Chapter 23
The meeting hasn’t been going for five minutes when the team drops a bomb on me.
“I just got an ID on the target they acquired,” Ranger says tapping the screen of a tablet.
“When Thane and Colt returned to the site, there were five heat signatures, not four. It appears that someone entered the hunting grounds after you were evacuated. The guy they grabbed was ID’d as Trevor Allen Holt. ”
My head cocks left. “Wait. He’s been captured and they’re bringing him here?”
“Affirmative,” Ranger says. “ETA twenty minutes. The plan is to secure him in the bunker under the garage. We know he was the original instigator you encountered at Jade’s place of employment.”
Holy fuck.
I’m surprised my knuckles don’t break with how hard my fists are clenched.
Axle, one of the new members of the team jumps into the conversation. “You’re not handling the interrogation, I am.”
The air feels like it crackles around my head.
“No,” I say through clenched teeth. “That fucker is mine.”
“What about Jade?” he counters. “She needs you right now. And I need you to take a breath, and let us work.”
I seethe, the room seemingly sucked clean of oxygen.
Axle folds his arms, leans back in his chair, a challenging glint in eyes that looks too damned familiar.
“This is my specialty. You’re not objective. He’ll be dead before we get anything out of him,” he tells me.
Goddammit.
“No, I can control my temper.”
I think.
Axle tips his head, not blinking. Not backing down.
“Agile tapped you to lead the team. I respect that. I won’t challenge you on any other orders and I’ll make you this promise—when we’re done with him and we’ve got everything we need, he’s yours.
He’s not leaving that bunker until we’re ALL finished with him. ”
I scrub my hand over my face, turn to face the bullet proof glass. “You know who this motherfucking cock-sucking lowlife piece of shit is, right?”
“I saw the brief.”
“Well there’s more. Her father gave Jade to him to keep her under control. The old man set it up, made it look like this guy wanted to date her. So he fucked her and abused her.”
I suck air, trying to get my shit together so I can continue.
“When she got too close to the intel that would bury them, they put her on the kill list.”
The place Axle goes is dark, a killing flame glimmering behind his gaze. His broad shoulders rise and fall in a controlled breath. Violence veiled in practiced restraint.
“So he’s gonna have a lot to say when we apply the right pressure,” Axle mutters. “I’ll make sure we get it all. All of his connections. Every last fucking detail. You don’t know me yet, I’ve been working in intelligence for years. Dark shit.”
“Good,” I grit out.
The next ten minutes become a blur. It takes every ounce of my willpower to concentrate on the video call with Agile’s intel team while Jade is in the other room being seen by a doctor and a counselor, and Trevor’s on his way here.
On the same property where she is.
“Ryker, what did he say?” someone asks.
I search my mind for the thread of conversation.
Thane prompts me. “Can you rehash what the hunter said to you?”
I clear my throat, force my hands to release the arms of the chair I’m sitting in. “Right. He said that it’s handled by an off-shore business and he paid by crypto. Nothing solid. But he did say that Vesuvius is one of the game show hosts. As in plural. Threw out the name Apocalypse.”
“Copy. Got that in our notes, when you have time drop that into an email to me,” Mako says over the video call.
“So this thing isn’t a one off,” Colt says toward the camera. “That means they have more victims lined up.”
The men share grim glances as we all process that.
A soft knock against the door breaks the silence.
I’m spring-loaded bounding out of my seat. I jerk the handle so hard it falls off in my hand.
Fuck, tossing it aside, I ram my fingers in the hole and drag the door open.
Jade.
I grip the door frame to steady myself, every emotion I’ve felt in the last few hours whipping through me.
Looking soft in a new sweater and jeans, she shifts between her feet.
I want to leap on her, but I hang onto the wall instead. “Sweetheart,” I rasp, trying to hold my shit together.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she says, tone shy. “You told me to find you—”
She cuts herself off.
I reach out and she steps under my arm, tucking close. But I don’t move another muscle for fear of pushing her too far right now.
“I’m glad you did. You’re not interrupting anything,” I tell her, forcing my voice down, steady, even as something inside me is pushing hard in the opposite direction.
There is not a single sound out of the meeting room, like all of the men are holding a collective breath for us right now.
“You finished?” I ask, keeping it simple, private information contained.
She nods once.
I know what she just went through, what she chose to go through, and the fact that she’s standing here now instead of somewhere quiet, tells me everything I need to know about where her head is at.
“Let’s go hang out together.” I step past her, my hand finding the small of her back and guide her out of the doorway.
No need to explain to the team. The door closes behind us, sealing off the room. Keeping all the ugly shit in there.
The hallway is bathed in morning light and it feels surreal after the kind of night we just survived.
Intentionally I choose the sunroom. It’s intimate and flooded with warm, clean sunshine. The opposite of the forest.
“How are you feeling?” I ask as she takes one chair, and I take the one across from her.
“Okay.”
But she glances away. Worrying at her fingernail.
“Did they treat you right?”
Fuck, it feels like I’m saying all the wrong things.
There’s a small pause as she presses her lips flat. “They were wonderful. Thank you for getting help to come here. April—the counselor was incredibly helpful. And Dr. Barnhill was so professional and kind.”
I nod stiffly because I’m too brittle to speak. The weight of the night hangs between us, a wrecking ball.
“She doesn’t think—” Jade shifts to meet my gaze. “That he raped me, but it takes time for the kit to be processed.”
“I’m proud of you, Jade. You’re so strong.” I reach for her hand, taking it between mine. “Please tell me what you need right now.”
She laughs humorlessly. “I have no idea what I need right now.”
“That’s completely normal.”
In my palm her fingers shift, curling tight.
“I know that doesn’t erase what happened,” I tell her. “We’ve just been out of that place for a few hours. It’s raw.”
She was groomed, kidnapped, hunted, by people she once trusted. Doesn’t erase the fear that’s still sitting in her body, plain as day if you know what to look for.
And I do.
Jade studies my face like she’s waiting for some kind of reaction, maybe judgment, maybe distance.
She’s braced for it.
I take a slow breath, forcing my shoulders to drop, forcing the tension out of my posture before it feeds into hers.
“Thank you for telling me,” I say, forcing my words gentle. “You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.”
“I didn’t want you to think—” she starts, then cuts herself off again, shaking her head like she doesn’t know how to finish it.
I lean across the space, tilting her face up to look at me.
“Whatever happened, Jade, it only makes me respect and love you more.”
She searches my face.
“I don’t think anything about you except that you handled yourself like you had a spine of steel in a situation most people wouldn’t walk out of.”
Her breath catches just slightly, like that wasn’t what she expected to hear. She shifts her weight again in the chair, her attention drifting out the window.
“I feel weird. Like I’m not all the way here.”
“It’ll take time to collect all the pieces. This is common after fighting for your life.”
After a pause, she swallows and takes a few breaths. “I don’t want to be alone.”
“You don’t have to be. Have you eaten?” I ask, shifting us somewhere grounded.
“A little,” she replies, crunching her nose as if she hasn’t really thought about it until now.
“Come on,” I say, standing. “Let’s fix that.”
We move through the quiet hallway and into the kitchen. It’s bright and modern, clean. Nothing like the forest.
I grab a glass, fill it, set it in front of her.
“Drink some water, it helps.”
She obeys without question. I move around the counter, pulling together a simple plate. Fruit, bread, cheese. Things she can touch with her fingers. Tactile is good. For both of us. If I stop moving, I’m going to start thinking about everything I don’t have control over right now.
And that’s not useful.
A soft click of nails on tile sounds behind me, catching my attention.
“Come in here, June.”
Padding quietly, she crosses the kitchen, heading straight to Jade. Dropping her head right into her lap. Like it’s meant to be there.
“Who is this beautiful creature?”
Jade marvels over the sleek black German Shepherd as her hand drops into the dog’s fur, fingers threading through thick strands.
“June’s an emotional support dog.”
“Boy, I could use that right now. I’m kind of a mess.”
“There you go,” I murmur, warmth filling places in me that have been cold forever. “She looks happy too.”
June leans harder, long black tail swishing back and forth.
“She picks up on this kind of thing,” I tell Jade, watching as she relaxes. Her shoulders drop another inch. And inside of me a wrench turns an overtightened bolt.
I set the plate in front of her and lean back against the counter, watching without making it obvious.
“Start with that.”
She picks up a strawberry, brings it to her mouth slowly, like she has to remind herself how to do it.
As she chews slowly, her hand tightens in June’s fur. Her gaze drops, unfocused for a second, like she’s slipping somewhere else.
My body tightens instantly. “Jade.”
Her eyes snap back to mine.
“I’m here,” she says quickly.
“Stay with me,” I offer her a piece of bread. “Keep eating. Then we’ll get you some sleep.”
“That sounds good.” She picks at the food, and I keep her engaged.
“You like her fur?” I nod toward June.
She looks down, fingers tightening again in the dog’s scruff. “Yeah.”
“Stay there,” I tell her. “Focus on that.”
Her breathing evens out. Eyes become more focused.
“I think I want a shower,” she says.
That’s the pivot I was looking for. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
She stands slowly and June responds immediately, staying close at her side.
I lead both of them down the hall, stopping at the door to the bedroom I’ve selected for us. For her if she wants it alone.
“This room’s all set up.”
She glances inside. “Could you come with me in the shower?”
“Absolutely,” I rasp, knowing I need this as much as her.
I reach for her hand, taking us inside the bedroom, closing the door.