Page 47 of Always Been Mine

Gabe ended the call, started his car, and drove like crazy to get to his woman.

“Beatrice!”Gabe pounded on the door. It had taken him a damned half hour to get to her. He didn’t know what he would do if he’d found those damned detectives in there. He was feeling pretty homicidal right now. He was going to demand she give him a duplicate keycard. She could protest all she wanted.

What Gabe didn’t expect was Porter opening the door. Beatrice was standing a few feet behind her father.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Gabe snarled at the admiral.

“Good afternoon to you too, Commander,” the admiral replied dryly. “I could ask you the same question. Weren’t you supposed to be watching over my daughter?”

Beatrice gasped in outrage. Fucking great. Now she was thinking he was with her because her father had dictated it.

“I’ve been chasing a lead,” Gabe snapped and shoved the brown envelope to Porter. “Check that out and explain it to me. Oh, and Crane says his marker is paid up.”

He headed straight for Beatrice who had her arms crossed in front of her in annoyance. Daggers were shooting from her eyes.

“Hey, babe” Gabe kissed the top of her head. “What’s this I hear about the detectives paying another visit?”

“They don’t have a leg to stand on,” Porter said absently, a frown had creased his forehead as he returned the contents of the envelope back into it. “Circumstantial evidence is pointing to a Russian diplomat, and they’re frustrated because of diplomatic immunity.”

“Why a Russian diplomat?” Gabe asked, jaw clenching tensely.

“She did a story on the diplomat and his proclivities for high-class prostitutes. Crime scene photos were leaked on the internet.” Beatrice shuddered. “A Russian phrase was carved on her arms. Speculations on social media say it means aneye for an eye.”

Air deserted his lungs as a series of images hit Gabe.

An assassinfrom another rival Bratva was tied naked on a filthy bed.

He was taunting Dmitry to do his worst.

Dmitry obliged. Carving the words slowly on the man’s arms as he screamed in agony.

After he was done, Dmitry said, “Oko za oko.”

Afterward, he sliced the assassin’s neck from ear to ear.

Blood soaked the bed before it dripped to the floor.

“. . .ear to ear . . .”Beatrice’s voice came back to focus. “Gabe, you okay? You’re looking pale.”

No. He felt like throwing up. Beatrice was in danger because of him.

Porter gripped his arm firmly, addressing Beatrice, “Sweetheart, can we use your office for a minute?”

“What’s going on?” Beatrice glared at both of them. “I’m tired of being kept in the dark, and if your crap is coming back to hit me, I deserve answers, don’t you think?”

At that moment, Gabe couldn’t speak as he was faced with the possibility that he had to sacrifice the woman he loved again. His heart was screamingno. There had to be another way.

Porter dragged him into the study and shut the door.

“Get a grip, Commander,” Porter ordered.

Gabe laughed without humor. “Get a grip? Everything’s gone FUBAR. Ryker is after me and he’s hitting me where he knows it’s gonna hurt. Beatrice. He’s getting less subtle. I’m not discounting that he took the pictures after he killed the reporter and posted them online.”

“Are we certain now that Ryker was Crowe’s man inside Fuego?” Porter asked.

“They have to be connected. I worked closely with Crowe when I was an enforcer. He provided me intel on my targets. He knew my methods. He was probably relaying it back to Ryker.”

“There’s almost no question on that point,” Porter replied. “Crowe was inserted into the Zorin Bratva before you were. I made a quick jaunt to Germany these past two days to follow up some leads with some human assets. It’s highly possible that Crowe tipped Ryker off about the hit on Zorin’s plane. He could have made an offer to Ryker then to join his boss. The reason why Crowe wanted Caitlin was because she almost discovered the identity of the mastermind when she’d been the hacker Sarah Blake. Now that she’s almost at ahundred percent of her tradecraft, she’s becoming more of a threat.”

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