For the Sake of Their Son (The Alpha Brotherhood #5)(39)
Author: Catherine Mann

“I’m not buying that.” Lucy Ann stared back at the other woman and found she wasn’t jealous so much as angry that someone was trying mess with her happiness—hers, Elliot’s and Eli’s.

The fake smile finally faded from Gianna’s face. “I came back because now it’s a fair fight.”

At least the woman wasn’t denying it. “I’m not sure I follow your logic.”

“Before, when I found out about you and the baby—”

Lucy gasped. “You knew?”

“I found out by accident. I got nosy about you, looked into your life…” She shrugged. “I was devastated, but I broke off the engagement.”

“Whoa, hold on.” Lucy Ann held up a hand. “I don’t understand. Elliot said you broke up because of his Interpol work. That you couldn’t handle the danger.”

She rolled her dramatic Italian eyes. “Men are so very easy to deceive. I broke the engagement because I couldn’t be the one to tell him about your pregnancy. I couldn’t be ‘that’ woman. The one who broke up true love. The evil one in the triangle. But I also couldn’t marry him knowing he might still want you or his child.”

“So you left.” Lucy Ann’s legs gave way and she sagged back against the steel door.

“I loved him enough to leave and let him figure this out on his own.”

If she’d really loved him, Gianna would have told him about his child, but then Lucy Ann figured who was she to throw stones on that issue? “Do you still love Elliot?”

“Yes, I do.”

She searched the woman’s eyes and saw…genuine heartache. “You’re not at all what I expected.”

Gianna’s pouty smile faltered. “And you’re everything I feared.”

So where did they go from here? That question hammered through Lucy Ann’s mind so loudly it took her a moment to realize the noise was real. Feet drummed overhead with the sound of people running. People screaming?

She looked quickly at Gianna, whose eyes were already widening in confusion, as well. Lucy Ann turned on her heels, unlocked the door and found mass confusion. Spectators and security running. Reporters rushing with their cameras at the ready, shouting questions and directions in different languages.

Lucy Ann grabbed the arm of a passing guard. “What’s going on?”

“Ma’am, there’s been an accident in the lineup. Please return to your seat and let us do our jobs,” the guard said hurriedly and pulled away, melting into the crowd.

“An accident?” Her stomach lurched with fear.

There were other drivers. Many other drivers. And an accident while lining up would be slow? Right? Unless someone was doing a preliminary warm-up lap…. So many horrifying scenarios played through her mind, all of them involving Elliot. She shoved into the crush, searching for a path through to her viewing area or to the nearest telecast screen. Finally, she spotted a wide-screen TV mounted in a corner, broadcasting images of flames.

The words scrolling across the bottom blared what she already knew deep in her terrified heart.

Elliot had crashed.

Twelve

Her heart in her throat, Lucy Ann pushed past Gianna and shouldered through the bustling crush of panicked observers. She reached into her tailored jacket and pulled out her pass giving her unlimited access. She couldn’t just sit in the private viewing area and wait for someone to call her. What if Elliot needed her? She refused to accept the possibility that he could be dead. Even the word made her throat close up tight.

Her low pumps clicked on the stairs as she raced through various checkpoints, flashing the access pass every step of the way.

Finally, thank God, finally, she ran out onto the street level where security guards created an impenetrable wall. The wind whipped her yellow sundress around her legs as she sprinted. Her pulse pounding in her ears, she searched the lanes of race cars, looking for flames. But she found no signs of a major explosion.

A siren’s wail sliced through her. An ambulance navigated past a throng of race personnel spraying down the street with fire extinguishers. The vehicle moved toward two race cars, one on its side, the other sideways as if it had spun out into a skid. As much as she wanted to deny what her eyes saw, the car on its side belonged to Elliot.

Emergency workers crawled all over the vehicle, prying open the door. Blinking back burning tears, Lucy Ann strained against an arm holding her back, desperate to see. Her shouts were swallowed up in the roar of activity until she couldn’t even hear her own incoherent pleas.

The door flew open, and her breath lodged somewhere in her throat. She couldn’t breathe, gasp or shout. Just wait.

Rescue workers reached inside, then hauled Elliot out.

Alive.

She sagged against the person behind her. She glanced back to find Elliot’s Interpol handler, Colonel Salvatore, at her side. He braced her reassuringly, his eyes locked on the battered race car. Elliot was moving, slowly but steadily. The rescue workers tried to keep his arms over their shoulders so they could walk him to a waiting ambulance. But he shook his head, easing them aside and standing on his own two feet. He pulled off his helmet and waved to the crowd, signaling that all was okay.

The crowd roared, a round of applause thundering, the reverberations shuddering through her along with her relief. His gaze homed in on her. Lucy Ann felt the impact all the way to her toes. Elliot was alive. Again and again, the thought echoed through her mind in a continual loop of reassurance, because heaven help her, she loved him. Truly loved him. That knowledge rolled through her, settled into her, in a fit that told her what she’d known all along.

They’d always loved each other.

At this moment, she didn’t doubt that he loved her back. No matter what problems, disagreements or betrayals they might have weathered, the bond was there. She wished she could rejoice in that, but the fear was still rooted deep inside her, the inescapable sense of foreboding.

Elliot pushed past the emergency personnel and…heaven only knew who else because she couldn’t bring herself to look at anyone except Elliot walking toward her, the scent of smoke tingling in her nose as the sea breeze blew in. The sun shone down on the man she loved, bright Mediterranean rays glinting off the silver trim on his racing gear with each bold step closer.

She vaguely registered the colonel flashing some kind of badge that had the security cop stepping aside and letting her stumble past. She regained her footing and sprinted toward Elliot.

“Thank God you’re okay.” Slamming into his chest, she wrapped her arms around him.