He didn’t hesitate. “Of course. I’d keep you alive, but I don’t like the idea of sharing you with that chef you married. Besides, my wife hates my . . . little toys.”

His wife? She flinched. What he planned was bad enough, but to desecrate his wedding vows, too? Then again, it didn’t sound like the first time he’d strayed.

Joshua’s eyes flared with the promise of pain as he stalked toward her with a twisted smile. She backed away. “Leave me alone.”

“I can’t do that. After you left, I was a laughingstock among my friends. They ribbed me that you’d hated fucking me so much that you left home.”

I did! But she knew confirming that would be unwise.

“I began to wonder if my friends were right. It might have been a bit painful at first, you being a virgin, but I was sure I fucked you good.”

He’d thought terror and anal bleeding were good? “That’s all in the past. There’s nothing between us now, Joshua.”

“I’m the one who decides that. When you left, you took that control from me. Then you shared your body with other men. Got married!” He pressed his lips together. “Very unwise, but thankfully, very temporary.”

With his implied threat, anger boiled to the surface, rolling over the fear. “Don’t you dare touch Luc!”

“He’s next on my agenda. Now, be the good stripper you are and drop your clothes.”

The time for talk was over. Once Joshua decided that he wanted something, nothing deterred him. He could be methodical and patient, if he found the game and sport worth his while. The rest of the time he was a greedy bastard, wanting what he wanted now.

Alyssa refused to play along.

She had to find a way to defend herself and get out the door. If she turned and ran, he’d only catch her. She was wearing stilettos, and he’d been a track star in high school. No contest. Finding a way to even the odds was critical.

Backing away from him, toward the door, she risked a peek over her shoulder. The first thing to catch her gaze was shiny and silver and, she knew from lifting it, heavy.

Thank you, Luc, for the wedding gift.

She turned her back to Joshua and lunged for the frame. As expected, he darted after her. And she was ready. When he approached, she clutched the heavy, scarred photo frame and swung with all her might, clocking Joshua in the face.

He stumbled back, staggering into the wall, clutching his right eye. “Bitch! You’re going to fucking pay for that. You don’t know how much I’ve learned about the fine art of making a fucking hurt in the last fourteen years, but I’ll be damn happy to show you.”

Alyssa didn’t stay to hear his disgusting tirade. She kicked off her shoes and darted for her bedroom door. She stopped short when Joshua managed to grab a few strands of her hair in his fist. Then he began to yank back.

If she let him drag her back into that bedroom, she was as good as dead. She might die anyway, but damn it, she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Turning her head one direction, she yanked with all her might in the other. Pain seared across her scalp as the strands tore from their follicles, but she was free.

Knowing she was a second or less ahead of him, she darted out the door, into the darkened hall—and crashed into someone.

She gasped. Dear God, had Joshua brought help?

“Shh,” he whispered.

Luc!

She wanted to ask a million questions, but there was no time. Joshua’s footsteps resounded on the hardwood floor. Luc shoved her behind him, then backed them against the wall, out of Joshua’s path. Alyssa prayed that in the dark, he wouldn’t see them right away.

Curled up against Luc’s back, she was so relieved to see him—and worried for him at the same time. Joshua wanted to kill him, and Alyssa had no doubt her stepbrother meant it.

Luc pressed her deeper into shadow as Joshua approached, his pace slowing. She could almost feel his methodical gaze sweeping the darkened hallway and held her breath, praying she and Luc would come away from this alive. Somehow.

Something gouged Alyssa in the stomach—hard, cold. She squeezed a hand between them and felt around. Luc had a gun!

He tensed as she touched the weapon, then gave her an infinitesimal shake of his head. Alyssa frowned and let go. Guns weren’t her favorite, but hopefully Luc had a plan. Wondering what the hell it might be as he pressed her against the wall, Alyssa panted, her heart thumping in a staccato rhythm so loud she feared people in the next county could hear it.

Joshua crept past them, then stopped at the top of the stairs when sirens split the air.

The police are coming! Thank God.

At the sound, Joshua lifted his head, then growled. “Fucking bitch! Where are you? I’d have heard you run down the stairs. And now the fucking cops are on the way. Someone cut my fun short, damn it, but I’m going to end you before they get within ten feet of saving you.”

Without warning, he flipped on the hallway light. And he had a gun pointed directly at Luc’s chest.

Joshua looked taken aback to see her husband; then he smiled. “Well, talk about an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.”

Alyssa couldn’t breathe. Luc’s gun was still behind his back. He’d never have time to pull it free and shoot Joshua in return. Her stepbrother was one trigger pull away from killing Luc. And she knew Josh—he’d do it without remorse. Hell, he’d probably laugh.

That could not happen. If she no longer had Luc, she’d crumble, crack . . . die.

She leaned around Luc’s left shoulder and glared at Joshua. “Leave him alone. It’s me you want. I’ll get in a car with you. You can take me wherever you want, do whatever you want, if you’ll leave him alone.”

“No!” Luc railed. “Absolutely not.”

For a second, hope sparked. Maybe . . . Then she remembered. His concern was likely not for her but because she was pregnant. “I know you’re worried about the baby. You’ll find someone else and have another. I know you will.”

“Baby?” Joshua shouted, taking a menacing step forward. “You let him fucking knock you up?”

Luc eyed the gun, but otherwise ignored him. “I’m not thinking about the baby now. I’m worried about you. If you go with him, I’ll never see you alive again. For me, there’ll never be anyone else I’ll love half as much as you.”

His words warmed her, pouring over her shivering skin like melted chocolate. For that one moment—possibly one of their last together—Alyssa hoped he meant that and, aside from their coming child, she mattered to Luc.

Damn it, why did she have to realize that there was a chance his feelings were every bit as real as hers just when their time together was ending?

No. Joshua had taken everything from her once. Never again would she be this asshole’s victim. If anyone was going down this time, it was him.

Luc had a gun, and she had gumption. Time to use both.

“I’m going to be sick,” Joshua sneered as he stalked closer and closer—until he pressed the gun to Luc’s forehead. “Time to end this lovefest.”

Alyssa’s heart stopped.

The sirens were screaming, coming closer with every second. She saw the panic on her stepbrother’s face. He was about to do something rash, reckless, and given the fact he could shoot Luc point-blank at any moment . . . irrevocable. There was no way her husband could reach his gun and fire quickly enough. She, however, might be able to use the element of surprise.

“You.” Joshua pointed his gun at Luc, then waved it to the left. “Lindsey is mine. She’s always been mine. For touching her, you’ll die.”

“It’s Alyssa, asshole,” she sneered. “And I hate you. Rot in hell!”

While he stared at her in growing anger, she grabbed Luc’s gun, then shoved him aside. Vaguely, she heard him stumble. Joshua was distracted by the commotion long enough for Alyssa to grip the unfamiliar gun, point, and . . .

Bang!

As the sound crashed through her ears, Joshua slapped a hand to his chest and staggered back. When he pulled his fingers away from his white shirt, they came away red. A crimson stain began spreading across his shirt.

“Bitch!” Joshua muttered, then staggered.

To her horror, he righted himself and raised his gun again.

Luc jumped in front of her and ripped the gun from her hands. Before she could protest, he’d planted his body in front of hers, aimed, and fired. The loud shot reverberated through the little space, ringing in her ears.

Joshua’s head snapped back. As he fell to his knees, blood oozed from the wound right between his eyes.

Alyssa jumped as he dropped into a noisy heap on her hardwoods. His gun fell out of his lax hand and skittered across the floor.

Luc kicked it away from Joshua, until it rested at his feet. Never taking his eyes off of her stepbrother, he steadied his own gun and pointed it again at the sick bastard.

Alyssa took a step toward Joshua and bent.

“No!” Luc insisted. “It could be a trick.”

“Then cover me.” She swallowed. “I need this.”

And damn it, she wasn’t at all shaken by the thought she might have helped kill her stepbrother. In fact, she was holding her breath, hoping she had. If so, she’d throw a fucking party.

Downstairs, they heard a commotion, then a loud thump as the front door hit the foyer wall. Footsteps poured inside, pounding up the stairs, just as Alyssa bent to Joshua and put her fingers on his carotid.

“Well?” Luc prompted.

“You okay, Ms. Devereaux?” Remy asked, standing on the stair directly behind Joshua.

“Mrs. Traverson,” Luc corrected Remy tersely, then turned back to her. “Sugar?”

She stood and smiled—really smiled—for the first time in fourteen years. “The son of a bitch is dead.”

Chapter Twenty

THE blisteringly clear Friday afternoon gusted through Lafayette. Alyssa watched out the living room window as she paced, waiting. Half an hour before she was due at the obstetrician’s office. Luc had begged her to let him accompany her to the appointment. No sign of him so far.

She sighed. What was up with that man?

“You have that ‘I’m thinking about Luc’ look on your face,” Sadie teased.

Alyssa rolled her eyes at her own ridiculousness. She’d taken steps to end her marriage to Luc, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about him. This morning, she’d fondled her wedding ring, sorely tempted to put it on just to feel closer to him.

“I don’t understand Luc,” she confessed. “It’s been almost a week since we shot Joshua.”

“A bastard more deserving of a pine box I’ve never met.” Sadie gripped her hand. “Honey, why didn’t you tell any of us about your past?”

Because it had been her shame, and she’d buried it ruthlessly, using it to fortify her iron heart so that she’d never get too close to anyone else again. Luc had melted her defenses and filled her soul. Now she felt incomplete without him.

For me, there’ll never be anyone else I’ll love half as much as you.

As she nibbled on a fingernail, those words ran through Alyssa’s head. Had Luc really meant that or had the possibility of her and the baby’s deaths prompted him to say those words?

“I just wanted to keep it behind me,” Alyssa said finally. “Besides, I never imagined that Joshua had seen me at my mother’s funeral, recognized me, hired someone to hunt me down . . .”

“You mad at Tyler?”

The question rattled around in her head. “Not mad. He was doing a job. Tyler said that Joshua didn’t act creepy or obsessive until after he’d located me and turned over the information. He actually put his life on hold to protect me because he feared the worst.”

“And because he was hoping you’d give him the time of day.”

Alyssa grimaced. “That, too.”

“Did he say what he’s going to do now?”

After hours on Monday, he’d insisted on seeing her home, making sure all was well and safe since Luc had left . . .

What did you expect a man you served annulment papers to do? Stay so you could throw him out more creatively?

“He wants to remain in Lafayette. Says he likes it here and had no real ties in Los Angeles. Jack and Deke offered him a job. Apparently, they’ve been turning away business because they’re short-handed, and Deke wants to spend more time with Kimber since they have a baby on the way.”

“You do, too, girlfriend. When is that appointment? Shouldn’t you be leaving?”

Stomach clenching, Alyssa glanced at her watch and winced. “I’ll give Luc five more minutes; then if you’re still game . . .”

“Absolutely, I’ll go with you. A girl needs moral support for these things,” Sadie offered, then smiled sadly. “Though I know you’d rather have Luc.”

Alyssa couldn’t refute that. After Joshua’s attack nearly a week ago and after she and Luc had answered all of Remy’s questions, she’d expected him to stay, confront her about the annulment. At least voice an opinion. But he’d only stolen a kiss, told her loved her and pleaded to go to her doctor’s appointment, then left for Texas. Midweek, her curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she’d called Luc to ask him the million questions floating through her brain. Again, he’d only told her that he loved her and would be there on Friday to pick her up. She tried to put him out of her head and focus on the myriad items on her to-do list, but no luck.