Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Later that evening, in their bedroom at the villa, Julia jumped when Finn rapped on the bathroom door and called out, “How long are you going to be mad at me?”
She set her palms on the vanity counter and lifted her eyes to her reflection. “I don’t know.” Am I really mad? Or still reeling from . . . everything.
Why couldn’t she actually be Wonder Woman and not a girl in a costume pretending? Her gaze cut over her outfit as she pushed off the counter to stand.
“That’s not reassuring,” he answered. “How about we say you stopped five minutes ago. Like we retroactive this situation.”
She tried not to laugh at whatever he was trying to say to break through the tension with humor.
“Wonder Woman wouldn’t stay mad.”
“No?” she said while smoothing her hands over the red bodice lined with fake gold armor that molded to her body. “Would she get even?”
“Only if someone hurt her loved ones.” He paused. “Like Oliver. I know. Shit, I’m sorry I suggested you leave, but I’m only trying to protect you.”
She absorbed his words and opened the door, curious as to how he’d react when he saw her in the costume. “Wonder Woman is stronger than you, Indiana Jones,” she said once he had her in his sights. “So, maybe I need to save you.”
Finn had one hand braced on the frame of the bathroom door, blocking her exit.
He silently lowered his eyes from her face to her feet.
His attention lingered a bit longer on the short blue skirt attached to the red top with a gold belt at the center.
Her armband matched the belt, but there’d been no boots at the store, so she’d need to slip on some gold heels to match the look.
She had to admit, she did look smoking hot. She’d done her makeup and hair more Gal Gadot style than circa the ’80s.
“Of course, since I assume Scott and Scott is basically your version of Clark Kent’s glasses, you’re a hero, too.” Her sexy, gorgeous hero.
Finn pushed away from the doorframe, removed his fedora to run his fingers through his dark locks for a brief moment, and eyed her intently. She wasn’t sure if he was buying himself time to ponder life’s greatest mysteries or contemplating ripping the costume off her with his bare hands.
He also looked every bit Indiana Jones in his khakis, brown fedora, and leather jacket opened to reveal a black tee. The plastic coiled rope at his hip and satchel strung over his shoulder were most likely the parts of the costume he wanted to object to.
“You were pretty quick to agree to let Michael take me away,” she said, finding her way back to the original question as to why she’d been giving him the silent treatment since the beach that afternoon. “It hurt.” And that wasn’t easy for her to admit.
Finn’s eyes fixed on hers as he set his hat back in place.
“Will you always let me go that fast?” Shit, why did I ask that? Because I’m scared. Would there be a tomorrow or a next day with him after Oliver was free and Tariq was in prison?
When the muscle in Finn’s jaw tightened, and he turned away from her, it wasn’t the response she’d expected. Why did a cold bluster of air suddenly cover her body in chills?
“It’ll be you that drops me,” Finn said, his tone low and startlingly deep. “You’ll be the one who walks away. You don’t need to worry about it being me.”
Oh. How could I be so stupid? He was scared, too. They were two grown adults who’d had their fair share of trauma and pain, and now they were terrified of encountering more.
His mother had struggled after Jaden died, and unfortunately, Finn paid the price. Julia knew that was why Finn had just responded the way he did. “Do your teammates know?”
“Know what?” he asked a bit gruffly, his mood sliding to a darker place, the place she’d been in that afternoon when she’d felt like Finn had so quickly cast her aside at her brother’s request.
“About your brother. And your parents . . .”
“Of course they know Jaden died of an overdose,” he whispered back, still not facing her. “And that my parents are divorced.”
When she lowered her gaze, she found his hands now set on his hips, gaze still pointed out the window that overlooked lush polo lawns. “But only Roman knows about my guilt and how it’s affected me. Until you.”
His words were soft and yet boomed loudly in her head. Only Roman? And now me? He’d probably violated some major oath to the President that morning by confessing she was right about his occupation, and now this. This, this, this. It was a big deal to him to share, wasn’t it? Bigger than his job.
“Finn, I—” She stopped herself at the sound of someone yelling downstairs.
“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”
Finn grimaced. “That’s Asher.”
“I can tell.” Julia turned toward the closed door.
“We should go see what’s going on.” Finn apparently saw this as his opportunity to escape and rushed past her, but she managed to grab hold of the sleeve of his leather jacket.
“Dalton.” She felt like this moment required his real name. “Can we talk later?”
He looked back, a dark brow arched, and asked, “I don’t know, Julia. Will there be a later?”
He was prepping himself for what he believed would soon be her rejection, wasn’t he? I told him I wouldn’t date anyone on active duty, damn it. Why did I say that? But hell, can I?
She let him leave the room without another word, knowing in her heart that she was well past the development stage in regard to her feelings for Finn. She was fully immersed. Swimming in emotions.
Julia quickly slipped on the heels sitting at the edge of the bed where she’d left them and went downstairs to see why Asher was so pissed.
She arrived in time to witness Asher in his costume slashing both arms through the air in the shape of an X.
Harper had picked out his and Jessica’s coordinating outfits from The Princess Bride movie, another classic.
He had on all black, including boots, a fake sword at his hip, but he didn’t have the face mask on yet.
Jessica was dressed in a red princess dress with her hair in a side braid and a little gold crown at the top of her head.
A.J. and Finn had hoped for something more ridiculous for Asher to wear, but the guy looked fairly cool and also intimidating in the costume.
A.J., on the other hand, looked hilarious in his Marty McFly from Back to the Future outfit. Jeans, high-top sneakers, a plaid shirt and a red puffy vest on top. Roman had insisted on the costume while they’d been at the mall on Thursday.
Wow, it was Saturday night already? At least I remember what day it is now.
Also, what is Asher saying? He’d been talking and she’d started to zone out with Finn’s green gaze cutting straight across the room her way, almost as if he were angry at himself for being so damn angry.
He let out an audible huff of breath and turned toward the doors leading out to the private pool none of them had used yet.
“Let’s not argue about this.” Jessica held a hand in front of her husband.
“No way in hell is my wife seducing a terrorist. Or any man for that matter,” Asher seethed, and Roman slapped a hand on his shoulder after striding up behind him as if trying to calm down a wild animal.
“We need Tariq away from Kaira. We need a diversion. And the man has been glued to his sister’s hip, and she’s glued to the Americans. So—”
“No,” Asher cut off Roman and spun to face him, which had Roman releasing his hold and raising his hands in surrender.
Roman stole a look at Jessica that said I tried.
“He likes blondes. He’s always with a blonde,” Jessica reminded her husband.
“Yeah, well, you’re my blonde. So, no. New idea.” Asher folded his arms and stood firm.
“The plan is still to try and lure the Americans back here, right?” Julia asked, hoping to diffuse some tension in the room.
“To say I have photos of the Warhol on my computer that I left at the villa, and then hope our Romancing the Stone couple will want to take a look for themselves prior to the auction, which is later tonight.”
It was a plan on the fly, and she had a feeling they didn’t usually do “on the fly” in the military, but maybe they were in uncharted territory, especially with Julia along for the ride.
Harper left the desk where she’d been sitting and joined the center of the room where Asher had started pacing. Finn was still looking out the window, and she wished she knew what was going on in his head. Maybe I do know. “Yes, and we’d love for you to get Kaira to join them.”
“Since you aren’t supposed to talk to her, I’m your loophole.” Julia smiled, and Harper tipped her head as if to say, exactly.
“But we need to distract Tariq for it to work. To get them away from that man,” Jessica noted, and A.J. shot her a sideways look like he was worried for all of their sakes that Asher might unleash on Tariq if the man so much as touched his wife. Then the plan would be blown.
They had a backup plan, according to Harper, if the Warhol thing didn’t happen, but the backup also required a Tariq diversion, so, from the looks of it, they needed to get Asher on board.
“Well, I’m not blonde, and I found out the other day that I’m pregnant, so I can’t do it.” Harper’s abrupt declaration had the room shifting to face her in surprise. “Elaina said we’d be having a girl, remember?” Her hand went to her abdomen.
Elaina? Ah. Liam and Emily’s daughter. Hadn’t someone said she was prophetic? And shit, that reminded her of the Osiris statue and that woman on the dock. She didn’t want to think about bad omens or curses or whatnot now, though.
“That explains a lot.” A.J. walked over to Harper and pulled her in for a hug. “Well, hell, you, Ana, and Natasha will all have babies around the same age. This is great.”
The tension seemed to deflate in the room as everyone congratulated Harper and Roman, and Julia waited her turn to do so.
“Wonder Woman can’t do it because we need her to bring the others to the villa,” Harper said a few minutes post-congratulations to redirect the conversation to the pressing matter.
“So it has to be Jessica. Unless you think he’d be more into Marty over here,” Harper teased, tossing a thumb toward A.J. , and he grumbled.
“Not drawing the short stick on this one or playing rock-paper-scissors.” A.J. showed both his palms to the room. “I’m not seducing Tariq.”
Asher turned from the room. “Seducing.”
Annnnd we’re back to square one. Thank you, A.J.
“Won’t he wonder why my wife is hitting on him while I’m there?” Asher asked, and at least maybe he was considering the idea.
“Might make her more appealing. Some men like to conquer another—”
Asher spun around at A.J.’s words, which had A.J. immediately letting go of his comment.
“Good job,” Jessica whispered sarcastically and then went to her husband and grabbed him by the arm. “Give me a minute.” She urged Asher to head to their bedroom, and once the door was shut, Harper dropped onto the couch as if she were exhausted.
“That should go well.” Roman elbowed A.J. when he walked past him to sit next to Harper.
“Swimmingly,” A.J. joked.
Finn was laser-focused on the pool once again, appearing to want to look anywhere but toward Julia.
“Something has been bothering me,” he said in a low voice.
“If we really think Ario is dead, and he’s dead because Tariq wanted him dead, then why go after Giorgio?
And the time gap between Ario’s death and Tariq coming out of the woodwork looking for Giorgio is still a question mark. Five months is a long time.”
“What are you thinking?” Roman asked him.
Finn finally gave his attention to the room and said, “Tariq was after someone else on Giorgio’s client list, wasn’t he? He was looking for another name.”
Harper nodded, and Julia took a step closer to where she sat.
“If Tariq had a hand in Ario’s death, then he had no reason to question Giorgio,” Harper began, seemingly aligned with Finn’s concerns.
“But Giorgio would still have a reason to avoid Tariq. He may have been worried Tariq, being Ario’s brother-in-law, was pissed that Giorgio was in on the plan to fake Ario’s death.
Perhaps Tariq had tried to reach out to the doctor before, and when he was shot down, he arranged the meeting in Egypt as someone else. ”
“So, he needed Giorgio, but Giorgio didn’t know why.” Finn stroked his jaw and looked down at the floor. “Drugs,” he said in a low, solemn tone. “We need to find someone on Giorgio’s list who’s connected to drugs of any kind.”
“Like an old cartel leader who may have gone into hiding?” Roman pitched.
“Tariq has his hands on a lot of drugs now.” It couldn’t be easy for Finn to talk about drugs given his brother’s history, but he continued, “What if he isn’t trying to build an army of terrorists. What if he’s trying to monopolize the region’s drug trade?”
“So why reinvent the wheel,” Roman began, rising to his feet as if the idea was a damn good one, “if there’s someone out there who already knows all the best drug trafficking routes?”
Julia pinned her arms over her chest when chills chased down her spine. She wanted to go to Finn, to hug him and comfort him. She now knew how hard this was on him. But more importantly, this time she could see the signs that he was hurting. And unlike with Tucker, she felt them in her bones.
“Make it rain,” A.J. whispered. “Tariq wants to pull a Noah’s Ark–type move, but instead of water, he wants to flood the world with pills.”
Roman faced A.J. “But why?”
Finn’s focus moved straight to Roman. “You don’t need terrorists to destroy your enemy when drugs can do it for you.”