Chapter Two
Isaac burst through the front door of Gus’s quaint Cape-style home, not bothering to knock. They all had keys to each other’s places. Always welcomed each other. “Where is she?” he bellowed. Pustules of anxiety bubbled in his gut and burst in his chest. The twelve hour flight from Syria to his base in Fort Story, Virginia, were the longest of his life. He’d wasted no time calling in a favor. The helicopter flight had only taken an hour, but damn, he’d nearly crawled out of his skin. He’d been in contact with his brothers, but despite their reassurances, he had to see Julie for himself. It had already been a day and a half since her SOS alert.
“Took you long enough.” Gus appeared in the hallway and gave him a chin lift.
“Fuck you.” He had no time for good-natured sarcasm. “Where’s Jules?”
“Hey, brother.” Easton walked into the room and stood beside Gus. His vision narrowed and there was a sharp ache at his temples. He’d known them both long enough to understand when they were hiding something from him.
“Listen,” Gus lifted both hands and raked his fingers over his short hair. “We need to talk first.”
“After,” he bit out and paced toward the stairs that would take him to the second floor. He usually kept away from Julie’s bedroom; Being in a space where her scent clung to everything, where her personality was reflected on every throw pillow, was torture. Right now, though, he’d walk across burning coals, so long as Jules was at the end of the path.
Just as Gus and Easton blocked him, a low growl sounded behind him. He turned, expecting to see Gilligan, the ornery Chihuahua. He drew in a quick breath. The small dog was cradled in the arms of a young girl. He cast a look at his brothers, then crouched down to eye level. Her sharp green eyes didn’t focus on his gaze, but she didn’t seem upset or uncomfortable.
“This is Sabrina. One of Julie’s students.” Gus was trying to communicate something important without saying it outright. Something bad had happened the day his sister sent the call for help, and if he had one guess, he’d say that something sinister had happened to the kid’s family. Otherwise she’d have no reason to be in Gus’s home.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he murmured.
“Hi, sweetheart,” she echoed back and placed the dog on the floor. Gilligan huffed out a breath and meandered into the kitchen behind his brothers. The little girl moved forward, and he went completely still when she sat on his bent knee. She lifted one small hand and brought it to his cheek. His heart thumped harder as protectiveness welled inside his chest.
“Sabrina, do you want to go outside on the trampoline?” The girl’s gaze swung to Sasha, Gus’s wife. She rocked forward, clapping her hands several times before darting toward the red-headed woman, an enthusiastic shriek breaking from her lips. “Take some time to talk.” Sasha said. “Kinley just texted me.” She turned to add, “She’s bringing home pizza after her shift.” Both of his brothers had found good women who were now a part of their family. Sasha had lost everyone she ever loved growing up and nearly died due to an individual’s insane obsession. Kinley, Easton’s fiancée had been the lone survivor of a ruthless serial killer as a child, only to be abducted a second time several months ago. She’d bounced back quickly, but it wasn’t lost on him the amount of drama that seemed to follow his family.
“Since when do you have a trampoline?” He stood from his position on the floor and eyed Gus and Easton.
“We put it together when Sabrina was released into Julie’s care yesterday.” Easton stalked forward and yanked him into a brief hug. “Let’s talk in the living room.”
All he could do was nod. When the kid touched his face almost reverently, it had thrown him. He didn’t like feeling off kilter, but there it was. Give him covert missions in hostile territories and he was solid, but spend thirty seconds with a child who seemed to look into his soul and he was shaken. “What happened to her family?”
“Mother died in an accident a year ago.” Gus said, leading the way to the living room. “Her father is presumably dead. Jules heard his business associates talking about getting his body into the trunk.” Gus sat on the far left cushion of the sectional, feet planted wide.
“Shit.” He sank down in an adjacent armchair. “And the hospital cleared Julie to take care of Sabrina?”
Easton tucked his hands into his front pockets and exchanged a look with Gus.
He dug his fingers into the upholstered chair. If someone didn’t explain what the hell was going on in the next ten seconds he was going to explode. “Tell me you took her to the goddamn hospital.”
“No. We couldn’t.” Easton’s voice was flat as he sat next to Gus. “The bureau had a nurse practitioner come here.”
“The bureau? Why are they involved?” He’d left the only people he’d ever cared about to protect Julie and in doing so he’d left her vulnerable.
“Sam Vesey, Sabrina’s father, was one of the FBI’s best field agents.” Gus placed his elbows on his knees and leaned toward him. “Deep cover for three years infiltrating The Unified Brotherhood.”
His jaw clenched and a red haze distorted his sight. “Jules got herself mixed up with the goddamn mafia?”
“That’s why we wanted to talk to you first.” Easton’s calm voice made Isaac want to rage. Didn’t they understand what kind of danger she was in? “The only reason Sabrina is here and not with a court appointed guardian is because Vesey changed his will shortly after Julie’s agency placed her in their home. He named Julie as both Sabrina’s legal guardian and conservator in his Last Will and Testament. Sabrina is the recipient of all Vesey’s assets and his life insurance policy, which Julie now has the responsibility of managing until the girl turns eighteen.”
He stared at his brothers, not really seeing them.
Gus cleared his throat. “We have to ask Julie some hard questions, and the FBI is chomping at the bit to interview her, too.”
“Questions. What kind of questions?” His mind was spinning, not slowing enough for him to catch onto what they were implying.
“About her relationship with Vesey. If it was personal.” Easton delivered the words gently, as if he knew what Julie meant to him.
A scorching ember flared to life in his gut as jealousy threatened to choke him. He was vaguely aware of his breath coming in coarse pants. He had no fucking right to feel this way. Like gutting a dead man for placing his hands on his sweet Julie. He was the one who had left her. His decision. One that shredded at his marked soul each and every day. She was a beautiful woman, and he’d never had any delusions that she would be celibate because of a childhood crush and one explosive kiss on the very couch his two brothers were sitting on, but the reality of it was more than he could bear. He needed to lock this shit down. Jules needed him now. Whether she’d just lost her lover or not, she was in danger and no one would protect her like he would. He’d die a million deaths if it meant keeping her and Sabrina safe, because if her innocent little hand on his face hadn’t pulled at his heart enough, she was bound to Julie. He stood and, ignoring his brothers’ calls, he strode across the living room and pounded up the stairs. He eased open Julie’s bedroom door and slipped into the dimly lit room. If tears weren’t burning behind his lids he would’ve laughed. The sloth lamp he’d given her one year for her birthday glowed on her nightstand, illuminating all variations of sloth knick-knacks and stuffed animals. Her obsession with the couch potato of the jungle never failed to amuse him. Jules was not a morning person and without coffee she’d stagger down the stairs, eyes barely open. His brother always referred to her as the sleepy sloth in the mornings, but the words My sleepy sloth always resonated silently in his head. He missed seeing her when she woke up with her hair mussed around her face and her eyes heavy with sleep. The memories made him want to sob.
“Isaac?” Her quiet voice was a bullet graze to the chest. He’d failed her in every possible way. Failed himself.
“I’m here,” he choked out and shut the door behind him, locking it. He closed the distance to her bedside. She was so small amidst all of her pillows and sheets. He crouched on the floor by her bed. Her light, sweet scent intensified the hollow ache inside him that could never possibly be filled. She smelled of spring. Of rain showers and sun-drenched wildflowers. Of unbearable, unattainable joy. “Are you okay?” His voice broke, but he was so full of fear, of blinding jealousy that there wasn’t any room left for shame.
“I’ve been okay for the last ten hours but no one will let me get out of this bed,” she huffed.
“Damn straight they’re not.” He clutched the edge of the bed, when all he wanted to do was cup her face and kiss her.
“I wasn’t even directly hit. Grazes sure. They sting like anything and my head, backside, and groin are sore but, really, you’d think I got—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” His voice had gone somewhere dark and dangerous. The thought of Jules being hurt further made him murderous. “Grazes? You were shot? What the hell happened?”
“Before you turn into a homicidal maniac, I repeat, I. Am. Okay.” The shaking began in his soul until it fanned out and his muscles were trembling. She’d been fucking shot. He could’ve lost her. He got to his feet, not sure his legs would hold him, and kicked off his boots.
“What are you doing?” Jules whispered. She propped herself up on her elbows. The comforter slipped down and the thin tank she wore did nothing to conceal the tight buds of her nipples beneath the fabric. Her eyes widened as he slipped in bed next to her. Damn, he wasn’t being fair to her, but he needed her wrapped around him. Needed to feel the beat of her heart and each intake of breath.
“I need to hold you. Please, Jules. Let me have this.”