Risky Obsession (Wolf Security #3)

34. Lacey

CHAPTER 34

Lacey

I woke with my limbs tangled in the sheets and every muscle in my body aching. Squinting into the darkness, I tried to work out where I was. When the room rocked, I remembered I was on Archer’s yacht. The gentle sway of the boat was a stark contrast to how my battered body felt.

The pillow was empty on the other side of the massive bed. Did Kane come to bed with me last night? I'd been so exhausted, and just a tad drunk by the time I’d dragged my body to bed last night alone that I couldn’t recall him coming in after me.

Fighting the pounding in my head, I rolled toward his side. The sheets were still crinkled, and the pillows still had a lingering scent of him. He must have slipped away while I was asleep.

A small smile tugged at my lips. He had slept with me.

I just wished I could remember it.

“Damn it,” I muttered, pushing myself upright. My head throbbed like a freight train, and my stomach churned.

How much did we drink?

I pressed a button on the bedside table to open the blinds, and sunlight streamed in so brightly, I had to squint against the glare.

Jesus. What time is it?

I flicked the sheet off my legs, and my gaze snagged on the stitches near my right knee. After everything I’d been through, it was surprising they were still intact. Maybe the salt water from yesterday was good for the wound.

The plush carpet was like slippers beneath my feet as I crossed the room to the bathroom. In the shower, the warm cascade bombarded my skin, and I felt every bruise on my body. The pounding in my head screamed for some painkillers.

How did Kane get up so early? He drank much more than me.

I toweled off, and after using the lovely lotions again, I pulled on a pair of sweatpants that Rosalina had given to me and rolled up the hems to make them fit, and pulled on a T-shirt.

I strolled along the passageway and following the sounds of clattering dishes and upbeat music, I headed toward the kitchen.

I entered the main entertaining area. Sunshine blazed in through a row of windows that captured the stunning view across the water to the orange-colored cliffs that hid a sinister Nazi secret.

Rosalina stood behind the counter and hummed to the music as she washed the dishes.

Squinting against the glare, I strolled toward her. “Morning.”

“Good morning.” She beamed a beautiful smile. “You had a good sleep-in. Take a seat.”

Trying to make my eyes and my brain play nice with each other, I pulled out a stool and sat on the other side of the bench. “What time is it?”

“Nearly ten o’clock.”

“Ten o’clock! Jeez.”

“After what you’ve been through, it’s a wonder you didn’t sleep for a week.” She wiped her hands on a dishcloth. “You want coffee?”

“Yes, please, and do you have any painkillers? I have a thumping headache.”

“Of course. I’ll make you some breakfast. How about scrambled eggs on toast?”

“Thank you. That would be lovely.”

The music changed to a catchy tune that was familiar, however the lyrics were in Italian.

“Here you go.” She slid a bottle of pills and a coffee mug toward me with a design that looked like a koala was hugging the cup.

The rich aroma of the coffee filled my nostrils as I washed down two of the pills.

As she pulled a heavy-based pan from a drawer and placed it onto the hotplate, I asked, “Where are the guys?”

She cracked two eggs into a bowl and attacked them with a fork. “They left a couple of hours ago.”

“To go where?”

She scrunched her nose. “They went back to the submarine pens.” She poured the eggs into the pan. “You want spinach and feta in your eggs?”

“Oh, um, sure. Don’t go to any trouble.”

“Cooking is never trouble. It’s my therapy. I was Archer’s chef. That’s how we met.”

“Wow. He’s lucky. I can barely cook toast.” I sipped my coffee, hoping the caffeine and pills did their work on my headache soon. “So, what are the guys doing over there?”

“Retrieving some of those gold bars.”

“They can’t keep the gold.”

“They know that. But it was all they talked about while they ate breakfast. When it comes to treasure, there’s no stopping Archer trying to get his hands on it. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Kane should have woken me.”

“He said you were fast asleep.” Her eyes held a mixture of concern and understanding. “Don’t worry about Kane and Archer. They’ve been through enough trouble to look out for each other.”

She pushed a plate toward me with two pieces of toast topped with scrambled eggs dotted with cubes of feta and spinach leaves.

“Thank you.” Feeling a mix of irritation and guilt that I wasn’t there helping Kane and Archer, I ate a mouthful of eggs. “Oh yum, this is delicious.”

“Good. Oh, by the way, Aria rang. She’s already on her way and will land in Berlin at one o’clock.”

I blinked at her. “As in three hours away?”

She chuckled. “Yes. She didn’t waste any time. Apparently, she has access to a private jet.”

I need to get my shit together.

I drank more coffee. “Do you know who is coming with her? ”

Rosalina placed the frying pan she’d used into the dishwater. “I don’t know their names, but she has three other people with her. Which is lucky because Archer can only fit five people in his helicopter.”

I frowned. “Is Archer picking them up?”

“Yes.” She scrubbed the pan and put it on the drainer beside the sink. “It’s not a long flight, so they should be here about two thirty.”

“Wow, that’s quick.” I took a bite of the toast and appreciated the lashing of butter. “Do you know if anyone checked on Cooper this morning?”

Rosalina shook her head. “I think we should give him something to eat, don’t you? Maybe some toast.”

I nodded.

Rosalina strode to the large pantry.

I took another sip of coffee, and it burned its way down my throat. After all the screaming for help I did yesterday, it was a wonder I could talk at all.

I finished the last of my breakfast and as I drained my coffee mug, Rosalina placed buttered toast onto a dinner plate. She put that onto a tray with jars of jam and Vegemite and pulled a knife from the drawer.

“He can’t have a knife, Rosalina.”

“Oh, of course.” She replaced the knife with a teaspoon and added a serviette. “The key to the room he’s in is in that bowl.” She nodded toward the end of the bench.

I fished a key attached to a miniature gold anchor from the pretty aquamarine bowl. “This one?”

“That’s it.” With Rosalina carrying the tray, I led the way below decks, toward the Daydream room where Cooper had been secured last night.

With every step, my body reminded me that I’d been through hell, and my mind whirled with questions I needed answers to . . . like where the hell was Grant Hughes.

“It’s the next door on the right,” Rosalina said, behind me.

I stopped at the door with a gold plaque labeled Daydream Suite. “Stay back from him, okay?”

She nodded, showing absolutely no fear.

Either she had no comprehension of how evil Cooper was, or Cooper wasn’t their first captive onboard Evangeline’s Sister .

Maybe it was both.

I unlocked the door and stepped into the dimly lit room. I turned on the lights and pressed a button to open the blinds. As sunlight streamed onto the untouched bed, I strode to the bathroom doorway.

Cooper was on the tile floor, with one wrist handcuffed to the drainpipe under the sink. Dried blood painted a gruesome stain from his ear, and more dried blood spread from his nose down his chin. His left eye was swollen shut with an enormous purple bruise, and a dark red welt crossed his neck from my pipe attack on his throat yesterday.

I was lucky I didn’t crush his larynx.

“We've brought you something to eat,” I said.

“About damn time,” he growled. His bloodshot eyes filled with hatred. “Starving me won’t make me talk.”

“You don’t deserve anything, Cooper Apollo.” Fighting to control my rage, I took the plate of toast off Rosalina’s tray and placed it within his reach.

His eyes burned with hatred. “Go to hell. I should have fucking killed you.”

I nudged the plate closer with my foot. “Tell me about Grant Hughes.”

He released a bitter laugh. “You have no idea who you’re messing with.”

He tilted his head, and the overhead light caught in his left eye.

I frowned.

Damn, he looks familiar.

“I know you’re a murderer,” I said, “and you’re going to jail for a very long time.”

“You know nothing, Lacey Brooks.” His glare could carve ice.

The fact he knew my name didn’t scare me. What scared me was his connection to Grant Hughes. I searched for a hint of vulnerability in Cooper’s eyes, but there was nothing.

“You worked for Frank Morgan and now you’re working for Grant Hughes.”

He laughed, and the sound jolted a memory that raked fear up my spine. Cooper’s laughter sounded just like Grant Hughes’ laugh.

A breath caught in my throat. That’s it! “You’re related to Hughes,” I blurted.

He stiffened.

That was why he looked familiar. Grant had blond hair and brown eyes, but his eyebrows were ginger. That was what I’d missed. Grant had a wig on.

He and Cooper had to be about two years apart in age. Three at the most.

“I’m right, aren’t I? You’re Grant Hughes’ brother.” I took a guess.

His expression twisted like a coil under tension.

My heart pounded. It all made sense. That was how Cooper was connected to Frank Morgan . . . through his brother, who was Frank and Chui’s accountant.

The air in the room seemed to crackle as Cooper’s furious gaze bore into me. But I saw something else in his eyes too—fear.

I’m right! Holy shit. This is huge. Now we can work out who the hell Grant Hughes really is.

“Did your brother?—?”

He lunged at me and rammed his boot into my wounded leg with a vicious kick. Screaming as I tumbled sideways, the breakfast dish shot across the tiles and shattered, sending the toast flying.

He kicked me again. I stumbled on a shard of plate, lost my footing, and fell. My head cracked onto the side of the bathtub. A cry burst from my throat as I slumped to the floor.

“Lacey!” Rosalina shrieked.

I tried to blink away a darkness sweeping over my eyes.

With a guttural snarl, Cooper braced his feet on the wall and yanked the pipe he’d been handcuffed to from the wall.

Oh fuck! He must’ve undone the pipe.

“No!” I tried to yell but my mouth wouldn’t work. Tears blurred my eyes as I begged my arms to push me up from the floor.

“Lacey,” Rosalina screamed.

Cooper slid the other side of the handcuff off the pipe and grabbed a shard of the broken plate.

I tried to yell at Rosalina to run but my tongue felt like a massive sponge in my mouth. Panic surged through me, and my head swam as the room swayed around me. I flopped back onto the tiles.

Cooper was a blur of movement as he raced from the bathroom.

Rosalina screamed.

“No,” I croaked .

The room spun in dizzying circles, and I clawed at the bathtub, trying to stand.

“Come here, bitch,” Cooper shouted.

Rosalina screamed again.

I pushed off the bathtub, forcing my legs to move. The walls wobbled around me, and my legs were like rubber bands stumbling me out of the bathroom.

“No!” I croaked, clutching the doorframe. I shook my head, trying to shift the dizziness that swirled around me like a heat haze.

Across the bedroom, Cooper had his arm around Rosalina’s throat. He spun toward me, using Rosalina as a shield.

“Cooper, don’t.” Raising my hands, I forced my legs to stagger closer.

Rosalina clawed at the arm wrapped around her neck, terror etched across her features.

“Don’t move, or I’ll kill her.” He sliced the plate shard through the air, and the handcuff swung beneath his wrist.

My heart thundered in my ears. “Let her go, Cooper. Take me.”

I tried to stay calm despite my mind screaming at me.

“Start the fucking engine.” His voice was raw with rage.

I inched closer. “We can’t. We don’t have the keys.”

The room spun around me.

“Stay back.” He aimed the jagged edges of the plate dangerously close to Rosalina’s left eye.

Rosalina’s pupils flared wide, pleading with me.

“No! Don’t.” I raised my hands, trying to calm him. The damn walls seemed to wobble in and out as I stumbled sideways and fell onto my knees next to the bed.

Rosalina cried out as Cooper dragged her out the door.

A tidal wave of darkness threatened to pull me under.

“Let me go!” Rosalina shrieked.

Blinking through my haze, I used the bed to haul myself upright.

Fuck. Fuck.

I forced my legs to move.

Rosalina’s shriek bounced down the passageway. An enormous crash sounded like someone had smashed through a window.

My legs were like rubber as I chased after her. I burst into the entertaining area. Rosalina was on the floor, and Cooper was trying to lift her by her hair.

I raced forward, crunching over broken shards of glass.

“Let her go!” I said, struggling to find my voice.

He twisted toward me.

Rosalina gripped his wrist above her head.

“Get up!” he yelled at her.

Rosalina screamed as she was pulled to her feet. He hooked his arm around her neck.

“Please, Cooper,” I said, battling the throbbing pain in my head. “Let her go. Take me instead. I’ll help you.”

He dragged Rosalina backward.

My legs felt like Jell-O beneath me, and the walls tilted and swayed around me.

“Where are those other bastards?” Spittle dribbled down his chin.

“They’re not here. They went to get help.”

“Start the fucking engine,” he yelled so loud, the tendons in his neck bulged.

“We can’t,” I said, raising my hands again.

Out the window, Archer’s rubber raft headed toward the yacht. My heart launched to my throat. Kane was at Archer’s side, and they seemed to be laughing.

Shit. I couldn’t let Cooper see them. I had to keep him talking. Stepping back, I gave him space, hoping he would keep watching me.

“Cooper, listen to me. You were a good soldier. Frank Morgan used you.” I tried to keep my voice steady despite both vertigo and fear threatening to overwhelm me.

“You know nothing.” He tightened his grip on Rosalina’s neck.

She choked out a strangled cry, and her eyes flared wide with fear.

“Start the boat!” he screamed and pushed the plate shard into Rosalina’s temple. “Now!”

“We can’t. We don’t have the keys.” A pounding headache thumped behind my right eye from the blow to my head, and a dark fog edged into my focus.

“You’re lying.”

I shook my head. “None of this is your fault, Cooper. Frank blackmailed you into taking that gold from your team.” I hoped I got that right. “If you help us, we can help you.”

“Bullshit! You’re lying.”

Rosalina scraped her nails along the arm around her throat, but he didn’t loosen his grip.

“Cooper,” I whispered, desperation seeping into my voice. “Let me help you.”

“Give me the fucking keys!” he roared.

“Did Frank Morgan threaten to kill you or your brother? Is that why you did what you did?” I skated on thin ice, but I had to keep him talking.

His eyes darkened, and I knew I'd crossed a line.

“Or was it Chui? Did he do this to you?”

My heart pounded in my chest as the rubber raft slipped out of view from the window, aiming toward the back of the boat.

Cooper yanked Rosalina tighter, and as she screamed, her fingernails scraped red welts up his arm.

“Cooper! Let her go! She didn’t do anything. It’s me you want. I’m the one who hurt you.”

“Shut up. Just shut up.” He slashed the shard across Rosalina’s temple.

She released a terrifying scream as a bead of blood dribbled down her cheek.

“Cooper! No!” I yelled, hoping Kane and Archer would hear me. “We can work this out.”

Taking another step back, I tried to picture the items on the kitchen counter behind me. Was there a knife I could use?

His wild eyes darted left and right. “Fuck you! Start the boat, or I swear to God, I’ll kill her right here!”

Behind him, Archer and Kane raced down the stairs.

Cooper spun around and released a demonic roar.

Rosalina screamed.

I grabbed the heavy frying pan, charged at Cooper, and smashed it over his head. He crumpled to the floor like a cadaver, his limbs splayed out awkwardly.

The plate shard skittered across the floor, and Rosalina fell to her hands and knees.

Kane and Archer ran across the room .

Archer scooped Rosalina into his arms, dragging her away from Cooper.

But Cooper didn’t move. He stared at nothing.

Tears swam across my eyes as Kane hugged me to his chest. Agony cracked my heart in two as I pulled myself from his fierce grip. I leaned over Cooper and my fingers trembled as I felt for a pulse.

There was nothing.

“Oh my god.” A painful sob burst from my throat as guilt and horror crashed over me. “I killed him.”