Living on the Edge Read online

  “I told you I’d take care of it on the phone.”

  Numbness settled into his bones, chilling him. He’d just gotten used to the idea of having a child with a woman he barely knew and now this. “I thought you meant you’d see a doctor and get checked out.”

  “And then what? I’d get fat and lose my modeling job? All for a broken condom and a kid neither of us wants? It’s not like we love each other.”

  “You could have at least told me what you’d planned to do.”

  “I did tell you. I left a message on your phone. I called a million times and you didn’t answer, so I assumed you didn’t want to be involved.”

  Maybe she was telling the truth about telling him, and he just hadn’t understood the part of her message about her getting an abortion. She’d been crying so hard. Probably because she’d thought he’d abandoned her—left her to deal with an unwanted pregnancy on her own, like some kind of asshole.

  Riley fought off his urge to comfort her because she’d been clear that she didn’t want that from him. “I was out of the country. That’s why I didn’t answer my phone. Not because I didn’t want to help you through this.”

  Her full lips flattened and she sniffed, blinking fast. “It doesn’t matter now.”

  “I would have been there for you. We got into this mess together.”

  “And I got us out of it.” She held up her lovely hands as if to push him away. “We’re done, Riley. Just go. There’s nothing more for us to talk about and I’d really prefer never to see you again. I’m moving to LA. I got a contract. It’s my big break.”

  She was right. What was done was done and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to change it.

  Riley left, got in his car, and drove. He had no idea where he was going, but he was sure that if he drove far enough fast enough, he could outrun the numbness that chilled him to the bone.

  Something was not right here. Things were not adding up for Lucas.

  He watched the helicopter fly out of sight.

  Sloane was speaking quietly into the phone, the guilt of failure heavy in her voice. “I’m sorry I couldn’t handle the rescue on my own. I know you depend on me to be better than that.”

  Lucas wanted to interrupt and comfort Sloane, but he held back. It wasn’t his business. He shouldn’t have even been listening.

  Sloane let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks, Bella. I knew I could count on you.”

  She hung up and handed Lucas the phone. He was going to call the Old Man, but not until he had some answers.

  “Why is a man who had ties to your father trying to get his hands on Gina?” he asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine. I’d say he wanted to get her out of my life to protect me from her wild lifestyle, but she lives in New York. We’re both busy with our jobs. And while we try to keep in touch, we see each other only once in a while.”

  “Do you have any idea what that man might want with her?”

  “None. When I got her call, I figured she’d fallen for the wrong guy. When I researched Soma and found out he was a drug lord, I assumed my guess was right. Apparently there’s more to it than that.”

  “What do you know about her? Do you know of anyone who might want to try to hurt her?”

  “No. She’s a party girl. Fun loving, carefree, everyone’s favorite good time. She has an inheritance from her mother, who was some big exec at a pharmaceutical research company. She died our senior year.”

  “So it could be about money.”

  “I suppose, but she has no family. No one else has access to the money but her.”

  Lucas shook his head. “Maybe they plan to force her to withdraw cash or transfer funds, but something about that doesn’t fit.”

  “I thought the same thing. Soma is rolling in cash. His fortune makes Gina’s look like a kid’s piggy bank savings.”

  “What else do you know about her?” he asked.

  “Gina went to college in New York, got a degree in hotel management, and has been enjoying life and hitting the clubs ever since.”

  “Why was she at boarding school with you?”

  “Her mom was too busy to deal with her. Gina has always been a bit of a troublemaker. It was easier to hand Gina off to a boarding school than it was to deal with the problems herself. Gina always claimed that she was just some experiment to see if her mother could actually breed. Once she knew she could, she lost interest.”

  Lucas couldn’t even imagine what it had to have been like growing up thinking you weren’t wanted. He’d never doubted a day in his life that his folks loved him. Sure, some days he wished they didn’t love him quite so much—didn’t worry about him quite so much—but he’d never felt like Gina had. Or like Sloane.

  “What about Gina’s father?” he asked.

  “As far as I know, she never had one. She joked that her mom went the frozen pop route and got artificially inseminated. After meeting her mom once, I realized it wasn’t a joke.”

  “Siblings?”

  “None.”

  “Any enemies you know of?” he asked.

  Sloane shook her head. Her ponytail was askew from all the chaos with several silky strands falling loose about her face. “There were girls at school that hated her, but it wasn’t anything more than high school drama. After college we didn’t have the same friends, so I have no idea about her current set. Though it’s probably huge, knowing Gina.”

  “There’s just something wrong here. What is it about Gina that makes her a target? And why would I have seen the man who has apparently paid someone to abduct her in your father’s office?”

  “Maybe she got involved in something dangerous. Maybe she’s a witness to something.”

  It made more sense than anything so far. “I’m going to call the general and see if he can shed some light on this mess.”

  “Don’t tell him about the man.”

  “Why not?”

  “You said you saw them together. My father could be part of all this. For all I know, he’s the one who wants Gina.”

  How could she even think such things about her own father? There was simply no room for Sloane’s suspicion inside his view of the general.

  Then again, he wasn’t Lucas’s father. He’d only seen one side of the Old Man.

  Lucas stood and checked the gauze on his head. The bleeding had stopped, and now he just had a nice, tender knot to avoid. “If I don’t ask him, then he won’t be able to give me what could be vital information about this man.”

  “As if he’d share, even if he did know something about him.”

  “It’s worth a shot.”

  Sloane reloaded her rifle magazines, shoving rounds in, one by one. “Do what you want. You’re never going to believe me about him, so I’m not going to bother wasting my breath.”

  “You really do hate him, don’t you?” he asked her.

  Her fingers paused, and he could see them shaking. “I used to envy Gina for her frozen pop. At least that way she didn’t expect anything. She never got hurt when her birthday came and went without a card. She never even went shopping for a dress for the father-daughter dance, knowing he was just going to cancel. She had no hopes—nothing to shatter.” She looked at him and her green eyes were dry, but sad. “It took me a long time to get what Gina has. I’m not going to let you or anyone else mess it up.”

  She stalked off into the trees. Lucas’s heart ached for her, and the need to comfort her rode him hard, but he let her go, respecting her need for privacy. He’d go after her in a minute if she didn’t return. Until then, he had a call to make and it was just as well Sloane wasn’t around to hear it.

  The general answered on the second ring. “Yes?”

  “It’s Lucas. I’m on Sloane’s sat phone.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Fine. We’re both fine.”

  “When will she be home?” he asked, sounding desperate.

  “I don’t have an ETA yet. We don’t have Gina.”

  There w
as a distinct chill in the general’s voice. “Forget the girl and bring my daughter back.”

  “We have to get Gina back. Sloane won’t leave without her.” He pulled in a long breath, bracing himself for the fallout. “Neither will I.”

  “Are you refusing to follow an order?”

  “No, sir. I can’t do that anymore. Remember?”

  “Don’t play games with me, son. You won’t win. Besides, the girl is probably already dead.” Something about the way the Old Man said that made Lucas pause. It sounded almost as if he knew something that had him writing Gina off.

  Suddenly, Lucas was beginning to question his view of the general. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as Sloane believed, but chances were he wasn’t as sterling as Lucas had always thought. “Listen, you can either help us or not, but we just saw Gina and she’s alive and well.”

  “Tell me where you are,” he demanded.

  “I will, but first I need to ask you something.”

  “Make it fast.”

  “Last summer, you ordered me to come to your office. It was right before my last mission. There was a man walking out. Tall—really tall—with dark hair and angular features, mid-twenties. Who was he?”

  “A lot of people come to my office. Do you have a name?”

  “No, but when I came in, you were pissed. I remember that much.” And he’d quickly tucked away a file that had been open on his desk. Lucas just remembered that, too. The Old Man had been hiding something, but because of his station, Lucas hadn’t thought anything about it.

  “Sorry. Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “He had pale eyes—light gray or blue, maybe.” Lucas had seen that today when the man had stared out as if he could almost feel them watching.

  There was a long pause, and when the general spoke, there was no longer fire in his voice. There was, however, a hint of fear. “Why is this so important?”

  “That man was here today. We’re guessing he’s the one who paid Soma to take Gina out of the States.”

  “He was there?”

  “Not fifty feet away.”

  “Did he see Sloane?” Panic stripped the power from his voice, making it sound old and hollow.

  “No, but that’s kind of an odd question to ask for a man who has no idea who I’m talking about.”

  “I won’t say his name. All you need to know is that he’s dangerous in ways I can’t even begin to explain. Stay away from him. Keep him away from my little girl. Understood?”

  “I’ll do what I can, but we’re in need of support. Gina’s being taken back to Soma’s villa, which from all accounts is heavily guarded. We need backup. Can you send help?”

  “Yes. Right now, as soon as I get off the line I’ll find some men. They’ll be there in less than twenty-four hours.”

  “Okay. That will work. We’ll meet at the villa and extract Gina tomorrow night.”

  “No. I’ll send you coordinates for a safe place nearby. Wait for us there.”

  “We’re on foot. I don’t want to go out of our way.”

  “You won’t be. This place is near Soma’s villa. Hidden.”

  “How do you know about it if it’s so well hidden?”

  “It’s a bunker. We built it.”

  We, meaning the U.S. government, no doubt.

  “What for?” asked Lucas.

  “I’m not going to tell you that. In the meantime, I’ll send you satellite images and whatever other help you need. Just keep her away from that man, understand?”

  Lucas had no idea what was spooking the Old Man, but it was clear he wasn’t going to find out today, over an unsecured line. After they were all home safe and sound he’d try to get some answers. Until then, he’d take what the general was willing to give and be thankful.

  “Yes, sir.” Lucas hung up and packed away the rest of the gear. The phone beeped, and displayed on the screen were the coordinates the general had promised.

  It was only a few miles away—some of which they could probably do via road—but it was going to be a fast hike to get to the Land Rover before dark.

  Sloane still hadn’t come back. Lucas could no longer afford to give her any more time. They needed to get moving.

  He headed off in the direction she’d gone and found her sitting on a fallen log. Her head was in her hands and her shoulders were slumped in defeat.

  Lucas sat down next to her, searching for something to say to make her feel better about this fucked-up situation. He came up empty and settled on, “You okay?”

  “Fine,” she said, a little too quickly and with too much fake brightness in her tone.

  “Help is on the way. Your father is sending men to help us. We’ll have Gina back in no time.”

  She was quiet for a while, then turned and looked at him. Her eyes were bright green, almost luminous. Guilt pinched her features. “I failed her. She trusted me and I failed.”

  “You’re wrong. She’s still alive. We know where she is and we know she’s going to be safe for a while yet. As long as she stays alive we haven’t failed.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. She’s not your friend. And you’re not the one with a father who’s going to try to lock you away and make you miserable for the rest of your life.”

  “He’s not going to do that to you. He can’t. You’re a grown woman.”

  “It’s not legal for him to try, but since when has that ever stopped him?”

  Lucas slid his hand over her hair, smoothing the wayward strands back in place. The silky texture made his palms tingle and he couldn’t seem to stop himself from doing it again. He wanted to pull her against his shoulder and hold her close, but he sensed she’d balk at that—take it as some kind of statement she wasn’t strong enough on her own—so he held back.

  “We need his help,” said Lucas.

  “I know. And I’m glad he’s offering it, for Gina’s sake. I just hate it that he knows I’m a failure.”

  “I’m sure he doesn’t think of you like that.”

  She turned her body and gave him a hard stare. “Please stop defending him. I know the man better than you do.”

  “Sometimes the things you say make me wonder.”

  She was silent for a moment, her mouth tight, moving like she was trying to hold back words. “Have you ever wondered why my last name is Gideon and not Norwood?”

  “The thought had crossed my mind. At first I assumed you’d been married.”

  “Nope. Gideon was my mother’s maiden name.”

  “So you took that because you hate your father so much?”

  “No. I didn’t take it at all. It was given to me. By my mother. Even though my parents were married, my father refused to let me have his name when I was born.” She swallowed hard, blinking fast as if to ward off tears. “I was a newborn. I hadn’t done a thing wrong. I hadn’t disappointed him—unless you count being born a girl. I was a bundle of potential, and yet he shunned me even then. What kind of father does that?”

  Lucas was stunned speechless. He couldn’t imagine not wanting to give his child his name—whether or not he was married to the mother. How could the general not have been proud of his baby girl? How could he not have wanted to crow to the world that he had a daughter?

  Sloane composed herself during his silence. “Do you see now? He’s not the great man you’ve come to respect. He’s not flawless.”

  His fingers twined with hers, and the warmth of her skin sliding along his own made his heart kick up a notch. “And yet he still has the power to upset you.”

  She closed her eyes and let out a weary sigh, leaning against his shoulder. “I wish he didn’t, but he does. And if you tell him that, I’ll make sure you regret it.”

  Lucas felt a grin play along his mouth—one he wisely hid. “My lips are sealed. He’d never believe stories of you showing any kind of weakness, anyway.”

  “I only wish I was as tough as you think I am. It sure would make things a lot easier.”

  “Easy is overrated,” he said. “Compl
icated is a hell of a lot more fun. That’s why I like women.”

  She tipped her head up to look at him. A hint of a smile warmed her eyes. “That’s good to know.”

  The urge to kiss her struck fast and hard. He stared into her eyes, hoping it would go away if he just held out a moment longer.

  Instead, the urge grew. Something in his gaze must have given him away, because he felt the shift in her body—a subtle softness sweep over her in a languid wave. Her muscles unclenched and her lips parted.

  “You should move away,” he whispered.

  “I’m always doing the wrong thing. Why stop now?”

  Lucas didn’t want to be the wrong thing. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked her—thorns and all. She was strong, but not cold as he’d first suspected. Maybe she didn’t let a lot of people see her weakness, but it was there, calling to him. He wanted to be there for her and help her through the rough spots.

  He wanted her to need him, just a little—just enough that she was willing to give him a shot.

  At what?

  His folks needed him so they could retire. He owed them the chance to relax a little after all the work they did—after raising him and his sister and putting them through college, after supporting his decision to go into the military and being by his side after his injury. He owed them a lot, and it was a debt he intended to pay.

  The only problem was there was no way Sloane would sign up for a quiet small-town life. He knew a fellow adrenaline junkie when he saw one. She had a fantastic job she loved. He couldn’t expect her to leave everything behind and come live with him in the boonies. And he knew better than to think a long-distance relationship would work.

  Their lives couldn’t mesh, so what was the point in trying to make anything work? And why was he even thinking about that when he’d known her for only a few days?

  Lucas had no idea. All he knew was that he wanted her. Now. Later. Whenever he could get her, however he could get her. As unfair as it was to both of them, he couldn’t make it stop.

  He hadn’t moved. He stayed completely still, giving himself time to do the right thing. Stand up. Walk away. That was all he had to do.

  And then her fingers settled on his cheek, her touch so soft he wondered if he’d imagined the whole thing. She leaned up, moving toward his mouth. She didn’t kiss him, but she was so close he could feel her breath warming his mouth, see the tiny dots of brown in the thin ring of green surrounding her widened pupils.