Get You Back: Part Three: Redemption Read online

  "I know who you are, Lauren. And I want to marry you."

  "No, you don't understand." Her forehead creased, as if she was completely befuddled. "Didn't you hear what I said?"

  "Sweetheart." I brushed a tear from her cheek with a thumb. "I already knew."

  "No, no, you knew about Bliss, about my real mother, but not—"

  "I knew about your father, too. I mean, I knew the gist, not the details. That's what Uncle Chris threatened to expose if I didn't do what he wanted."

  The room erupted in more gasps.

  "That prick," Annabelle burst out. "All this time, you did what Uncle Chris said to protect Lauren's reputation?"

  "No—"

  Lauren flung an arm in Annabelle's direction. "See? It's such a shameful thing that you would do anything to keep it secret. Imagine what all those ancestral McAllisters would say if they knew you'd married me."

  "Why would I give a fuck what they think? They're all dead, and besides, they were bloody marauders with no respect for the law. Why should they have any reason to look down on you? Lauren, I swear this was about protecting you, not your reputation. I know you hoped your father might be a better person than Bliss. I was afraid you'd be devastated. I was trying to protect you from that.”

  “But all I’m trying to do is protect you and your family name!”

  “I don’t need that. I need you. I don't care who your father and mother are. You are you. And I love you."

  She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, tears running in streams down her face. I dropped to my knees.

  "Lauren, my sweet and only love, the girl who makes my heart sing, the missing part of my soul, Lauren of the loyal heart and shining spirit, will you please marry me? I trust you with everything I am, everything I will be, everything my future children will be."

  She gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth.

  "You raised yourself into a compassionate, caring person despite what you were born into. That takes so much inner strength, so much fucking integrity. Imagine what kind of children you'll raise. Strong, thoughtful, fierce, beautiful, passionate—"

  Annabelle smothered a laugh, so I changed direction.

  "My father's will told me to choose wisely, and I am. Do you think I would go against his orders? He'd come back from the dead and whip my ass. I'm choosing you. Will you marry me, Lauren? I need you. I swear I do."

  She dropped to her knees along with me and took my face between her hands. "Are you sure?"

  I held her gaze, letting her search my face for any hint of doubt. She wouldn't find any, because it didn't exist. "I am."

  Finally she swayed toward me with a sigh, as if she'd been using all her strength to resist the pull between us. "I don't think you're supposed to use the word ‘fucking’ in a proposal."

  "Really?" My heart raced. That sounded achingly close to a "yes." But it wasn't a "yes" yet. "Then I take back the 'fucking.'"

  I felt warmth as her lips brushed against mine. "But that was one of my favorite parts," she whispered.

  The uncertainty was driving me out of my mind. "Is that a fucking 'yes' or what?"

  "Yes. It's a yes. But I'm going to leave the ‘f-ing’ for later. When we're a little more private."

  "God I love you." I dragged her against me, claimed her mouth with mine. The joy flooding through me was like nothing I'd ever felt or imagined. I laughed against her mouth while we kissed because of the sheer brilliant beauty of the moment. After all of this, after everything we'd gone through, here we were, kneeling on the floor, surrounded by family and friends, kissing like mad fools.

  And my alarm was going off.

  "Um, excuse me," I heard Courtney say faintly.

  I pulled away. "Damn it. Shit, I lost track of time." There was no way I was going to get back to my uncle's in the next five minutes. "You guys, don't be too upset by what you're about to see. This is the other part of Uncle Chris’s threats. My ankle bracelet is about to go off and it's set really high, so I'll probably black out right away. I was supposed to be back by now, but the hell with him. This was worth it, a million times over." I stroked Lauren's silky cheek, still wet from her tears. "I don't know if the current can be transmitted, so I don't want to be touching you when it goes off. But just know that I love you and you're not getting out of that 'yes.' Everyone heard you."

  A chorus of agreement followed. I picked out a "congratulations," a "we heard and saw you," and a "hey, you guys," from the direction of the laptop. I ignored them all and braced myself for the shock. Sweat popped out on my forehead and my muscles flinched. My body knew what was coming. I planted my gaze on Lauren's lovely, worried face. I didn't want her to have to see this, but I also couldn't bear to stop looking at her.

  I glanced at my watch, where the second hand was rounding the bend to my electrocution.

  I held my breath, and then—nothing. The time came and went without a single jolt of pain.

  "He must have gotten the time wrong," I told everyone. That seemed even worse. I'd rather know when it was coming than wait as the seconds ticked by.

  "Um, guys?" Courtney banged on something to get our attention. "I've been trying to tell you for the last few minutes. I disabled the bracelet."

  "You what?" I jumped to my feet.

  "I disabled it. Jammed the signal. The controller can't communicate with the bracelet anymore."

  "You mean, ever?"

  "I mean ever. I destroyed it."

  Elijah was gazing at his laptop as if an angel had just flown out of it. "How did you do that?"

  Courtney looked uncomfortable at all the sudden attention. "It's what I do. Do you want a technical explanation?"

  The rest of us flocked around the computer. I wanted to kiss it, but instead I wrapped my arm around Lauren and hauled her against my side. Lauren was blowing kisses at Courtney and laughing.

  "No, please don't explain. But thank you, thank you. I don't think I could have borne seeing Rye get zapped."

  Annabelle jumped up and down, twirling with excitement. "Has anyone else bothered to put the pieces together here? All of Uncle Chris's horrible little tricks are ruined. He doesn't have his magic bracelet anymore, and he no longer has anything to hold over Rye's head. See what I mean? Rye, you're free!"

  We all cheered and clapped, though I couldn't help thinking that something else was bound to happen.

  "Does he have any idea that the bracelet is jammed?" I asked Courtney. She looked irritated.

  "How would I know that? I'm a hacker, not a mind-reader. He'll probably figure out that something's wrong when you don't show up."

  I nodded. "Well, we don't have much time, so we'd better go find a justice of the peace or something."

  "Wait … what?" Lauren spun around to stare up at me. "What are you talking about?"

  "If we marry right now, all my uncle's schemes will be dead. There will be nothing he can do. We'll cancel the Van Sant merger right away. I won’t be able to marry Izzy because that would make me a bigamist."

  "What? You're a bigamist?" Izzy lifted her head from the couch, where she was curled up in a sleepy, jittery stupor.

  "I was just kidding about that part. Basically, if Lauren and I marry quickly, Uncle Chris will be flat out of options. As soon as I get to the lawyer’s office to sign the documents, and as soon as we marry, we'll be co-heads of the trust and he’ll be out. We can do what we want with the trust."

  A boundless sort of energy filled me. I felt I could take on the entire world. Nothing could possibly stop me. "We need an action plan. I'd love to find a way to get this bracelet off my ankle. Courtney?"

  "No idea, that's hardware. But—"

  I cut her off. "Never mind, we have more important things to do. Annabelle, we need to find out where the nearest courthouse is and what we need to do to make it official."

  "Sure thing, Laird McAllister."

  I gave her a double take. She winked.

  "You're the official head of the family now. I mean, you kind of al
ready were, at least in our eyes. But now you really are. That makes you Laird."

  "Moving forward, if anyone calls me Laird, they'll get their head dunked in a loch. Or at least a bucket of cold water. Anyway, what else do we need? Lauren, do you want to change? Where are your things? Elijah, did you bring your portable printer? We might need to print out a license. Izzy, do you need to get home? Why are you waving at me like that?"

  Izzy gestured at the laptop. "Girl in the Computer is trying to talk to you."

  I wheeled around to face Courtney's furious image. "Look, Laird McAllister. Good luck trying to dunk me in water. You don't even know where I am. I've been trying to tell you for the last few minutes—why doesn't anyone here listen to me? God!"

  "Well, what?" I checked my watch impatiently. I had no idea how long we had until Uncle Chris launched a full-on search party. For all I knew, he had GPS embedded in that bracelet and a squad of goons on the way.

  "As I've been saying," she cleared her throat, "I can hack into the town clerk's system and create a marriage license dated today."

  "Cool. That's great, that'll save time—"

  "I am also, Mr. Talks-Too-Much, a licensed minister. I got the license online. Comes in handy."

  We all stopped and stared at her. This fierce sprite of a warrior-hacker was a minister? It seemed so unlikely I almost laughed in her pixelated face.

  "As long as we can get a Vermont marriage certificate, which should be no problem, I can perform the ceremony right now. So do you guys want to get on with it or what?"

  11

  Lauren

  I looked at Rye. He looked at me. It was one of those moments when your whole life runs through your mind like a movie in super fast-forward. Everything I longed for was right there before me. A man I loved, and who loved me. A family that had already embraced me. But to accept it, I'd have to do something I'd never done before. I'd have to trust myself.

  I'd have to believe I wasn't defined by my horrendous genetic background. I'd have to believe that I wasn't irredeemably damaged by Bliss's training.

  I'd have to believe in myself and my love for Rye.

  "Well?" Rye asked. I didn't see one speck of doubt on his face.

  I slid my hand into his. "Yes. I would love to marry you, Rye. More than anything in the world." With Rye hugging me close, captured in his infinitely silver eyes, I was fearless.

  "Yay!" Annabelle clapped her hands and bounced joyfully off the couch. "The perfect happy ending!"

  Courtney busied herself tapping away on her keyboard. "Okay, I'm into the system. You guys might want to start composing your vows."

  Elijah appeared at Rye's side and whispered in his ear. Rye frowned as he looked over at Izzy, still curled in a ball on the couch, tap-tapping on her cell phone. Rye nodded to Elijah, who strode over to her and snatched her cell phone from her hand. "What are you doing?"

  "Hey!" She grabbed for it, but he held it away from her and read the text she'd just sent.

  "‘Get here fast. Loon Lake B&B.’ Who'd you send this to?"

  "My dealer," she said sullenly.

  He scrolled back and kept reading. "‘I'm yours, forever and ever and ever.’"

  "He's my lover, too. Give that back."

  "Who is he? I'm going to find out, so you might as well tell me."

  She slid off the couch, swaying as her feet hit the floor. "Yes, you're gonna find out, because he's probably here by now, and then you're all going to be in big trouble because you should have just let things be!"

  "Oh hell, Izzy." Rye grabbed her arm before she could fall. "Is it Uncle Chris? Is he your dealer?"

  She pulled away from him, her hand flying against his chin. "He's not my uncle."

  "Fuck. All this time, you've been with him?" Rye vibrated with enough fury to strip the loon-print wallpaper off the walls. "What is he to you?"

  Izzy burst into tears. "Why are you yelling at me?"

  "Where is he? Is he coming here?"

  "He said he would, but he's not here!" She wailed, an eerie sound, like a child with tummy ache. "I need him, Rye. I need him! He's good to me. He makes me feel good. I love him!"

  Rye spun away, plunging his hands into his thick hair. "Holy hell. This is why he wants me to marry Izzy. The merger is just a means to an end. He wants to control the trust through her."

  Annabelle's face went stark white. Elijah stepped to her side.

  "I don't know what you're talking about, Rye," Izzy whimpered.

  Rye turned back to her. I could see the effort he made to speak gently. "Don't you see he's using you, Izzy? He wanted you to marry me. Why would he do that if he loved you?"

  "Shut up! What do you know?" She stomped one foot. "Don't be so mean to me! You don't know anything about me."

  "Izzy, honey. Shhh." Rye made a "help, please" face at the rest of us. Annabelle skipped over to Izzy.

  "Izzy, we're not trying to give you a hard time," she said in a hushed voice. "We didn't know about you and Uncle Chris, so it's kind of a shock, that's all. A surprise. You know how it is. Have you been seeing him for a while?"

  "Yes." Izzy seemed to calm under Annabelle's girl-talk manner. "Since I was younger. But he said it should be a secret until we can get everything worked out."

  "Right. I guess that makes sense. Well, now that the secret's out, mind if I ask where he is?"

  "I don't know! After I told him you came to see me, Annabelle, he got kind of upset. He wanted me to stay with Rye and keep texting him what was happening. So I did, and then I told him I really needed something, they put me in jail last night and it's been like over a day since I had a hit of anything, and …" She trailed off, biting down on her lip. My heart ached for her, even though she'd just confessed to selling us all out.

  Rye straightened and gestured toward Elijah. "See if you can track him down. I'd rather go after him than wait here like sitting ducks. Don't engage unless it's safe. I don't want you taking any risks. Take Izzy's phone, that'll help throw him off."

  Elijah rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck—preparing for battle. "My pleasure," he growled. He palmed Izzy's phone and jammed it into his front pocket. "Sorry, Iz. I'll make sure you get it back."

  She gave it a tragic glance. Mascara ran down her face in black smudges. I should teach her Bliss's eye-makeup technique, I thought randomly. Elijah headed for the exit with long, determined strides. He was such a gentle guy that I tended to forget what a bruiser he could be. At that moment, I wouldn't want to be Christopher McAllister.

  At the door, he turned back briefly and glanced at his laptop, where Courtney was watching everything intently.

  "Be careful, big guy." For such a little person, she sure could sound fierce.

  A dimple appeared in his cheek as he flashed her a peace sign. "If I need any cyber backup—"

  "I got your back, no worries."

  With a quick salute to the rest of us, he slipped out the door.

  After his departure, silence fell, broken only by Izzy's steady sobs. It felt as if we were all waiting for the other shoe to drop. As if Christopher McAllister was about to burst through the door with a machine gun.

  Instead, two things occurred in quick succession.

  Elijah’s portable printer whirred.

  "That's your paperwork," Courtney said. "Just sign where it says—"

  And a text flashed on my screen. A message from Bliss.

  Tell Rye I have information for him about his father's death.

  I let out an involuntary sound. Shock, anger, disgust, take your pick. Did she never stop? Would she ever stop?

  I quickly composed an answer.

  Not interested in your information. But I hesitated before pressing "send." Maybe Rye had a right to make his own choice about this.

  "Rye. Message for you." I walked to the printer, where he was extracting our paperwork. I showed him the text on my phone. I saw his jaw tighten, his silver eyes go steely.

  My heart sank. Of course he had to follow up on t
his. Bliss had slid her stiletto into his psyche brilliantly. She'd picked the very softest of his soft spots.

  But then he surprised me. "What do you think we should do?"

  I scanned his face carefully. He really wanted to know what I thought; not only that, but he wasn't going to do anything without my agreement.

  This was exactly what Ian McAllister's will had intended—two people who trusted and respected each other, putting their heads together to make the best possible decision.

  His father would have been so proud.

  “Honestly, I want to tell her to fuck off. But this is your father we’re talking about.”

  Holding my gaze, he took the phone and hit the callback button. As soon as she answered, he put her on speaker.

  "Rye McAllister here," he said in that authoritative tone that always sent shivers down my spine.

  "Well hello, Rye. I haven't seen you since Morocco. How are things going with my daughter? You should be very grateful to me. I'm the one who sent her back to you."

  A muscle ticked in Rye's jaw. We held each other's gaze as she poured her poison into the attic of the Loon Lake B&B.

  "I take it since she's still with you that you don't care about her sordid origins. That's sweet, but you know she never would have told you about it unless I forced her into it. I hope you keep that in mind as we all move forward."

  I dug my fingernails into my palms. Bliss would always be Bliss, and she was never going to stop looking for the edge, for the next score, the big payoff.

  “So that was your big play? Too bad I already knew.”

  From Bliss’s micro-pause, I knew that surprised her. “Then let’s talk about something I know you care about deeply. Don’t you want to know just what caused your father’s stroke?”

  Despair gathered in the pit of my stomach. Of course Rye did. They all did. And they deserved to know.

  But then—Rye winked at me. Just that one gesture and everything within me relaxed. It would be okay now, because we'd deal with Bliss together.

  "We're late for a wedding, so get on with it. If you have something to say, say it."