“Learned it from a colleague of mine. Does the name Sampson ring any bells? From what he told me, I thought you’d put up more of a fight.” A smile tugged at the corners of Jed’s bloodied mouth.
Xavier clenched his fists at his sides, trying to get his anger under control. It had been so many years since he’d heard Sampson’s name, and he couldn’t believe he was hearing it now. The one man he had hoped he would never run into again. “Just go,” Xavier told him, voice low. “Nobody has to know you were ever here or that you’re working with Sampson. Just get out of here. You hear me?”
Jed chuckled, twirling the baton in his hand as he took a step closer.
Xavier’s eyes darted to the door, hoping no one else was going to walk in and get hurt. What if Sarah showed up looking for him, or worse yet, Hannah?
No, he had to stop this now. It was up to him to get Jed out of here before something worse happened. Even though his vision was blurry and his skull felt like it would split open at any moment, he had to fight back.
Jed had infiltrated the sanctuary with one purpose—to find out about Xavier. His weaknesses and vulnerabilities. This manhad known just where to strike him to make his mark, too. His experience was evident. He knew what he was doing.
And Xavier was a little out of practice. Not the best time to realize it, but he still had some fight in him. Especially when it came to protecting this place and his friends.
“All you have to do is tell me where it is,” Jed growled, his voice low and threatening. “And then, I’ll walk away from here. You’ll never have to deal with me or Sampson ever again. Isn’t that what you want?”
Xavier wished he could believe him. Hell, if he thought it would work like that, he would have handed it over a long time ago, but he knew it didn’t. He knew Sampson would never stop. He would never back off, never stop coming after him. He wouldn’t quit until he had what he wanted—and until he made Xavier pay for keeping it from him, too.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Xavier spat back at him.
A lie, and they both knew it. All the questions Xavier had asked himself about what was going on here and why it was happening were becoming clear. He was a target again, because of his past. Because of something he thought was over long ago.
But he should have known by now that his nightmares didn’t have a habit of going down without a fight. He had to take them on himself—and if that meant fighting back again, he would do it.
Jed shook his head, letting out a long, demonstrative sigh. “I was hoping you would play along,” he remarked.
Xavier leaned heavily against the dresser trying to steady himself. His head was spinning, and he was having a hard time keeping himself upright. The blow Jed had landed at the back of his head had been carefully crafted to render him helpless, a practiced move to immediately weaken his opponent. It was working, too. Xavier felt almost as weak as a newborn kitten.The other man had the perfect opportunity to take him out in his current state.
Jed quickly lifted the baton again and bought it down with a sharp strike on to Xavier’s shoulder. Xavier let out a gritted cry of pain, trying to swerve out of the way of the next one, but the other man was too quick—or Xavier was too slow—following with another strike to his other arm.
Excruciating pain radiated through Xavier’s entire system; he wasn’t used to taking this type of beating anymore. It had been so long since he had been in the midst of an active fight, and he was rusty.
Jed swept his legs out from under him, and Xavier managed to catch himself before he landed face-first on the floor. This man knew exactly how to disable someone and make it impossible for them to fight back. More than that, he realized, Jed had been shown the exact moves Xavier had been taught in his own training.
He wasn’t sure why he was just now realizing that fact, but Jed must have been trained by the CIA, just like he was. He knew the tricks of the trade, just like Xavier. How to expose and exploit weaknesses and then go in for the kill.
And he was willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted from Xavier, use any opportunity to his advantage to win. He took a step forward, crushing one of Xavier’s hands under his leather boot.
Xavier groaned in agony, ripping his hand back before his fingers snapped beneath the pressure. His whole body was consumed with fiery pain all at once, and he tried to pull himself upright again, but it was too late. Xavier had nothing left.
Jed stood above him, baton in one hand, bloodstained smile painted on his face. As he lifted the baton above his head once more, Xavier closed his eyes and braced himself for the next blow.
Chapter Twenty
Feeling as though she could walk on air, Hannah made her way down to Sarah’s office with a grin. She was planning to talk to Sarah about the new addition they wanted to add to the lodge to be able to provide more people with the therapy they needed. If there was anyone who would have some good ideas for how to best expand their therapy department, it would her.
And maybe Hannah wanted to share a little of her excitement with Sarah, too. She was so pleased that her brother had finally given his blessing for her to pursue a relationship with Xavier like she had wanted to for years.
Now that she’d spoken with her brother, his previous reactions made sense to her. Of course he was worried about her getting involved with Xavier; he was Xavier’s best friend and knew that he was dealing with so much. Because he was also Hannah’s brother, he wanted to keep her safe and didn’t want her to be dragged into Xavier’s issues. Anyone would have been protective in a situation like that.
But now, after their chat and knowing the hard work Xavier was putting into therapy to face his nightmares and heal from his trauma, there was no reason for Lawson to try to stop them from being together. He could see how good they were together, how happy they made each other.
Hannah couldn’t wait to prove to her brother and everyone else, including herself, that the wait had been worth it now that they were finally together.
She had checked Sarah’s therapy schedule, and she didn’t have any appointments booked until Xavier’s, which wasn’t for another forty-five minutes, so she would likely be in her office writing up patient notes or sending emails. She didn’t want to interrupt Sarah’s quiet work time, but she knew that her friend would want to know the good news since she had suspected that something was going on between Hannah and Xavier for a long time.
Hardly able to contain her excitement, Hannah lifted her hand and rapped on the door. She listened for a moment, but there was no reply. She frowned and knocked again, but there was still nothing. Maybe she’d had a last-minute request for an emergency appointment. Sometimes, with the problems they were dealing with, the guests in residence needed access to immediate care. Sarah always obliged, as long as it didn’t interfere with another patient who needed her.
Hannah was about to chalk it up to that and try back later when a thought struck her. Normally, if she was with a patient, Sarah would have just called through the door to tell her that she’d be out in an hour or so. The silence wasn’t like her.
