Maya Banks - Colters’ Woman

It was time for her to make sure nothing more happened to Adam, Ethan or Ryan. Especially 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 wakened 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?” Lacey asked.

“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. spoke up.

“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 the 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,” she began.

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 momentarily. “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, but we strongly suspect he had a hand in your parents’ death.”

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 dropped to a softer tone. “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?” she asked softly.

“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.

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 said pointedly. He 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.”