“Where is she now?” Maddie asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Dead. Along with my unborn child. Her father beat her to death for carrying the son of a sworn enemy. He couldn’t find me to kill me too, so instead he hired assassins to go to my family’s home and murder my mother and my grandmother and my aunt Eugenia and twelve-year-old cousin Daniel. He also murdered any of the staff who happened to be on hand that day. Luckily, most of them were on holiday, so they were spared. But they returned home to find the bodies of all that remained of my family.”
* * *
Maddie was speechless, filled with horror. Tears made their way silently to her cheeks as she watched helplessly while Jack struggled with his sorrow and guilt. She wanted to remove the pain she saw etched into his features, the regret that weighed so heavily upon him. But she didn’t know what to do except hold him.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, continuing with his story. “I received word of their deaths the day after I was called on the carpet for my relationship with you, Maddie. I didn’t leave you because I was afraid of retribution for loving you. I left because I was afraid of what you would think of me after I did what I had to do.”
Maddie swallowed hard, her head spinning with the information he’d just imparted. “What did you do, Jack?”
He pulled out of her arms and sat up on the edge of the bed, then rubbed the back of his neck beneath the dark waves of hair for a moment before finally continuing. “I buried my family. And then I went to that bastard’s home and I shot him in the head while he was eating dinner. But not before I’d killed every single one of his men to get to him.”
Maddie sat up and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on to him, lending him her strength so that he could finish the story. She waited silently.
Finally, he laid his hand on top of hers again and squeezed her fingers briefly. His voice was gravelly when he said, “When I reached his dining room, there were four of his bodyguards there. I shot them, then turned the gun on Natasha’s father. And he just smiled at me. The asshole actuallysmiled. It was then that I noticed the boy sitting at the table. Natasha’s younger brother. He was terrified, crying. I hesitated, not wanting him to watch his father die. I wouldn’t want that for any child. But then I saw movement in the corner of my eye and turned just in time to see the boy’s father pulling a gun on me. I reacted.”
“Dear God,” Maddie breathed.
“As I turned to go, a man came rushing in—Kozlov,” Jack told her, his head hanging down. “He glanced at his dead boss, at the boy, and raised his hands before rushing to the other side of the table to grab the child. I let him live so he could take the boy somewhere safe, away from the carnage I’d wrought.”
“And now Kozlov is seeking retribution after all these years?” Maddie asked. “Is that what you think?”
He nodded. “The mob boss’s brother took over management of their operation. And the Alliance has continued to monitor and interfere with their activities. But I was ordered to stand down and let someone else handle things. Will reassigned me to Chicago, at my request. I wasn’t the man you were in love with, Maddie. As badly as I wanted to go back to you, to have a future with you—the Alliance be damned—I couldn’t stay. I had a price on my head. I couldn’t put you or your family in danger.”
She rose up on her knees and turned his face toward her. This time he didn’t shrink away. “Jack—”
“Don’t,” he interrupted. “Don’t tell me you understand. Don’t tell me that you’ll be fine. Thatwe’llbe fine. Someone has told him where I am, my new name. No one is safe around me now.”
“What do you plan to do, Jack?” she countered. “You have to end this once and for all. You can’t keep living your life in fear—for me or for anyone else you care about. You need someone to have your back. And if you’re going to be too damned stubborn to let your brothers in the Alliance be there for you, then you get me.”
He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have brought you into this. It was a mistake. I know I agreed to let you go with me tomorrow to confront Antonovich and try to ferret out Kozlov, but now you see why I can’t.”
“No, Jack, Idon’tsee why you can’t.” He pressed his lips together in frustration and tried to look away, but she held him where he was. “I might not have the history with these two guys that you have, but I was there too when Manny died, okay? I didn’t really know him like you did, but no one deserves to go out like that. I won’t be able to get that image out of my head any more than you will. Let me help you. As much for my sake as for yours.”
He studied her for several moments, his gaze taking in every aspect of her face, lingering upon her lips before traveling back to her eyes. He shook his head as if in dismay. “I don’t deserve you, Maddie. I never did.”
“Then do something for me,” she said, knowing there was no way she could convince him of just how wrong he was. “Tell meonething about you that’s true. Just one, Jack.”
He gave her a slight smile. “My first name is John. Jack is my nickname and has been since I was in short pants. And everything I feel for you—those are the truest words I’ve ever spoken.” His fingertips caressed her skin tenderly. “I love you, Maddie. I should’ve told you that so many times before. You are everything to me. And whether you call me Jack Grayson or John Robert Forsythe Estridge, that truth will not change.”
Maddie’s throat went tight with emotion and for a moment she couldn’t speak, her heart too full to even form the words. But then she took his face in her hands, holding his gaze for a long moment, letting the love she saw there envelop her, and whispered, “I love you too.”
And when he closed his eyes, his breath leaving his lungs on a sharp exhale, she kissed him, drawing him back onto the bed. And when he lay back against the pillows, she straddled him, kissing and caressing him until his hands began to explore her body, his touch tender and adoring. And when she rose up on her knees to slowly sheath him with her body, the love she saw in his eyes made her heart swell.
As they made love again, she clung to him, sending up a silent prayer that whatever happened the next day, he’d finally find the peace he sought.
