Page 82 of Power Games

"Dad. Dad knows. He cleans up after me."

Of course he did. "He pays Matthew Pluck to keep an eye on Nessie, too. Matthew heard Claudia say she knew whose the baby was. She needed to be taken care of. She could have talked."

The man was unbelievable. "And Vanessa?" His voice changed when he said that name. Until then, he'd managed to remain cool and expressionless, careful not to anger the beast in front of him, but the thought that he could have hurt Vanessa....

"She's fine. She's blood. I won't hurt her. She won't hurt me. She knew it was one of us; it had to be one of us. She said nothing. She's loyal."

If that deluded piece of trash believed Vanessa would beloyalto him after he killed Charles, he was seriously fucked up in the head.

"So you got Matt to get her out of the house while you came to pay me a visit. Smart. There's just a few things you didn't take into account."

Tristan took the bait, of course. "What?"

Charles moved instinctively, his first step to the side, tilting his torso to the left and bending his knee to keep Tristan's aim off. Finally, the man-child fired, and missed. Charles rushed forward, punched his arm with his left fist, simultaneously taking the gun in his right one.

"Firstly, I was in the Army for seven fucking years, you moron. We eat men like you for breakfast." He punched his face to the right, left, and kicked his knee hard. Tristan yelled and fell in a crouch. "Secondly, Matt Pluck worked for your father for over a decade. Do you seriously think I'd talk about the security in place here in front of him? We have cameras in every fucking room, streaming video and sound live to Knightley Security. Smile for the cameras, Tristan." Charles kept Tristan at gunpoint. "Thirdly, if anything happens to Vanessa, you're gonna wish I shot you."

He retrieved his phone from the ground, and called his security.

"We had a breach. Matt left with Vanessa in the trunk and let his accomplice in when he drove off. Come clean up."

The men were there in under a minute. Charles didn't have the time to listen to their excuses, explanations, or apologies. He rushed out, yelling orders. "Get the police in. Nate can send the tape, they'll see what happened. Find Matt's fucking car now, Vanessa is—"

He stopped dead in front of the house. A black car had just parked; Charles recognized the detective driving it. Walton. He paid the man no mind, his attention solely focused on the woman who burst out of it, running as fast as her legs could carry her until she'd reached him and wrapped her arms around him.

He enfolded her in his embrace and learned to breathe again, her head against his heart.

Then, she started to punch his chest. Hard. "Answer your fucking phone, you idiot!" she half yelled, half cried.

He chuckled, all tension slowly leaving his limbs. "I would have. I've been quite busy, believe it or not."

Three security guards were getting out of the house, Tristan handcuffed and restrained between them.

Charles opened his mouth to explain, but Vanessa was already out of his arms, striding to her brother, and punching his throat. "You motherfucking asshole. You'redone. Done.I will skin you alive for putting us through this!"

Walton and his partner approached to take over, reciting his rights, and she had to stop hitting him.

Tristan was probably quite relieved to be safely in the back of the police car, glad to escape from his sister's wrath.

Charles watched her, completely disheveled, wearing a knee-length Mickey Mouse nightdress, with a bird’s nest hairdo, and he did the only thing he could do at that point.

He crossed the lawn, got on one knee and pulled the small red box out of his pocket.

"Marry me. Now. Today. Please."

Epilogue

Near-death experiences had a way of making things clearer.

Vanessa knew it hadn't been her life at stake, but if Charles had been killed that day, a part of her would have died, too. So when he said he wanted to marry her right now, today, not tomorrow or the day after, she gave the only answer she could.

They flew out to Vegas right away, not even bothering to watch the police arrest her father under various charges, including manslaughter and obstruction of justice.

Charles called his parents and Barrett, asking them to get their asses over there. Vanessa called Kaia, Rob, and Cici.

Cici threatened Charles' balls if they didn’t wait for her, so once they arrived in Vegas, they had time to check in and ask around about the best venue they could find on such short notice.

Vanessa even managed to get herself a Vera Wang wedding dress, an ivory A-line lace affair she liked well enough. What she loved was the red La Perla ensemble she wore underneath.

---