“Don’t do this.”
He shakes his head slightly.
“She’s my sister, Declan. You’ve seen how heartbroken I’ve been, how worried I’ve been about her. I forgive you for what you’ve done to me. But if you care for me even the tiniest bit, I’m pleading with you to let her go.”
The sound of wood vibrating—did Kylie just kick the bedpost?—reminds me we’re not alone. “You better shoot me now, Declan. What exactly did this asshole do to you?”
“He loved me.”
“He what?” Kylie screeches.
“Stop, Madelyn. We don’t have time for this,” he interrupts, his tone full of warning.
“I’m going to rip your balls off your body and crush them beneath my heel. He fucked you, you mean?”
Yeah, that too. “No. He loves me.”
The room grows quiet enough you could hear a pin drop. “Madelyn, honey. There’s a difference between sex and loving someone. He used you—to get to me.”
“Jesus Christ, Kylie. Shut the fuck up.”
“Oh, isn’t this grand? Better shoot me now, Declan.”
Something inside me snaps. I act before I think, and raising the pistol in the air, I shoot a bullet into the ceiling. Pieces of plaster rain down on us. But . . . it’s worth it.
Kylie makes a choking sound from behind me.
Declan looks shocked.
But not as shocked as from what I do next. I wave the gun at him. “Put those pistols away or I’ll shoot you.”
“God, no, Madelyn. Don’t threaten him. You have no idea who you’re dealing with. Let me tell you a little story. About a dog he brought back to the Ranch during his first training camp.”
“Shut up, Kylie.”
“A cute mutt, a cocker spaniel–poodle mix. A cocker poodle, Jaxson said.”
“This place is surrounded by men. They’ll come to investigate and check in on Franco.”
“The pup had the loving nature of a spaniel and the attitude of a poodle. But Declan loved that thing. Fed it. Played with it. Let it sleep by his bed.”
“Tell her what happened to the dog.”
Kylie scowls.
I frown. “What happened to it?”
Silence. Oh my God, silence. No. I think about Pudding, how Declan let that puppy slobber all over his face. Kylie’s wrong about him. I’ve seen his heart hidden beneath that don’t-fuck-with-me exterior. “Let me tell you a story, Kylie. About a man who stopped three men from hurting me. About a man who sat outside our trailer . . . to protect me. He’s not the man you think he is. He didn’t hurt that dog. He loved that dog—I know it here.” I place my hand over my heart. “Think, Kylie. Why a man who pretends he doesn’t care would go to so much trouble for me?”
“Say good-bye to your sister, Madelyn.”
“If you break your promise, I’ll never forgive you. I’ll—” My voice wobbles. “—hate you forever.”
Our eyes collide. And using every ounce of strength I possess, I let mine fill with love. My love . . . for him.
And his reaction is priceless. It’s like I took a club and knocked him over the head. Cracked that big, thick, impenetrable skull of his right open. Exposing the real man inside. The stubbornness in his green eyes gives way to something else. Passion. Possessiveness. Love.
He tucks his guns away, one in his back pocket and one in the waist of his pants. Before I can guess his intentions, his arm shoots out and he grabs me, lifts me up and over the bodies, and sets me gently on the bed. Completely ignoring Kylie, he kneels before me, steadying my thigh with his hand while he assesses the bullet wound. Pulling the corner of the bedsheet closer, he dabs at the bright patch of blood on my thigh as he speaks. “Hayden ordered me to get rid of the dog. When I hesitated, he took the mutt away himself.”
“Jesus. You didn’t kill it?” Kylie asks.
“Fuck no.”
“That manipulative bastard said you did.”
“Why did Jaxson tell you that goddamn story?” Declan grumbles, then shakes his head and mutters, “Go.”
I stare at Declan like it’s the last time I’ll see him. Maybe it is, if what he’s offering rings true. Escape. He’s letting us escape.
“ You’ve been given a direct order . . .” Kylie scoffs.
Declan nods. “I promised.”
“You’ve lost your mind completely, haven’t you? Or should I say, your heart?”
“Jesus, do I have to open the door and shoo you out? Fucking go, before I change my mind.”
I release the long rush of air that’s been trapped inside my lungs. Reaching for him, I cup my hands lightly around his cheeks and lift his head. “So this is good-bye. Thank you, Declan.” Leaning down, I kiss him gently on the lips, then murmur in his ear for him alone. “I love you.”
“Come on, Madelyn. We’ll climb down the trellis.”
“No,” Declan snaps. “She stays with me.”
I stiffen. What?
“No fucking way,” Kylie snaps back.
“She’s safer with me.”
I eye the pistol I dropped on the floor. Wishing I still held it in my hand. Desperately needing to fire another shot into the ceiling. It’s a blessing I am who I am, that I don’t feel the need to get into a pissing contest or flex my muscles or constantly be at war.
“Stop it,” I say. “The decision’s mine to make.”
And if the earth moved at the exact moment the room falls silent, I couldn’t have been more surprised.
“You don’t understand, Madelyn. By letting me go, he’ll be held accountable to Hayden for breaking a direct order.”
Hayden. I suddenly remember his note.
“God, it’s a game to him. Like a skilled chess master, managing his pawns, maneuvering his king and queen, me the lucky pawn. He anticipated this would happen. That Kylie’d escape. That you’d both be alive and here with me. None of us had any control over this . . . except him.”
“Who Madelyn?” Kylie chokes out, her body tense and her eyes wild.
“Fucking Hayden. That’s who,” Declan growls. Yeah, now they get it. Now they understand how it feels to be in the dark. Manipulated. Played. Used, and they didn’t even know it.
Declan’s fingers tighten over my calf.
“He’s here?” Kylie hisses. “Oh my God. We’ve got to go.”
“No. He’s gone. He brought me here then gave me to Franco. ‘To make amends,’ he told him and his men. To gain their trust in him. Except Franco’s dead . . .”
“Let me get this straight. Hayden knew I was here?”
“As well as Declan.”
I smile. Watch what a man deeply in love will do for his woman.
They both scowl.
“He said I’m about to find out that you’re okay.” Thank God. Because I love my sister. And, Heaven help me, I love the man staring at me like I’ve grown two heads. “He left you a note.”
I swear, Kylie turns three shades of white as I withdraw the folded message from my sweatshirt pocket and offer it to her.
“Read it aloud,” Declan orders.
“Fine.” Kylie quickly unfolds the paper, then reads: