Colters' Woman (28 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Holly stared at the ceiling, her thoughts in chaos. Adam, Ethan and Ryan were all asleep. They looked uncomfortable as hell, but she didn’t want to do anything to wake them.

Guilt pressed down on her until it threatened to suffocate her. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Ryan falling again. Her worst fear had been the danger she was bringing to the brothers’ doorstep. A fear that had now been realized.

It was time for her to make sure nothing more happened to Adam, Ethan or Ryan. She loved them all so much. The idea of losing any of them created an unbearable ache in her heart.

She glanced over at Adam just a few feet away. His cell phone lay on the small table next to her bed. She stared at it for a long moment then slowly reached for it.

She knew Lacey had been the last to call so her number should be stored. Holly quietly flipped the phone open and punched the series of buttons to pull up the last received call. Then she hit send.

A few seconds later, Lacey’s voice filtered over the line.

“Lacey? This is…this is Holly Bardwell,” she said in a stronger voice.

There was a long pause. “What can I do for you, Mrs. Bardwell?”

Holly took a deep breath and checked to make sure she hadn’t already awakened the men.

“I need you to contact the district attorney for San Francisco County,” she said in a voice just above a whisper.

Another long pause. “Does Adam know you’re calling me?”

“No, and I want to keep it that way,” Holly said firmly. “Look, Lacey. I know you don’t like me, but I do know you like Adam. Do you want what happened to Ryan to happen to him? I have to do what I can to keep him safe. Keep them all safe.”

“What do you want me to say to the D.A.?”

“Tell him I have some information on Mason Bardwell he would be very interested in. Tell him where to find me. I won’t talk over the phone. It has to be in person.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Lacey asked.

If Holly didn’t know better, she’d swear there was actual concern in the other woman’s voice.

“It’s my only option. I can’t let them be killed because of me.”

Silence descended between the two women. Finally Lacey spoke.

“All right, I’ll make the call.”

“Thank you,” Holly said softly.

She closed the phone and carefully replaced it. Then she sank into her pillows, exhausted from the energy she’d expended.

***

Two days later, the D.A. arrived, two Colorado state patrol officers flanking him. They walked into Holly’s room, eliciting immediate reactions from the brothers.

Dread tightened Holly’s chest, squeezing her until she struggled for breath. She knew who he was and why he was here.

“What the fuck is going on?” Adam demanded as he stood to his full height.

Ethan and Ryan also stood. Heavy tension clouded the room, so thick you could stir it with a spoon.

“Easy, son. My name is David Masterson. I’m the district attorney for San Francisco County.”

Adam crossed his arms and stood, legs apart, staring defiantly at the D.A. “That doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

“I asked him to come,” Holly said quietly.

All eyes turned to her. Ryan moved closer to her bed, hovering protectively over her. Which was laughable at best. He still looked like a half-dressed mummy with the bandages wrapped around his chest and shoulder.

“Perhaps I could have a moment alone with Mrs. Bardwell,” the D.A. said.

“Like hell you will,” Ryan snarled.

Holly put up her free hand to rest on Ryan’s arm. “I’ll be fine, Ryan.”

Adam stared at her, his gaze never leaving her face. “What have you done, Holly?”

“Please understand, Adam. I can’t allow any of you to come to harm because of me.”

Adam swore long and hard. She winced at his ferocity.

David Masterson gestured at the two policemen. “If you don’t mind, escort the gentlemen out so Mrs. Bardwell and I can talk privately.”

“The hell you say!” Ethan burst out.

“Ethan, please,” Holly pleaded. “Let me do this my way. I’m asking you to leave. For me.”

Looks of hurt mixed with anger were thrown her way, but the three finally turned and stalked out the door.

The D.A. turned and gave her a speculative look.

“Mind if I sit down?” he asked.

She shook her head and watched as he settled into the chair Adam had vacated.

“My office has been looking for you for some time, Mrs. Bardwell. Any particular reason you disappeared?”

She stared hard at him. He wouldn’t get the upper hand over her. This meeting would be on her terms and her terms alone.

“I asked you here, Mr. Masterson. I’ll ask the questions.”

He lifted one brow. “Very well. What can I do for you?”

“You wouldn’t have come all this way if you weren’t keenly interested in Mason Bardwell.”

He nodded. “That’s true.”

“I saw him murder a man on our wedding night,” she said baldly.

The D.A. sat forward, urgency lighting his eyes. “You saw him? Unmistakably?”

She shuddered and closed her eyes. “There was no mistaking what I saw, Mr. Masterson. He shot a man.”

“Were there any other witnesses? Think hard about this, Mrs. Bardwell. It’s very important.”

“Please. Don’t call me Mrs. Bardwell,” she said quietly. “My name is Holly. And yes, there was one other person present. His business partner, Thomas Goins.”

David sat back, a gleam of triumph in his eyes. “Are you willing to testify to what you saw?”

“It’s why I asked you here,” she said. “But I have conditions.”

Again he quirked his eyebrow at her. “What sort of conditions are we talking about?”

“I want protection. He’s why I’m in the hospital. He’s why Ryan Colter nearly died. He won’t hesitate to kill me or them.”

“Of course we’d take all the necessary precautions,” he said quickly.

“I want Adam, Ethan and Ryan protected as well. They won’t like it. They won’t want it. But I won’t set foot in a courthouse unless you guarantee that someone will be looking out for their best interests until this is all over with.”

“Holly, if you help me put away Mason Bardwell, I’ll personally baby-sit them. We’ve been after him for years. He’s up to his neck in organized crime in the San Francisco Bay Area. Until now, we’ve never been able to pin anything on him. When Sheriff McMillan called me and said you wanted to see me, I took the first flight out here, hoping you’d tell me what you have.”

Holly blanched. “Organized crime?”

David nodded. He studied her for a moment. “This probably isn’t the best time to tell you, but then I can’t imagine there ever being a good time. We strongly suspect he had a hand in your parents’ deaths.”

She opened her mouth in shock. “But they died in an accident! It was ruled an accident.”

“So it was. A rather suspicious accident. He was involved in several investments with them. Investments that went very bad. A week before their accident, they came to my office with claims they had evidence he was involved in fraud.”

Holly dropped her head onto her pillow. Tears stung her eyes and she wiped angrily at them. “And you never did anything about it?”

His voice softened. “We didn’t have enough evidence to pursue an indictment. Believe me if we did, I would have done everything in my power to convict him.”

“What do I have to do?” she asked. “I want the bastard in jail for what he did.”

“Well, I’ll take your statement. Then I’ll put together an arrest warrant and have the police pick Mr. Bardwell up. We’ll move you to an undisclosed location where you’ll remain until the trial. I’ll arrange for police protection for the Colters as well.”

“How long will this take?”

“That I don’t know. I won’t lie to you. It could drag on for some time, but I’ll do the best I can to make sure we get a rapid trial date.”

She swallowed the knot in her throat. How long would she be separated from Adam, Ethan and Ryan, and would they even want her back by the time it was all over with? As much as she hated the idea of being separated from them, she knew what she had to do. For her parents, for the men she loved, and most importantly, for herself.

“Let’s do it,” she whispered. “Make the arrangements.”

He leaned forward and folded her hand in his. “Thank you, Holly. You’re doing a very brave thing.”

Brave? Or stupid? She wasn’t sure which. She knew she’d have three very angry men. Men she loved more than anything else in her life. And here she was doing the one thing she wanted to do the least. Leaving.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Adam sat in brooding silence, his feet perched on the windowsill of the hospital room. After the district attorney had come out of Holly’s room, she’d fallen asleep, clearly exhausted by the encounter.

The floor had gone into a flurry of activity, directed by the two Colorado state troopers. Even now, a police guard had been posted at the door, and no one but hospital staff and the Colter brothers were allowed in.

Adam could feel the clock ticking, and he didn’t like it a damn bit. He glanced over at Holly’s pale face. She was too damn weak, not nearly recovered enough to take on her bastard husband. She needed rest, to recuperate.

“What do you think’s going on?” Ethan muttered as he sat down beside Adam.

“Don’t be talking in low voices, thinking I won’t hear,” Ryan said sourly. “If there’s something to be said, I want to hear it.”

“We’re trying not to wake Holly up.” Adam turned back to Ethan. “I wish the fuck I knew what was going on in her head. She blames herself for what happened to Ryan, and she’s acted on that.”

Ryan swore a streak that would have their mother washing his mouth out with soap.

“So what do we do?” Ethan asked.

Adam shook his head. He felt so damn helpless. “I don’t know. It has to be her decision. We can’t make it for her.”

“I don’t want to lose her,” Ryan said in a tight voice.

“Do you think we do?” Anger and frustration simmered in Ethan’s eyes.

Adam rubbed his face. They were all on pins and needles. Tired. Frustrated beyond belief. And scared to death of losing the one woman who meant everything to them.

“How can we just let her walk away?” Ryan demanded. “Who’s going to make sure that bastard husband of hers isn’t going to hurt her again?”

Adam turned his head to the bed when he heard Holly shift and sigh softly. Her eyes fluttered open, and he leaned forward in his seat.

“How’re you feeling, baby?”

“Tired,” she whispered.

He felt guilty for what he was about to do, but he wasn’t going to let go without a fight. She didn’t need to be pushed, but that was exactly what he was going to do.

“What’s going on, baby? Why did you call the D.A.? I don’t like what that implies.”

She stared at him with her beautiful eyes. Eyes that were awash in sadness. And fear. Almost as if she was afraid of how he’d react when she answered his questions.

His gut tightened uncomfortably.

“It had to be done,” she said.

“No, it didn’t,” Ryan refuted.

Tears welled in her eyes. “You almost died, Ryan. Because of me. Do you have any idea what that did to me? How badly it hurt? I can’t stand the thought of any of you gone. I love you too much.”

Adam glanced over at Ryan. His brother looked to be near losing all control. Rage and grief festered like a gangrenous sore.

“I’m the one who let you down,” Ryan said in a near shout. “Don’t you get it? I let that bastard into our home. I let him take you away from us. I let him nearly kill you. I let you down just like I let those prisoners down in Iraq.”

Tears streamed down Holly’s face. “Ryan—”

“I won’t let you do this, Holly. I won’t let you sacrifice yourself for us,” Ryan said fiercely.

She struggled to sit up, and Adam leaned further into her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to help.

“I made a bargain with the district attorney,” she said. “A bargain I won’t back out of. It’s something I have to do. For all of us.”

Nausea welled in Adam’s stomach, and he and Ethan exchanged panicked looks.

“What kind of bargain?” Ethan asked dully.

“I’m going to testify against Mason.”

Adam shook his head. “No. No, no, no! It’s too dangerous. He’ll go after you with everything he has.”

“I’m going away,” Holly added softly. “Until the trial. I’ll be in protective custody.”

Adam surged to his feet. He clenched his fingers into tight balls. God, he wanted to hit something. Put his fist through the wall.

“Why? Why are you doing this?” He no longer cared that he sounded so angry. He couldn’t bring himself to treat her so gently when she was tearing him apart on the inside.