Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Griffin pounded the heavyweight bag in the gym, ignoring his achy ribs, hoping it’d crush the pain in his heart. Forget helping the team chase the new leads, he’d be useless in his current state.
After thirty minutes of pummeling the bag as if it were the man his mother had married, whom he’d never consider a stepdad no matter how much his mom pleaded, he was sweaty and exhausted. And the pain in his chest hadn’t subsided. Not at all.
Panting and barely able to breathe, he dropped to a knee, one gloved hand to the ground, and let out a deep roar. And, just as he’d seen Savanna do, Griffin tilted his chin up in search of Marcus’s ghost. His spirit, or whatever, seemed to follow Savanna around to protect her.
“I know,” he seethed. The only person he was angry at was himself. “I know, all right.” He lowered his gaze to the concrete floor beneath his knee. “Fuck.”
Talking to the air. And air didn’t talk back.
Besides, Marcus wouldn’t hover over him. He’d be with the woman he loved, the woman that had Griffin officially losing his mind and talking to the ceiling.
“Bro, you okay?” Jack called out from behind.
“We bros now?” Griffin retorted around a groan of agony as he pushed himself off the ground to face Jack.
“I was hoping we’d established a truce.”
Eyeing his teammate, Griffin slowly began removing the boxing gloves. “Did you ever meet Marcus?” he asked instead. Jack cocked his head and narrowed his eyes as if trying to decipher the nature of Griffin’s foul mood, though Griffin’s question made it pretty clear.
“No, but not too long after Marcus died, the man who replaced him helped save Gray’s sister and me,” he answered, brows pulled together.
And now Griffin couldn’t help but wonder if Jack would ever trust again, either? His wife cheated, but he hadn’t known until after the fact, so he supposed it probably stung less.
Savanna would never cheat, damn it. I don’t need a year of dating to know that. But would that annoying, gut-wrenching feeling let him truly accept that? Or would she become collateral damage to his baggage? His parents had been married for sixteen years, though. Sixteen years of love between them, and his dad would never have believed the love of his life would cheat with her best friend, either.
Your mother made a mistake, his mom’s brother defended her years after the affair when Griffin had still been unable to forgive her. She’s still a good person , his uncle had continued over beers one night when they’d been camping. But they say if you’re capable of falling in love with someone else, then maybe your heart never truly belonged to the first.
Well, she married that mistake. And now Dad is trying to drink her memory away, and it’s not helping. Griffin had ordered him to drop the conversation after that.
Was Savanna truly capable of falling in love for a second time? Was there room in her heart for another man without diminishing her feelings for Marcus?
“You like her, huh? That was fast,” Jack said, stating the obvious.
Griffin almost laughed. That was like announcing the sky was blue and the grass was green—well, when it wasn’t dead, like he was feeling on the inside right now at the thought of walking away from the only woman who ever made him feel anything. Even jealousy because yeah, he felt that too. And that’s what scared him. Because he knew how toxic it could be.
Griffin pulled on his tee and cracked his neck, his breathing beginning to return to a normal pace.
“Between you and Gray both having your boxers in a bunch about women, I guess it’s a good thing the rest of us are here to work,” Jack said when Griffin never answered him.
“Smartass,” Griffin responded under his breath, but he knew Jack was trying to ease the tension, which he supposed he appreciated.
“Weird that Gray seems so compelled to believe Sydney’s innocence when he hasn’t seen her in fifteen years. She must have left one hell of an impression on him.”
“Yeah, about as crazy as Savanna’s insistence that a man she doesn’t know can’t be all that bad.” Shit, was he talking about Nick or himself?
Griffin had the odd urge to look skyward again, to see if the man who watched over Savanna would send him some guidance as they left the gym, which made him feel downright certifiable. But according to the after-action review, Marcus had never left Griffin’s side until he’d gotten him to safety that day years ago. Am I alive for a reason?
“Hey, we’ve got news,” Oliver said as he trotted down the hall toward them, adding the “hurry up” gesture. Carter must have received word from Emilia.
Griffin stopped just short of a heartbeat at the sight of Savanna standing alongside Carter in the lobby. When her gaze swept to his face to see he’d joined the rest of the team, she immediately looked away.
He felt the dagger right where he deserved it after what he’d said to her. In his heart.
“What do we know?” Griffin asked, finally getting himself to move again and round the couches to where Carter stood, balancing a laptop in hand.
“Emilia identified Nick’s boss,” Carter said, but why didn’t he look happy about that? “She’s a hundred percent certain.”
“Who?” Savanna asked tentatively as if preparing herself for upsetting news.
“Stefanos Loukanis. He’s basically an Italian Sotheby’s. Runs a legitimate auction house in Athens and Rome. He also sells items off-the-books that can’t be sold legally, many of which his own team steals. From Van Goghs to Fabergé eggs. Whatever a client might want, he finds a way to get it,” Carter explained. “He’s been on Emilia’s radar for a while, but he’d been off-limits because of some deal. I don’t know. She couldn’t explain. But she said that deal has expired, and he’s all ours if we want him.”
“Nick helped steal for him,” Savanna murmured as though finally accepting what Marcus had known long before he’d died. His brother was irredeemable.
“Emilia tapped into her contacts at AISE, basically Italy’s CIA, and she was able to find footage that didn’t show up for us.” Carter looked at Savanna. “You may not want to see what Emilia sent me.”
“I need to know. No more secrets,” she said with a slight nod, and Griffin’s shoulders collapsed at witnessing this beautiful woman doing everything in her power to remain strong.
“This was taken last night.” Carter showed his screen to everyone gathered around him.
Griffin stood behind Carter and Savanna, and he did his best not to inhale her sweet scent. Or peer at the curve of her tan shoulder that was no longer covered by her cardigan.
“They have Nick,” she cried. Savanna may have been closer to accepting that Nick wasn’t one of the good guys, but that didn’t mean she wanted to see him hurt.
She turned away from the screen, which had her bumping straight into Griffin, her hands meeting his chest like the first time they met in Jesse’s kitchen.
He reflexively grabbed hold of her shoulders, and she slowly lifted her eyes to his face. More tears. More worry about a man she didn’t know, a killer. Her heart was nearly too big for her chest. He’d never met such a caring and forgiving person in all of his life.
Why couldn’t he be as forgiving, and then maybe, just fucking maybe, he could move on? Be happy.
“Sorry,” he said under his breath at the same time she did, and they both removed their hands from each other.
She sidestepped him, and he clenched his teeth in an effort not to say or do something dumb. Like tell her in front of everyone he was an idiot to push her away. That he wanted to fight for her. That he’d light the world on fire if he had to if it meant being with her even one more time.
“The footage is outside a private hangar at the New Orleans International Airport. Emilia was able to track Stefanos’s jet back to the U.S. Luckily, Italian Intelligence has been monitoring his movements for a few months, preparing to take him down soon. But my guess is Nick never left the States after he dropped the key off at Savanna’s.”
Carter handed the laptop off to Gray, and he replayed the footage of Nick with his hands bound and body clearly banged up as Stefanos’s men shoved him toward a limo.
“Looks like they flew round trip between Rome and New Orleans,” Carter added.
“Just Nick? Not Sydney?” Gray asked, playing the footage once again as if trying to locate the blonde that had him shook since yesterday.
“Just him, and I have to assume if Nick had taken Sydney, Stefanos's people would have located her too,” Carter told Gray. “That doesn’t make her the bad guy, though.” He held up a hand, trying to squash an impending objection. “Not yet.”
“I assume we can easily get an address for Stefanos, then,” Savanna said. “We can find Nick. Save him.”
Save Nick? Was that the mission objective?
“We have a location, but according to Emilia, his property is being monitored by Italian Intelligence. We can’t just fast-rope in without the bad and good guys knowing about it,” Carter said.
“Can these AISE agents save Nick for us? If we tell them he’s there?” Savanna asked, and Carter shook his head.
“In their eyes, Nick works for Stefanos. I assume they won’t ruin whatever surveillance operation they have going on to save a criminal,” Carter told her, his tone gentle, which Griffin was surprised the man knew how to do.
“So, what do we do? How do we get to Nick?” Savanna folded her arms across her chest, scanning the group of men, her eyes falling to Griffin last. She ripped her attention away just as fast and pinned her eyes on Carter. “You still need what’s in that safe-deposit box. I’m sure the DOD would prefer to recover what Nick took, regardless.”
“There’s a way to infiltrate Stefanos’s property without anyone knowing,” Carter told them. “He’s hosting an event tomorrow night. An auction for charity.”
“A cover for his illegal operation?” Jack asked.
“That’s what Emilia thinks.” Carter turned from the room and looked out the double doors, sunlight pouring into the lobby.
Griffin hid his hands in the pockets of his black gym shorts, doing his best to focus on Carter and not check on Savanna.
“The good news is that it’s a Renaissance-themed masquerade party. Masks are ideal for concealing the criminals that will be there to bid on the items not publicly displayed, I assume. But also helpful in getting us in too. Emilia is working on securing tickets for us.” Carter faced the room again.
“Do you think Joe’s team knows Stefanos has Nick and will be there too?” Griffin asked.
“I assume the Archer insider knows, but the question is whether or not they drop their pursuit of Nick and Savanna. Joe may have initially believed national security was at stake, but whoever sent him on the chase did so with the intention of Stefanos ultimately acquiring the Elysium Project. Now that Stefanos has Nick, the Archer insider may consider his or her ass covered once again,” Griffin offered his thoughts on the matter.
“And what, lie to Joe?” Savanna replied, but she wouldn’t look at him. “Say the threat has been neutralized?”
“Possibly,” Carter answered before Griffin could.
“Does that mean we’re back to assuming Sydney Archer is at the top of the suspect list and wasn’t abducted?” Oliver tossed out what Griffin knew Gray wouldn’t want to hear.
“Or whoever at Archer is working with Stefanos encouraged Sydney to take a vacation, not wanting her at the office when Stefanos’s people showed up,” Gray pitched a new idea, grasping at straws.
“Let’s handle one problem at a time. We’ll deal with Stefanos and Nick now. Then find out who wanted the Elysium Project in the first place. Archer after that,” Carter said, then looked to Gray to see if he was in agreement, and Gray gave a hesitant nod.
“I would say now that Stefanos has Nick, Savanna’s safe, but if Nick admits he hid the key at her place, we’re back to square one. Let’s hope he can hold out until tomorrow night,” Jack said.
“Hold out?” Savanna sputtered. “He’s being tortured.” She was in panic mode now, her eyes wild as she looked between Griffin and Jack.
The woman couldn’t handle any more loss, and she was worried Marcus’s only living family was on the verge of being tortured to death by Stefanos. And as much as Griffin hated the guy, he didn’t want Savanna to endure that pain. Hell, he was guilty of causing her pain too.
He hadn’t realized he was so desperate to feel everything she’d unleashed in him, and he’d all but marked her like a wild animal, locked her in a room, and shouted Mine! for all to hear. Until he’d come to his senses, knowing he’d never be able to overcome his trust issues, never be enough for her. He was ashamed of the whiplash he’d subjected her to.
“Like hell are you going to offer yourself to Stefanos tomorrow if that’s what you’re about to suggest. You want to trade yourself for a thief and a killer? I know you care about this man because he’s Marcus’s brother, but the answer is still no. Let us handle this.” Griffin reached for her arm, urging her to face him so she could see the “hell no” in his eyes.
“You won’t be able to get into the party armed, and you know it,” she said, raising a valid point, but that was also beside the point. “I can be the bait. During the party, I’ll reveal myself to the men, and they can take me to their boss.”
“What if they have facial recognition software set up at the entrance to verify the identities of their guests before they mask up?” Griffin asked.
Savanna peered at his hand on her arm, and he forced himself to let go. “Will Emilia know about that?” she asked Carter. “Can she find out from his past parties what security is like?”
Griffin peered at Carter and shook his head, but Carter let out a gruff sigh and said, “I’ll ask.”
“No.” Griffin was about to grab his boss’s arm next. “You can’t be serious.”
“Emilia says his estate is massive. A sprawling maze of tunnels. I’m sure she can find a way to help us get weapons into the party, just not through the front door. But we won’t be able to find Nick’s location without drawing attention from Stefanos’s men. We can follow Savanna, though, when they take her to Stefanos.” Carter faced Griffin, head angled, eyes narrowed in challenge or apology, Griffin wasn’t sure.
Griffin didn’t care which, though. He wouldn’t let Savanna offer herself to Stefanos.
“Over my dead body does she go to that party,” Griffin hissed, stepping forward to confront his boss, doing his best to keep his hands at his sides because they were locked and loaded.
Punch his boss and fight anyone standing in his way? He would if he had to.
Which also meant, in his gut, he knew he was the burn-the-world-down-to-save-the-woman kind of man. And it made him a horrible operator and a shit human being who’d sacrifice the world for the benefit of one. But this woman made him . . .
“Outside.” Carter jerked his head to the doors. “Now.”