Chapter Thirty-Two
RILEY YAWNED AS Andre weaved through Nashville traffic, heading toward her home.
Although she dreaded seeing the mess that was her house, she needed two changes of clothes to take to Andre’s house.
Iona and Elias had volunteered to stay with Andre for the next two nights and help Riley clean up her home.
Wonder if Iona was up for a round of clothes shopping?
Her lips curved. Probably not. Iona hated shopping for clothes more than Riley did.
She leaned her head against the headrest. “I’m glad Brent convinced the agents to stick to a one-hour interrogation rather than what they would have done under normal circumstances. I wouldn’t have made sense if the session had gone longer.”
“I’m tired, too.” Andre reached over and clasped her hand. “You sure you’re all right?”
She turned in her seat, curious. “Do I seem otherwise?”
“I don’t want to miss anything.”
Riley sighed and let her head drop back against the seat. “All right. I give up.”
His head whipped in her direction. “What?”
“How am I supposed to resist you when you’re focused on taking care of me? I can’t, so I give up. I’m keeping you. You might as well get used to the idea of being mine, Andre Marsh, because I don’t share.”
Andre laughed. “I wasn’t planning to let you go, anyway.”
“That makes things nice and even for both sides. Now, it’s my turn. Are you all right?”
He sobered, shifting in his seat behind the wheel. “What do you mean?”
Oh, man. So, there was something he didn’t want to talk about. “Talk to me.”
He glanced at her for a second, then returned his gaze to the road. “You scared me.”
“How?”
“Garcia held a weapon to your head. I didn’t know whether that weapon had a hair trigger. I could have lost you in a split second if events had gone a different way.”
Here was the conversation she’d been dreading. Andre telling Riley that he was fine with her job as an operative was one thing. Seeing how she behaved on an op when he had a vested interest in her safety was something else entirely.
Would he accept her working with Artemis? More important for her, if Andre couldn’t accept her being an operative, she had a choice to make, one Riley dreaded with everything in her. To lose Andre or to lose her family of sisters in Artemis was an impossible choice. She needed all of them.
“I guess seeing the danger you face during every mission, even when I’m not with you to watch your back, opened my eyes to a couple of things.”
She gripped the seat with both hands. “What things?”
“I saw how tight the bond is that you have with Artemis. When Seth asked Teagan if she had a shot at Garcia, I could see the determination on her face and the absolute trust in her on yours. Those women are your family, aren’t they?”
Two knots in her stomach loosened. “Yes, they are. I trust them with my life, Andre, like you trust yours to Echo unit.”
He gave a slight nod as though that settled something in his mind.
“What’s the second thing?”
“I promised myself that I wouldn’t push you into a lifetime commitment too soon, not after your horrific background.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, babe. I can’t do it.”
Riley froze. What did that mean? Was he breaking up with her? She gripped the seat so hard her fingers protested. “What can’t you do?”
“After seeing what could have gone down with Garcia, I won’t wait to ask you the most important question of my life.”
“What’s the question?”
“Will you marry me the first chance we get, Riley Sloan?”
Processing what he’d said took a beat longer than she wanted to admit. Did she hear what she thought she heard? Riley had to be absolutely sure. Otherwise, her heart would beat right out of her chest. “You want to marry me?”
“Yes. As soon as possible. Don’t forget the most important part.”
Her lips curved. “No, I won’t forget. The answer to your question is yes, Andre Marsh. I will marry you as soon as we can arrange it.”
Andre’s hands gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles and fingers turned white. “I should have waited until we were inside your house to ask you to marry me. I’m dying to kiss you, and I can’t do that while I’m driving.”
Riley laughed, joy bubbling inside her. “As soon as we get out of the SUV.”
“Nope. Inside the house, Riley. I won’t be able to concentrate properly if we’re outside where anyone can see us. I don’t want any distractions.”
For the rest of the drive to her home, she and Andre enjoyed spending time together. After days of constantly being in the company of their teammates, being together without the others was a novelty.
Long minutes later, Andre took the exit from the interstate to Hartman and headed toward Riley’s home.
When he parked in her driveway, Riley studied the exterior of her house. “We haven’t talked about our houses.”
Andre turned off the engine. “What about them?”
“We don’t need two houses after we’re married.”
He remained silent for a beat, then said, “You’re right. We don’t. You decide which one to sell. I don’t care in which house we live. However, my house is bigger. I also have every add-on to Fortress’ top of the line security system.”
Amused, she leaned over and brushed his lips with hers. “So do I. Iona insisted.”
“Good. Like I said, it’s your choice, but you don’t have to decide right this minute. Take your time. We’ll talk about it after our honeymoon.”
“Deal.”
Andre exited the SUV and came around to open Riley’s door. They unloaded her gear and went up the walkway to her porch.
He held out his hand. “Keys.”
Riley rolled her eyes. Really? She cleared her home every time she came back from a mission or a day of training. It was instinctive for her to be sure strangers had not invaded her home, that everything was as it should be.
This time, nothing was as it should be. Someone had broken into her house before Echo and Artemis left for Mexico again. Unless the crime scene team had taken pity on her, Riley’s home was a disaster zone.
Because Andre acted out of love, she handed him the keys to her place without protest and told him the code.
He unlocked the door and headed for the keypad on the wall but stopped halfway there, his expression grim.
For a split second, Riley wondered what was wrong, then realized her alarm didn’t beep. The crime scene team had set the alarm before they left her home. Brianna, one of the crime scene team members, sent her a message confirming that they had reset her alarm.
That could mean only one thing. Someone had broken into her home.
Again. This was getting old. If a burglar could bypass her alarm system that easily, Riley would change systems and the company providing service.
The only problem with that plan was that the Fortress security systems were the best in the business.
Andre slid her bag off his shoulder and set it by the door, motioning for Riley to do the same. He palmed his weapon and used hand signals to tell her to check the right side of the house while he checked the left.
She swept to the right and began checking every place that a human being could hide in her living room, kitchen, mudroom, laundry room, and garage. By the time she finished, Riley breathed a sigh of relief that no one was hiding in those rooms.
She returned to the living room, surprised Andre hadn’t returned from checking the bedroom, bathrooms, and office. Uneasiness coiled in her gut. Checking the left side of the house shouldn’t take Andre this long.
Tightening her grip on her Sig, Riley eased down the hall to the guest bathroom, clearing it. Returning to the hallway, she pressed her back to the wall and cleared the linen closet. Next, she turned toward the main bedroom. Lots of places for someone to lie in wait in that room.
She peered around the corner into her bedroom. Too dark to see anything. She felt along the wall until her fingers brushed the light switch. Riley turned on the overhead light. She blinked, remaining in place until her eyes had adjusted.
She slipped into the room and headed for the closet first. Weapon at the ready, she opened the door and swept the closet.
Nothing.
She repeated the process with her bathroom and under her bed.
Still nothing. No sign of Andre anywhere.
Growing more concerned by the minute, Riley turned toward the hallway.
The next room to clear was her office. If Andre wasn’t in there, she’d try calling him even though that was a risk to his safety if he was in a dangerous situation.
But this wasn’t like him. Andre didn’t play tricks on people, especially not on her.
She crossed the hall to her closed office door. Riley frowned. She never closed the office door. Did the crime scene team close it?
Pressing her back to the wall, Riley reached over, twisted the doorknob, and pushed the door open. Darkness greeted her. Great. Light switch time. She hated the dark, and it looked as though her night light had burned out while she’d been in Mexico. She felt for the switch and flipped it up.
As soon as light flooded the room, Riley froze, a nightmare playing out in real life in front of her.
Andre knelt in the center of her office floor, wrists and ankles cinched together with zip ties. Blood dripped steadily from his scalp and ran down his right cheek and neck, staining his shirt.
Carlos Jimenez, Abby Dale’s boyfriend, stood behind Andre, holding the muzzle of a pistol to Andre’s head.