26. Damon
26
DAMON
T his was my fault. I’d come back into her life like I belonged in it, and I’d almost fucking gotten her killed.
I paced Galen’s office, my eyes on Ari. She was steaming. She didn’t say anything, but her features were set with grim determination. Lips flat. Eyes slightly narrowed.
Galen leaned back against his desk, looking as cool and bored as a well-fed lion. Something told me his lazy stance belied something more lethal though.
Ari was the opposite, the waves of tension making her coiled muscles practically vibrate.
“How are you recovering, Ari?”
She shrugged. “I’m fine. When do we go after him?”
Galen shook his head. “No dice. You’re on ice, kid. As far as I’m concerned we got lucky. Despite the disintegration of the plan, you got off clean thanks to being prepared. Same can’t be said for Lane. He was sloppy and left a half fingerprint on the antechamber entry pad at some point during the weekend. According to Penny, after a guard turned up dead near one of the exits, Reaper got suspicious, so his team went over everything with a fine-tooth comb and discovered the print and the forgery. He is currently under the assumption that Michael Lane is responsible for the necklace. His people will find Lane soon enough. Time to let it go.”
Ari glowered at him. “Bullshit, I’m on ice. That lunatic is responsible for my father’s death. He shot me. He threatened to kill Damon. He took something from me. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it our job to recover things? We are the recovery team, are we not? I’m not usually one for revenge, but, he killed my father. And now he’s taken more from me. I am going to take something from him.”
Galen put up his hands and nodded slowly at Ari. “We will go after him. But the how and when are in question. And when we do, I’ll send other people in. Not you. Lane has powerful allies. Hell, Hunt has gone after him before and failed. Think about it. He’ll expect retaliation. Going at these things head-on is not always the best option. You know that. We don’t know where he is yet. Besides, you are emotional. And that’s never a good combination.”
I pushed away from the wall. “We have to fucking do something. That fuck shot at Ari. We owe him blood.”
Galen lifted his brow. “I’m sure in your line of work, you’ve already heard this: don’t make it personal.”
“She’s your employee. Do you even care?” I spat out, getting in his face.
To his credit, nothing rattled Galen. He was a chilly motherfucker, that was for sure. “How I feel about my employees is none of your business. And how you feel I should be running things is none of mine. But rest assured, I will do what’s best for Ari. Which, in case you’re interested, includes keeping her safe.”
Feeling pissy, I muttered, “That’s my job.”
“I see you’ve been doing a bang-up job. Or are you just doing the bang part?”
Ari had apparently had it with both of us. “For fuck’s sake. I need you both to listen. I don’t need to be kept safe. I need to go back out there and get Lane. Which one of you is going to help me?”
I wasn’t going to endanger her again. Not for anything. In that split second when Lane shot her, I thought I’d die a million deaths. But I knew she needed to do this. She just needed to do this with a shadow. I wanted to give her what she needed. But I was going to make sure she was safe.
“Listen to her, Galen. She wants to be involved and won’t give up. If that fucker hadn’t held a gun to my head, we never would have handed over the necklace.”
Galen shook his head. “I thought you were a master of this. Emotions just get you killed.”
“Yes, but in this case, emotions can be useful. Besides, I think you can judge by the look on Ari’s face that she’s going to go after Michael Lane and that necklace whether you want her to or not.”
Ari slid her gaze over to me and nodded. “I am.”
Galen shook his head. “Ari, you are my most levelheaded analyst. This isn’t like you. Focus. I know this Michael Lane character killed your dad. I get it, but I can’t put you back out in the field. You’ve been shot.”
And that was a point for Galen. I was worried about her. When we had finally made it out of the woods, we’d had a doctor look her over and patch her up. The shot was through and through, in and out of her tricep. She was a little lightheaded and tired, but otherwise, not too bad. The worst part for her had been Lane escaping.
I could see it on her face. Galen’s message was not sinking in. She was going to go after Lane. “Ari, I see your brain churning. At the very least, you need a team. You can’t go it alone. Let’s wait and regroup.”
Galen had other ideas. “There is no regrouping. I’m sorry you got shot, Ari,” he said. “I heard there were some other odd occurrences at the auction anyway. You got lucky. Reaper isn’t after you. You have to be smart. Going after Lane isn’t smart.” Galen turned to me. “And you, where is Prince Lucas?”
“Doing what you won’t do and trying to track down Lane.” For Lucas, this still wasn’t over. And for me, well, I didn’t like getting what I wanted on a technicality. While the deal had been to steal the necklace, not deliver it, this still felt like unbalanced scales.
Galen shook his head. “I want everyone off this. I will put together a secondary recovery team. I’ll speak to the prince myself, Damon.”
I smiled at him. “You recognize that I don’t work for you, right?”
Galen cocked his head and met my gaze, the two of us locked in a stalemate. I didn’t work for him. Technically, I worked with Lucas, so I could do as was necessary, per Lucas.
“I know you don’t work for me, but like you just said, it isn’t wise to go after him with no backup.”
“Lane and I have a history. So, you know, this is personal, and I’m still going after him. Let me know when you have a plan. In the meantime, I’m going to head out of here.”
I walked out of Galen’s office with Ari hot on my heels. “So, what, that’s just it? You barged into my life, got me to do this, and now you’re just going to abandon me?”
I tugged her down the hallway. “Keep your voice down, Ari. You know Galen doesn’t want you on this. It’s dangerous. You have already been shot. I know you want to go after him. But at least wait until Galen has a team ready. I’m going to get in touch with Lucas and see if we can locate him.”
“Not without me.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Ari, be smart. Let me locate him. Then we go in.”
“That’s just it? I know what that means. You’re going after him alone. Without me. I wasn’t a liability in the field.”
I frowned. Her shoulders were stiff, her arms were crossed, and I could see it in her eyes: Not anger. “Ari... that’s not what I said. I’m just saying I agree with Galen a little. We need to be smarter about going after him. Don’t attempt this on your own. Just wait.”
“I don’t want to. I don’t trust that you all won’t bench me.”
“You’re being unreasonable, Ari.”
She shook her head, backing away from me.
“Don’t do this. I’m not abandoning you.”
I knew it would be better for her if I could walk away, finish the job, and stay gone. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to do this with her. Just in the way that was safest for her. Lucas and I might need to kick over a few hornet’s nests to find the prick.
She turned abruptly. “See you around.”
“Ari—Would you wait!”
But she kept walking, and I knew she was going to do something reckless. Watching her walk away from me hurt worse than that moment when Lane had pulled the trigger on her.
At least when he’d fired the gun, I’d had hope that she was okay.