The Ex Assignment (Rogue Protectors Book 1)

by Victoria Paige

  The captain looked thoughtful. “Maybe he knew she would contest it.”

  “But why? Their divorce was three years ago.”

  “Peter Woodward’s net worth is better than six hundred and thirty million. Claudette only got twenty million in the divorce settlement,” Mitchell said. “The detectives on the case gave me the numbers. She was a suspect.”

  She picked up another stash of papers. “These phone records between the two don’t show anything unusual. Obviously, even after their divorce they communicated regularly.”

  “And you’re not surprised about that?”

  “Not really,” she responded. “They moved in the same circle which is why if you cross-reference their phone records, you can see they also call the same numbers. Have the detectives run them through a crosscheck?”

  “They have. That’s what they’re doing right now. Calling them one by one.”

  Gabby emitted a puff of laughter. “That’s a part of detective work I hate the most.”

  “I looked into your ex-husband,” Kelso said. At her glare, he added, “I was concerned, all right? After you told me how he and Ms. Dumont fucked you over, and seeing you with him yesterday, you have to admit that something smells fishy.”

  “You’re wasting your time looking in his direction. He’s clean.” The hammering in her head intensified.

  “You’re not even a tad suspicious?” Kelso pressed.

  Gabby glanced at Mitchell. “Did you put him up to this?”

  Her captain shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Okay, I’ll play,” she gritted. “Declan wasn’t in LA when Peter was killed, so it couldn’t be him. Let’s say being a PMC, he’d have plenty of contacts, right? Easy enough to hire one without scruples and kill Peter. But Peter changed his will and according to the lawyer, it’s airtight. Claudette has no way of milking the estate for more. So why is Declan still here?”

  “You have to admit, after seventeen years of absence, his timing is impeccable,” Kelso said.

  A sinking feeling settled in her belly. How well did she know Declan now? He’d been a mercenary. He was capable of killing in cold blood.

  “He was mighty concerned about you yesterday,” Kelso made air quotes over the word ‘concerned.’ “And you two seemed to be hitting it off this morning.”

  “If you’re implying I’m falling for him again, I assure you, he was anything but charming. And even though we made a mess of our marriage, I would like to believe that we’ve matured enough to act like civilized adults.”

  “No need to get sarcastic there, partner,” Kelso said quietly.

  Rousing laughter erupted from the direction of the living room, while on the widescreen TV, her young face covered in black zombie blood was on full display.

  Red hazed her vision.

  Among Theo’s co-stars, she recognized Emma Haller who was as popular as Theo with her all-American girl-next-door looks. The sixteen-year-old was also rumored to be Theo’s girlfriend. Because of the sheer star power of the two and the rest of the Hodgetown cast, the reporters and paparazzi were camped at the gates.

  “Aren’t you glad this shindig isn’t at your apartment?” Captain asked.

  “I would have murdered them by now,” Gabby said.

  “I’ve watched the entire five seasons you know,” Kelso said. “Sad when you weren’t in the fifth one. Can’t believe you let down your fans.”

  “Bite me.” She flashed her teeth in her best zombie snarl. She was feeling pretty stabby. Now would be a good time for a zombie to show up so she could drive a hunting knife through its skull.

  When a louder raucous jeer reached her ear, she surged from her seat. “That’s it.”

  She stomped over to the eight teenagers scattered all over the living room.

  “Party’s over, kids,” she announced.

  There were grumbles and groans as everyone’s eyes turned to her brother.

  Theo was sitting in the middle of the couch with Emma beside him. He was stroking her hair absentmindedly, but had this broody thing going on like a tragic King Arthur.

  “But we just got here,” a brown-haired, lanky teen with freckles protested.

  “Rex Smith, right?”

  “Sure am.” He grinned. On the Hodgetown series he wore braces, but in real life? His teeth were straight and gleamed white like a toothpaste commercial. Gabby also knew he did Theo’s dirty work and was like his mouth of Sauron.

  “Listen, Theo has a concussion. And the doctor limited his screen time. So, TV?” Gabby lowered her voice as if conspiratorially, but it came out full of snark. “Bad idea.”

  Seven pairs of eyes swung back to Theo. “No one’s leaving,” he declared, face tilting up in challenge. “Revenant Films is paying for this house, so technically, I’m paying for this roof over your head. My money. My rules. And I say they stay.”

  Emma pushed away from Theo, glaring at him. “Your sister’s right. You need your rest.” She moved to get up, but her brother yanked her back to him. “Sit your ass down.”

  “Are you serious right now?” Gabby fumed at the way her brother talked to Emma.

  “Ooh, sibling fight,” Rex crowed.

  “Don’t I look serious?” Theo raised a dark brow.

  Gabby narrowed her eyes. “Fine.”

  She stalked away from the teenagers, her anger escalating as more laughter and cheers followed her every step. She’d be damned before she let Theo Cole step all over her. Gabby didn’t know what crawled up his ass that changed his playful banter from yesterday to this pain-in-the-ass kid right now, but he just drew a line in the sand. She marched past the captain and Kelso who both rose to their feet, looking worried.

  The thing with these entitled teens, they weren’t afraid of anything because they had the money to get them out of shit. She knew this because she used to be one. She doubted they’d be stupid enough to carry drugs in their cars. So, she would do the next best thing. Her brother hadn’t witnessed her wrath yet.

  She marched outside to her Honda where it was parked in the motor court and bleeped the locks to open the vehicle. She grabbed the baseball bat she’d always kept behind the driver’s seat and strode past Mitchell who was gaping at her in alarm.

  “Jesus, Gabby, what are you going to do, beat them up?” Mitchell asked.

  “No. Something better.”

  “Ms. Woodward! Ms. Woodward!” The press called from behind the gates. She waved and smiled brightly at them despite the sun killing her eyes. Her head was throbbing by the time she entered the house again.

  “Dude! Your sis is gonna paddle your ass now.”

  Theo continued to sit unconcerned with a smirk on his face.

  She passed him and the living room, shooting him a smile full of malice and made a beeline for the kitchen, then out to the garage, right where his precious red Ferrari was parked.

  Without hesitating, she smashed the side view mirror on the driver’s side.

  Shouts came from inside the house and she grinned. Despite her blinding headache, she felt catharsis. It was as if the Ferrari represented everything that was wrong in her life.

  Gabby rounded the sports car and swung her bat at the taillight.

  “Are you fucking insane?” Theo stood at the door staring at her in disbelief.

  “You better get that fixed.” She pointed to the left taillight with the bat. “Or I’ll make sure you get a ticket the next time you take your precious baby for a ride.” She smashed the other one. “Oh, look. Two taillights out.”

  Her brother flew down the steps and prowled toward her, intimidating her with his size as he tried to grab the bat from her. She pulled him forward, twisting his arm behind his back and slammed his body on the trunk of the car.

  “Did you just assault a police officer?” she asked sweetly, then glanced up seeing Kelso grinning wide. “Did you just see this jerk assault me?”

  “Sure did, Detective Woodward.”

  “Fuck you!”

  Theo tried to
rear up, but Gabby had the bat wedged between his thighs and close to his balls. “You should pay closer attention to your fight lessons.”

  “You’re fucking insane!”

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  Gabby released her brother and straightened to see a bewildered looking Declan and Levi standing inside the garage.

  “Some kind of bodyguards you are!” Theo yelled. “Both of you are fired. I’m calling Nick right now.” The teenager stalked back into the house.

  “Gabby, what happened?” Declan asked.

  “Putting a teenager in his place,” Gabby twirled the bat like a marching band girl, passing by Kelso who gave her a high five.

  “By destroying his car?”

  “There’s no XBox to take away.”

  “Jesus, you’re a cop.”

  “Nope. In this case I’m his older sister laying down the law.”

  She left him standing there and went back inside the house, but not before she overheard Declan snipe at Kelso about letting things get out of hand, to which her partner responded it wasn’t his place to interfere.

  “What exactly was the problem?” Declan caught up with her in the hallway where she spotted the captain holding off the other teens. Smart. No other witnesses.

  “The problem”—she glared at him—“is letting people do your job.”

  “You said you were okay with watching him for a while.”

  Gabby started seeing double. “Shit.” She gripped Declan’s arm.

  “You okay?”

  “Just need to sit down.”

  He led her to the nearest chair and sank into it, but she was still feeling the high of releasing her pent-up annoyance from that morning. “That felt good.”

  “Thrashing a million-dollar car?”

  “He deserved it.”

  “The car didn’t—”

  “You do find this kinda funny, right?”

  Instead of answering her, he studied her face. “Gabby, does your head hurt?”

  “A little.” A lot.

  “You need your pain meds.”

  “This is not brain-chemistry induced. It’s called want-to-kill-a-teenager rage.”

  Declan was shaking his head, but there was an amused slant to his mouth.

  “You better go talk to him,” she sighed. “The last thing I want is for your company to lose the contract. You and Levi asked permission to meet up with your boss, and the LAPD was covering, so none of this was your fault.”

  “I got her.” Kelso appeared beside them. “Go talk to the kid, Roarke. Captain is sending the rest home.”

  “Thank God,” Gabby said.

  Declan hesitated. A slew of emotions flashing across his face.

  “Go,” she prodded again.

  He gave a tight nod and went looking for the teenager.

  Declan found his son arguing with Levi in a bedroom.

  “I got this, Levi.” Somehow, he had a feeling this whole thing had something to do with Gabby and him spending the night together. He noted the teen’s sour mood the moment they entered the house this morning.

  His colleague nodded and left the room. Declan closed the door.

  “Mind telling me why you were giving your sister a hard time?”

  “Me giving her a hard time? Are you blind? Didn’t you see her wreck my car?”

  “Gabby wouldn’t be pushed to that extreme if you didn’t do or say something.”

  “Gabby, huh? You think you know her so well, right? And as it turns out she’s not my sister, is she?”

  He knows.

  The sneer, the narrowed eyes, so much like his when he was pissed.

  He knows.

  “You’re him. Gabby’s first husband.”

  This was the confrontation he dreaded the most and the sheer relief he felt was welcome. One hurdle over. A thousand more to go.

  “Yes.”

  “It wasn’t hard to find out, you know? What with the internet and all. I talked to Nick this morning after I found stuff about you two and he confirmed.”

  “And did he add that I ruined her career?”

  “Are you denying it?” He started pacing. “A former escort lands Hollywood’s hottest teen star. Must have been a coup for you.”

  “You should know better than to believe the tabloids.”

  “Are you denying you used to be a male escort?” Theo jeered.

  “I’m not going to defend what I needed to do to take care of my sister.” Declan kept his voice even. “You don’t get to judge me when you’ve lived this entitled existence all your life.”

  Theo looked away as if chastised, but his eyes returned to Declan with fury in them. “You know the worst thing about all this? What I couldn’t wrap my mind around.” His voice broke. “How you could cheat on her with my mother.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know.”

  “Oh, please tell me,” he taunted. “Nick said you’re gonna say Gabby cheated first.”

  Declan didn’t say anything. This was his burden. He wasn’t going to taint her in Theo’s eyes. “She didn’t.”

  “But you left her. After she lost your kid. You simply left her.”

  “I had to.” His throat caught. “I failed her, Theo.”

  “Yes. You did. It’s probably for the best. At least it gave Nick a chance.”

  “How did that work out for him?” he shot back.

  “He said you’d broken Gabby too much for him to be able to help.”

  “Bull-fucking-shit,” he growled. “He couldn’t wait to get Gabby back to acting.”

  “And would that be so bad? Look at where she is now? Her life is always at risk. She lives in that dump. She refuses to acknowledge we’re family.” He gave a bitter laugh. “It’s because we’re not. Not by blood at least. I always wondered why she acted as if she couldn’t tolerate me and I understand now.” He glared at him. “It’s because I reminded her of the man who broke her fucking heart.”

  “Theo—” His arm reached out.

  “Don’t,” he warned. “I have only one dad and that’s Peter Woodward. You’re a sperm donor. Plain and simple.”

  Sperm donor. Those words. They fucking hurt.

  “Don’t expect us to be one big happy family. Don’t expect me to call you dad. I’m not gonna fire you yet. I’d rather keep an eye on you until I figure out what you’re up to. You came back to California when Dad died because of the inheritance, didn’t you?”

  “That’s not why I’m here. You were as much a surprise to me as I was to you.”

  “Please,” Theo scoffed. “You were a mercenary, right?”

  Private military contractor, you little shit.

  “Stay away from my sister.”

  Declan crossed his arms and braced on his feet. Wiping all emotions from his face, turning it cold, calculating. The kid noticed and took a small step back.

  “You done?” He asked softly.

  Theo nodded.

  “Here’s the thing. I’m not after anyone’s money. I’ve got money. Mercenary, remember? And my clients were rich as sin. They don’t have to act or entertain anyone for a living.

  “I’m doing this gig as a favor. Turned out, my friend thought he was doing me a favor.” Declan scrubbed his face. “I’m fucking glad that you’re almost eighteen. I’m actually glad Peter got you away from Claudette. I’m not going to force a relationship with you, but if you need me, I’ll be right here.” Declan strode to the door. “One more thing. You can’t tell me to stay away from anyone. I’m not after Gabby, but I have to work with her to make sure you’re safe. Got it?”

  Theo stared at him with a contempt that gutted him. “Yeah.” Then the kid turned his back to him, head bowed. “Just leave.”

  Declan wanted to go to him, wanted to put his hand on his shoulder and say they’d figure this out. But he didn’t; he couldn’t.

  He left the room and gently closed the door.

  9

  “Please pass the salt.”

  Gabby
reached for the salt shaker and passed it to Kelso, who handed it to Theo who sat at the end of the eight-seat dining table. The rest of them were collected on one end with Declan at the head.

  After the fiery confrontation in the garage, the house descended into chilling politeness—at least between the teen star and the adults. The captain didn’t stay long. He said his wife Vanessa was expecting him for dinner and like the mother hen she was to her husband’s team, she prepared three casseroles in nine-by-eleven aluminum baking trays.

  Levi reheated two of them—a baked spaghetti and lasagna.

  Gabby stared at her plate, contemplating how many of the calories she needed to burn. Her metabolism wasn’t what it used to be in her twenties. If she didn’t work hard enough at it, given her love for carbs, she’d be sporting a healthy muffin-top by the time she hit forty. She convinced herself it wasn’t vanity, but a desire to remain healthy. Maybe she was lying to herself.

  “Not enough protein for you, Woodward?” Kelso teased.

  “I’m already feeling this pasta settle on each hip.”

  Her partner feigned looking at her bottom. “You could use a little padding.”

  “Easy for you to say, Mr. I-can-bench-three-fifty.”

  “You don’t do too bad yourself.” Kelso leaned and nudged her on the shoulder.

  At that moment, Gabby felt twin blasts of displeasure from opposing ends. She glanced at Theo first who was glaring at Kelso, and then she casually turned her head to look at Declan, who’d dropped his gaze to his plate and started attacking his pasta.

  That was weird.

  Levi kept the conversation easy, talking about his girls.

  “I’m sorry your plans changed,” Gabby said.

  “Yeah. They were bummed they can’t see me this weekend, but they understand daddy’s job is unpredictable.” Gabby felt sympathy for the man as his disappointment was etched on his face, although there was also pragmatism. She knew he and his wife were separated and wondered if it was his job that caused the rift in their marriage.