Codename Romeo: Rogues and Rescuers Book One

by Leroux, Lucy

  “Then we show it to him.”

  “What?”

  He held up a hand. “I’ve put out some quiet feelers in the Russian community—we’re using every CI the office has in those neighborhoods to track down Viktor. If we don’t hear anything from him in the next couple of hours, we can assume Alvaro is behind the kidnapping.”

  Her tearstained face ripped him to shreds. “So, what’s your plan?” she asked.

  “We’ll email him the video,” he said, rubbing her back. “You still remember his email address, right?”

  Juliet’s mouth dropped open. “Yes, but—but what if it’s not him? What if he knows nothing about it, but he decides to make a move after he sees it?”

  This argument was going in circles.

  “We’ll make sure it’s untraceable. He won’t be able to track you here with it. The tech guys will make sure of it. That’s if we don’t hear something from him first—which I think we will.”

  Knowledge of the video or not, Alvaro would have assumed Juliet was a witness to the murder he committed. As long as she lived, she would be a threat to him. He wouldn’t let his minions take off with Luna without dealing with her.

  Juliet put her head in her hands, slumped over, defeat in every line of her body. Then she gasped, her head snapping up. The look of mute horror on her face made his insides twist.

  “What is it?”

  Raising shaky hands, Juliet covered her mouth. “Oh my God.”

  “What?” Ethan grabbed her hands, frantic now.

  “Alvaro isn’t ever going to give Luna back,” she said, choking on the words. “Because she’s his daughter.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Ethan shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  The wild look in Juliet’s eyes stood in stark contrast to the stillness of her pale face. “I think it’s true, or at least Alvaro believes she’s his—and with good reason.”

  She broke off, putting her hand on her stomach. A moment later, she sprang to her feet. She ran to the bathroom, kneeling in front of the toilet seconds before heaving up all the contents of her stomach.

  At the sound of someone being sick, Donovan came running. Ethan waved him away. Whatever Juliet had to say, she didn’t need an audience.

  He wet a hand towel before dropping beside her to wipe her face.

  She shuddered. “He never had a kind word to say about her, but I should have believed her—after all, I met him at her party,” she said in a shaky voice.

  Crap. He knew what was coming. “You think Alvaro and your sister were having an affair?” he asked.

  “She said they were.”

  “What?” Ethan gripped the counter next to him for support.

  Juliet’s lips parted, and she took a shaky breath. “She told me, but I didn’t believe her—I thought she was just trying to hurt me. Daniela always said the most hurtful things.”

  “Okay, I need to sit.” Ethan sat next to the toilet while she wiped her eyes. “Please tell me everything.”

  “I—I don’t even know where to start.” Juliet gripped the towel, twisting it into a little knot.

  Ethan covered her hand with his. “Anywhere you want would be good.”

  And the sooner, the better.

  “My sister was…well, she wasn’t the nicest person.”

  Ethan had gathered as much. Juliet hadn’t liked talking about Daniela, but he’d chalked that up to a bad case of sibling rivalry. If this affair had happened, he severely underestimated the extent of the damage.

  “If Daniela was carrying on with your fiancé, I’d call that an understatement.”

  Her lips twisted in a humorless smile. “That’s just it. According to Daniela, I was having an affair with her man.”

  “You mean?”

  Juliet nodded “She said he—they—had been sneaking around behind her husband’s back for years. Or, at least, that’s what she hissed at me at the christening.”

  “This fight with your sister happened the day she died?”

  Another nod. “Yes…we were never close. Ever since we were little, Daniela and I were like oil and water. She was more like my mother, and I followed in my father’s footsteps. I liked school and always excelled there, while she liked to party and surround herself with wealthy and glamorous friends. But our relationship didn’t become truly terrible until I got engaged.”

  “Did you ever see them together?”

  Her brow creased, but she shook her head. “Not very often. Alvaro avoided contact with my family after we met, even Daniela’s famous parties unless he knew someone especially important was going to be there. Mostly, though, he didn’t mix with them. He said it was bad for his image.”

  She looked up. “Despite what she said, I honestly never considered the possibility. He seemed to genuinely dislike her. Whenever she came up in conversation, he was dismissive or outright contemptuous.”

  Ethan knew that didn’t mean Alvaro wasn’t having an affair with Daniela. A lot of men found it easy to sleep with women they didn’t like or respect, but he didn’t tell Juliet that.

  “So, there were no hints of a relationship,” he said. “However, you were working long hours at the café, weren’t you? And he was a busy, important man. I’m guessing you didn’t see that much of each other.”

  “That’s right,” she agreed. “We didn’t spend as much time together as I would have wanted. Because his courtship was old-fashioned, I never spent the night with him. Now I wonder if it’s because he was sleeping with my sister the whole time. If he is the father, he must have been. Luna would have been conceived after we started dating.”

  He squeezed her hand in sympathy, wondering why the hell any man would want a Daniela when he could have had a Juliet.

  Unless he thought he could have both—the good girl to walk down the aisle for his public image…and the bad girl to screw behind the scenes for as long as it pleased him.

  Until Daniela threw a spoke in his plans by getting pregnant. Daniela…who was killed shortly after the baby was born. Had she confronted Alvaro and told him he was the father? Or, more importantly, did she make any demands he decided it would be better not to keep?

  “We’re there any signs of a problem in your sister’s marriage?”

  “Not that I know of…”

  “But?”

  She shrugged, and her lashes flickered as if she were ashamed. “Daniela married Xavier for his money. He was from an old family, and he had a great deal of it. There were rumors she was running around on him in the early days, but I think my mother took her aside and warned her not to screw things up. Daniela signed a generous prenup, but it wouldn’t have been enough for her.”

  Ah, so the shame was real. It just wasn’t for herself. No wonder Juliet never liked speaking about her family. As for the rest, the scenario unrolled in his mind.

  Alvaro probably had wanted Juliet for his wife. She was a beautiful innocent who had connections he could exploit, regardless of how she was getting along with her parents. The news he was Luna’s real father would have been unwelcome, particularly if Daniela was using the baby as leverage to get her lover to end his relationship with her sister.

  So, he decides to kill her and the rest of her family? It was extreme. Especially since he could have taken out Juliet at the same time.

  “Were you supposed to be at the christening?” he asked

  Her head drew back as if she were thinking about it. “Well, Daniela didn’t invite me, but my mother told me I had to be there. She was tired of her friends gossiping about our rift…and it was for family. There was a new baby. Mother said it was time to mend fences.”

  “But Alvaro thought you were staying away.”

  She sighed. “Maybe. I’m not sure anymore. He did try to talk me out of going, and I didn’t argue with him. Not much.”

  Juliet groaned. “If Alvaro is Luna’s real father—”

  Ethan held up a hand. “Stop right there. At best, he was a sperm donor. I’m Luna
’s real father now, and you are her real mother. And we’re going to get her back. We are going to be a family.”

  The look of hope mingled with desperation was killing him. Ethan pressed Juliet’s face to his chest so he wouldn’t have to see it anymore.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Is she asleep?” Donovan asked.

  “No.” Ethan looked at the darkening sky. Several hours had passed since he’d convinced Juliet to lie down and rest. But he kept checking on her, and she was simply lying there on the bed, trying not to cry.

  Rivera gave him a short nod. “We’ve heard from several of our sources in the Russian networks. They’re not all reliable, but there’s nothing about a kidnapped baby so far. Not even a whisper.”

  “Yeah,” he muttered. “The Russians weren’t viable suspects to begin with.”

  The other agent grunted. “Also, Jason is on the phone with headquarters. The Angel is tearing him a new one. He wants to know why someone would kidnap your girlfriend’s kid.”

  Rivera winced. “I recommend not telling him about that trumped-up warrant for her arrest if you can avoid it—Jason filled me in.”

  Ethan scrubbed his face with his hands. “Yeah, good idea.”

  “Err, why don’t I go put on another pot of coffee?” Donovan asked. He headed to the makeshift command center, manned by his friends and coworkers. “I think we’re going to need it.”

  Ethan thanked him, resolving to go find Jason to take over the call with his supervisor. He should be the one doing the explaining.

  Donovan ran back in, skidding to a stop next to him. He shoved a paper in his hand. “This was on the kitchen floor—someone shoved it through the window.”

  Ethan snatched up the sheet. It was thick photo paper. He glanced at the time and place written on the back and then turned it over.

  “Son a bitch,” he yelled. Footsteps sounded. Soon, he was surrounded.

  “What is it?” Jason asked as Juliet pushed through the circle of mostly male agents.

  Taking a deep breath, he held up the photo. It was Luna. She was making a face—a little baby pout at whoever was holding her. All they could see of the man was his hand.

  “The ring…” Juliet pointed a shaky finger at the picture.

  Ethan glanced at the picture. There was a thick gold band with a dark stone on the man’s hand.

  “Now we know for sure,” she said in a strained voice. “That’s the ring I gave Alvaro. It was an engagement present.”

  * * *

  Ethan took the photo and turned it over, skipping over the time and place to read the short message scrawled at the end.

  “Come alone or you will never see her again.” He looked up at Juliet. “Do you think the ring is a message?”

  She took a shaky breath. “I do. Luna is not all he wants. I have to go with him, too.”

  His scowl was immediate. “You think he still wants to marry you?” Ethan was incredulous.

  “It makes sense,” Jason said. Rivera nodded in agreement.

  “In what world?” Ethan asked with a scowl.

  Juliet touched his arm. “He wants the money.”

  “What money?”

  “Mine and Luna’s.”

  Ethan glanced at his partner and Rivera, but they didn’t look confused. Even Donovan seemed to be following the conversation better than Ethan was.

  “Luna does have money,” he said belatedly, catching up. “You said her father was wealthy, but weren’t you disinherited?”

  Jason nudged Rivera. En masse, the other agents stepped back, taking Donovan with them. They were out of sight, but Ethan knew they were still listening.

  He pulled Juliet closer, turning the picture over so she wouldn’t have to see the baby she couldn’t hold. She studied the message.

  “I think it’s Alvaro’s writing. He must be nearby.”

  “Juliet, tell me about your money. Do you have any?”

  She glanced at a point over his shoulder. “I don’t think my father took my little rebellion seriously. Plus, he was a planner. He would have left a will, and my guess is I’m still an heir. Alvaro knows that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t have a copy. He could have easily gotten one through his connections.”

  “So, let me get this straight—he expects you to go back and marry him so he can claim your dad’s money for himself?”

  Juliet raised her hand to touch his chest. “Why would he settle for Luna’s inheritance when he could have both? He knows as long as he has her, I have to do what he wants.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself. “And I will have to. For a while, until the money is secure, and then he can safely get rid of me.”

  Ethan’s hand fisted, but he forced it open so he could pull Juliet into his arms. “That is not going to happen. It’s time to send this asshole the movie you took. Once Alvaro sees himself in the starring role, he’ll realize he no longer has the upper hand.”

  Juliet’s eyes clouded with doubt. “And then what?”

  Ethan’s grip tightened on her shoulder. “Then we change the rules of his game.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Isaac Rivera tried to apply the tape to the wires on Juliet’s midriff without getting too much of an eyeful. Damn, her skin is soft. What kind of soap did she use? Whatever it was, it must have been expensive.

  “Almost done?” Jason White hovered over him, reminding him that he shouldn’t be lingering like this.

  Not that Juliet wasn’t worth looking at. But the last thing he needed was to get punched out by Ethan Thomas for having his hands all over his girl—even if he was supposed to be getting her wired up.

  They were at the docks. Given the successful op they just had there, Ethan had decided this was where they would confront Alvaro. Personally, Rivera wasn’t sure. The location had a lot of hiding places—too many in his opinion. But all the agents in his office knew it backward and forward so they had focused their efforts there.

  Putting back the surveillance equipment had been simple. Every available man and woman in the agency were waiting in their old hiding places, leaving strategic openings in their security net the bad guy could exploit. The Angel had cleared it after he had seen the snuff film Juliet had taken. No doubt he’d already figured out a way to capitalize on the Mexican police lieutenant’s arrest.

  Rivera ripped off another piece of body tape. “Not quite.”

  “Well, hurry up,” Jason said. “And don’t forget to put on the vest afterward.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he replied, annoyed.

  Up until his divorce, Rivera had been reasonably tight with Jason and even Ethan, but he could hardly stand them now. Jason was too happily married—always flaunting that gorgeous wife of his—and now this thing with Ethan…

  Bad enough Thomas resembled a brunet Captain America, but then he landed a damsel in distress that looked like this. Meanwhile, all Rivera had to show for his love life was a huge hole in his bank account, one created by the alimony payments he owed his ex.

  And to top it off, Juliet is rich. Sure, it was blood money, but it was a lot of blood money.

  Life just wasn’t fair sometimes. He huffed derisively.

  “What’s wrong?” Rivera looked up into Juliet’s dark somber eyes, and his bravado shriveled up like a deflated balloon. This was a human being in pain, and, somewhere out there, a little girl was crying for her mother.

  “It’s nothing.” He cleared his throat and straightened, motioning for her to put her shirt back down. “Sorry we didn’t have a female agent to do this part.”

  She leaned in. “A female agent wouldn’t give me a gun,” she whispered.

  Rivera blinked at her. She held up her hands. “Please. Ethan won’t give me one either.”

  “For good reason,” he replied. “Do you even know how to use one?”

  Not to mention most of the female agents he knew were far more likely to give her a weapon…

  Juliet nodded. “My mother acted in several West
erns. She even played a mafia lieutenant in a TV movie. I used to run lines with her and pretend to shoot her.”

  “Uh…” What the hell was he supposed to say to that?

  “I used real guns. They were empty, of course, but real. We—we owned a lot…”

  “Okay.”

  “Really?”

  “No!” He shook his head. That would earn him a beating from Captain America for sure. He put his hands on his hips. “Sorry. But pretending to shoot someone is not practice for real life. Plus, most of the time, the inexperienced person with the gun gets it turned on them.” Especially if they were a petite woman.

  An old memory flashed through his mind, of a girl who bore a strong-enough resemblance to Juliet to matter.

  Rivera looked around at the command center. Jimenez had come in. He sat in the corner, manning the trio of surveillance monitors, but he was wearing a headset.

  This is a bad idea. But he was going to do it anyway. Rivera bent, then unstrapped the ankle holster on his right leg. The larger one was on his left, carrying his most compact gun, but this one was smaller, almost delicate by comparison.

  He transferred the strap to Juliet’s leg, tugging the denim down over it.

  “It’s simple to use. Just pull it out, then press the button.” Straightening, Rivera wagged a finger in her face. “Women get knives turned on them even more easily than guns, so this should only be used in dire emergencies.”

  She cast a cautious glance over at the agent in the corner. “It’s a knife?”

  “A switchblade and it’s illegal, so shh…” He put a finger to his lips.

  Owning a switchblade wasn’t illegal according to state law. Carrying one, however, was.

  Jason came back inside. “Everything is ready, and our people have spotted three men sneaking inside.” He turned to Juliet. “It’s time to get in place.”

  “Alvaro actually came?” Juliet wasn’t the only one who was surprised. This Alvaro guy was either really stupid or still swimming in a massive power trip from running his own little fiefdom down south.