All or Nothing: A Trust No One Novel (8 page)

“So, the first family didn’t die or go missing on your watch?” Her lips curved in a teasing grin.

The intensity in his expression made her breath catch. “I’m good at what I do. No one gets hurt on my watch.”

His eyes held hers until she forced herself to look away, searching for another topic. “Do you have family?”

“My parents live in Arizona. I talk to them at Christmas, but that’s about it.”

She frowned. Sounded like her and her father. No need to dwell on that.

“Siblings?”

“Only child.”

“Wife? Kids?”

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

“As a rule, women have a problem with my profession and the lifestyle that goes with it.”

“Uh-huh, but you didn’t answer my question.”

Joe’s expression went blank. Then he scowled and, for a moment, pain reflected in his eyes. “I was engaged once.”

“Get cold feet?”

He continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “Her name was Jenny. We grew up together. When I went off to Afghanistan, she decided to do something equally foolish. She became a U.S. Deputy Marshal. A week before our wedding, she took a bullet protecting some sleazeball witness in a racketeering trial. Died instantly.”

“I’m so sorry, Joe.” Cara groaned. She shouldn’t have let it get so personal. Why didn’t he just tell her to mind her own business? If only she could take away the hurt caused by her careless probing. He stared out the window for so long she felt compelled to reach out and touch his arm.

He shrugged his broad shoulders as though shaking off the bad memories. “Ancient history. Now it’s my turn.” He rushed on without waiting for her to agree. “How did you get hooked up with David Dennelli?”

“No, that’s not open for discussion.” She turned away from him. “Pick a different topic.”

“I answered all
your
questions, and some of them were pretty damn hard. You owe me.” He touched her chin and turned her back from the window to face him.

“I don’t want to talk about him.”

“What’s the big deal? If you get some of that off your chest, Dennelli won’t have all the power anymore. Any shrink will tell you that.”

Was that possible? Could the specter of David be banished just by giving voice to his cruelty? She watched Joe, not sure she believed him. Not sure how much she should tell.

“Not to mention, it would go a long ways toward eliminating our trust issues.” He smiled. “Talking about this could catapult us right up to
friend
status.”

In spite of herself, she laughed. “Let’s not get carried away.”

He grasped her hand comfortably in his. Even as the warmth of his touch reassured her, she stared at him in surprise. For the first time since they’d met, the walls she’d built around herself began to crack, and she wasn’t entirely sure that was a good thing.

“Okay, but you drive, or fly, or whatever it is you do. I don’t want to see your face, and I especially don’t want to see you feeling sorry for me.”

“You got it.” He saluted and turned to face the front.

Cara was glad he kept her hand tucked within his. She needed his strength and warmth. Even with it, cold settled in her heart.

“I met David at Oregon State four years ago. He was a journalism student on the debate team and spent most of his time studying, alone. I was just the opposite. College was a time for me to kick up my heels and experience the life I thought I’d missed out on. If there was a party, I was there. A sporting event of any kind, I was in the front row. David didn’t even like sports.

“We met in a bar one night and hit it off. We both liked to have a few beers. That’s about the only thing we had in common. God, he was different back then.” Cara stopped to swallow the lump in her throat. “I fell in love. I could be the poster child for the Love Is Blind campaign, but deep down I knew there was something wrong. He never wanted to go anywhere with my friends or meet my family. After a while, he didn’t want me to spend time with them either. He said if I really loved him, I didn’t need anyone else. I thought he just wanted to spend more time alone with me… that maybe he was a little intimidated by my hard-partying friends. Anyway, that’s what I told myself.

“Then my friends stopped calling, and things went from bad to worse. David got upset if I wasn’t home when he called or if I was late meeting him. I convinced myself he was just worried about me. How could I have been so stupid?” She turned away, swiping impatiently at the angry tears that rolled down her cheeks.

Joe squeezed her hand. “Don’t beat yourself up. You didn’t know. When you’re close to someone, it’s hard. He didn’t want your friends around because they might have had enough pull to make you see what he was doing. He didn’t want you getting away before he sprang his trap.” Joe’s voice was calm and soothing, not a hint of condemnation.

“The thing is, I really loved him. I rationalized every awful thing he did and then excused him for it. How sick is that?”

“You can’t blame yourself, Cara. These jerks… they’ve got it down to an art. You might have seen only what you wanted to see, but he’s the one who lied and cheated… and worse, unless I miss my guess. Did you know about his family?”

“He told me his father had ties to the Chicago Mafia and was into prostitution and drugs. The whole thing made him sick, and he didn’t have anything to do with his family anymore. That’s what he said, and I believed him. There was no reason not to. Then he asked me to marry him and told me his family wanted us to have the wedding at their estate. He said if we did, they’d be satisfied, and then we could go away and lead the lives we wanted.

“So, we got married there, moved onto the estate that very day… and never left. When I objected, he got mad. It wasn’t long before he started hitting me.” Cara paused, deciding how much of the story to leave out. “Six months after the wedding, he broke my wrist and three ribs, and I ended up in the hospital. I called the cops, but they wouldn’t do anything. They were afraid of him too.”

“His family probably paid them off.”

“I left him, but… he forced me to go home. From then on, my life was hell. I did everything I could think of to keep from making him angry, but he’d have a few drinks or a bad day, and… I lost track of the number of times I tried to run. There was no one I could turn to for help. He always found me, and he always made sure I was sorry.” Tears ran down her face.

“I’ve got an empty shoulder here, if you want. Doesn’t mean I’m feeling sorry.” He tugged on her hand and patted his shoulder.

Cara laughed, a choking sound. She wiped her face and stared out the window at the blue sky and the Rocky Mountain range below until she regained control.

“What about your brother? Did you ask him for help?” A slight edge to his voice made her glance at him.

“Brian would have done anything for me. At least, that’s what I thought, but I didn’t want him going up against David. He said he couldn’t stand doing nothing, so he signed me up for self-defense classes. That just got me in more trouble. The next time David hit me, I broke his little finger.” Her voice cracked, and she paused.

“That’s when he cut you?” Joe’s voice contained anger.

She nodded. “That’s when I made up my mind I’d kill him. Brian talked me out of it, and he went to see David. I don’t know what was said, but David agreed to an uncontested divorce as long as all I took was the clothes on my back. I never really believed he’d let me go. Not alive anyway. So, when the threatening notes and phone calls started, I wasn’t really surprised. I’ve spent the last six months looking over my shoulder. I’m sure he gets some kind of perverse pleasure out of knowing I’m always afraid. So far he’s kept his distance, and I’ve tried to get on with my life. I got an apartment, and things were going pretty well… until you came along.” Again she laughed, hoping to lighten the mood.

Joe sat stiffly, one hand holding hers a little too hard, the other white-knuckled on the controls. His jaw was set in a hard line.

“You’re not feeling sorry for me, are you?”

He took a deep breath and his gaze locked on hers. “Men like Dennelli shouldn’t take up space on the planet. I’m going to fix that.” He turned to face the front again. “We’re still about an hour out. You should try to sleep.” He placed her hand in her lap.

Cara stared at him in shock. What just happened? He couldn’t be serious. “Promise me you won’t get involved with David.” Panic bled through into her voice, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t told him her life story so he could fix things. It had nothing to do with him. How dare he change the subject? Did he think she’d go blindly along with anything he said? She wouldn’t let Joe, or anyone else, get hurt because of her.

He stared straight ahead, but a muscle in his jaw ticked.

“You don’t understand how dangerous he is. He won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“Your lack of faith in me is somewhat disturbing.”

“Please, Joe, promise me.”

“I promise he’ll be sorry he ever laid a hand on you.”

“Damn it. This is
my
problem. I’ll take care of it.”

“Like you’ve taken care of it up till now?”

His scornful laugh stunned Cara. What in the hell did he expect? She’d done everything she could to get out of that relationship. She didn’t tell him half, never would, what she suffered for her futile attempts to flee. Most days she was just grateful to be alive.

“You bastard. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I won’t get the job done, but at least no one else will die in my place.”

“Why are you so eager to commit suicide?” He shook his head. “I swear you’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”

“Well, lucky for you, I won’t be around long.” She stiffened her spine and glared at him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’m going home as soon as we land.” It was a lie, of course. She couldn’t go home, but she’d find someplace to hide where her presence wasn’t a threat to anyone, including this stranger with a God complex who apparently thought he could solve all her problems.

He swore softly, and a strained silence engulfed the cockpit. Evidently, he was done talking. Cara frowned and turned to the window. She’d made the right decision. No more confessions. No more trust. She’d allowed the tiniest crack to form in her armor, and it had blown up in her face. She’d find someplace where she could be alone. He’d be relieved with her gone, and she certainly didn’t need him. Suddenly, loneliness renewed its icy grip on her heart and stole her strength. She took a deep breath, hoping the jerk beside her wouldn’t notice the way she trembled.

“You’re not leaving, Cara.” His harsh words broke the silence.

She looked at him in disbelief. “Seriously? You think you can keep me here against my will?”

“I was hoping you’d enjoy the hospitality of my home, but if you prefer house arrest, I can arrange that.”

“Uh-oh! Careful, Joe. Your true colors are showing. You’re not so different from David after all.”

For an instant, pain flickered in his eyes, but he blinked it away and assumed a scornful expression. “Didn’t I tell you?” A mirthless smile twisted his lips. “I’m ten times worse than Dennelli.”

Chapter Seven

Saturday, 5:05 pm

T
HE SUN DIPPED
below the horizon, and shadows swallowed the small airstrip in the Flathead Valley. Goose bumps formed as they drew closer to their cold and inhospitable destination. Joe landed with only a couple of bumps marring an otherwise perfect maneuver. Cara looked out the cockpit window. A black and silver Hummer, its lights on, parked next to the single hangar. The hangar doors were open and the building was lit from within. A bit of warmth chinked away at her anxiety, but it wasn’t enough. It was only a mirage of welcome.

He taxied the plane inside the hangar, cut the engine, and hopped out. Cara followed, but as she hurried past him, he gripped her arm. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Go over there and get in the SUV. I don’t want to embarrass you in front of my men, but I will if you force me.”

She yanked her arm from his grasp and glared until he moved on. “Damn Charlie to hell.”

He disappeared around the side of the airplane.

Clambering back into the cockpit, she reached behind the seat and pulled out her bags.

A smiling young man, with reddish hair and green eyes, appeared at her elbow when she stepped down onto the concrete floor. “Let me get those.” He took the bags and climbed into the plane for Joe’s bag. “I’m Tyler Whitlock. Follow me.” He brushed past her, out through the hangar doors, and deposited the bags in the rear of the Hummer.

“I’m Cara.” In spite of the dread that lay like a brick in her stomach, his cheerfulness was contagious and she couldn’t help returning his smile.

Tyler shook her hand and winked. “I know. Joe called ahead.”

Joe locked up the hangar and climbed into the driver’s seat. Tyler opened the front passenger door for her and got in the back. “Glad you’re home, Joe. Everybody gets a little nervous when you disappear for more than a day. Irene is about to kick us all out, and Walker—damn, Joe—he stirs up some new trouble every day.” Tyler kept up a running conversation from the backseat.

“Did you get what I asked for, Ty?” Joe’s voice was gruff, but Tyler didn’t seem to notice.

“Sure did. I’m monitoring the situation. Mind telling me what’s going on? Are we going into the organized crime business?” He sounded excited, like a child with a new toy.

Cara stiffened. Was he talking about David? Joe must have set Tyler to the task of learning everything there was to know about her ex-husband. Damn him. Why couldn’t he just leave it alone?

Joe looked straight ahead, his hands gripped the steering wheel. His mood formed a dark cloud over them. Tyler must have noticed because he finally stopped talking.

They rounded a corner at the base of a hill. The house was a huge three-story, contemporary-style home, surrounded by green lawns, shrubs, and trees. The property beyond the house and yard was vast, a hundred acres Joe had told her, and covered with bunch grass, sand, and sagebrush. On the north side, toward the mountains, a black wall of timber formed a natural barrier. Within walking distance to the east, a huge lake lapped at a tree-lined shore and spread out for miles.