Wild at Heart (15 page)

Archer let go of her hand, considered me for a moment, then shifted his stance so that he was facing me. “Look, man,” he said, extending a hand. “I’m sorry for the crap that went down in Paris. I was a dick. And I nearly lost one of my best friends over it. I’m willing to make peace if it means keeping Reagan happy.”

I looked at his hand, then reached out and grasped it. Not that I’d admit it to anyone, but I was vaguely impressed that he apologized. Still, a sickening feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I thought about how much easier Ree’s life would’ve been if she’d just said “yes” to Abercrombie, here. For starters, no one would be trying to
kill
her.

Archer grinned at me before turning to Ree. “Your dad is outside speaking with the police and the press.”

Of course the bastard would cover his tracks first before checking on his daughter.

Ree’s gaze widened and met mine, her lips parting as she said, “I have to get out of here, Dare. They want to keep me overnight for observation, but I can’t stay. I can’t stay another minute. Not with Arianna…” Fresh tears welled up in her eyes. “And not with him coming here.”

I could understand that. “I’ll get your stuff,” I said, then nodded to Archer. “Find someone to start the discharge papers.”

His eyes darted between Ree and me, and he pressed his lips together into a thin line, looking like he was about to tell us this was a bad idea—
no shit
.

“Okay,” he said, to my surprise. “Consider it done.”

“Thank you,” I said as Ree let out a small sigh of relief.

Ten minutes later, she was fully dressed and had signed the last form while Archer left to bring his car around. The surly nurse from earlier seemed even more pissed at me now, but I didn’t care. Ree needed to be away from her dad in order to deal with the death of her friend, and I was going to make sure she got at least that little bit of peace.

We slipped out of the hospital and had almost made it to Archer’s car unnoticed.

Almost.

“Oh, dear. Reagan!” Her mother’s high heels clicked along the pavement as she ran up to us. “What are you doing outside? I was just speaking with the staff and arranging to have you transferred to a private room.” She extended her hand as if she was gesturing to a small child. “Come on, now. I’ll call Doctor Montgomery and make sure you have the best care while you heal. They said you have stitches on your arm.” Her perfectly arched brows flew upwards. “We have to make sure it doesn’t scar.”

Was this bitch for real?

Ree shook her head. “No. I’m going home with Dare and Archer.”

I placed my hand on the small of Ree’s back to steer her away as her father approached, but he clasped my arm with a hard grip.

“Enough games, Reagan,” he said, more to me than her. “You need to come with us.”

“No,” Ree and I both said at the same time.

“I am not letting you go off with this common criminal.” He practically spat. “This man has a record five miles long. If you knew even half the things he’s been involved in…”

“We both know you’re the one with the highest body count here, Mayor.” I gritted my teeth, seething. “You let my father out of prison and started something you have no control over. Don’t you realize
he
did this?”

“A juvenile delinquent’s word goes far these days, does it?”

Goddamn it. My fingers twitched; I wanted to punch him so badly, but that would only give him an excuse to arrest me. So, instead, I took a deep breath and said, “I’m not letting Ree leave with you or anyone else.”

“She needs to be with her family right now,” her mother said.

“I am.” Ree looked at up me and smiled. “I’m with the only person who has ever loved me.”

“Two,” Archer said, coming around the other side of her, and standing with us. “The only two who’ve ever truly loved her.” Then he lifted his arm toward his car. “Now, let’s get you two home.”

As we drove away, the last thing I saw was the dead-hard glare of the mayor.

Good fucking riddance.

eighteen

I
didn’t remember the drive home. My head pounded, my body ached, and my mind slammed the doors on reality, taking me far away from this moment in time. The sounds of traffic faded out and were replaced by the echo of Arianna’s laughter, her friendly chatter, her plans for the future.

A future she’d never have.

Because of me.

Because of my father.

I wished I could escape to another time, a different place.

Anywhere but here.

Anywhere but the present.

My life might’ve been fucked up before, but today’s events had taken things to a whole new level.

I barely registered Archer pulling up and parking outside of Rex’s. The next time the world came into focus, he was speaking to Dare, his eyes sad, his voice laced with concern.

“Call me if she needs anything,” he said. “Anything at all.”

Dare nodded and shook Archer’s outstretched hand. “Thank you.”

Death had a way of throwing people together and making allies from adversaries.

Before I could even blink, Archer was getting back in his car, but something in me panicked. Nothing felt safe. No one I cared about was safe. What if something happened to Archer on his way home?

I hurried over to his Porsche and knocked on the window.

“Please don’t go,” I said. “Can’t you come in, just for a while?” Then I glanced up at Dare, begging him with my eyes to understand that I wasn’t ready to let anyone I loved out of my sight yet.

Archer’s eyes went to Dare, and he started to shake his head. “I don’t think I should…”

But then Dare pressed one hand against my lower back, put the other on the passenger door, leaned down and said, “No, you should. Stick around. If Ree wants you here, I want you here.”

When Dare stood back up, I leaned into him, my throat closing, my eyes overflowing again.

“It’s okay, baby,” he whispered into my hair. “Come on, let’s all go inside.”

Before we could even turn around, Rex burst through the front door. “WHAT ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH HAPPENED? I’ve been watching the news, worrying my ass off, and neither one of you had your phone on!”

Dare filled him in as we filed into the house. Rex led us into his living room, where I curled up in my favorite spot on the couch with Dare by my side. Rex went back into the kitchen to put on water for tea while Archer sank into an armchair across from us, his expression concerned and confused.

“So, what’s really going on?” he asked, leaning back and stretching his long legs out in front of him. “Because SOMETHING obviously is.” My eyes met Dare’s. “Look, I’m here to help if you need it.” Archer nodded at me. “You know I’d do anything for you, Reagan.”

He would, I knew that. And after everything he’d already done for Dare and me, I knew we could trust him. I glanced at Dare again, a silent question on my face, and he shrugged.

“What the hell,” he said. “He’s already heard half of it.”

So I told Archer everything.

Every. Little. Thing.

“
Holy shit
.” He’d drawn his legs back, and was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, his eyes huge.

Rex had caught the tail-end as he’d come back in with a cup of tea for me, then sat down next to Dare.

“Have you gone to the police?” Archer said, his voice rising. “Have you told them your father is responsible for the explosion, Dare? Because THAT’s enough, right there, to put him away.”

“They know.” Dare put his head in his hands. “They won’t find him. Not unless he fucks up…and my father never fucks up.”

“Well, you can’t just sit around waiting for him to blow something else up…” I could tell by the strain in his voice that Archer was getting agitated. “Do you want to go somewhere? I can book you both on a flight today.” He started scrolling on his phone. “Where do you want to go?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Dare said. “And I’m not fucking waiting around anymore.” There was something in his voice that made my panic level skyrocket. “I’m done. I’ve hit dead-end after dead-end looking for Stanzi, so I’m just going to have to confront my father without any actual proof and hope he bites.”

“
What?!
” Rex and I said at the same time.

“No!” I shouted, sitting up and gripping Dare’s knee. “You can’t. Your father will ki—” I choked on the word, tears springing to my eyes in an instant at the mere thought. “I just lost Arianna. I cannot lose you, too. You can’t do this.”

“And I can’t just sit around and wait for him to strike again,” he said, his eyes glittering with anger and desperation. “That could have been YOU tonight. I can’t—” His jaw clenched and he wrapped his arms around me, his voice tight with emotion when he spoke again. “He’ll kill you if he gets another chance. Tonight proves that. I’ve got to do something, Ree.”

“But there has to be a better way,” Rex said. “There has to be something else.”

“There’s nothing else, Rex. I’ve exhausted all my sources. This is the only thing I’ve got on him.” Dare’s shoulders sagged.

“Okay, so even if that’s true, you can’t go to Daren with nothing. He’ll see right through you, and you know it. He’s a mean son of a bitch, but he’s also a smart bastard. You think it’s a coincidence you can’t find any trace of Stanzi? It’s because someone doesn’t want you to.”

Something was prodding and nagging at the back of my mind. Something my father had said tonight.
If you knew even half the things he’s been involved in…

“But what if it isn’t?” I said to Dare.

“What?”

“What if it isn’t the only thing you’ve got on him? What if you’ve blocked stuff out? Because there was a lot more that he did, right? And you were just a kid.” Dare contemplated my words, then nodded. “Maybe we can get him on something else, something that won’t send you to jail, too.”

“Yeah, but—”

“I know someone who has a file on you that is
five miles long
.” Anger coursed through my body the more I thought about my father and his hand in all of this. His snooping. His dirty dealings. He was to blame for everything. “If we got hold of that file, then maybe you’d see something in there that we could use instead. Something that doesn’t require Stanzi’s proof. It’s possible, right?”

The gears were turning in Dare’s mind, and he nodded. “I guess it’s possible, but I don’t think—”

“Then just give me a couple of days, okay? Before you do anything suicidal like go after your father, give me enough time to get into my father’s office and see what I can find.”

“He’s hosting a party tomorrow night,” Archer said. “Schmoozing New York’s finest.”

I got to my feet and started pacing in front of the couch.

“Perfect,” I said, then stopped in front of him. “Are you going?” He nodded. “Can you keep my father busy for a while to give me time to get the files?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

Dare was shaking his head again. “What if you don’t find anything? Or what if there’s nothing in there that helps us?”

I stared at Dare, my heart thundering at the thought of him in his dad’s hands again. I didn’t know what to say because I wasn’t willing to ever let him follow through with his plan.

“Then we go after him together,” Rex said quietly. “You can’t do this on your own no matter what. We’ve already seen what happens when you try.”

“I’m going to be prepared this time. I wasn’t—”

“
No
,” Rex said, his tone stern. “You’re going to go with help this time, son. With
me
. And there are people I can call to back me up.”

My eyes watered again as I knelt in front of Dare. “Please, Dare. Please just give us a chance. Do it for me.”

He reached out and gently cupped my face, his thumb brushing a tear from my cheek. And then he nodded. “For you.”

I breathed out in relief, pressing deeper into his palm.

I hadn’t been able to save Arianna, but I had one last chance to save Dare.

I just hoped I wouldn’t let him down. Because there was no back-up plan after this.

nineteen

“R
eagan!” My father’s voice boomed across the hallway, echoing off the woodwork, and making me freeze. Fuck. I’d thought he was in the drawing room with the Trumans, Fitzgeralds, Huntington-Chases, and all his other rich cronies, getting them to empty their wallets all in the name of his political gain. And the favors they’d eventually receive, of course.