Colters' Gift (17 page)

CHAPTER 22

I
T
was nearly eight thirty when Lauren, Noah and Liam pulled up to the Colters’ home. Max and Callie as well as Lily, Seth, Michael and Dillon were already there.

Butterflies stumbled around her stomach as she sat in the front seat, staring through the windshield to the front porch. Liam reached across the seat and squeezed her hand.

“Ready for this? It’s not too late to back out. No phone calls have been made.”

It shamed her that for a brief moment, she considered doing just that. It was instinctive to want to run and hide, but then that’s what she’d been doing for far too long.

Taking a calming breath, she shook her head. “No, I need to do this. Not just for the women he’s brutalized and murdered, but I need to do it for me.”

Noah shifted forward from the backseat. “Just remember that Liam and I are behind you. Always. No matter what goes on in here, no matter if emotions run high. We support you one hundred percent, no matter what you choose to do.”

She turned, allowing her love for both men to shine in her eyes. She only hoped he could see it. That he knew it and felt it. The words had come easily with Liam because he’d given them first. She needed to give them to Noah. And she would, as soon as they got through the meeting with her family.

“Thank you,” she choked out.

“Ready?” Liam said as he opened his door.

Taking one more deep breath, she opened her door and stepped into the sunlight, allowing it to remove the chill deep inside her chest.

Noah and Liam flanked her as they walked toward the porch. The door was opened by Holly, who immediately pulled Lauren into her firm embrace.

“How are you, baby?” Holly asked in her sweet, motherly voice that always made Lauren feel as though she’d come home.

“I’m fine, Mama C. Or I will be,” she amended.

Holly pulled away, her eyes worried and dark. “Max is upset. I thought you should know so you don’t get blindsided.”

Lauren’s stomach somersaulted, and she glanced anxiously up at Noah and Liam.

“It’ll be fine, honey,” Noah soothed. “We’ll get through this together.”

Holly took her hand and pulled her into the house, leaving the men to follow.

“They’re right,” Holly said. “We’ll get through this together. Just like we always do. Max was just caught off guard and he’s not taking it well.”

As they entered the living room, everyone turned to look in Lauren’s direction. Max, who’d been sitting beside Callie on the couch, shot to his feet, his expression dark.

Callie put her hand up to his arm and murmured something to him, but he shook her off and advanced toward Lauren. But it wasn’t her he was intent on questioning. He stopped a short distance away, his angry gaze finding Noah and Liam.

“Do one of you want to explain why I’m getting information from Seth and not either of you? Last time I checked, I was signing your checks. Your job is to protect my sister and report to me. I didn’t know of any of this and I should have been the first to know,” he seethed.

Even as he spoke, he pulled Lauren into his side, wrapping a protective arm around her. She could feel the anger—and the tension—vibrating from him.

Noah’s eyes narrowed and Liam’s lip curled into a snarl.

“When have you received a bill from us ever?” Noah snapped. “Better check your records, Wilder, because we haven’t asked you for a cent. Lauren isn’t a damn job to us. Our priority is keeping her safe, not keeping you posted on every detail we have before we even know if it’s an issue. We spoke to Seth last night and then set up this morning’s meeting so we could plan accordingly.”

Max stiffened even further, apparently not appeased by Noah’s explanation.

“What the hell are you saying?” Max asked softly. “Just what is the nature of your relationship with my sister? I damn sure didn’t hire you to take advantage of her.”

Lauren jerked away from Max’s hold. “Max, stop it. Please.”

“I’d say that’s none of your damn business,” Liam said in an equally soft, dangerous tone.

“The hell it’s not!” Max burst out.

“Max, enough, son,” Adam Colter said firmly as he inserted himself between Max and where Noah and Liam stood. “We aren’t going to get anywhere with you and Noah and Liam snarling at each other like a bunch of pit bulls.”

Holly put her arm around Lauren and led her beyond Max and farther into the living room where the others sat.

Dillon and Michael were both perched on the hearth, while Lily sat next to Callie on one of the sofas. Seth, Ryan and Ethan occupied the other couch, and two armchairs were vacant. Chairs from the dining room had been brought into the living room to accommodate more people and were staggered between the couches and armchairs.

Holly led Lauren to the couch to sit with Lily and Callie. Lauren settled next to Callie, who immediately took her hand, holding tightly in support. Holly took position on Lauren’s other side and wrapped an arm around Lauren’s shoulders.

Lauren couldn’t help but smile. The Colter women had closed ranks around her. Not even Max would dare to take on Mama C, much less her
and
Callie and Lily.

“Have a seat,” Adam instructed Noah and Liam. “According to Seth, we have a lot to discuss.”

Noah and Liam walked past Max, who was still standing and seething with anger. Max’s jaw was drawn tight when he turned to follow the others into the living room. He glanced toward the couch where the women sat, clearly not happy that he was being blocked by both his wife and his mother-in-law.

“He’ll get over it,” Callie murmured. “He’s just worried about you.”

“I know,” Lauren whispered back.

When Max had settled onto one of the dining room tables—across from where Noah and Liam had taken their seats in armchairs—Adam turned one of the wooden chairs around and straddled it so he could take in everyone.

Seth leaned forward, his hands clasped together as his elbows pressed into his knees. “I took the liberty of bringing everyone up to date on what we discussed last night. I figured it would save time so that we could move forward once you all arrived.”

Noah and Liam both nodded their agreement.

“I waited for you to arrive to give you the rundown on the women you wanted me to run through the system.” Seth’s lips thinned as he continued. “It’s not good.”

Lauren’s heart plummeted. “Are they dead?” she choked out.

Seth grimaced. “Yes, honey, I’m sorry.”

All the blood drained from her face. Noah and Liam swore.

“What women?” Ryan Colter demanded. “What are we talking about here?”

“The disk that has the information Lauren copied from Knight’s computer has a list of the women who work or worked for him. Some had notations by their names that sounded ominous,” Noah said. “We had Seth check to see if he could find any information about them. Mainly whether they were still alive.”

“How did they die?” Liam asked bluntly.

Seth merely shook his head. His silence spoke volumes, and it was obvious he didn’t want to go into details in front of Lauren and the other women.

Callie’s hold on Lauren’s hand tightened, and Holly hugged her closer to her side.

“Something has to be done about this bastard,” Max said grimly. “I won’t allow a threat to my family to exist.”

“I
am
doing something,” Lauren said softly, drawing the attention of every occupant of the room.

She was done having Seth or even Noah and Liam do her talking for her. This was on her. She was the only person who could stand up and take Joel Knight down. Not Liam. Not Noah. Not her brother. Not Seth or any of the other Colters.

Max’s stare hardened, and he paled as he took in the determination in Lauren’s voice.

“What do you mean by that, Lauren?” Max asked, alarm clear in his voice.

The older Colter men frowned. Ryan and Ethan sat forward, casting worried glances in her direction. Callie had a death grip on Lauren’s hand, and she could feel the same worried gazes from the women on either side of her.

Her nostrils flared as she inhaled sharply. She glanced at Noah and Liam, bolstered by the support in their eyes.

“I’m going to turn in the evidence I have and testify if necessary, which I’m sure it will be.”

The explosive responses were immediate.

“The hell you are!” Max shouted, bolting to his feet.

“Lauren, I’m not sure you should make that decision so quickly,” Adam said, a frown marring his face.

“Do you think that’s best?” Ryan asked, his expression a mirror of Adam’s.

There were more questions. Exclamations of worry. A volley of conversation between the dads and Seth, and then Max and Noah and Liam. It was all a dull roar that made her head ache.

Only the women remained quiet. Callie gripped Lauren’s hand so tightly that her fingers were starting to tingle. Holly had gone completely still next to Lauren, and Lily leaned forward, her worried gaze seeking out Lauren’s.

“I’m scared for you, Lauren,” Callie whispered.

“So am I,” Lily said just as quietly.

Holly reached across Lauren’s lap, holding out her hand to both Lily and Callie until all four women were connected. Lauren allowed the quiet strength of these women—survivors—bleed into her soul.

“I’m scared too,” Lauren admitted. “But the one thing you’ve all taught me is that I have to do the right thing. A woman—
women
—are dead because of me.”

She shook her head when they would have refuted her statement.

“Not because of me. I know that I’m not responsible for Joel’s actions. But I could have prevented at least some of their deaths. Maybe I could have only prevented one. But how many more will die or be abused or degraded because I’m afraid? I don’t want to spend the rest of my life hiding. I don’t want to forever be looking over my shoulder. I just want . . . peace.”

It was only at the end of her impassioned speech that she realized her voice had carried beyond the scope of the other women, and that everyone else had quieted to listen to what she was saying.

As she glanced up, every single one of the Colters—and Max—were staring at her with gentle understanding, worry, fear and . . . pride.

She swallowed, and then again as the knot swelled in her throat and tears burned her eyelids.

“I want to be somebody you can all be proud of,” she choked out. “And right now I’m not proud of myself, so how can I expect anyone else to be?”

“Oh honey,” Holly said, emotion clouding her voice.

She hugged Lauren to her and rocked back and forth, stroking her hair.

“Listen to me, baby. I want you to look at me.”

Lauren reluctantly lifted her gaze to the older woman and was taken aback at the pride and consternation in her eyes.

“We
are
proud of you. So very proud. Now it’s time to forgive
yourself
for the mistakes you’ve made. You can’t continue to beat yourself up over choices you’ve made. You have to be willing to let go and forgive yourself. No one else blames you. Only you. I look at you and see a beautiful, kind young lady with a heart as big as these mountains. I couldn’t be more proud of you even if I’d given birth to you. You’re one of mine. Never doubt that. And as anyone will tell you, what’s mine is mine, and I love what’s mine fiercely and without reserve or condition.”

Tears slid down Lauren’s cheeks and a sob hiccupped from her throat. “I love you too,” she whispered. “All of you.”

Holly hugged her again, squeezing her until she was breathless. After a moment, she gently separated herself from Lauren and stroked the hair from Lauren’s face. Then she turned to Noah and Liam, all business.

“What is your plan for this?” she demanded.

CHAPTER 23

I
T
was hard for Liam not to charge over and take Lauren in his arms. It damn near broke his heart to listen to her break down in front of the people she loved most. He wanted to shield her from any hurt or stress, but her decision meant that hurt—and stress—were inevitable.

When Holly Colter turned her determined stare on him and Noah, and demanded to know what the plan was, he glanced at Noah and then at Seth.

Seth spoke first.

“We don’t have one yet, Mom,” he said gently. “It’s why I called the family together, so we plot out the best course and make damn sure Lauren is protected.”

“She’s our first and only priority, ma’am,” Noah said in a serious tone.

“I still want to know what that means exactly,” Max growled. “I’m having serious issues with the fact that you took advantage of Lauren during a time she was emotionally and physically at a disadvantage.”

“It means that I love her and I’m not going to stand by while someone is a threat to her,” Liam all but roared. He was pissed and growing more pissed by the minute. Now wasn’t the time to bring this shit up. “Furthermore, you don’t call the shots. Noah and I don’t work for you. We haven’t accepted one goddamn cent from you and it’s going to stay that way. Lauren is ours and what that
means
is that we don’t take orders from anyone when it comes to her safety and well-being. Is
that
clear enough for you?”

Holly rounded on Max, her mouth tight and her eyes shooting holes through Lauren’s brother. “That’s enough out of you, young man. This isn’t the time or the place to bring up a personal matter that is none of your concern. What’s important here is what we do going forward to make sure Lauren is protected.”

Liam wanted to give Holly Colter a high five. She was a little scary when she got pissed off. She was like a mama lion protecting her cubs, and look out if anyone messed with them.

When Liam glanced back at Lauren, she was staring at him, her eyes filled with love and gratitude. Warmth traveled through his body as surely as if she were in his arms.

She sent the same expression of love in Noah’s direction, and Liam saw that his friend was just as affected as Liam had been.

“My wife has a very good point,” Ethan said, speaking up for the first time. “What’s important here is what we do to ensure Lauren’s safety. Seth? Do you have ideas, son?”

Dillon scowled. “Other than making a trip to New York City and ensuring the asshole takes a fall down a long flight of stairs. Twice?”

Michael smothered a smile. Liam had to cover his own smile when Holly Colter nodded her agreement vigorously.

“Our first step has to be to decide on a meeting place and conditions,” Noah said.

“I agree,” Seth said.

“We make contact, but we have to make it clear we call the shots,” Liam interjected. “That includes the meeting place but we also have to be prepared that the D.A. may not follow our set of rules, so we have to be in place well ahead of him, monitor his arrival and not put Lauren in front of him until we’ve determined it’s safe to do so.”

Adam nodded at that.

“And we need to decide who goes,” Seth said as he surveyed the room.

“I’m going,” Max said flatly.

“No, you aren’t,” Ryan Colter said just as flatly.

Everyone turned in surprise that the older man had shut him down so quickly.

“Why the hell not?” Max demanded. “Lauren is my sister. I’m not going to sit here while someone else is charged with protecting her.”

Liam remained quiet as he waited for Ryan to speak again. He’d been about to tell Max there was no way in hell he was going, when Ryan had beat him to it.

“You’re too much of a hothead and you’re too pissed off,” Ryan said. “That’s the very last thing we need in an already volatile situation.”

Seth nodded his agreement. “At the risk of pissing you off, man, I agree with Dad.”

Noah stepped in, his tone placating. “We don’t want any possible way to trace Lauren back here. You’re a visible guy, Mr. Wilder. The very last thing you want is to bring trouble back to where your family lives. If they can connect Lauren to you, they’ll find her through you.”

Max looked as though he’d been ready to argue, but he conceded to Noah’s logic.

“You’re right,” he said in a low voice. “The very last thing I want is to put her in further danger or for anything to threaten the rest of my family.”

“Dillon and I will go,” Seth said. “Michael stays here with Lily. At least one of the dads will need to stay as well. I don’t want any of the women to be alone.”

Liam and Noah both nodded at that.

“They’ll want to put her in protective custody,” Adam said in a grim voice.

Lauren looked up in alarm.

Adam cast an apologetic look in her direction. “I’m not trying to scare you, sweetheart. The fact of the matter is, you’re a key witness, and this case has far-reaching implications and involves some very high-profile people. They’re going to want to keep you close and put you in the witness protection program until you testify.”

“Noah? Liam?” Lauren asked in a shaky voice.

“We’ve considered that possibility,” Noah said soothingly. “We’re only going to allow you to do this if it’s on our terms. We want certain things in writing or the D.A. doesn’t get to talk to you. Period. It might get our asses thrown in jail, but you’ll be on your way back here with Seth and the others where you’ll be protected.”

Her face went white and her eyes widened in alarm.

“It won’t happen, baby,” Liam said calmly. “We’ll work it out. Trust us.”

She sucked in her breath and slowly relaxed.

“We’ll need use of your jet, Mr. Wilder,” Noah said. “We don’t want a paper trail, anything with Lauren’s name on it. We don’t want her showing ID, using a credit card. Nothing. We’re going to alter her appearance for her meeting with the D.A. so that if something does go wrong, they won’t have an accurate description of her.”

“We were unable to locate any photographs of Joel Knight and Lauren together,” Liam interjected. “Nor could we find any people who knew of Lauren. The only people who are likely to know what she looks like are Joel Knight and the people who worked closest with him. One of the women who worked for him ID’d Lauren, but she’s dead now.”

“He kept me isolated,” Lauren said in a low voice. “We didn’t make many public appearances together and it was always very low key. And I was expected to be the consummate companion. Well dressed, perfectly submissive. In other words a pretty ornament to compliment him. He tried to keep me separate from his ‘business’ and anyone associated with it. I was basically a plaything he pulled out when it was convenient.”

The bitterness and self-loathing in her voice ate at Liam. He wanted nothing more than for her to be able to forget the bastard ever existed. They were in for a rough road in the next months. Hell, this thing could stretch out for years.

“I brought up the witness protection issue because I wanted to advise you to keep her close,” Adam broke in. “Don’t let them separate you. Make sure that if that’s what has to happen, you’re able to stay with her.” He glanced at Holly as he spoke, pain darkening his eyes. “My wife was once in the same position, and she stayed away from me and my brothers to protect us. That separation was hell for us. If you love her, then make damn sure she stays with you.”

There was instant agreement from both Ethan and Ryan. Holly’s gaze softened as she stared at her husbands.

“We aren’t letting her go, sir,” Noah said, resolve hardening his voice.

“I don’t think so many of you should go,” Holly spoke up.

Seth’s eyebrow rose.

“Don’t give me that look, young man,” she said in exasperation. “Have you looked at the men in this room? There’s no way a whole horde of you are going to go unnoticed when you roll into town. I realize that more is good when it comes to protecting Lauren, but if you’re trying not to gain notice, you’re going to fail miserably if two of my husbands go and two of Lily’s.”

Michael’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “She’s got you there.”

“Not all of us will be visible,” Seth said patiently. “In fact, the whole point is to stay out of sight. We’ll fly in at night. Have one person check into a hotel. It means we’ll all have to stay in the same room, but I’d rather not broadcast how many are in our party and as Mom so eloquently put it, if we’re out in broad daylight, we’re not going to go unnoticed. One person goes to the meeting with the D.A., however, we place two of us in the same location in case the situation goes south or it’s a setup. The other three will remain with Lauren with strict instructions that if they aren’t contacted at a prearranged time, they’re to cut and run with Lauren and get the hell out.”

Lauren lowered her face to her hands and rubbed tiredly. “I can’t allow you all to risk this. It’s starting to scare the hell out of me. All the what-ifs and the possibilities are making me crazy.”

“You aren’t allowing us to do anything,” Dillon said mildly. “You’re a part of this family. That means we go with you. End of story.”

Holly nodded approvingly. “That’s my boy.”

Seth snorted. “Until the next time you disown him.”

Holly silenced him with a quick glare.

“Okay so we’re agreed on who goes and who stays,” Noah said, sharply bringing the subject back on target. “The next step is to make contact with the D.A. and see if he bites.”

Liam sought Lauren’s gaze, waiting until she felt his stare and looked back at him.

“You ready to do this?” he asked softly, giving her one last opportunity to back out.

She slowly lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. Callie tightened her grip on Lauren’s hand and Lily reached across Callie’s lap to add her own. Holly wrapped her arm around Lauren’s shoulders, lending her strength as the other women had done.

There in the tight hold of her family, Lauren nodded. Her voice was firm and full of resolve.

“Yes. I’m ready. Make the call.”