Page 86 of Always Been Mine

“Keep them the way they are,” Beatrice said. She looked at Gabe. “I can’t let the bad guys win. Hiding out here is letting them win. Besides, it’ll drive me crazy waiting for their next move.” She linked her hand with his. “You got me, don’t you?”

“I’ll assign Sam Harper to you as well,” Travis said.

“I like Sam.” Beatrice’s face lit up.

“Who the hell is Sam?” Gabe growled.

“He used to be my bodyguard,” Caitlin said. “I gave him a dislocated shoulder and a very bad headache.”

Gabe wasn’t sure if Caitlin was joking and looked questioningly at Travis.

Travis rolled his eyes. “Poor Sam. You’re not going to conk him over the head with a vase, are you, Bee?”

Caitlin glared at her husband.

“Of course not. I’m not some ninja chick like Cat,” Beatrice said.

“All right, stop teasing the pregnant woman,” Caitlin grumbled.

Everyone started laughing as Travis hugged his wife affectionately. Gabe glanced around him, and seeing how Beatrice’s friends cared so much about her, he started feeling guilty about his earlier resentment. He guessed he would get used to them, although he still couldn’t wait to have her all to himself.

15

“Need a break, babe?”

Beatrice shook her head, but her face was pale, and she had trouble keeping the quaver out of her voice. Gabe had been debriefing her from her ordeal. It had been more than 48 hours since he got her back. He couldn’t delay the debriefing any longer.

He knew he was being too easy on her, refusing to push her. His experience in the military had prepared him for every type of questioning. But having a personal stake in her, he probably wasn’t the best person to do this, and should’ve let one of Travis’s guys do it. However, Gabe’s instinct to protect won out.

“What did they say after they came back into the room?” He braced himself for what was to come. He just prayed he could keep it together.

“You know,” Beatrice whispered and held out her arms, “this happened.”

“They didn’t say anything?”

She pressed her lips in a thin line and concentrated on a spot on the table. “Just that if I fought, it would hurt more. And they were just sending a message.”

Gabe’s fingers curled into fists before him.Don’t lose your shit, Sullivan. He breathed deeply. “How close was the voice?”

“He was right by my ear.”

“Did you recognize the voice this time?”

“It was raspy, deliberately low. So, no.”

“Think, Beatrice. Earlier, you said the altered voice seemed to have an inflection you recognized.”

She closed her eyes for a second as if trying to recall the events. When her green eyes met his once more, the agony in them clawed at his insides.

“No,” she whispered.

“Okay,” Gabe relented. “Can you tell me how many people were in the room?”

“I think there were three of them. I was still blindfolded.” She looked at him pleadingly. “That’s all I remember, Gabe. Are we done?”

“Did you lose consciousness or were you sedated?”

“I don’t know!” Beatrice snapped. “Pain, Gabe, that’s all I remember. And screaming. I don’t know . . . I don’t know . . .” she mumbled over and over. She had tried to wrap her arms around her earlier but winced and realized her forearms were fucked up. Right now, the fingers of her left hand were digging into her right palm.

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