Shoving his gun into his waistband at the small of his back, Kade searched George, taking his wallet and cell phone before heading back to his car. A few minutes later, he was speeding away into the night.
Kade’s gut churned as he drove. Reaching into the glove box, he pulled out a burner phone. He bought a couple of new ones every few weeks. Being able to make untraceable calls came in handy. Dialing a number from memory, he waited while it rang. When a man answered, Kade got right to the point.
“Let me be the first to offer my condolences on the death of your chief of staff,” he said coolly. “Good help’s so hard to come by these days.”
There was a pause. “Goddammit, Kade!” Senator Keaston exploded. “What the hell did you do?”
“Cut the bullshit,” Kade snapped. “You should have known what was going to happen when you sent him. You’re going to threaten me with killing Blane and Kathleen? Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“I’m through watching you screw up everything I’ve worked for,” Keaston retorted. “If you don’t do as you’re told, I’ll have no choice.”
“You honestly expect me to believe you’d kill Blane—”
“I know about the baby,” Keaston interrupted, making Kade’s blood run cold. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out she’s carrying his child? Health records are the government’s property now, and I am the government.”
The words “It’s my baby, not Blane’s” were on the tip of Kade’s tongue, but he forced himself to stay silent, waiting to see where Keaston would go with this.
“If you think I’m going to let some white-trash bartender run amok and go to the press in five years when Blane’s running for president with some tragic tale of a love child, then you’re dead wrong,” Keaston said, his words laced with disgust.
“Since when do you give a shit about Blane’s love life?” Kade scoffed.
“Blane’s been out of his fucking mind the last few weeks, ever since you were shot,” Keaston fumed. “He’s lost all his ambition for office, as if he doesn’t even care anymore. Then I find out why. That the little bitch is knocked up and you have swept in to fuck Blane over. Why am I not surprised? You always seem to screw up the best-laid plans.”
“Maybe Blane’s just realizing he’s been following your ambitions, and not his own,” Kade retorted. The guilt he’d felt earlier returned with a vengeance. Despite his words to Keaston, Kade knew Blane had worked with a single-minded focus on building a career destined for politics for as long as Kade could remember.
“Bullshit,” Keaston spat. “He took you from nothing, from a fucking orphanage, and gave you everything! I never should have helped him find you, that was my second mistake. My first was not getting rid of your whore of a mother when I had the chance.”
Cold shock poured through Kade. “What are you talking about?”
“Blane’s father came to me when he found out your mother was pregnant. I thought about killing her then, but your father seemed convinced she was willing to take a payoff and disappear. I should have gone with my instincts.”
“What payoff? She didn’t have any money,” Kade argued.
“You think I was going to let John squander his money on some pregnant gold digger? I told her to never darken our door if she wanted to live, and if she breathed a word of who the baby’s father was—who your father was—I’d take you from her and she’d never see you again.”
Kade slammed on the brakes, the car fishtailing as it swerved on the empty road. “You sonofabitch—” he hissed.
“Shut up, Kade,” Keaston broke in. “You listen to me and by God you listen good. You’re going to go over to Blane’s and convince him not to drop out of the race. Then you’re going to tell him you want nothing to do with the girl and that she really loves him, she’s just confused. He needs to stand by her side, marry her, give the child a name. Blane’s all about honor. I’m sure you can convince him. Then you’re going to leave and never, ever come back.”
The words were like a poisoned blade, the way they sliced through Kade, leaving a burning agony in their wake. Kade swallowed. “And if I don’t?”
“Then I will put down that girl like a fucking dog, you worthless piece of shit, and I’ll enjoy doing it. The only thing saving her now is that she carries Blane’s child and he still loves her. But that can change. Blane owes people—I owe people—people who do not take kindly to donating millions to a candidate who drops out of the fucking race because of a goddamn broken heart. I’ve put my ass on the line for him, but if he doesn’t get his shit together, I’m not responsible for what happens to him.”
“If anyone so much as touches my brother,” Kade spat, “I will fucking drop you, old man.”
“Do you think everything can be solved in that fashion?” Keaston asked, his voice rife with contempt. “Kill me and she dies, no question. I call it my Kade Dennon insurance policy.”
Kade didn’t see a way out. If he stayed, defied Keaston, Kathleen would die. If he tried to kill Keaston, Kathleen would still die. The only winning move was to take himself out of the equation. To do exactly as Keaston said.
Unless he confessed, told Keaston the baby was his, not Blane’s.
And then what?
He and Kathleen would be constantly on the run, evading Keaston’s reach, because Kade had no doubt that Keaston was crazy enough to try and kill them anyway, just because of Blane. Look what he’d done to Kade’s mother. How much worse would he do to Kathleen? It was no way to live, no way to raise a child. Kade could protect them, yes, but it would only take a moment, one split-second of inattention, for them both to be gone.
Kade could see it now. Her body limp in his arms, a small hole in the center of her forehead as blood poured from the massive exit wound in the back of her head, streaking her blonde hair with crimson while her sightless blue eyes stared up at him.
Kathleen—dead. Blane would never forgive him. And he’d never forgive himself.
The only protection Kathleen really had was that Blane loved her, and that Keaston believe she carried Blane’s child.
If Kade loved Kathleen, if he was serious when he told himself he’d do anything for her, he’d let Keaston have his way. If he really loved her, he’d want her to live, be happy. And Blane would be happy, too. Maybe Blane would forgive him and the guilt inside Kade would go away.
Kade would go to Blane’s, convince him to get back in the race and that Kathleen loved him, not Kade. Blane would love her and the baby, would raise him as his own—Kade had no doubt about that. Kathleen still loved Blane, and she’d get over Kade. It was the best choice, the only choice, he had.
“Okay,” Kade rasped. “You win. But hear this—if anything happens to either one of them, I will hunt you down and you won’t even see me coming.”
He ended the call. Helpless fury filled him, as well as an agony that was all consuming.
He’d been outplayed, outmaneuvered, and now he’d lose everything that meant anything to him.
Kade parked in front of Blane’s house. For the last time, he suddenly realized. After tonight, he wouldn’t be coming back, wouldn’t be seeing his brother again. Perhaps ever.
Pain knifed through him, and he had to take a deep breath and close his eyes, leaning his head back against the seat. He had to bury it deep, in the place he kept all the things he didn’t want to feel. The only thing that was going to see him through what he had to do was to shut it all down. Turning off emotions was what he had to do if he wanted to survive. Otherwise, the pain would destroy him.
The pain of leaving them. Blane. Kathleen. His unborn child.