Shouts echoed from the house, and Sutton pulled back. Liz felt bereft of his kiss as she looked toward the great room and saw pandemonium and men rushing out the doors. Zane had picked Agatha clean off her feet and was running with her to the patio by the pool area.
“Get down!” Zane hollered at them.
Liz was frozen in place.
Sutton knocked Liz to the ground, covering her body with his. A deafening boom filled the night, and Liz could feel the concussion of it all through her body. Sutton’s body shuddered against hers. Glass shattered, and bits of Sutton’s home exploded out into the night, backlit by fire. Liz could see very little of it with Sutton cradling her underneath him, but the night was awash in the orange glow. Her legs were exposed and she felt the sting of debris nipping through her thin leggings.
Biting her lip to keep from crying out, she couldn’t stand to think what could be hitting Sutton as he protected her, or the thought of any of his men not having made it to safety. Shouts echoed through the night and blended with the ringing in Liz’s ears. She strained for sounds of pain but heard none. Was everyone okay or were these men so blooming tough they didn’t cry out in agony? She’d been around many security details and the duke’s private security team. They were strong and well-trained, but they weren’t like these men—true warriors who weren’t afraid of anything.
Sutton rolled off of her and gently touched her face. “Are you all right?”
“Just jammy,” she murmured, feeling anything but.
He offered her a small smile then leapt to his feet and lifted her up, keeping one arm around her. “Zane!” he hollered. “Report!”
Zane rushed to their side, dragging Agatha with him, both of them soaking wet. Apparently, Zane had jumped into the pool with her to protect her. “Go, sir. We’ll secure the area and find the perpetrator.”
“All accounted for?” Sutton demanded.
“I don’t know. We’ll report in soon.”
Liz could see other men hurrying their way and some rushing around the outside of the now-burning mansion. All of them seemed to be Sutton’s men, and most now had guns in hand. Was the bomb shot from the sky or planted? Were the duke’s men descending on them even now? Terror raced through Liz. She wanted to lean heavily on Sutton, but she pulled away. “You go,” she said to him and Agatha. “He wants me. He’ll leave you all alone if he gets me back.”
Sutton’s face hardened. “I told you he would never hurt you again.” His tone and expression were so fierce she didn’t dare contradict him. He turned to Zane. “Secure the area. Proceed as planned. Steve!” He yelled over the roar and crackle of the fire.
Another one of his SEALs ran to his side.
“Clear the way for us. Blayze will follow. Zane, get Ike and Patrick to accompany Agatha, Liz, and me.”
Steve nodded and sprinted toward an exterior building. Zane headed the other direction.
“I didn’t sign up for this nonsense,” Agatha said, squeezing water from her brightly-colored shirt.
“Come on, Alfred, you’ve got this.” Sutton nodded to her. He wrapped his arm around Liz’s waist again and took Agatha’s arm. “Let’s go.”
Liz followed his command. She wanted to protest and let the duke have her to protect them, but there was no fighting against Sutton right now. They headed toward the same building Steve had disappeared into. She could see other men racing around the property, and two men she hadn’t seen at dinner raced up to them then stayed a few feet behind them. Blayze brought up the rear, constantly checking over his shoulder. He’d been so kind to her at dinner, and she’d placed him and all of them in danger.
She wanted to squeeze her eyes shut as she caught a glimpse of Sutton’s beautiful home. The roof was blown off, windows and walls decimated, and fire billowed out of every opening. Had anyone been killed? How could James have reached them so quickly?
“Do you think James’ men are here?” she asked Sutton as they pushed through a door and started down a set of well-lit concrete stairs.
“No.” He shook his head shortly. “We would’ve been alerted by our security cameras, the dogs, or my men. There’s no way he took all of them out.” His lips tightened. “This was an inside job.”
Liz’s chest tightened at the pain in his gaze. One of his men had betrayed him. But how did he know it wasn’t the ones who were leaving with them now? “Who can we trust?” she whispered.
He shook his head shortly. “I thought I trusted all of them until five minutes ago. We’ll stick with the plan. Most likely the traitor is running the other direction.”
Liz certainly hoped so, but she hated the thought of any of these men betraying Sutton and trying to kill all of them. If there really was a traitor, James probably knew exactly where they were heading. Despite the warmth of the sheltered stairwell, chills raced through her.
Agatha was huffing and puffing by the time they exited the stairwell. Liz felt bad for the older lady, but they couldn’t slow down. They entered a sheltered boathouse. Steve was waiting, ready to remove the rope holding the boat to the dock.
“All clear, sir,” he said.
“Thank you.” Sutton helped Liz and then Agatha into the boat. It was sleek and black and looked like something off a spy film with gadgets in front of the driver’s seat and big guns mounted at the rear. Liz shivered. James had found her. He would never give up. She glanced over at Sutton, issuing commands to the men who had followed them as everyone loaded up. He took the controls and sped through a short waterway and out into the bay.
Sutton was strong and in charge. He was brilliant. He could give any superstar a run for their money as he maneuvered the boat with ease and took command of everyone around him. Yet no one could win against James. How many more people would have to die before James finally killed Liz and ended it all? If only Sutton would let her give herself up. She had to. No one else could get hurt on her account.
Chapter Seven
Sutton spoke with the captain and then left the bridge and strode through the center hallway of his yacht. The seas were calm and the yacht was large enough it only swayed slightly with the gentle swells. His men were taking turns getting some much-needed rest and patrolling the yacht. All appeared quiet, but he still couldn’t wrap his mind around the explosion earlier tonight. He supposed the duke could’ve gotten men to California or had someone in America infiltrate the estate, but there would’ve been some alarm raised if anyone outside of his men or his staff had entered the property. One of his men or staff members had to have planted that bomb. His gut churned. Who?
He trusted his SEALs, and he trusted his personal security team with his and Agatha’s lives and now with Liz and Ally’s lives. He would do anything for his men. How could one of them betray him? True he was always having different retired SEALs come to the mansion. He’d tried to make it an open spot where they could recuperate or be with friends. Could a newcomer have been bought off by Gunthry and done this? That seemed impossible since Gunthry didn’t know Sutton was involved until last night. Unless Kingsley or Barry Duncan were the leaks. He hated, hated questioning those he had to trust. If he didn’t trust them, the plan would never work, and Liz and Ally would never be safe.
Ah, Liz. They’d reconnected before the blast in a way he hadn’t thought could be possible. He shouldn’t have let his guard down so fully, but he couldn’t find it in himself to regret that kiss and their connection. Not when she’d been so blind to her own selfless heroism. So many questions were begging to be discussed with her right now, but he had to stay focused on the mission. Then he could reconnect with Liz.
He allowed himself to walk onto the aft deck for just a few moments. The blast of sea air was exactly what he needed to clear his head and renew his energy. He inhaled the tang of salt, and the wind bit at his cheeks. The temperature was mild as they were cruising straight south, but the power of the wind on a moving ship at sea could blast a man right off the deck if he wasn’t watchful.
The ocean sur
rounding them was dark. Sutton sensed no danger, but he was on edge. Everything felt like a threat right now. In his mind, he saw the flash as his mansion exploded before his eyes. His and Doug’s home. He couldn’t let himself think about it too much. He would only use the anger to give him more motivation to dismantle Gunthry and the traitor. It was like Liz’s soft lips and vanilla scent. They could only serve as inspiration right now. Gunthry had abused Liz and stolen Sutton and Liz’s chance at happiness. It was another reason to destroy the man completely. Yet Sutton had to remember that he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted.
He pushed a button, and the exterior door slid open. Hurrying along the inside corridor, he entered his master suite with the office at the front and immediately dialed Zane. River had a good excuse for his absence, but curse Cannon for choosing today of all days to decide to prove his love to Daisy. Sutton needed everyone he trusted surrounding them right now. Yet he couldn’t blame Cannon. Just one week ago, Sutton had been the one to advise Cannon to choose carefully. Sutton had flat out told Cannon he’d go back all those years and choose Liz if he could have. Maybe that was why she’d married Gunthry. Maybe, in her mind, he’d chosen the Royal Navy over her.
“Sir,” Zane answered.
“Any answers, son?” Sutton wanted to slump down in his chair, but he stood ramrod straight.
“None, sir. The fire department’s reaction was quick. The investigation shows the bomb was planted in the pantry of all places. Good news: it didn’t damage the control center. Bad news: I can’t find one of us that didn’t go into the pantry at some point this afternoon. Plus, your cleaning crew was here this morning.”
The pantry was as big as most people’s kitchens and was where Agatha prepped and cleaned up most meals. It had an industrial-sized fridge and freezer, and the shelves were full of any kind of snack or treat a grown, or not-so-grown, man would love. All the SEALs and private security had full access to it at all times. His mind latched on to his cleaning crew. He supposed Gunthry could’ve found and bought off one of them.
“And the footage in there isn’t great,” Sutton admitted to Zane. His camera system was state of the art, but he hadn’t thought the pantry would be a place he needed numerous camera angles. “For an explosion that big, we’re talking about a bomb, what, almost the size of a breadbox?”
“That’s what I was thinking, sir. Anybody could’ve hidden a bomb that size behind a box of cereal or a bag of flour at any time. Days or even weeks ago.”
That was a theory that Sutton had dismissed pretty quickly. The bomb could’ve been planted at any party he hosted by the caterers or his cleaning staff could’ve hidden it earlier than today as well. However, no one besides Gunthry had the motivation to kill him, Liz, and his men, and he couldn’t have been in Gunthry’s sights before last night. Was his thinking flawed? He’d been involved in a lot of business and security deals over the years. Was there someone else who wanted him dead? Probably.
He passed a hand over his face. “Who found it?” he asked.
“Steve.”
A breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding whooshed out of Sutton. Steve was the newest SEAL he’d brought on and wasn’t a trusted member of his core of SEALs who were all from his son, Doug’s platoon. If Steve had discovered the bomb and alerted everyone, he couldn’t possibly be the perpetrator. That meant it had to be one of Sutton’s personal security team, which was sickening, or the cleaning crew who came in that morning. Sutton really didn’t want it to be one of his SEALs. He’d have to talk with Ike and discuss each of his twenty-five security team members and get Zane doing private investigations on the cleaning crew and all of the security team. It was mind-boggling.
“The story?”
“After you and the duchess … went on a walk. The rest of us started pitching in to clean up. Agatha claimed she would leave it for the cleaners, but would she really? Anyway. Corbin and Steve were in the pantry putting stuff away when Steve started yelling.”
“At least we know it isn’t any of our SEALs.”
“Sir?”
“It isn’t,” Sutton said flatly. Zane and the others had trouble trusting Corbin after Doug’s death, but as far as Sutton was concerned, Corbin was beyond suspicion. Sutton knew that kid’s warrior heart. “Zane. You listen to me, son. Don’t start questioning each other. That bomb was set to kill all of us, but failing that, the duke knew it would make us second-guess our team and could be the downfall of our mission. We won’t allow that to happen. The traitor will make himself known. I’ll pick up your part of planning the House of Lord’s mission. I need you to get into private investigator mode and go deeper than you’ve ever gone. Look at the entire cleaning crew and any of my security team that entered the pantry. Go back over the past few week’s footage and see if anyone else suspicious went in there. Get Cannon to assist you once he’s done professing his love or whatever. I need the results yesterday. We proceed as planned. We trust each other. And we be even more vigilant than usual.”
“What about the SEALs?” asked Zane.
“Are you asking if I want you to check out Corbin?”
“No, sir. I’m asking about all of the SEALs. Even the five of us who started in the Warrior Project.”
Sutton considered. He had brought in a lot of guys straight out of SEAL life who didn’t have anywhere to go over the last year. It killed him to think one of Doug’s brothers—whether they’d served with him or not, they were all his brothers—would betray his trust.
“What does your heart say, Zane? You were their CO.”
“Frankly, sir, I’ll check them out if you want me to, but I trust them all more than I trust anyone, yourself included. I don’t even want to think about living in a world where one of those four guys from my platoon would do that.”
A soft rap on the door brought Sutton around. He strode to it and swung it open, expecting to see Blayze or one of the other men. It was Liz. Her eyes were swollen and red-rimmed. He wanted to pull her in close and promise her that he’d been trained his entire life to protect and love her. He simply stared at her.
“Sir?” Zane questioned when he didn’t respond.
“Check everyone but you five. I’ll be in touch soon. Heart of a warrior.”
“Heart of a warrior.” Zane repeated.
Sutton slipped the secure cell phone into his pocket and stepped back, gesturing Liz inside the opulent office attached to his master suite. His 56-meter Benetti yacht was well-equipped for him and guests, though he rarely brought guests. He’d taken Doug and Corbin out for some yacht adventures on their leave. It was the first and only leave Doug ever got. His heart ached as he thought of Doug. He shoved the pain back into its box and sat next to Liz on one of the leather sofas.
“You should be resting,” he said.
She shook her head, clasping her hands together. “You’re sure no one was killed?”
“Yes.” He nodded to reaffirm. “Everyone’s fine, Liz.”
“Your beautiful home.” Her voice cracked. “All the memories you must have there.”
He blinked at her. The memories. Doug. His chest tightened. So many good memories of his son, and just like that, Gunthry had destroyed them. He couldn’t respond. His breath came in quick pants, and he felt the room start to spin. The slight motion of the boat didn’t help.
Fighting for control, he stood quickly and turned away from Liz. Pushing his clenched fist into his mouth, he prayed. Lord, give me strength.
Liz stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his abdomen, laying her head against his back. Sutton stood rigid and un-moving. What was she doing? Her touch felt better than a warm blanket—tender and making pinpricks of awareness shoot through his body.
“It’s okay, Sutton. It’s okay. Your son. I know.”
How did she know anything about Doug? “How?” He managed to grunt it out.
“The telly. I saw him with you. Then Angela Kingsley told me about him. I’m so sorry.”
Glancin
g down at her feminine fingers wrapped around his abdomen, Sutton could hear voices of warning shouting in his head. He shut them out and placed his hands over hers. Warmth and belonging shot through him. Her understanding and kindness touched something inside him that had lain dormant since he’d lost Doug. He’d always known Liz was meant to be his but the truth was, he was meant to be hers. He wanted to drop to his knees and proclaim his allegiance and love to her.
They stood there, swaying gently with the motion of the boat. Liz’s sweet form molded to his back, and his hands clasped hers for several blissful minutes. Neither of them said anything or moved. Sutton took her strength and her caring in, and he had to admit he treasured every second.
Yet he couldn’t do this. The mission was all that mattered right now. If he didn’t succeed against the duke, Liz could never be free. When she was free, he wanted her to have the choice of renewing their friendship and love or moving on with her life. He didn’t think she understood all the opportunity and adventure and fulfillment that lay before her. She was a strong, wealthy, beautiful, and well-loved woman. She was going to do great things. As soon as he took revenge on her ex-husband. He knew all about the divorce papers Liz and Kingsley had tricked Gunthry into signing.
Sutton closed his eyes and pulled in a long breath before slowly pushing it all out. He gently grasped her hands and pulled them away from his midsection then released them. Spinning to face her, he hated the uncertain, beseeching look in her blue eyes. This woman would have complete power over him if he didn’t stay in control.
He tried for a gentle tone but knew it was going to sound harsh. “I hope you can understand that I need to remain focused on the mission. Please refrain from touching me.”
Liz’s eyes widened. “I was trying to comfort you.”
The Captivating Warrior (Navy SEAL Romance) Page 6