Chapter 23
ALEX
Alex’s heart hammered against his rib as he stared at the image on his laptop screen. His breathing turned ragged as he slid his eyes sideways to eye Ava.
Her forehead crinkled as she scanned the screen for clues.
“Avs,” he whispered.
“We have to find him,” she answered. “I’ll grab the gun, see if you can track that feed.”
“On it,” he answered as he slid onto the stool and pounded the keyboard in a desperate search to track the feed.
As his code did its work tracking down the source of the video, he studied it again. A pang of guilt over his argument on the beach with Ava echoed through him.
She’d been wound tight since Chris showed up on his doorstep. Their dinner had been a delicate dance. He’d drowned some of his sorrows in the very expensive wine he’d ordered.
He’d only ordered it to show off. In the aftermath of that meal, the walk on the beach had been just as painful.
Despite him carrying Ava to the sand, Chris had made it clear he was unwelcome. Alex had strode in front of them, glancing back every once in a while to eye the couple, his stomach souring with every glance.
His bid to win back his wife had taken a horrible turn. Even after the bothersome builder left them behind, he’d pushed Ava too far.
His commentary on Chris and her relationship with him had angered her, and she’d fought back. The moment she’d uttered something borderline rude, she’d broken down in tears.
It hadn’t been her fault, it had been his. He’d pushed her until she felt like she had to defend herself.
At least it had led to a warm moment between them, but he worried she was still uneasy.
He’d done his best to console her, to reassure her about their relationship, and undo any damage that had been done. It seemed to work. And for a moment, he’d considered confessing everything. For a crazy moment, he’d considered kissing her.
But the cold water had rushed around them and ruined it.
Maybe it was for the best, though. She undoubtedly wasn’t in the right place to hear his confession.
And now they had a crisis. He returned to his laptop, studying the results of his inquiry. It had turned up nothing usable.
Ava flitted back into the room, now in black yoga pants, a tank top, and a hoodie. She hovered over his shoulder as she loaded the gun. “Anything?”
He winced at the click of the clip snapping into place, and the sharp sound of a bullet being loaded into the chamber.
“Someone’s covering their tracks,” he answered.
“You can’t trace it?”
“I didn’t say that,” he answered, determined to win for her. “Just that they’re going out of their way to make this more difficult.”
“We have to find him, Alex.”
He stopped typing for a second, shooting her a glance. “Avs, I know. We’ll find him. I promise.”
She nodded, her delicate features warped with upset. He hated to see her like this; he didn’t care what it took, he’d find Chris, even if it made things harder for him.
A warm hand wrapped around his shoulder, rubbing it. “I know you will. I’m sorry.”
His fingers danced across the keyboard as he sent another round of commands into cyberspace before he slid an arm around Ava’s waist. “It’s okay, Ava. Stop apologizing.”
She shot him a glance, her eyes filled with worry as she leaned her forehead against his. He wanted to do something more to comfort her, but his mind could only process telling her how he felt about her.
This was the worst possible moment for that. He couldn’t tell her how much he loved her while her fiancé sat tied to a chair. He’d have to wait.
His code returned no results, still unable to parse through the layers of masking hiding the true location of the streaming video.
With a growl, he pulled his arm from around her and returned to the keyboard. She massaged his shoulders. “You got this, Ace.”
“Yes, I do. This time will do it, Sparky, I promise.”
She set her chin on her knuckles as she watched him work.
Her eyes fixed on the image of Chris in the corner of the screen as code filled another window. “He looks okay. He doesn’t look hurt.”
“No, he doesn’t. And we won’t let them. We’re going to find him.”
“I’m trying to search for any clues on the feed, but I’m not seeing anything that would help us determine where he is. But it can’t be far. We weren’t gone that long.” She pressed her hand against her forehead. “Ugh, while we were out there arguing over him, someone was kidnapping him.”
“Ava…you can’t think like that. I mean, if he hadn’t stormed back to the house, he wouldn’t have been kidnapped. See? We can blame this on him, too.”
She heaved a sigh, sinking onto the stool with a frown. “He didn’t storm back. He just…he doesn’t know what to do. He’s frustrated.”
He bit his tongue, wanting to tell her he was frustrated, too.
Frustrated that she’d met someone, that she’d agreed to marry him, and that he could lose her to him.
With every passing second, he grew more firm in his belief that Chris was not the man for Ava, but he also fell further behind in the race to win her heart.
He took his annoyance out on his keyboard as he worked to track down the source of the video.
Ava pressed her lips together as she drummed her fingers on the counter. “Anything?”
“Almost, Avs.”
“Can I help?”
“The shoulder rub was helping,” he murmured as he stared at the information filling his screen.
She hopped to her feet and continued the massage. It wasn’t that he was tense, but the contact with her helped him forget his fear of losing her. Instead, he could pretend they were together, simply working together to solve a problem. Not one that was personally connected to Ava.
“Better?” she asked.
“Much,” he answered his eyes sliding sideways to catch the ring on her finger, sparkling as it caught the light rhythmically with her motions.
“You want a pep talk?”
The corner of his lips turned up as he clacked across the keyboard again. “You mean like you telling me I’m so smart and great?”
“Yeah,” she answered.
“Mmm, I might want one.”
“You are so smart, Ace.”
He screwed up his face, his eyes never leaving the screen. “Ava, that sounds fake.”
“I’m serious. You’re the best hacker I know. Actually, you’re probably the best hacker a lot of people know. That’s why you’re super rich now.”
He was about to make a joke about it when the result finally popped up on his screen with a glowing red dot. “Got it.”
“Ha!” she exclaimed. “I knew you could do it. Where?”
“Abandoned warehouse about… twenty minutes from here. I’ll drive.”
“No!” she exclaimed. “You stay here. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He rose with a shake of his head. “Ava, I’m not letting you do this on your own. I’m coming with you.”
“Alex–”
“No, Ava,” he answered as he slammed the laptop shut and stowed it under his arm. “I’ll drive.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Okay. Just…stick close to me when we’re there. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to me, either. Let’s go get our favorite architect.”
She nodded as she slipped her hand into his. “Let’s go.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn’t stop the smile from curving his lips as the warmth of her hand permeated his skin.
The situation at StoneCorp had brought them together as a team.
He desperately hoped he could keep their relationship alive.
As soon as things settled down, he’d tell her his feelings. Or…as soon as he thought it was wise.
The yellow of his signal lights splashed across the driveway as he unlocked his car.
Ava climbed into the passenger seat, twisting to face him as he slid behind the wheel. “Do you want me to drive?”
“No.”
“You drive too slow,” she said. “Switch with me.”
“I do not,” he answered as he fired the engine. “Put on your seat belt.”
“Alex–”
“Seat belt,” he said, shifting his gaze to her as he shifted into reverse and eyed her.
She tugged it on and clicked it into place. “You’re so bossy sometimes.”
“You like my bossiness.”
“I like it when you drive over the speed limit, too.”
He pulled out of the driveway, his right hand searching for hers. “We’ll get there, Ava. I promise. They put that on my laptop because they want us to find him.”
“Because this is a trap. Which is why you should stay in the car.”
“I’m not leaving you alone, Ava.” He paused, pressing his lips together. “Also, I’m a little afraid of staying alone in case it’s like a reverse setup.”
She snorted a laugh as she squeezed his hand. “Okay, you come inside with me so I can protect you.”
“Thanks.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, his heart thudded against his ribs as he hoped she didn’t pull away from him.
She kept her fingers laced with his as he lowered it. “We’re a team.”
“And we are a team who has been speeding. Aren’t you proud of me?”
“I am. I’ve noticed how much faster you’ve been going, Ace.”
He closed in on the location of the warehouse, slowing the SUV as they entered the sketchy section of town. He ducked to peer out the windshield at the building. “This place looks awful.”
“I bet Chris is so afraid.”
He pulled closer to the abandoned building, easing the car to a stop. “We should–”
Ava shoved her door open and leapt from her seat. “Come on.”
With a sigh, he climbed from behind the wheel and circled around the car to join her. “Maybe I should take the gun.”
“Alex, you can’t shoot a gun.”
“Well, I can,” he answered. “Just not that well.”
“That doesn’t help us. I won’t miss if I have to use this.” She scanned the exterior, zeroing in on a door. “Stay close to me.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
They crept forward to the door, and Ava reached for the handle. She tugged against it, and it swung open easily with a groan, revealing a cavernous, dimly lit interior.
“I don’t like this,” Alex whispered, his voice turning shaky.
She nodded as she raised her weapon and scanned the entrance before she stepped inside. “I know. This is a setup. But we have to get Chris.”
Alex pulled his cell phone from his pocket, toggling on his flashlight. With the gun held out in front of her, Ava inched further down the hall. Their footsteps echoed ominously on the concrete floor, the only sound in the otherwise eerie quietness that permeated the cold warehouse.
“Alex?” she whispered.
He snapped his gaze toward her, finding her several steps in front of him.
“Get up here. Stay close.”
“Sorry.” He rushed forward, pressing close to her. “I was just being creeped out by how quiet it is in here.”
“Yeah, hopefully, that means no one is here. Maybe we found this place faster than they expected.”
“We need to be careful. They have a camera on him. They could have others.”
She nodded as she rounded a doorway and thrust the weapon inside as she searched the room before continuing past it. “Yes. We’ve probably already alerted them to our presence. Let’s just hope that we can get out of here before they arrive.”
They continued forward carefully searching any rooms that jutted off of the corridor.
“Avs,” Alex whispered, “there’s a light ahead.”
She pushed his phone’s light down and waited a second. “I see it. Let’s try there.”
“Okay, careful, though. They could have a trap set up before that room.”
She reached back and wrapped her hand around his, holding the gun forward with one hand. He watched her move ahead of him with the grace of a cat, her years of training in jiujitsu kicking in. On the opposite end of the spectrum, he moved like a drunken squirrel as his knees threatened to buckle.
He squeezed her hand before letting go, allowing her to return it to the weapon. He slid his fingers around her waist, touching her like a lifeline grounding him to the world.
They reached the end of the hall. Ava hesitated at the doorway, sucking a breath before she stepped into the room, sweeping it with the weapon before she focused on the middle.
Alex followed her, immediately recognizing the space as the one on the camera feed.
“Chris!” she exclaimed, not lowering the weapon.
“I’ll get him,” Alex answered. “You keep watch.”
She nodded as she pulled a knife from her pocket and handed it to him. “Hurry.”
He crossed the room, the lights that lit Chris for the video feed blinding him. He ripped the tape from the man’s mouth first before he knelt to cut off the zip ties binding his wrists and ankles.
“Thank goodness you found me,” Chris puffed.
“We’ll have you out of here in a second, boss,” Alex answered, his eyes focused on sawing through the plastic tie.
He glanced up at Chris, finding his eyes wide. “Ava! Look out!”
His shout permeated the tense silence. Alex whipped his head around just in time to see a figure lunging at Ava.
His heart stopped as he wondered if they’d just fallen into a trap that they wouldn’t get out of.