The Hitman's Baby - A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance (With extra added bonus novel for a short time only!) (16 page)

Lester stood from the table, red-faced. “Emily, you little bitch, when I find you—”

Emily? Nick was still in shock, and glanced up with the rest of the room when the next call played over the speakers.

It was Lester’s voice again, “What I need with that swarm of aging wetbacks,” he said, snarling at someone, “is their fucking cooperation. Their country is sliding toward ruin and I’m offering them a god damned life saver.”

“You can’t be Emilio Gonzales, sir,” the other voice said. “And you shouldn’t try to be. But, in my professional opinion, if it’s wanted…”

“Spit it out,” Lester said.

“I think that the Gonzales girl is your key. If you can get her on board, the cartel lords might see you as… sympathetic to the loss of their leader.”

“These people aren’t going to care about a girl—”

“No, sir; my apologies. Cassandra Gonzales, aka Elena Murray, has a son. Ramon. He was born… ten months ago.”

A long pause. “Keep an eye on them. The last thing I want is for their presence to undermine my relationships here. I need more time. But… it’s not out of the question. But find Nick Graves, too. I’d bet you my cock he’s the father. Always did have a thing for pretty girls. Such a waste.”

There was a click, and the sound died.

After a long, tense moment, Alex spoke again. “Oh, that was all. Bye dad. You were worth every moment I spent imagining this day. I hope you die in agony. Go get ‘em, Nick.”

All eyes turned on Lester.

Lester straightened from the table, and smoothed his suit jacket of wrinkles that weren’t there. He took a long breath, and then smiled. The smile became a chuckle, and then a laugh and he shook his head. When the fit passed, he wiped each eye with a finger. “Well. Imagine that. After all these years.” He looked at Nick. “Keeping it in the family after all, eh? Well…”

He was older now, but still fast. Lester’s hand flicked to the small of his back, the same place Nick habitually kept his own fast-draw position, and whipped out toward Ramon and Cassandra.

Nick was faster, and his gun was already out. He fired, and the bullet took Lester’s gun out of his hand. It discharged on the way down, but missed Nick’s family.

The next shot missed Lester’s head as he dropped, and dove behind the table.

Everyone at the table took cover.

Lester stood up, another gun in hand, and fired at Nick as he ran toward the double doors. His aim was shit; it was cover fire, not meant to end anything. What was important was that Lester was running.

He was running to the cover of his snipers.

Nick followed him anyway. He couldn’t let this all start over again, and if Lester survived this, that’s exactly what would happen.

He glanced at Cassandra, who was holding Ramon close and looked terrified still.

Then he turned, and ran after his old teacher.

Focus on the mission. No distractions.

This was going to end tonight, one way or another.

Nick gave chase. Occasionally, Lester swung his arm around and fired off a few shots. Both of them zigged and zagged—Lester to avoid Nick’s fire, Nick to avoid sniper fire. None had come; there was no telltale whizz or whistle of the slender, piercing rounds. Lester was headed toward the thick cover of the gardens, unwilling to fight on open ground.

So Nick followed him in. The two of them took pot shots from behind trees, fired into bushes, and tried to flush one another out.

It didn’t last. Lester fired once, twice, a third time as Nick dashed toward a thicker, older tree with better cover and on slightly higher ground. Then he heard the fatal click of an empty magazine.

“Sloppy,” he called, and turned on a heel toward the sound of it. Lester could load a new clip just as fast as Nick could.

Nick launched himself a Lester the moment he was in sight. The two went down together, tumbled, rolled over the dry ground and into a prickly bush, struggling for control of the only loaded firearm between them.

A train hit Nick in the temple, and when he felt his body go momentarily slack he hurled his gun to one side, into the bushes. If he couldn’t hang on to it, Lester wasn’t getting it. All of it was instinct now, survival skills that Lester had drilled into Nick’s brain at a young age.

He recovered quickly enough, and slipped his arm between both of Lester’s as the man tried to wrench Nick’s collar into a choke hold. Nick jammed his fingers into Lester’s soft throat and palate, under his jaw, intent on tearing it out if he got the chance. He didn’t; Lester dropped his chin but also released Nick’s collar, and instead drew a knee up, planted a foot in Nick’s stomach, and hurled him off.

Nick landed on his back on the hard ground, but managed to hurl his legs over him into a roll that brought him to his feet. His diaphragm was frozen from the blow, and he had to struggle to suck in a breath.

Lester was going for the gun. Nick dove after him, and got another fist to his temple when Lester turned and countered, hurling Nick past him and into the ground.

“Son of a bitch, but you’re fast,” Lester heaved. “Guess all that training wasn’t lost on you.”

Nick staggered to his feet. Lester wasn’t going for the gun anymore. It was lost in the bushes somewhere, and hunting for it didn’t make tactical sense. Instead, he cast his jacket off and stalked toward his former student.

“You’re old,” Nick said, “and slowing down, old man.”

Lester smirked. “Experience counts. I’ve killed more men with my bare hands than you have with that rifle of yours. But you were brilliant, boy. My best success.”

Nick circled the man. He wasn’t wrong—experience counted. But he wasn’t going to engage in Lester’s conversation. He feinted, and Lester kicked him smartly across the shoulder for it—nowhere near his maximum, but enough to make Nick’s arm go numb.

The old man laughed. “You don’t have time to test my defenses, kiddo. All or nothing. Can’t believe you turned on me. I was the next best thing to a father for you. It’ll break my heart to kill you, Nick. It really will.”

There were people gathering. Nick was peripherally aware of them. He focused on Lester to the exclusion of all else; this was what mattered.

Lester came at him, hard and fast—faster than Nick would have imagined he could move at his age, though, with survival on the line maybe he’d tapped some reserve of youth. He was strong, and his fists rained down faster than Nick could intercept them all. He took a fist to the jaw, heard ribs crack when a knee slipped past his guard.

When he saw the opening, he paid for it with an elbow that loosened teeth in his head. But he earned the point, jabbing his knuckles against Lester’s trachea. His old boss staggered away, wheezing, one hand clutching his throat. He was cussing, almost—the air wouldn’t move right. Not a fatal injury, but the kind that led to them.

Nick pressed his advantage, aiming to take Lester back to the ground. But the old bastard wasn’t quite ready to go, and he leapt up, left the ground entirely just as Nick committed, and brought one leg down hard across Nick’s shoulder.

His whole left side went slack, and he fell forward, barely catching himself on an arm.

Lester’s booted foot took Nick in the ribs, and Nick heard and felt them break as pain exploded through his chest. He tumbled sideways, and was barely able to recover before a boot was planted in his stomach. “Ungrateful shit,” Lester’s wheezy voice was wet. It was something. If there was blood, maybe he’d die anyway.

The kicks stopped, and through blurry vision Nick saw Lester strolling back to the tree he’d fired his last round from. He picked something up, and Nick heard the click of a fresh magazine locking into place.

The old man turned back to him, pistol hanging in one hand, still holding his throat with the other.

He stood over his old apprentice, his once-favored son, and pointed the gun at his head. “Bye, kiddo,” he hissed around his shattered throat.

“Nick!”

“Dad!”

Lester hesitated. Just a hair, but it was long enough.

Nick jerked his lower body, and took Lester’s legs out from under him with both of his own. The gun discharged, and pain blossomed in Nick’s shoulder, but as Lester went down Nick surged up, wrapped Lester’s arm in both of his and turned as he fell on the man.

He put his hand over Lester’s, and crushed with all his strength.

The gun barely made a sound, pressed between them like it was. It burned; sudden, contained heat singeing Nick’s fist.

Lester stared at him, furious, impotent, finally fallen. A gut shot. This was over. He knew it, and he spat in Nick’s face.

Nick got up. He could have finished Lester off, but he didn’t need to. So he tossed the gun away—as far as he could—and stumbled over Lester’s prone form, toward the crowd. Toward his family.

Members of the cartels peeled out of the group and headed past Nick, toward Lester. Probably they had their own ideas about what should happen to him.

All Nick cared about was his family. They rushed to him. Ramon, even as small as he was, nearly took Nick down when he threw his arms around his waist. Cassandra was more circumspect, wincing as she saw the full extent of the damage that Nick wasn’t in a hurry to hear a report on. He held out a hand, took hers, and pulled her to him.

“I’ve got you,” he said, clinging to them as much for support as for desperation and joy at finally being complete. “I’ve got you.”

Lester didn’t make it. The cartel leaders assured them of that. Cassandra thought they might seek another debt from Nick. After all, he had pulled the trigger.

But he’d also saved the last of the Gonzales family, and was now a part of it. There was debate. But in the end Senor Moreno agreed that Nick should be released to Cassandra’s judgment. After all, Emilio was her father.

And, Nick was the man that pulled the trigger. She knew that. She would need time to process it. Right now? All she knew was that they were all finally together, finally, safe.

Alex, and a small Japanese woman that Nick identified as Iruka, and a wide set, butch looking blond named Lorraine, all came in when Nick called for them over his ear piece after Cassandra helped him find it. She watched as Alex looked out at the courtyard, and then turned away. She had an inscrutable expression on her face, but it turned quickly to concern when one of the other men, Riley, was fished from where he’d gone down.

He took a shot to the chest, and Nick’s people field dressed it and then carried Riley away. A visit to a hospital and he’d make it, if only just.

“He’s too arrogant to realize he should be dead,” Nick assured her. “He’ll be OK.”

“So,” Cassandra said as she watched them go. “Alex was Lester’s… daughter?”

Nick nodded. “I knew he had a kid, ages ago. He never talked about her, though.” He frowned. “I know Alex probably had some work done, but… you know she has to be in her mid forties?”

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Well. Don’t expect me to hold up that well. I plan on getting fat, and lazy, and having more…” she trailed off. That was a conversation they hadn’t had. “I’m glad you came for me. I’m glad you’re safe. I’m glad this is all over. It is, isn’t it?”

Nick nodded, and winced from the motion. He looked like he’d been thrown from a plane. “It’s over, baby.”

“Ay,” Cassandra said when he reached for her, “don’t move. We need to get you to a doctor.”

“You have the best plans,” Nick said, smiling. “Do you know that? I love you for it.”

Cassandra smiled, and then kissed him—gently—on the lips. “I wondered about that.”

“Did you?” Nick asked, feigning incredulity. “I would have thought raising a small army to save you would have given it away, but I can—”

She shut him up with another kiss. “Quiet. I love you, too.”

Nick looked past her, and Cassandra turned to see Ramon watching them, pensive and tentative. She reached, and he came to them, but stopped short of ramming into Nick again.

“Are you… gonna be okay, Dad?” Ramon asked, surveying what even he could see were serious medical issues.

Nick’s eyes grew wet as Cassandra watched, and his lips pressed tight together. He nodded slowly, and when he spoke his voice was tight.

“Yeah, son,” he said, “I’m gonna be fine. We all are. From now on, we’re together. All of us.

“We’re family.”

EPILOGUE

Nick

Nick sat on the small jetty, a light breeze tugging gently at his hair. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the fresh, salty scent of the sea. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d just….sat. Sat, and been at peace. It didn’t come easy, and even now he had to fight the urge to be on his guard, to be aware of the nearest weapon, the closest threat.

But there were no threats here. There was just him, and his family.

Family.

It was gonna take some getting used to, that word, and everything that came along with it. Nick’s life had been spent keeping deliberate distance between him and everyone else. Close ties were bad. Hitman training 101. Family was a weak point, a way for your enemies to gain leverage over you. They just got in the way, made things more difficult.

He laughed dryly to himself.

Jesus, it’s gonna take some adjustment, this new life of ours.

He felt Cassandra stir beside him – she’d been napping, and she turned to look up at him with those beautiful big eyes of hers.

“What’s funny?”

Her voice was still thick with sleep, her hair slightly tousled, and Nick felt his heart swell with his love for her.

“Nothing. Just….thinking about stuff.”

She sighed.

“What’s there to think about, all the way out here? Places like this aren’t for thinking, Nick. They’re for….
being
, for enjoying, for switching off and recharging – and God knows, we need to recharge. Even Nick Graves, super hitman, needs to recharge.”

He leaned in and kissed her, savoring the sweetness of her lips.

“I’m not a hitman anymore, Cassandra. I’m….a Dad, I guess. A lover. Suppose I’ll need to find a job at some point, too.”

It wasn’t for the money. Alex had found enough reserves in Lester’s hidden accounts to mean that none of them would ever actually need to work a day in their lives. But after such a long time on the fringes, Nick thought that it might actually be fun to do a ‘normal people’ job. Maybe.

There were on the island. It had seemed like the perfect place to go, to get away from everyone and everything, to decompress after the events of the previous few weeks. Alex hadn’t forgotten that it technically now belonged to her, and Nick intended to keep his promise. He didn’t really have much use for the place now that his mother was gone. But for right here, right now, it was the perfect location.

Cassandra

They say that you can’t help who you fall in love with – that sometimes things are just meant to be.

But the man who killed your father? Was there any way to forgive that, no matter how evil he might have been? These were the sort of questions that Cassandra had been struggling with ever since they’d arrived here on the island.

The first few days after Lester had been defeated, there had been too much other stuff to worry about - Nick’s health, all the commotion with dealing with the fallout of everything that had happened. But now, sitting here in this peaceful place, she couldn’t help but turn her thoughts in that direction.

She’d told Nick that this wasn’t a place for thinking…maybe she should take her own advice. But she couldn’t let this fester – she needed to confront it, to deal with it now, before it grew inside her into something bigger and more insidious.

The warmth of Nick next to him, the love she saw in his eyes every time he looked at her – these were the little things that told her that he was the right man for her, and for Ramon. Together, they could make a fresh start, no longer needing to look over their shoulder and jump at every shadow.

But he had killed her father.

Nick hadn’t said anything to her about it yet – it seemed as if he knew that he needed to give her time to come to terms with it.

She sat up and blinked the sleep from her eyes.

“Nick…..”

He smiled and cocked his head, waiting for her to continue.

“My father…we need to talk about it.”

A cloud crossed Nick’s features, too quickly for him to conceal. He took her hands in his, and just let her speak. Cassandra took a deep breath, and continued. She didn’t know what she was going to say, she just let it come.

“He was a bad man, an evil man, in lots of ways. He probably caused untold suffering.”

She bit her lip, swallowing the tears that threatened to come.

“But he was my father, and no matter what, I loved him. Even though I ran from him, that never stopped being true. The world is probably a better place without him…but there is a space, here –“ she gestured to her heart, “ that is now empty.”

Nick was looking at her uncertainly.

“Cassandra, I –“

She held up a hand, stopped him.

“That empty space…maybe it can never be filled. But, the thing about love is that our hearts are never full – there’s always room for more. Where one love dies, a new one can be born and grow and flourish.”

She stared deep into his eyes, knowing that the words she spoke were utterly true.

“So, we start anew. Me, and you, and Ramon. A family. Together, forever. Our love can be enough to drive out the darkness of our pasts, can be enough for Ramon to have the sort of life that we never could.”

Nick was silent, his eyes filled with shimmering tears. Cassandra reached over to him and wiped them away.

He pulled her into him and held her tight, and they sat there for a while, looking out over the ocean. The silence was broken with the arrival of Ramon.

“What are you guys up to?”

Nick patted the ground next to him, and Ramon came and sat.

“Nothin’ much. Just looking at the ocean.”

“Booooring. C’mon Dad, let’s go and explore the island a little. I think I saw a snake earlier, I wanna catch it!”

Nick turned to Cassandra and raised an eyebrow. She nodded.

“Go catch some snakes boys. I’ll wait for you here.”

The two of them hurried off, Ramon chattering excitedly, and Nick, still limping slightly, following after him. Cassandra watched them go, a smile playing across her lips. She knew she’d made the right decision.

He’d been a hitman – but no longer. She didn’t know what the future held, for any of them, but she did know one thing – whatever happened, they’d be together.

She held onto that thought as she lay back in the soft grass, closed her eyes, and listened to the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore.

THE END