Chapter 1 #3
Once a street cop in Oceanside, California, her father had taken the lead position on her personal security team after her mother’s murder. She’d learned to recognize the difference between hanging out with her dad and working with Victor Reyes, the man in charge of keeping her safe.
She felt Gideon reach her side without taking her attention from her dad’s austere face. Her husband’s arm slid around her back, his hand curling possessively on her hip.
“Come with me now,” he said, with his phone pressed to his ear. “You, too, Cary. Victor, I’ve got Eva. Help Chase and Raúl round up the rest of my family and bring them to my office.”
Nodding curtly, her father melted into the rest of the guests. Gideon exerted firm but gentle pressure on her back to get her moving. Cary followed directly behind.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Not sure yet. Ireland, damn it,” he snapped into his phone. “You need to answer my calls. Now.” He hung up and picked up his pace, forcing Eva into a near trot.
“One of the valets reported seeing a woman being abducted in the main drive,” he told her surreptitiously, nodding at their guests as they passed through and avoiding any attempts at detaining them. “A witness says it was Ireland.”
“What?!” She stumbled as her feet stopped moving.
“She’s got short legs, He-Man,” Cary said drily behind them, not having heard what Gideon said. “She can’t walk this fast.”
In response, her husband tightened his grip on her waist so that he was almost carrying her against his side.
Gideon reached a semi-hidden door in the wall and pushed through to the service corridor.
The bright fluorescent lights were glaring compared to the candlelit ambiance of the ballroom, forcing Eva to blink rapidly as her eyes adjusted.
The lingering smell of the plated dinner served earlier made her stomach roil.
When the door closed behind them, the sudden muffling of the rollicking masquerade was jarring, delineating a before-and-after that felt ominous.
Releasing her, Gideon tapped and scrolled through his phone with both hands. “Fuck,” he breathed, his steps faltering as his face lost color.
Eva saw that he was looking at the app that tracked every family member’s location. There was a noticeable cluster of dots, with one moving away from the hotel. Her chest tightened until it felt like a cage that wouldn’t expand, restricting her breathing.
It was so, so rare to see her husband at a loss.
He was such a quick-thinking, decisive man who never second-guessed his choices.
Whenever he faltered, it was fear that hit her first because the situation was always extreme.
Then the adrenaline would galvanize her, giving her the strength to take the lead.
Because that’s how they worked: side by side when things were good, but each capable of carrying the load when the other struggled.
Grimly determined, she linked her arm through his and began steering him forward. “Put your phone away for now,” she told him, making sure she watched him do so.
As they passed a service elevator, the doors opened, and she saw Boudreaux inside with two hotel security guards. He had one of them in a headlock, while the other looked to be frozen in a moment of confusion and panic.
“Cross!” Boudreaux roared, exploding from the car so quickly that the two guards were left tumbled against the walls. “Where’s Ireland?”
Startled, Eva stopped walking.
When the Cajun stuttered to a halt in front of Gideon and their gazes locked, his gray eyes—shades darker than her own—widened with horror, and the high color on his cheeks bled away. “No,” he denied hoarsely. “No.”
Gideon moved before any of them knew he intended to, launching himself at Boudreaux. “I will fucking kill you if you have anything to do with this!”
Thrust off balance, Eva stumbled into Cary. The thud of the men’s bodies reverberated through the narrow hallway. Caught by the lapels, Boudreaux was slammed against the corridor wall.
Her heart raced with panic because she heard the truth in Gideon’s words. Ireland was uniquely special to her husband, who formed so few bonds with others in his life. And his most dominant trait was protectiveness. He worried over and fought fiercely for those he cared for.
“Lache-moi, imbécile!” Boudreaux shoved back, but Gideon held fast, leaving the two men grappling. “She was on her way to me!”
Her husband paused abruptly, but both men continued to pant and strain against each other’s grip.
Eva stood still, assailed by too many racing, scattered thoughts at once.
She hadn’t yet considered who might have taken Ireland from them, still struggling desperately to believe there was a horrific mistake being made.
How could an abduction have happened at all? Let alone Ireland being the victim.
The security guards from the elevator hurried over. “We can take him from here,” the tall one said hastily.
“The fuck you can!” Boudreaux snapped.
“Excuse me.”
They all turned at the sound of the hesitant feminine voice to find Alina, Ireland’s best friend, standing a few feet away. “I’m sorry to interrupt. I wanted to have a word with Ronan, but now I’m worried about Ireland.”
There was a moment of weighted silence filled with only the two men’s labored breathing, then Cary spoke. “Do you know where Ireland is, Alina?”
She took a deep breath before answering. “I think she might’ve headed home to pack a few things, but her ultimate destination is the airport.”
Eva felt a sharp pang of hope that the witness had simply mistaken Ireland leaving the hotel with the unrelated incident reported to security. Then a scuffle behind her whipped her head around.
Damn it. Boudreaux had managed to thrust Gideon to the other side of the hallway.
“You’re wasting time!” the Cajun said crossly. “You can track her, can’t you? Where is she?”
Eva was first caught off guard by his deepening drawl, then by the realization that he knew things he shouldn’t.
Gideon straightened his tuxedo jacket with a hard tug. “She’s on the road. Angus would’ve started tracking her immediately.”
“Bon. Let’s go,” Boudreaux said curtly.
“You’re not going anywhere,” her husband retorted.
“I just need to know,” Alina said, her voice controlled with effort, “that Ireland is both okay and not going to be stood up at the airport.”
Boudreaux raked a hand through his hair. “Mon Dieu! We cannot stand here doing nothing.”
“Gideon. What’s going on?”
Elizabeth Vidal’s voice carried down the corridor as she and her fiancé, Daniel Pearson, were escorted in by Chase.
Dressed in black velvet with a mask of aquamarine that matched her eyes, Gideon’s mother frowned at the scene in front of her.
Daniel stood behind and slightly to the right of her, with his hand on her shoulder.
His tuxedo and mask were both crafted of deep navy velvet, and he wore his salt and pepper beard so neatly trimmed that it was clear his lips were compressed in a stern line.
Boudreaux looked hard at Elizabeth, eyes darkening further and turning bleak, then he turned away. With his head bowed as if in prayer, the tension in the Cajun’s body mirrored Gideon’s rigid posture as he returned to Eva in two quick strides and caught her hand in his.
“Raúl is bringing the rest of the family up in the guest elevator,” Chase informed him.
Gideon nodded, visibly gathering himself to attack the situation they faced. “Let’s get to my office.”
“Tell me where she is!” Boudreaux pursued, dogging their heels. A shift in the direction of his voice betrayed an abrupt about-face. “Cochon! I warned you not to touch me!”
There was another thud as a body hit an immovable object, and Eva glanced over her shoulder to catch one of the hotel guards from the elevator sliding down the wall to a seated position with splayed legs. He scowled as he scrambled onto his knees.
Gideon spun on his heel and shoved Boudreaux out of the way. “For fuck’s sake! If you injure one of my staff, I’ll make you feel it!”
“Call off your dogs,” the Cajun retorted. “You can’t hold me against my will, and you know it!”
Her husband helped the guard get up by hooking his hands under the man’s elbows and hefting him upright. “You good, Carlos?” he asked. “Need a minute? Longer?”
“No, I’m fine.” Carlos dusted off his slacks. “He just pushed me.”
Gideon nodded. “Leave this bastard to me. Find the police commissioner and the mayor. Ask them to join me in my office.”
“Yes, sir.” Carlos and Dan hurried off at a jog.
“Tell me where she is, Cross,” Boudreaux ordered.
“There are professionals handling this,” Gideon said over his shoulder as they resumed walking to another elevator that went to floors higher than the mezzanine. He stabbed an impatient finger into the call button.
“And you’ll just wait? I can’t. Won’t.”
Gideon released Eva’s hand and rounded on him. “I’ll see that the rest of my family is safe first, and you’ll shut the fuck up until then.”
“Ireland comes second?” Boudreaux looked murderous as a muscle ticced violently in his jaw. “You don’t deserve her.”
Snatching a fistful of Boudreaux’s shirt, Gideon yanked him close.
“The level of training and experience my security detail has is unmatched. They’ll do their damned jobs, and you’ll stay the hell out of the way.
You’ll also control yourself around my wife and mother, or I’ll knock you out and have you arrested for disorderly conduct. Do you understand?”
Boudreaux actually snarled.
Worried the situation would escalate, Eva thrust her arm between them and grabbed her husband’s wrist. “You’ll both behave,” she ordered.
“Why aren’t we safe?” Elizabeth demanded. “What’s wrong with Ireland?”