speaking with him at that point.
“I know, but I don’t want her to see you. She’ll try to steal you away from me like she has all of my other boyfriends.” She turned toward him then, her lips puckered in a pout.
He grinned, “Is that what I am? Your boyfriend?”
She blushed, “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t. Am I or am I not your boyfriend? Red?”
When she wouldn’t answer he tried again, “Answer me, damn it.”
Biting her bottom lip, every emotion crossed her features as she nodded her head in response. He could read her well, now. She was nervous. Scared. Hopeful.
“Damn fucking right I am,” he confirmed before plucking her bottom lip from her teeth with his own and fused his soul with hers.
His phone rang again and his keen instinct told him it would be Shell. He got the video footage. He pulled his mouth from Brandi’s, detangling her arms from around his neck, “I’ve got to take this. Stay here.”
“Bryant,” he answered as he walked out the front door into the bright sunlight, sneezing into the open air.
“Bless you.”
“Thanks, man. You already find something?”
“Got the footage. Looks like your lady to me. I’m sending it over to you now. You need to check it, understand?”
Blaze rolled his eyes, “Obviously. Give me a few and I’ll get back to you.”
He hung up and paced the driveway, idly thinking he was glad he’d finally removed the damn planters she’d once had lining the center of the driveway. She’d put up a fuss at first but he’d stuck to his guns and wouldn’t allow her to put them back. The copper planters sat comfortably on the front porch now, far away from imminent destruction from being plowed down by his SUV.
He had to watch the video, see if he could recognize who was visiting Brandi’s father. His gut told him if they could figure out who was visiting her dad, that might lead him to the caller. It was very possible Mr. Parker was once again trying to blackmail the Kingstons.
The door shut and Brandi walked out. Her tiny shorts highlighted her pale skin, her brilliant red hair shone in the sunlight, and he couldn’t help but believe she belonged on a canvas painted by Roberto Ferri. Sans clothes, she was impossibly breathtaking and he couldn’t believe his luck. After everything that happened with Nadia, God was giving him a second chance and he was damn well going to embrace it.
“You okay?”
“Of course. Do you want to walk with me to the main house? I think I left my cell phone in the playhouse downstairs.”
“Why don’t you go on up and I’ll be waiting for you when you come back. How’s that? We can have a drink and sit out here in the sun or something.”
She laughed, “Okay, that sounds perfect.”
He was dazzled by her ass as she walked down the path toward the gate. She stopped at the gate and turned to him. She gave a flirty small wave with her hand and a tiny smile. He waved back. He waved. She didn’t have a clue how tightly wound she had him around her finger.
But he intended to tell her.
Maybe tonight when they were in bed pleasing each other, which had become their nightly ritual, he would break his silence in regards to his feelings for her. Only her. All of the time. He could live with that. It was time she knew how she had single-handedly pulled him through his sorrow and self-blame over Nadia.
She was his queen and she sure as fuck needed to know.
Brandi was amazed at the job Blaze had done to the backside of the Kingston Estate. He’d managed to hire folks to clear a lot of the larger bushes and shrubbery. He’d even cut down a few trees which made the property much less of a security nightmare than when he’d first started.
There were less places to hide and a lot more open spaces that anyone would notice an intruder. She made her way to the sliding glass door, ignoring the chill along the back of her neck at seeing it wide open. Mrs. Kingston’s voice floated toward her as she stepped through the open door and as she went to slide the door shut, she froze.
“You will bring me the money. Tonight, Drake. Come alone. That is the deal. If you break the deal, your involvement in the shipment of illegal firearms will be front page news tomorrow morning. Is that understood?”
Oh fuck. Was this a joke? Some kind of mix-up? She wasn’t seriously hearing Diane blackmailing her own husband was she? A husband who was shipping illegal firearms? No. This was wrong. Nothing like this could be happening. She had to get Blaze. She had to do something!
“I won’t touch your children, if you bring all of the money tonight. If anything gets fucked up, there will be consequences then. Do you understand me? Do you?”
Diane yelled her last words and Brandi jumped, knocking into the Royal Albert vase she’d gotten Diane last year as a Christmas present. The vase wobbled back and forth, tilting slightly, and she quickly reached out to steady it before it fell to the ground. Before Mrs. Kingston knew she was in the house.
“Stop, Brandi. Right there. Don’t move another inch or I will blow your fucking head off.”
Brandi met Mrs. Kingston’s eyes and seeing her gun, she removed her hands from the vase, just as she questioned why she hadn’t tried retrieving her gun from her bra holster. She wore it in her bra almost half the time, enough for it to become a second skin and the moment she could’ve used it the most, she’d worried about the vase. Thank her father for that. The vase fell anyway, the piercing sound brought back the memory of when she was ten years old and she’d broken one of her mother’s teacups. Don’t move, her mother had warned. She’d moved out of fear of being swatted on the ass by her father who stood shaking his head in the doorway. Barefooted, she’d sliced her foot good enough to land a visit to the emergency room.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Brandi vowed. She was absorbed in guilt over breaking the glass and even though her brain was screaming for her to run to Blaze, she couldn’t move. Her feet were glued to the floor, the white vase lay in hundreds of pieces around her. The tiny pink flowers painted onto the white shards of glass laughed at her, making her think that there was happiness outside, in the backyard where pretty flowers bloomed in the sun. A place that was safe from crazy people. A place Blaze had taken great care in redesigning the landscape so an outsider wouldn’t harm the Kingstons. Blaze. Her Blaze. Why hadn’t he come with her? Surely, two would have been better than one person, right?
“Your father always told me you had an uncanny ability to show up where you weren’t expected. I always brushed it off, but the hell if he wasn’t spot on.”
“My father? Why would you bring my father into this? What are you doing, Diane? This makes no sense.”
Diane crept towards her. With her gun firmly gripped in her hand, she kept a steady aim on Brandi.
“Drake is an asshole, Brandi. You and I both know he’s a womanizer. He is a master of manipulation and I am sick and tired of being the good wife. I’m done with him.”
“Pretending to be the good wife, you mean?”
“Don’t be smart. He hits on every piece of ass he sees. And you know what, women line up to give it to him. Always have, always will. You know why? Money. That’s why. His position at Global Electronics gets women into his bed every time. He’s hit on you, hasn’t he?”
Brandi didn’t respond.
“Hasn’t he? Answer me!”
“Yes. He has. Only like twice or something. But what are you doing? I still don’t understand what my father has anything to do with this. You’re blackmailing Drake for money? Threatening to kill your own children so he’ll pay you? Aren’t you entitled to any of this?” She gestured with her hand.
“Your father and I go way back. Way, way back. You’d be delighted to know how much I helped him the first time around. I was lucky enough, no one ever suspected I was involved when Freddie and his band of brothers kidnapped you. But Kurt and I have stayed in close contact with one another since then, even though he’s in prison.”
“Are you saying you were part of my kidnapping? With my father? This is sick, Diane. Coming from you, Miss Hoity Toity, I’m shocked. Had no idea you went slumming.”
“Shut up, Brandi! Your father actually loves me. Just me! He doesn’t want another woman, only me. He’s due to get out of prison in less than a year. We plan on being together then. I’m done talking now, Brandi. Move away from the door. Now!”
“I am. Don’t shoot me. I’m moving away. I’m sorry. I’m,” she fumbled with her words, “I’m just in shock that this whole time, you’ve been hiding who you truly are. I liked you Diane. I really thought you were a good mom and a nice lady.”
“I’m still a good mom!”
“No. You aren’t. Good mothers would never, ever do this to their children.”
Mrs. Kingston rolled her eyes, “Get a move on it, Brandi.”
Brandi tried avoiding the glass shards but a few of them crunched under her feet as she couldn’t step over the entire mess.
“Good. Just like that. Keep your arms out and your hands where I can see them. Go! Out to the garage. You and I are going for a little ride. Go, Brandi!”
“Geez, I am! Can you put the gun down, at least? You’re making me nervous. Do you even know how to operate a gun, Diane? Or is this all for show? To scare me?”
“Shut up, Brandi! Move! Now!”
The barrel of the gun stuck into Brandi’s back and she tried not to close her eyes as she stumbled over one of the kid’s backpacks. The children!
“Where are the kids?”
“The children are fine. They’re with my mother. Honestly, did you really think I would kill them, Brandi? Use your brain.”
She was using her brain. How could she not ever have noticed how annoying Diane’s voice was? It was nails on a chalkboard and she’d never noticed? What was wrong with her?
“In the trunk.”
“What? No. No way! Don’t put me in the trunk, please. I can’t be in there. I’ll get claustrophobic! I’ll, I’ll…I’ll die in there!”
“Oh for God’s sake! Get in the trunk!”
Brandi hitched her leg over the edge of the trunk and pulled her body inside. At first she sat there, unwilling to lay down inside, knowing full well her demons would come the second she was locked inside the darkness. She tried buying more time. Her brain raced almost as fast as her heart, trying to think of things to ask, to get her talking just like she watched in the last couple of movies she and Blaze had watched in the past few weeks.
“You’re never going to get away with this. The security cameras have already caught everything. Blaze is expecting me back at the house any second. He’s going to miss me when I don’t come back.” Right? He would notice, wouldn’t he? He was so astute, attentive with everything else in his life, surly he would notice she had only gone to grab her phone and she should’ve been right back. He would notice…wouldn’t he?
“I know how the security feeds work, honey. Who do you think helped recommend them when they were installed? Your dad and I have the security system down pat, even though he’s on the inside. I see him regularly. He asked about you the last time I was there, in fact.”
Don’t be baited. Don’t let her do this to you. You’ve come a long way, girl.
“You know what he told me about you?”
“I don’t care! Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”
“Sure you do. You know he still thinks about you every day. Says you’re still his ‘ugly duckling’.”
Brandi’s stomach roiled, she was going to puke. Compound that with the fact that Diane wanted to lock her in the trunk. She couldn’t do it. Bile rose in her throat.
“Lay down.” She shoved the gun toward Brandi’s face, gesturing for her to get down into the vehicle.
“I can’t. I’m gonna be sick.”
“You’re kidding. Throw up all over yourself. I don’t care. But, get down! Now! This dance has gone on long enough.”
Brandi half lunged, half jumped from the trunk, knocking her and Diane to the floor. Crack! Her knees hit the concrete floor, jarring her bones to the base of her skull. Diane was miraculously already shoving Brandi off her, trying to scramble for her lost gun.
Brandi glanced around frantically, searching for the gun. Drawing up on her feet, she gave up, realizing her best chance to get out of there alive was to run like hell. As he flew past Diane, she pulled at her shirt trying to unbuckle the small button that held her gun secure, simultaneously tripping over Dakota’s pink plastic tricycle, only to catch herself from falling by steadying herself on the edge of Diane’s car.
Go, go, go. That was the only thing she could hear. She didn’t know if Diane was behind her, if she found the gun, and she didn’t care. She had to get the hell out of the garage. She lunged herself up the steps, ignoring the blistering pain in both of her knees as her feet landed on the first step. She skipped the middle step and threw herself into the door.
Diane grabbed onto her ankle before she could make it all the way through the door and she fell to the ground. She kicked behind her with all her might, grasping at the tile floor of the mud room, desperation flowing through her body like blood. Go! Go! She kicked behind her and clawed at the floor trying desperately to pull herself away from Diane, at least hoping to gain a few feet of space between them.
Both women were shouting and screaming at each other, but Brandi couldn’t make heads nor tails of what either one of them were actually saying. The metallic taste of blood settled onto her tongue and with a final pull and push, she hauled herself to her feet and was able to gain some solid ground.
She turned then, seeing that Diane still carried the small handgun in her left hand and Brandi couldn’t figure out how the woman had not only found it out in the garage so quickly but how she hadn’t been able to kick it out of her hand with all the flailing around they’d both done. By this time, Diane was on her feet as well and Brandi turned the corner, making a beeline to the back door, hoping Diane wasn’t crazy enough to shoot her.
That’s when she saw Blaze.
“Stop! Brandi, right there. Don’t move.” The unmistakable cocking of the gun had Brandi sliding to a stop before she was half way to Blaze.
“Don’t move, Blaze. She’ll shoot. She’s crazy. She’s trying to blackmail Drake into giving her money.”
“Shut up, Brandi!”
Brandi hunched over, finally able to pop the button that held the gun in place as she clenched her eyes shut in the process, fully expecting to be blown to pieces from behind but when nothing happened, she slowly opened her eyes.
“It’s you. Ahh, makes all the pieces of the puzzle fit together now. I couldn’t quite place my finger on who was blackmailing him. Good job, Mrs. Kingston. Well played.”
“What? Blaze what are you talking about? You knew about this?”
Diane’s high-pitched laugh sent shivers down Brandi’s spine, “How did you know someone was blackmailing him?”
Brandi watched Blaze and she suddenly began to wonder if she really knew him at all. He wasn’t acting like himself. His tight body language, the way he wouldn’t look her directly in the eye while he spoke to Diane, had her questioning who he was. Was he not the man she’d come to love? What was he hiding?
“I heard him on the phone. Why don’t you put the gun down and we’ll talk about what we know – swap stories. I know you have some information on him that I’d like to have.”
“Bullshit. No! Don’t use your looks to try and sweet talk me. I’m not giving in; I’m not letting you guys have all the fun.” She thrust her arms toward Blaze, the gun wobbling slightly in her hands.
“I will kill you both before I give up and you’re first.” She straightened her arms, the gun no longer wobbling left to right and before Brandi could make any sense of what she herself was doing, she was running toward Blaze gun in hand, trying to block him from being Diane’s target.
“Noooooo!” Pain sliced through her shoulder as she sailed through the air. The echoing of the gun ripped through her entire being as she landed face first onto the travertine tile. Still thinking about Blaze, she managed to free the gun as adrenaline pumped through her body. Quickly, she turned and took a shot at Diane. At that moment, all she felt was the tip of Blaze’s shoe as it struck her on the cheek.
“ATF, you’re under arrest…”
Brandi’s mind fell in and out of a state of consciousness, she could hear Blaze’s deep voice, mumbling from a far-off distance and screams echoed off the windows and cavernous space of the living room, but she didn’t know exactly what was going on.
Suddenly the pain in her shoulder became unbearable as a heavy weight pressed down onto her.
“Heavy bleeding. Yeah. No, she’s fading in and out.”
Blaze. She could hear him but she couldn’t see him. Who was he talking to?
“Hurry up. The code is 97563. Yes, I’m pressing down on the wound. Brandi? Brandi? Open your eyes! Can you hear me?”
Why was he yelling? He didn’t have to yell right in her ear. She tried moving away.
“Don’t move. Don’t move, Brandi. The ambulance is on their way. I can’t believe you jumped in front of a bullet. What were you thinking?”
She didn’t want him to get killed.