“I need to get him the help he needs and pray he’s smart enough to accept it. I’m sorry, Ava. Sorry, son.” His father wrapped him in a fierce hug that Dominic was helpless against. Then Gwen joined in, and he broke out in a cold sweat at the pain radiating from his ribs, but still he didn’t break away.
A ball of emotion swelled in his throat, and his eyes burned. All those years of holding back so as to not upset anyone, all the suppressed resentment and grief. Maybe it was the car crash, or being targeted for death by some madman, but suddenly he felt like he could start over. He didn’t need to repeat old patterns or failures. He could control his future. His family was flawed, but the relationships weren’t irreparable.
Ava watched him, expression uncertain. He could tell she was about to run.
“I warned you my family was crazy,” he said as his father and sister finally let him go.
“Hey.” She held up her hands dramatically. “My family is Greek. All you need to do is to start tossing crockery, and I’ll feel right at home.”
He laughed and pulled her towards him, knowing she was self-conscious but wanting her to understand he cared about her, that she was important to him even if he didn’t know how to say the words. They’d take the time to figure this out. He didn’t want to lose her. They’d do it right.
He kissed her full on the mouth. An open mouth if-we-were-alone-I’d-be-nailing-you-to-the-wall kind of kiss. When he pulled back and looked up, his whole world crashed around his feet.
Chapter Thirty
Bernie watched Dominic Sheridan kiss the bitch he was with not once, but twice. And the way he’d stared at her, all smoldering passion and hot lust.
It was so perfect. So fucking perfect. Killing Dominic had been the plan all along but that was too easy. Too…linear. Not enough suffering considering all the harm Sheridan had done. Not enough torture or pain.
Bernie had planned to put something nasty in the punch. Not enough to kill anyone, probably, but enough to have them shitting themselves as they all rushed for the restroom at once.
It would have been so much fun.
Unfortunately, they had servers watching each table, and the opportunity had not presented itself. Someone was always there, making conversation and stuffing their faces.
Bernie did not want to be remembered hanging around the food and drink areas if people started to get sick, so the idea was abandoned.
Security had been too tight to risk bringing in a gun.
Dominic and the bitch and some other guy had gone off to the library but then the president had arrived and there was only so much ass-licking Bernie could watch without vomiting. Leaving seemed like the smart thing to do. Losing Robin had been a blow. Smashing Sheridan’s windows had eased the sharpness of the anger but slicing that bitch, inch by perfect inch, would go a lot further to evening out the score.
But now wasn’t the time. Instead, it was time to retreat and regroup, leave the area until they dropped their guards again. There was a rush in the thought of that. A sweet, hot rush in the thought of slowly sending Sheridan over the edge into madness to where Bernie lived with only grief as a companion.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ava was surprised that Dominic kissed her in public, in front of his father even, but as usual when he touched her, her knees dissolved and she sank against him.
This didn’t seem like make-believe or temporary. It felt a lot like how she expected love to feel.
Then he stiffened and straightened away from her so fast she almost stumbled. She blinked in confusion and saw the problem. The FBI Director stood with his glare burning a hole right through her.
Shoot.
The director nodded toward Dominic’s father. “Governor. Ms. Fitzgerald.” Then he stepped closer to Ava and Dominic and lowered his voice. “Let’s go somewhere private, shall we?”
Dominic’s expression closed down. He nodded. “Come with me.”
He let go of her hand for what felt like the first time in hours. Of course, he let go. Their boss had seen them snogging in public, and they were both about to get their asses reamed.
Crap. This could look very bad for Dominic as he was her superior, and she knew how important his reputation was to him.
Dominic led them out of the ballroom through a nearby doorway, down a short corridor and then around into a room that was an actual library. There was a big, open fireplace and wingback chairs. Ava could only imagine how magical this looked at Christmastime.
She waited for Dominic to close the door behind their boss.
“I can explain, sir,” she jumped in. “We were pretending to be personally involved so that the UNSUB would not realize we’re onto them. Hoping to draw them out.”
Dominic’s expression flickered as if she’d said the wrong thing. Eyes narrowed. Lips pinched.
“I thought the UNSUB was dead. Killed by you two in a New York State forest yesterday.” The director wore an almost bored expression as if killing people didn’t bear a personal cost for the agents involved.
“We won’t know exactly how many people are mixed up in this plot until we get the DNA back and some other evidentiary data,” Ava explained.
“Pity you killed the only living witness then.”
Ava straightened in shock.
“The man, Robin Elgin, shot at us repeatedly.” Dominic spoke, his voice a low, hard rumble. “He had his weapon aimed at Agent Kanas, and if I hadn’t shot him, he’d have murdered Agent Kanas in cold blood.”
“And I’m sure she’s been very grateful.”
Fury crashed through Ava and stole her breath. “What the hell does that mean?” Her voice vibrated.
Dominic’s eyes widened as if he wanted her to stop talking, but she was done being insulted.
“What does it mean?” The director laughed. “I come to the society event of the year and discover two of my personnel exchanging saliva in a crowded room in front of the Governor of Vermont. The FBI has a reputation to uphold and that doesn’t involve agents making spectacles of themselves.”
Ava knew she was gaping like a fish, but the director had twisted the situation into something tawdry and ugly. It felt as if he’d slapped her.
“I am the one who kissed Agent Kanas. She simply played along in case there is another UNSUB involved in the multiple murders and serious attempts on my life, and if they happened to have eyes inside this event then she wouldn’t give away the fact she’s been assigned to watch my back.”
“She wasn’t guarding your back when I walked in.” The director sounded equally furious. “She was goddamned scratching her nails down it.”
“That is not true.” Dominic defended her.
“Tell me you two haven’t been physically involved.”
Dominic’s eyes were dark with resentment, and his fingers clenched and unclenched, but he didn’t deny it.
Was he regretting getting involved with her now? Of course, he was. His career was everything to him, and she was dragging him down into the gutter with her.
Ava dropped her gaze to the carpet.
“At least you aren’t stupid enough to lie about it further.”
Ava glanced up, anger scalding the back of her eyes.
“You were given another chance after being put on suspension, but you’ve proven repeatedly you’re a hothead who has no place in the Bureau. Worse,” the director raked her with a censorious gaze. “You are a bad influence on others. Give me your credentials and service weapon. I will see to it that your belongings are shipped to the address on file. You will not be allowed back onto FBI property.” His tone was off-hand and derogatory. “SSA Sheridan, report to OPR first thing tomorrow.”
“What?” Ava took a step forward. “I get fired and SSA Sheridan gets reported to OPR? In what universe was that fair?” She saw the answer reflected in the director’s eyes. The wealth, the power of the Sheridan family, versus the blue-collar impotence of hers.
Ava stared at the director as silence reverberated around
the room.
“You can’t do this.” The words emerged from Ava’s lips as a whisper when what she really wanted to do was scream.
“I will do whatever I deem appropriate to protect the reputation of my agency.”
Ava kept waiting for Dominic to do something, help in some way, but he only stood there, hostility pouring off him in palpable waves.
Bitterness boiled through her veins. She should have known.
His resentment shouldn’t feel like a betrayal. But it did. Humiliation flooded her. She would not break down in front of these men. She opened her borrowed clutch and offered her weapon to her boss, along with her creds.
“I’m a good agent,” she forced out. Then, without looking at Dominic, she left.
* * *
Dominic waited for the fury inside him to subside. He knew how to talk his way out of this. He knew that reactive anger would get them nowhere. He wanted to take Ava in his arms and calm her down, but he needed to calm himself down first.
She wouldn’t leave without talking to him. She’d wait for him somewhere quiet where they could discuss things. He’d fix this.
Dammit. Panic raced through him. No way would Ava stick around after she’d been insulted so thoroughly. She’d leave. ASAP.
Dominic started to go after her, but the director grabbed his arm.
“She isn’t worth it, Sheridan.”
He pulled away. The desire to put his knuckles through the man’s face was almost overwhelming, and he pulled in air to stop himself. He’d already punched his brother tonight. Ava had turned him into someone who would rather use his fists than his words, when it was his words that had gotten him where he was today.
This wasn’t who he was. What the hell had happened to him?
Finally, he figured out what he needed to say. “I know she’s only a rookie, but she is a damned good agent. She is the first person who figured out we had a killer targeting FBI personnel.” His voice sounded like broken glass grinding against itself. “At great risk to herself, she helped resolve a prison siege and prevented the warden from being violently raped while we all sat around and watched. She saved my reputation after the car crash when everyone believed I’d probably had a few too many drinks or maybe snorted a line of coke. She went after the truth and uncovered a drug smuggling ring the DEA had been after for months.”
“She’s a loose cannon—”
“She’s the best goddamn federal agent I’ve ever met!” Dominic yelled. “And you fired her when I kissed her. I’m the one you need to fire.” Dominic stuck his finger in the man’s chest, sure as shit about to lose his job. But he didn’t care.
If the Bureau he worked for treated someone as fiercely loyal as Ava Kanas like trash then he did not care.
He needed to find her.
She’d already have convinced herself that he didn’t value her enough to defend her. And his silence while he’d been trying to keep his shit together would reinforce that notion. None of this was her fault. Not getting kissed in public, not him decking his brother, not her getting fired.
This was all on him, and she was the one paying.
He went to hurry after her when the door was pushed open. Rather than Ava returning, his father and his godfather stood there. Secret Service agents hovered in the background.
“Problems, gentlemen?” President Joshua Hague and his dad came in, closing the door behind them.
And normally Dominic would say, no, sir. Nothing for you to get involved in, sir. He despised nepotism, but this wasn’t about him. This was about a grave injustice being dealt out to an agent he respected and admired.
“A fellow agent of mine, one I happen to care about deeply.” The director flinched at that, and Dominic knew he should feel ashamed for using his connections in a way he’d sworn he never would in the past. Except he wasn’t looking for favors, he was looking for fairness. And he’d only just appreciated how much Ava meant to him. “Was fired after I kissed her in public.”
The director opened his mouth to defend himself, but Dominic spoke over him. “Either the director fires us both, or he gives Ava her job back, and she faces the same disciplinary review process I do. What he does not do is treat us differently because she’s a rookie, and I’m the son of a goddamn politician.”
The president and his father came toward them.
“Is this true?” his father asked. “You fired Ava?”
“She and Dominic were involved in an intimate relationship—”
“Were?” Dominic snarled. Was he supposed to ditch Ava now?
Deep wrinkles gathered on his father’s forehead. “But that’s not frowned upon in the Bureau when they are both single.”
“Agents have to declare it to their supervisors. They can’t work together,” the director blustered.
“This just started,” Dominic said impatiently. He wanted to go to her but needed to fight for her first. “We didn’t plan to get involved. We were forced together due to…circumstances.” Dominic’s gaze flicked to his father and the president. He couldn’t discuss an active investigation even with them. “We fell for each other. Hard.”
Dominic closed his eyes. Oh shit. He had fallen for her so hard, from so high. His landing zone had been like the cross a parachutist aimed for from ten thousand feet. Tiny and insignificant until you got close. And then when you got closer you knew exactly what to aim for and where to go.
“I need to find her.” Dominic looked at the director. “I’ll hand in my official resignation tomorrow, but first I need to talk to Ava.”
“I saw her out front,” his father said. “With a pregnant woman. Senator Tremont’s daughter, I think…”
“Mallory Rooney?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
“Excuse me, gentlemen, but I have a relationship to save.” On the way out, he paused to put a hand on his father’s shoulder. “Sorry to ruin your party, Pop. I like Tracy, by the way. I hope you’ll both be very happy.”
“I like her too. In fact, I love her.” His father’s hand covered his. “It’s all right, son. Go find your girl.” His eyes grew watery. “You look at her the way I used to look at your mother when we first met. I want to see you dancing together at my wedding.”
So did he, Dominic realized. He wanted to show her off on his arm and go home with her. Which pissed him off all over again that she’d left without him.
Because he hadn’t fought for her.
Because, like always, it had been Ava Kanas against the world.
If only she’d been patient, she’d have seen him go to bat for her. Balls to the wall. Mouth set to megaphone. Was he too late? Had he come riding to her defense a few seconds too late? She was pissed but, more importantly, she was hurt. Would she forgive him?
He didn’t know. He texted her and waited for her to reply, but the message didn’t even show as being delivered.
Dominic stared at the screen impatiently then shook his head as he made his way through the ballroom to the front of the house. He knew how to negotiate a high-stakes game, and this thing with Ava was about as high stakes as anything he’d ever dealt with before.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Mallory wasn’t sure how she’d ended up at Governor Sheridan’s engagement party with her mother.
She wore a flowing black dress made of layers upon layers of netting that resembled a tent. It reached her knees—probably—and had a decorative collar covered in shiny costume jewels. The only saving grace was it was loose and cool, and her arms and legs were bare.
Mal was pretty sure she’d attended another engagement party in this house years ago and knew the governor had remarried several times after losing his first wife to suicide. She understood grief better than most. She was lucky to have channeled her anguish into her career on the way to finding Alex. If anything happened to him…she couldn’t imagine carrying on.
Except, she ran a hand over her taut belly, she had another reason to keep going now. Another reason to live.
&
nbsp; She climbed the steps to the massive front door of the impressive mansion and took one look at the crowd of people milling around inside.
“You go on, Mom. I’m going to sit outside on the bench in the sunshine.” She pointed to a garden seat that might hold her weight. “Say hi to the governor and grab me some water, would you?”
Her mother’s mouth turned down at the corners. “Are you all right?”
Sweat broke out on Mal’s brow, and a wave of lightheadedness rolled over her, but the last thing she wanted was for anyone to make a fuss. Low blood pressure came along with the pregnancy, and she’d learned to move through it. It only lasted a couple of minutes generally. It was the constant back ache like knuckles kneading her kidneys that was driving her to distraction.
“I’m fine.”
Her mother squeezed her hand.
Mallory wanted to be alone for a few minutes and instead there were three hundred people ready to make small talk. She’d rather make an arrest. God. “I just don’t want to go into a stuffy house full of people.”
“Okay. If you are sure. I’ll say hello to Douglas and Tracy and get you a drink. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
Sure, she would.
Mallory smiled reassuringly at her. She loved her mother. What she hated was being treated like she needed a nursemaid.
Alone for the time being, she headed down to the garden bench and sat, sighing as her poor aching feet got some relief.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of lavender, and her head shot up.
Was that Ava Kanas?
Mal hurried to her feet and walked over to the main gate.
“Ava?” she called.
The woman whirled, and Mal took in her devastated expression. She hurried forward. “What happened?”
Ava blinked suspiciously bright eyes. “Nothing.”
“Liar,” said Mal. “It has to be Dominic. What did he do?”
The bark of laughter had a bitter edge. “What gave it away?”
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