Chapter 24 - Bridget #2
Once Nathan joined us, his hair still damp from the shower, the surreality of the situation hit me fully.
All the men I’d ever been seriously attracted to, all under one, too-small roof.
How did we get here? I’d gone from living my sheltered life in the Center to this in way too short a time.
And the only thing standing between me and someone apparently prepared to kill was the tenuous secrecy of my hiding place.
I was so sick of feeling powerless. What would I do if someone showed up at the apartment? Die, probably. But as I let my eyes wander the room, and land on Gabriel where they so often did, inspiration struck.
“Does this building have a gym?” I asked, breaking the silence around the coffee table as we ate. I was sitting cross-legged next to Gabriel on the couch, while Andrew and Nathan faced each other in the armchairs.
“Yeah, there’s a big one downstairs, and a smaller one up here,” Andrew said. I tried not to quail under the force of his full attention. “Do you want to go? I can take you right now.”
“Mi amore, she is eating,” Gabriel murmured. Which was technically true, even if the eggs felt like glue in my mouth. “We can go later whenever you like. To the upstairs gym, though. It is more secure.”
“Thanks,” I said, focusing on Gabriel and trying to ignore Andrew’s gaze from over his shoulder. “I have a strange request, though.”
“Anything, tesoro,” he said.
“Do you know any self-defense… moves?” I asked, trying desperately not to blush. “I know it’s stupid—”
“Knowing how to protect yourself isn’t stupid,” Andrew interrupted. “And yeah, he knows Krav Maga.” The pride in his voice made me smile.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “My eager Alpha is correct. Would you like me to teach you?”
I was grateful that he’d offered rather than making me ask. “Would you mind?”
“It would bring me nothing but pleasure,” he said, resting his hand on my knee.
I really was trying to do my best not to read into his affectionate teasing or touching anymore. But when he smiled and drew out the word pleasure… It felt intentional.
Nathan cleared his throat. Gabriel had changed the dressing on his wound after his shower and he grimaced when he brushed the bandage against the arm of the chair. “I hate to state the obvious, but we need a plan. More information. Something. This situation is untenable.”
Andrew scoffed. “Are the accommodations not up to your standards?”
“I meant that Bridget and I can’t hide forever,” Nathan said with a scowl. He glanced at me, and his eyes flashed to Gabriel’s hand on my knee. My leg twitched like a horse trying to shake off a fly.
“What do you suggest then?” Andrew asked, still irritable.
“Let’s call Maggie,” I said, interceding before they pumped out enough pheromones to choke me.
She answered after two rings.
“Hey, I was just about to call you guys! I’ve got good news.” Maggie sounded breathless with excitement. “I’m gonna email you something, tell me when you get it.”
Gabriel pulled up what looked like an invoice on his laptop. I suppressed my annoyance. How was an invoice helpful at all?
“We have it,” Gabriel said. Andrew and Nathan both moved to stand behind the couch. I imagined I could feel their body heat through the sofa, even though that was scientifically impossible.
“There were no incriminating emails between Dr. Nielsen and Dr. Davis, but this invoice set off our alarm bells. It’s for ‘storage’ for last month. We checked the address, and it’s listed as ‘Axion Biostorage.’ Have you guys heard of it?”
“Yes,” Nathan said in his clipped tone. “That’s the new supplier for Omega MSCs for the study.”
“Right, but look at the name on the invoice,” Maggie said, still sounding excited.
I moved closer. Above the address, which I recognized as the one I’d looked up on Google Maps, there was a different business name. Helix Laboratories.
“So… they have another lab?” I asked blankly. This wasn’t helpful. We needed to figure out who was trying to kill Nathan, not pretend to be the IRS.
“Helix Laboratories isn’t a real lab. Lachlan’s team found its incorporation documents, and the ones for Axion Biostorage.
They’re both shell companies,” Maggie explained.
“They’re both owned by a holding company called S.D.
Holdings. That holding company is registered under an anonymous agent in Wyoming, but Lachlan can figure out who owns it.
It’s a good lead. Lachlan said anyone registering their company in Wyoming is definitely sketchy. ”
Annoyance bubbled in my stomach. “I don’t see how this helps find who shot Nathan.”
“I’m getting to that part. God, can’t I build a little fucking dramatic tension?” I could almost hear her rolling her eyes. “We also found a partial print at his apartment and got a match.”
“Who was it?” I demanded.
“I just sent through his mugshot. Some kid who was arrested for petty theft a few years ago. There’s a warrant out for him now.”
Gabriel pulled up the photo and, sure enough, it was the same man who had threatened me. In the photo he looked a bit younger, but he had the same dark hair and eyes, and an expression of sullen disinterest.
Then Gabriel scrolled to his name: Marco Lamont.
I pulled the laptop out of his hands and brought it closer to my face. My breath caught in my chest.
Surely not. There were millions of Marcos. This couldn’t be the same Marco that fell asleep on my shoulder what felt like a lifetime ago.
And yet. There was something of Domenic in his face. The same strong nose with prominent bumps on each side of the bridge. And those eyes. Hadn’t I thought his eyes looked familiar when he pulled a gun on me on the street?
“Fuck.”
“What is wrong, carissima?” Gabriel pulled the laptop out of my hands. Was I breathing?
“I… I think I know him.”
I told them the story of meeting the little boy who claimed Domenic was his father, while Maggie listened on speakerphone.
“It’s him. It’s Domenic. He’s the one threatening us,” I said into the silence that followed.
Andrew frowned. “We don’t know that. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions. I mean… not that I don’t believe you… but that was like fifteen years ago, right?”
But I was certain. It made sense. Why else would my mother have come to the clinic? Domenic had to be involved.
“That company,” I said, picking up the burner phone to talk directly to Maggie. “I bet you anything he owns it.”
“Shit. Okay. We’re on it.” She hung up.
I dropped the phone onto the coffee table with a clatter. This was all my fault. My hands gripped the roots of my hair and the slight ache helped dispel some of the tightness in my chest. Restless energy coursed through my legs, making my knees jump with the need to run. But where?
“Hey. You’re okay. We’re right here with you.” Andrew’s spicy scent burned through the haze of my panic as his hands found my knees. “Deep breaths, baby.”
I forced a full inhale and Andrew’s scent came with it. It wasn’t calming, exactly, but it made me want to keep breathing. After three more deep breaths, I could look up again.
Andrew was crouched in front of me, his green eyes intent.
“Doesn’t that hurt your knee?” I asked.
His surprised grin didn’t help with my racing heartbeat. “It’s worth it.”
“Even if it is your father doing all this, you are safe with us, mi fiore,” Gabriel murmured. I realized he was drawing his fingers slowly along my back, like he was soothing a frightened animal. “He cannot hurt you here.”
But I wasn’t scared. Or, not just scared.
I sought out Nathan. He was watching Andrew and Gabriel comfort me with a shuttered expression. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered through the surge of guilt. “I’m so sorry you got caught up in this.”
Nathan looked stricken, as if my distress caused him physical pain. My heart thumped at the raw emotion in his eyes. “Stop apologizing,” he said, his voice rough.
Andrew stood abruptly, whirling on Nathan. A growl emanated from his chest, making the hair on my neck stand up. “You don’t speak to her like that.”
I scrambled off the couch. To do what exactly, I didn’t know. Gabriel followed me, and if I wasn’t mistaken, his expression was full of dark amusement, but nothing about this situation was funny.
Nathan pulled himself upright with dignity.
“What is wrong with you?” Nathan’s voice didn’t sound like his own.
Andrew advanced on him. “Don’t issue commands at her. Have some respect.”
“Respect? You think I don’t respect her? You don’t even know her,” Nathan replied, a growl infecting his voice, too.
“He didn’t mean it that way.” I might as well have been talking to the wall for all the attention they paid me. They were too busy taking slow, threatening steps towards each other.
“Idioti,” Gabriel muttered and pulled me further away from their burgeoning fight, his arms slipping around my waist.
“What’s going on?” Nathan and Andrew ignored us completely.
“They need to work this out between themselves,” Gabriel said in my ear. “Shall we leave them to it?”
I followed Gabriel out the front door, leaving Andrew and Nathan snarling at each other like wild animals.