Freeing Lily: A Steamy Romantic Suspense (MacKay International Book 3)

  Freeing Lily

  MacKay International, #3

  Rene Webb

  Copyright © 2020 by Rene Webb

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The persons, places, things, and otherwise animate or inanimate objects mentioned in this novel are figments of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to anything or anyone living (or dead) is unintentional.

  Table of Contents

  Also By Rene Webb

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  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Shock and Awe (A Pride Security Novella)

  Acknowledgments

  Also By Rene Webb

  About the Author

  Also By Rene Webb

  MACKAY INTERNATIONAL SERIES

  UNCOVERING LILY (MacKay International, #1)

  CLAIMING LILY (MacKay International, #2)

  FREEING LILY (MacKay International, #3)

  PRIDE SECURITY SERIES

  SHOCK AND AWE (A Pride Security Novella)

  PINETREE ROMANCE SERIES

  FINDING SUNSHINE (A Pinetree Romance, #1)

  LOVE FOUND (A Pinetree Romance, #1.5)

  A WHITE HOT CHRISTMAS

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  For Molly: The best writing partner a human could ask for. Thank you for always wagging your tail when I roll into the room; you know how to make someone feel special.

  Freeing Lily (MacKay International, #3)

  He rescued her, but only she can reclaim her life…

  Lily

  My entire world changed the night I was kidnapped.

  Finn may have rescued me.

  But only I can claim my future.

  Finn

  I have no intention of letting Lily go.

  I will use everything I have in my arsenal to keep her.

  Pleasure seems like an excellent place to start.

  The steamy conclusion to the MacKay International series!

  Chapter One

  Mid-April - Paris

  ~ Lily ~

  “What do you say, princess?” Finn snakes his arms around my waist and pulls me into his body. “Will you marry me?”

  “What?” I choke out, putting my hands on his chest and pushing back against his hold.

  “I love you, Lily,” he reminds me softly, pulling me back tightly into his arms. For the first time, it feels suffocating.

  “I-I know,” I breathe out in a whisper.

  “You wouldn’t have to stay married,” Peter Stein, my cousin, interjects, taking a step closer to us. Boxing me in.

  I feel trapped. Again.

  Two days ago, I was being held captive, trapped, in a Hong Kong brothel. I had been drugged and kidnapped nineteen days before when I was traveling in Paris. Peter had uncovered where I was and that my stepfather, James Mayer, had orchestrated the entire thing. He sent his best friend, Finn, to rescue me. We spent the whole night together in a room at the brothel, getting to know one another—in every way. From there, Finn brought me to meet Peter and my Aunt Kitty here in Paris.

  I still don’t know why my mother never realized I was missing—or hasn’t tried to contact me. Even though I was always closer with my father, I still can’t believe that she’s involved in any way. On top of kidnapping me, we have since learned that Mayer also bribed a doctor and is holding a place for me in a psych ward, all in a bid to control me and the company my late father left me. Now, Finn wants to marry me in order to protect me from Mayer’s control. I’m not ready to be legally tied to anyone, let alone someone I really only met three days ago.

  “Fuck off,” Finn growls at him through clenched teeth, his chest rumbling with annoyance under my palms.

  “It would just be until Mayer is taken care of.” Peter ignores Finn and reaches out to touch my arm reassuringly.

  “Stein,” Finn snaps. “Fuck off.”

  Reaching up, I scramble to untie the scarf around my neck, which seems to be getting tighter with every passing moment. I rip it off and twist it tightly in my hand before shoving it into my purse.

  “Let’s all take a deep breath,” Aunt Kitty interjects sternly. Stepping forward, she gently takes my arm and pulls me out from between the two men, stopping them from causing a scene as we stand in the middle of Charles de Gaulle’s international terminal.

  “Mom.”

  “Inhale deeply,” she says calmly. “Now, exhale slowly.”

  Following her lead, I find myself relaxing—if only slightly.

  “Kitty, no offense, but we need a plan,” Finn clips out, having ignored her completely.

  “I want to forget this ever happened,” I mutter softly.

  I wish I could forget all about what happened to me in Paris and go back in time. Then I wouldn’t have been taken in by Janice, the new friend I met while studying abroad in London, and she would’ve never been able to lure me to Paris or to that nightclub. It turns out she was hired by Mayer to befriend and then betray me.

  “I know, sweetie,” Kitty says gently, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

  “I just want my life back,” I tell them shakily, and then, taking a deep breath, I say more forcefully, “I don’t want to run and hide.”

  “Then that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Get your life back,” she says resolutely, giving me a quick squeeze before turning her attention to Peter and Finn. “Lily and I are going to London.”

  My life for the past semester was there. If I want to get my life back, that’s where I should start.

  “Kitty, that’s insane—”

  “Mom.”

  Ignoring both men, she turns to me and says gently, “You still won’t be able to graduate this semester, sweetie.”

  “I know,” I admit sadly, having already come to the frustrating conclusion that my college graduation, which seemed so close, is now put on hold.

  “But we can start taking your life back and planning for the future.” I feel myself relaxing at her pronouncement.

  “How is that safe?” Finn asks tightly, crossing his arms against his chest.

  “He’s right, Mom,” Peter agrees.

  “London is the last place Mayer would think to look for Lily. And Peter, you’re going home to Boston to light a fire under the FBI’s asses to end this,” Aunt Kitty begins.

  “They’ve assured me his arrest is imminent,” Peter tells us.

  “And I want no more crazy talk about getting married—from either of you. Lily’s got enough going on. And we can protect her from Mayer just fine,” Aunt Kitty continues.

  “Mom,” Peter practically whines, and I can’t help but grin when I see his eyes rolling slightly.

  “I still don’t like it,” Finn gr
owls annoyed. “The FBI may have frozen his accounts, but we have no way of knowing who else Mayer’s paid off or what he’s planned next.”

  “You’re coming with us, aren’t you?” Aunty Kitty asks him, smiling brightly.

  Turning to him and taking hold of his arm, I plead softly, “Please.”

  My feelings for Finn are confused with everything that’s happened since my kidnapping, but my heart tells me I’m not ready to be parted from him. I’m pretty sure I love him, even if I’m not yet ready to admit it to myself or him.

  “You’re not going anywhere without me,” Finn growls, uncrossing his arms and wrapping them tightly around me.

  “Then that’s settled. We’ll go to London and help Lily get her life back and give the FBI time to do their job,” Aunt Kitty says confidently. “Let’s get in line for tickets.”

  “Fine,” Peter huffs, grabbing the overflowing luggage trolly and pushing it in the direction of the ticket counter.

  As I suppress a giggle at his familiar childish behavior, my chest suddenly tightens with emotion. When I was held captive, all I thought about was my family. Memories of them were what helped me survive. Peter and I grew up together, and even though he’s older, we have always been more like siblings than cousins. I knew in my heart that my family was missing me too, and they would come for me. I may have been angry with Peter for sending Finn instead of coming himself, but I know without a doubt my cousin did everything he could to find and rescue me.

  “Peter,” I call out.

  Twisting his body around, his concern is clear on his face as he asks, “Sweetheart?”

  I walk up to him and wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly. He returns my embrace just as firmly. My nose and eyes sting with unshed tears, and I don’t know quite what to say. How to tell him I missed him. Or thank him for doing everything in his power to rescue me. So I settle on the simple truth. “I love you, Peep.”

  “I love you, too.” He chuckles at my use of the childhood name I had given him.

  When I was first learning to talk, I couldn’t say Peter, so instead I’d call him Peep, and it stuck. The older we got, the less I used the nickname, but now I know that it will tell him what I can’t find the words to say—how much he means to me and that I’ve forgiven him for sending Finn and not coming to rescue me himself.

  Letting Peter go, I step back, right into Finn’s body. Wrapping his arm across my chest, he leans down, kisses my cheek, and mutters teasingly in my ear, “I hope you don’t mind flying commercial, princess.”

  “No,” I laugh, before confessing, “Not as long as you’re there.”

  Finn turns my body so I am facing him. Cupping my face, he says fervently, “I told you. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Raising myself up on my toes, I press my lips to his, attempting to illustrate to him how much I want him. I may not be ready for marriage, but I want this man—I want him to belong to me as much as I belong to him. Finn tightens his hold on me and takes over, causing me to grip his shirt tightly, holding on as he takes my breath away.

  “That’s enough, you two,” Aunt Kitty chuckles, walking toward us.

  Finn pulls back, his eyes glazed over with desire as he grins down at me and licks his lips. I let my body fall into the safety of his.

  “Let’s grab our tickets and vamos.”

  “Wait, I don’t have my passport!” I exclaim as I come to the realization that I am once again trapped.

  “Don’t worry, I grabbed both of ours before we left the apartment,” Finn reassures me.

  A sense of relief washes over me as he pulls the two familiar-looking navy-blue books out of his back pocket.

  “Here, take yours.” Finn opens up the first book, peeks inside, and hands it to me.

  “Thank you.” I tuck it safely into the inside pocket of my purse.

  It may sound silly, but holding onto my passport gives me a sense of freedom I haven’t had since I was kidnapped.

  “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, sweetie,” Aunt Kitty tells me softly, and she wraps her arm around my shoulder and gives me a maternal squeeze.

  “Thank you, Auntie,” I murmur, grateful that any distance between us—thanks to the way I treated her in the past few years since my father’s, her younger brother’s, death—has vanished.

  Aunt Kitty and my mother never got along, and with my father gone, I hadn’t wanted to anger my mother. So I stayed disconnected from Aunt Kitty, missing her wedding and the life she created for herself in Pinetree, Vermont. Peter and I remained close, as he is now the CFO of my father’s company, but I’ve missed out on being a part of the new family he and his mother created when she remarried Mark Gregor.

  Once we reach the counter, Aunt Kitty takes over in her near-perfect French, making me envious that I have yet to master the language. She ensures that we receive our choice of first-class seats, and I’m amused that Finn lets her take charge. Only objecting when it comes time to pay, he insists, in his commanding way, that he will be paying for the three of us.

  “Here’s your boarding pass, sweetie.”

  “Thank you.” I take the thick paper from Aunt Kitty, tuck it into my purse, and watch as she places hers inside her stylish backpack that completes her Parisian style. Aunt Kitty has always been elegant and stylish.

  Finn attempts to put it into his back pocket, but it’s too large. He looks down at it expectantly, clearly not used to having to carry things himself. He is used to having his assistant, Trevor Gregor, with him, who I recently discovered is my step-cousin. His father, Mark, is Aunt Kitty’s new husband. Peter gained a stepbrother in Trevor, and even though I knew they got along, it wasn’t until I saw them together today that I realized that a bond between them had grown.

  I take pity on Finn and, smiling, ask, “Want me to hold it for you, boss man?”

  Grinning, he hands me the ticket. “Thanks, princess.”

  When Finn bought me the purse earlier, I didn’t think I would need it since I had nothing to put in it. Now, it is filling up quickly.

  “Our flight isn’t for two hours, but we should get through security.” Finn now takes charge, grabbing my hand and leading the way.

  Once we make it through the body scanners, luckily without the strip-search or pat-down, Peter says his goodbyes before separating from the group to head toward the gate for his direct flight back home to Boston.

  “I love you so much, sweetheart,” he murmurs thickly in my ear as he pulls me into a tight hug.

  “You, too.” I squeeze him tightly in return.

  Loosening his hold on me, Peter pulls away and turns to Finn. “Take care of her.”

  “You don’t have to ask,” Finn growls but allows his friend to pull him into a one-armed hug. Slapping his back more forcefully than necessary, I hear Finn whisper, “Be careful.”

  Peter nods his head before turning to Aunt Kitty, who pulls him into a motherly embrace, kissing his cheek and fussing over him. He merely smiles and promises her, “I’ll text when I’ve arrived. Love you.”

  “To the moon and back.” She gives Peter one final squeeze before stepping back.

  I wave as we watch him walk briskly to his gate on the opposite side of the airport.

  “Who needs a coffee?” Aunty Kitty asks, leading us towards the logo of a familiar brand of coffee hanging on the wall above a small kiosk. “I could use one. And maybe a snack or two to take with us.”

  With Finn’s arm wrapped around my waist and his hand firmly on my hip, we trail after her.

  The number of people around should make me feel jittery and nervous, but with Finn holding on tightly to me, I’m able to breathe. To relax. He has very quickly become my safe haven, my anchor, and a part of me worries that what I’m feeling for him isn’t real.

  Coffee and snacks in hand, Finn leads us into the sleek first-class lounge to wait for our flight to board. Once we step inside and the door shuts behind us, the bustling noise of the airport disappears. Only the murmur of
voices from the other passengers within the lounge can be heard.

  We find a secluded corner, and I drop down onto the modern-looking L-shaped couch. Pulling my purse off from around my body, I truly relax for the first time since we arrived at the airport. Finn settles down next to me, setting his coffee on the low, colorful table in front of us. He shifts and reaches into his pocket to dig out his phone while Aunt Kitty perches herself on my other side.

  “I’ll book our hotel,” she says, digging her phone out from her purse.

  “Kitty,” he growls but places his phone on the table and reaches for his coffee. “Fine, but I’m paying.”

  “Then I’m reserving the two-bedroom Terrace Suite at The Connaught in Mayfair,” she tells him brightly before turning to me. “It has an incredible view, and I know you’ll love the architecture and design, not to mention the world-class spa.”

  “Fine,” Finn says, rolling his eyes and refocusing his attention on his phone.

  She breaks off a piece of coffee cake and hands it to me.

  “Auntie,” I chuckle, shaking my head before taking a large bite.

  “If we’re going to be staying, we might as well be comfortable,” she argues, searching online for the phone number.

  Giggling, I take the cover off my piping hot green tea, which has a hint of citrus and mint. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Me too.” Aunt Kitty reaches out a hand, squeezes mine gently, and says softly, “I’ve missed you, sweetie.”