Chapter 47
S lowly, Aiden’s fear morphed into bravado.
The transformation about as convincing as when a politician says, “Trust me.” She’d go with it, though.
Let him think she believed he wasn’t worried, that he knew something she didn’t.
Although she did have to fight a smile at that, because there was so much she knew that he didn’t—most importantly, that she wasn’t alone.
Her backup might not be in the shadows behind her yet, but they would be.
Between Gabriel, the Falcons, HICC, and the Mystery Lake PD, she had zero doubts.
“Dumb bitch,” he snarled.
“You have a surprising lack of vocabulary for an international businessman,” she replied, keeping her knife behind her back.
His eyes narrowed. She cocked her head and studied him—or pretended to.
“I admit, you’re an interesting man, Aiden Nolan.
You’ve piqued my curiosity. About two things in particular.
Perhaps you’ll enlighten me?” she said. She already knew enough about his financial crimes, sexual predation, and funding of terrorists that she didn’t need to cover that ground.
He snorted.
“Indulge me,” she said. She took his silence as an opportunity. “First, why would you think you could take on a highly trained former federal agent, and second, did you send Agent Elizabeth Lightfoot to her death?”
The corners of his mouth curled up a fraction.
“Your FBI BFF? I had nothing to do with that.” She raised an eyebrow in doubt.
He shrugged, then smirked. “I might have mentioned to a few people that I heard from a contact in your beloved Bureau that she was looking into the ON. What they did with that information isn’t my concern. ”
Anger as hot as a blue flame flared through her body. But it didn’t distract her. It fueled her.
“And Annette Bain?” she asked, naming the young woman she believed had been helping Liza.
He made a dismissive gesture, a combination between a small shrug and a tip of his chin.
“I hear the girl wasn’t good at lying. And I hear Maraud is excellent at manipulation.
How else would a man of less-than-humble-origins build what’s little more than a cult?
The truth isn’t the only kind of information that can be leaked. ”
“Maraud fed her misinformation that she passed on to Agent Lightfoot. Both were sent to their death.”
“Betrayal is a costly gamble, Agent Parks. Poor little Annette thought she was taking her new friend to an ON meeting at the club that night.”
“And instead, they walked into a terrorist attack. For someone who claims to not know anything, you’re awfully well-informed,” Callie said.
“Knowledge is power, as they say,” Aiden said.
The underbrush rustled. Not loud enough for Aiden to hear, not over the rush of water at the bottom of the cliff, but enough to reassure her that her cavalry had arrived. Behind her back, she signaled for them to hold off. Silence followed.
“Speaking of knowledge,” she said, “what made you think that you could take on a highly trained former federal agent? Or why you’d even want to try when the information I have on you won’t die with me?”
He took a step to his left. She didn’t take her eyes off him. “You don’t have shit on me.”
She could enlighten him but chose not to; it wouldn’t serve her purpose.
“It’s your ego, isn’t it? Because Gabriel and I managed to not only evade your hitman but to chase him down?
” Aiden’s shoulders came back, and he glared at her.
The dark chuckle that left her body wasn’t forced.
“You spoke of gambles, Aiden. This is a big one to take. You used to be a fit man. A black belt in karate, a recreational—though excellent—skeet shooter. You even ran a few marathons back in the day. You used to be a lot of things. Things you aren’t anymore. ”
His jaw clenched, and he took a step back. He wouldn’t step off the cliff, but he was inching closer than she felt comfortable with.
“I told that hothead that when he went for you and fucking Gabriel Walker, he’d have to be fast and sure.
Walker and his goddamn team ruined my plans all those years ago.
I knew what a sneaky fuck he was. If Bruce didn’t get Walker on the first try, he was as good as dead.
Andrea swore he’d do the job. I shouldn’t have believed the bitch. ”
Her mind fired in rapid sequence as Aiden’s words filled her head. That his connection to the hitman had come through Andrea Giodani and not the two FBI agents they’d ID’d as dirty was notable, but nausea roiled through her at his bigger implication. “You hired those men to kidnap your own wife.”
“Like I said, betrayal is a gamble, Agent Parks. My dearly departed wife gambled and lost. Perhaps not how I intended, but she lost in the end when she took her own life.”
Because of the terror he’d put her through. Then again, Aiden had hired a hitman to kill his own son; she shouldn’t be surprised.
“She knew about your business practices and was going to turn on you,” Callie said. Not a question, but the taunting smile that touched Aiden’s lips confirmed her words. “Joseph knew nothing, though. Why go after your own son?”
“Now you’re getting greedy, Agent Parks. You want to know why I came after you and my own son? I already told you about your BFF; you only get one more question.”
She studied him, his blue eyes, so similar to Rian’s, glinting in the moonlight. He had a plan. He wouldn’t have a chance to execute it, but he’d find that out soon enough.
She paused, an idea catching. Her eyes traced Aiden’s body, tall, though not as tall as Rian, and blond hair, gone dark with age, then to gray. And it all clicked together.
“Joseph isn’t your biological son, is he?
His life was useful to you in some ways.
He’s charming and puts your potential customers at ease.
Builds relationships that you don’t have the skills to and that Rian doesn’t have the interest in.
He’s not involved in the details, but he’s a treasure trove of information about the business—who you’ve met with, what deals you’ve won and those you’ve lost. Once he started talking to me, though, the one person who could put two and two together, he became a liability.
So you took care of the problem. Or tried to. ”
“Joseph had the intelligence of a two-year-old and the naivete of a panda,” Aiden spat.
“He’s not dead, Aiden. Whatever qualities you think he had, he still has them,” she reminded him. Well, she hoped he’d still have them when he recovered. Joseph Nolan was a rare creature who saw wonder everywhere and who inspired it in others.
“As nice as this little chat has been?—”
“And me?” she asked, cutting him off. “Why come after me?”
He grinned, his teeth a slash of white in the dark night. “Because if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
The moonlight glinted off the edge of a blade as it flew toward her. Instinct took over and she ducked, throwing her own toward her target.
The point of the knife Aiden had hidden from her pierced her shoulder, digging into her flesh, turning like a screw as it rotated through its journey.
Searing heat flared through her body, but before she even had a chance to straighten, Gabriel was at her side as several people moved into the clearing.
His hands gripped her arms above her elbows as he squatted to eye level with her.
Still bent and twisted away from the knife’s trajectory, she raised her eyes and met his.
She stared at him, counting her breaths.
Fear and pride reflected in his eyes, each emotion battling for dominance.
She braced herself for the reprimand to come—he wouldn’t mean anything by it, but sometimes, anger was an easier emotion to express than fear.
“Fucking bitch,” Aiden groaned loudly, interrupting the tidal wave building between her and Gabriel.
A beat passed, then Gabriel’s lips twitched. “He really does have a limited vocabulary, doesn’t he?”
Another beat passed, then they both laughed as he helped her to stand. “You heard?” she asked.
“Everything,” he said, tapping the front pocket of his shirt where she could see the outline of his phone. “Recorded it too.”
“Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
“Yes, but you can tell me as often as you want.” He held her gaze again, only this time, there was no turmoil there. Just love. And concern.
“It’s fine,” she said, tipping her head to the wound. “I won’t fight about getting it looked at by the EMTs, but it’s fine.” His lips thinned, but he nodded.
As one, they turned to survey the scene.
Two people in Mystery Lake PD uniforms held their weapons at the ready while Chief Warwick cuffed Aiden Nolan.
She’d never met Ryan Warwick, but he bore a remarkable resemblance to Chad, his oldest brother.
Also standing at the edge of the opening were Tucker and Teague, two of HICC’s operatives. Brothers in both blood and arms.
Ryan handed Aiden off to his deputies, who holstered their weapons and began Mirandizing him as they guided him back toward the trail.
Gabriel pulled her to the side as they passed, Tucker and Teague following close behind. The brothers nodded to her. She nodded back, having passed a test she hadn’t known she was taking.
“He’s going to need his nose looked at. I think I broke it,” she said, turning to Ryan. She held out her hand, and he took hers as she formally introduced herself.
“Oh, you broke it,” Gabriel said, not bothering to hide his glee.
“You need to be looked at, too,” Ryan said, nodding to her arm.
Pain thudded through her shoulder and down to her fingers as the shock of the puncture wore off.
“She will be,” Gabriel replied, pulling out his phone.
“And I’m going to send you the recording of the whole thing.
From the fight in the parking lot to when she nailed him with her knife.
” Then, flickering a glance at her as he typed into his phone, he added, “Nice throw, by the way. You got him between the ribs near his shoulder.”
“Send it to Sabina and Leo, too,” Ryan said. Gabriel nodded, his free hand holding tight to hers. “I need to get some crime scene techs out here and on your car. Protocol,” he added, shooting her an almost apologetic look.
She nodded. “Do you need me? Now?”
He shook his head. “Get your shoulder looked at, get some rest, and we can take your statement tomorrow.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“He’s sure,” Gabriel said, gently tugging her down the trail she’d run along less than twenty minutes earlier. Never had twenty minutes felt so long.
“I want to carry you,” Gabriel said.
“You’re not carrying me,” she replied, burying a laugh.
“I want to.”
“I believe you. But you’re not going to. I am not going to emerge from these woods into the no-doubt-gathering crowds being carried by you.”
His hand tightened on hers. “Stubborn woman,” he muttered.
“A stubborn woman who loves you.”
He drew to an abrupt stop, and she bumped into his back, sending a lance of pain down her arm.
She winced but quickly forgot it when his lips crashed down on hers.
In those few stolen seconds, love, certainty, respect, desire, and an almost unreal feeling of being both grounded and soaring filled every cell of her body.
When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers.
She untangled their fingers and lifted her hand, brushing it against his lips.
“Let’s wrap everything up and plan that honeymoon,” she said, wanting nothing more than to have time with Gabriel.
Quiet time. Time to strengthen the connection they’d always had and build a new one—to each other, but also to themselves.
They’d both changed in the past few weeks.
She’d found parts of herself she liked and parts she didn’t.
Liza and Gabriel had given her the push to be—or become—the person she’d always longed to be.
She wasn’t there yet, but she’d get there.
Gabriel smiled, then, taking her hand again, they started back down the trail. “We have a friend who has a private island in the Caribbean. I’m thinking you, me, and no clothes for a few weeks.”
She laughed. “Really?”
He looked over his shoulder at her. “Two weeks. No clothes,” he repeated.
“On a tropical island.”
He nodded. “You have a problem with that?”
She chuckled again. “I don’t. But if you have a problem with dust showing up in places it shouldn’t belong, you should be aware of this little thing called sand.”