HERO Force Boxset Books 1-8

by Amy Gamet

  Dammit. No wonder he’d been feeling like he was in the dark. Vasile was deliberately withholding information from him. Abandoning the bar, he went in search of his new father-in-law, easily spotting him in the crowd.

  “I need to speak to you,” said Matteo.

  “After the party.”

  “Now.” Matteo led the way out of the ballroom and outside into the cool night air. He turned and faced the other man. “What did the note say? And don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. The note on your goddamn desk.”

  Vasile pursed his lips. “None of your business.”

  “You will tell me if you want me to help you. If you want me to help your daughter and keep your grandchild safe.”

  The men shared a look, a duel of wills taking place between them.

  Vasile dropped his head. “It said, ‘Drop out or we’ll take the bastard.’”

  Matteo kicked the stone knee wall that surrounded the patio. “And you didn’t fucking tell me.”

  “It was irrelevant. I will not give in to their demands.”

  “And you didn’t think you should mention this to the people who are concerned for your grandson’s safety?”

  Vasile’s face was pale, a translucent kind of gray that made him look ill. “What good would that do? Would you guard him better if you knew? Would my daughter sleep better at night if she had this weight on her shoulders as I do?”

  “I don’t know if you were right to keep this from Grace, but you sure as hell had no right to keep it from me.”

  “You told me yourself, you are her husband and your loyalty lies with her.”

  “And you couldn’t stand the idea that I might choose to tell her.”

  Vasile hunched forward several inches and Matteo put his hand on the other man’s arm. “Are you okay?” Matteo asked.

  “I’m perfectly fine.” He shook off Matteo’s arm. “These are terrorists. If I give in to their demands, the threats and the destruction will not stop; they will only continue. And instead of terrorizing me and my family, they will terrorize an entire nation.”

  “Is there anything else you’re not telling me?”

  Beads of sweat had broken out on Vasile’s forehead. One dripped down his face like a tear. “That’s it. I swear.”

  For the first time since he got here, Matteo believed Vasile was telling the truth. And now that he knew the intruder’s motivation, they had something more to go on. “If you’d told me earlier, it would have helped HERO Force narrow down the possibilities. Hell, they might even have found out who’s doing this by now.”

  Vasile put a hand to his chest and closed his eyes. “My opponent is clearly behind this. Victor Trane.”

  “All different groups are interested in the outcome of elections. They affect a lot more than the person running against you.”

  Vasile’s eyes closed, his features pinched.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Matteo.

  “I need to go back inside.” He swayed dramatically.

  Matteo caught Vasile in his arms and lowered him to sit on the rock wall. “You need help. I’ll be right back.”

  Vasile clutched Matteo’s jacket in his fist. “Pills. In my jacket.”

  Matteo search frantically. What would happen to Lutsia if Vasile died? Trane would take power and join forces with Russia, controlling Parliament like a dictator. This one man had the power to stop it, if he didn’t die on a rock wall outside his daughter’s wedding reception.

  His hands closed on a small pill vial. He fished one out and put it in Vasile’s mouth. He was acutely aware of the passage of time, and his eyes scanned the guests around them, but no one had noticed the president was in danger.

  Vasile’s face began to pink up.

  “Nitroglycerin,” said Matteo.

  “Yes.”

  “How long have you been like this?”

  “Not long.”

  “The truth.”

  He took a deep breath. “A year and a half.”

  “What do the doctors think?”

  “That I am a walking dead man.”

  “But you’re running for office.”

  “You know that I must.”

  “Does Grace know you’re sick?”

  He blew out air. “I couldn’t stand to have her treat me like I could die at any moment. Better she eyes me with disdain than comforts me with false emotions.”

  Matteo knew the strain between father and daughter, and also knew what it would do to Grace if this man died before the two of them had found some peace. “You’ve got it all figured out,” said Matteo. “Keep everybody in the dark, win a presidency you know you won’t be alive for, and set your daughter up to live with regret for the rest of her life.”

  “I’m doing the best I can for everyone involved.”

  “The presidency I can understand. But Grace would be heartbroken if you two didn’t make up. Just think about it.” Matteo stood and held out his hand. “Think you can stand?”

  “I don’t need help.”

  “Suit yourself, but it’s been my experience we all need help sometimes.”

  14

  He took his time getting to the bar, stopping several times to make conversation with well-wishers. By the time he got back to Grace, she was standing alone, frozen like a statue.

  He was immediately concerned. “Are you okay?”

  She didn’t respond. She didn’t even look at him.

  Matteo took her hand and pulled her toward a door, not knowing where it went, intent on getting her out of this room.

  They entered a large library, shelves high with books.

  He turned to her. “What happened?”

  For a moment, Grace’s face remained a mask devoid of emotion, then her mouth turned down hard at the corners. “He came back.”

  “Who?”

  She shook her head quickly like she couldn’t bring herself to say the name, and suddenly he knew.

  “The baby’s father,” he said.

  She nodded and took in a loud sobbing breath.

  “Where is he?”

  “He isn’t here at the party. He’s back in town. Lilliana told me.” Her pain was so raw and so close to the surface, he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened in her relationship with this man.

  He longed to comfort her. He opened his arms, and to his surprise, she fell against his chest. “Shh. It’s okay,” he whispered, his hand gently rubbing her naked back.

  “I’m so stupid,” she said, pushing away from him. “I actually thought something must’ve happened to him. Can you believe that? I thought he’d been hurt. I stayed there for months, waiting to hear anything from him or to find out what happened. I called hospitals. I even called his family, but he was here the whole time.”

  She spun on her heel and started pacing. “That son of a bitch. He left me and he came back here without even saying good-bye and he went on with his life like nothing ever happened. Like we never happened.”

  “Did he know you were pregnant?”

  “No. I was waiting for the right moment to tell him.” She stopped in front of a tabletop display of glass sailboats, picked one up, and threw it against a far wall. It shattered with a loud sobbing sound.

  “Nice shot.”

  “I thought he loved me.” She picked up another boat. “I’m such an idiot. I thought we’d be a family.” She hurled it through the air. This crash had a higher pitch.

  Matteo wondered what that glass boat collection was worth. “It’s not your fault this guy was an asshole.”

  “I want to hurt him.” She picked up another boat, tossing it up a few inches and catching it in her hand before winding up for the pitch. “I want to slap that weasel in the face for every time I cried myself to sleep thinking he was dead.” The third ship hit the far wall and burst into pieces.

  Grace put her hands on her hips, her chest heaving. “Fucking shithead.”

  Matteo’s eyes were wide.

  She was magni
ficent, with her fancy white dress and her everyman vocabulary, not to mention one hell of a shot with a glass boat. She didn’t need the sympathy he’d been feeling for her. She needed a bull’s-eye and a gun.

  He shook his head to clear it.

  She was straightening her dress and pulling herself together. “This complicates everything. I was three months along before I realized I was pregnant. He’ll know the baby isn’t yours.”

  “Not if you say otherwise. More than one man’s been surprised to learn the baby they thought was theirs was really fathered by someone else.”

  She shook her head. “He’ll take one look in my eyes and know I’m lying.”

  “There are other ways to convince him.”

  “Like what? Kissing? Sorry, but I don’t think the scene on the top of the stairs would do the trick. I feel like such a fraud, like everyone must see right through this charade.”

  Hadn’t he just been thinking the same thing? But he suddenly knew he could do better, his anger with the father of her child making him want to up the ante, to do anything that was necessary to help her. “Trust me, Grace. When I meet your lover, that man will have no doubt in his mind who Nico really belongs to.”

  15

  Logan slid an eight-by-ten photograph across the conference table to Cowboy. “Grace Vasile rented a cabin in the Swiss Alps from October of last year until September of this year. Her name was the only one on the lease, but our friends at Interpol provided us with a forwarding order that was put in by Mason Petrovich to have his mail sent there from his home in Russia.”

  “Nice work, Logan,” said Jax. “Do we have a picture of Petrovich?”

  “Not yet. I’m still trying to get one from the authorities.”

  “Sounds like we found Red’s wife’s baby daddy,” said Cowboy. “Now we just need to go on Springer to get the DNA results.”

  “Any word from Red?” asked Jax.

  Cowboy nodded. “Oh, yeah. I heard from him, all right. I think he might be banging his new wife. I mean, not yet. Probably. Probably not yet, I mean. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into the situation.”

  Jax cursed under his breath “At this rate, I’m going to have to hire new people every fucking six months.”

  “That reminds me. I hired a woman from NIS named Ashley. She’s badass, don’t let the frilly name fool you. And I tried to hire a dude from SEAL Team Twelve named Austin, but he doesn’t want the job.”

  “Why not?” asked Jax.

  “Apparently he’s considering other offers.”

  Logan stood up. “I’d like to take a look at the satellite footage from the pedestrian bridge explosion. Go back in time, see if I can find our suspect when he planted the bomb.”

  “Do it,” said Jax.

  16

  Matteo laid on the floor of Grace’s bedroom, more tired than he would’ve thought possible from a simple party. It was the pretending that was exhausting, explaining to guest after guest how he’d fallen in love with his new wife, or speaking of their hopes for the future.

  Talia and his men had taken more than an hour to let all the guests out of the building. Everyone had been painstakingly matched to the guest list. The exercise offered no comfort, showing only that whomever was responsible for the terrorist attack was also trusted by the president.

  The door opened and Grace entered, the baby in her arms. Matteo hadn’t closed the curtains, and soft moonlight lit the room as she crossed to the glider and sat down. He could see her reflection in the dresser mirror as she pulled the fabric that covered one breast completely to the side. He got a clear view of her full breast and dark nipple before she brought her son close and began to feed him.

  She obviously didn’t realize he could see her; his makeshift bed was in heavy shadow. She was lovely. He considered telling her he was there, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

  She was naked from the waist up except for the strap and fabric that covered the opposite breast, and as he watched the baby nurse, he thought he’d never seen a woman quite as beautiful as she.

  He thought of her lover. Who would leave a woman like Grace?

  She leaned her head back against the chair and let it fall to the side, making him wonder if nursing felt good. The women he’d bedded liked having their nipples sucked, but he had a hard time imagining the sensations were similar.

  His cock was becoming engorged and he longed to stroke it. It was enough of a violation that he was watching her, his mind beginning to take the fantasy and running with it.

  She raised her head and took the baby from her breast, readjusting him at the other side before sliding the second strap off her body. Her other breast was bare, the nipple glistening with moisture in the moonlight. He made a noise down deep in his throat at the sight of her.

  Grace’s head turned toward him sharply.

  He’d been discovered.

  Good. Now she would leave and never undress in front of him like this again.

  Her head slowly turned back, her gaze stopping at the mirror. She seemed to be staring straight into his eyes. Did she know he was there? Could she see him? Or did she simply feel his lust that hung heavy on the air?

  He expected her to cover herself and leave the room, but she did no such thing. Letting her gaze fall from the mirror, she continued to feed her son until she lifted his sleeping body to her shoulder and gently burped him. She settled her straps back in place and stood up, crossing to the side of the room where Matteo lay.

  His cock tented the blanket that covered him, but he ignored his arousal as she settled the baby on the bed and walked into the washroom. He released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

  Sharing a room with Grace was going to be a lot more difficult than he had imagined.

  17

  Mason Petrovich looked up as the conference room door opened and his commander walked in.

  “You missed a fun party. Your lisichka was there,” said the commander.

  Mason smiled from one side of his mouth. “I should hope so. It is difficult to have a wedding reception without the bride. I’m sure you gave her my best?”

  “But of course. Where are the others?”

  “On their way.”

  As if on cue, the door opened and three more men walked in, all trim and muscular like athletes.

  The commander waited for everyone to sit down. “The stadium explosion went off perfectly. Thank you to Mason for making that one happen. As we expected, they determined the call that detonated the bomb came from within the mansion. Except, of course, for the inopportune marriage of the president’s daughter. What do we know about the husband?”

  A man with small glasses and spiked hair opened a folder. “He’s American. Arrived in town the day of the reception. He used to be employed by the U.S. Navy, SEAL Team Eighteen. Currently works for a company in Georgia called HERO Force—the Hands-on Engagement and Reconnaissance Operations team.”

  The commander chuckled. “It would seem your girlfriend favors a certain type of man. This HERO Force—they are like us?”

  The other man pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. “I believe so, yes. From their website it appears they do everything from hostage negotiations to extractions. They’re skilled in martial arts and weaponry.”

  “But they are a public corporation.”

  “Yes.”

  The man grumbled. “Not so much like us, then. Are Grace and this hero truly married?”

  “It seems so. All the documents are in order. They were married in Switzerland months ago.”

  Mason blew out air. “Not possible. It’s bullshit. A cover.”

  “Assuming she wasn’t already seeing him while you were still there. Maybe the little rug rat isn’t yours after all.”

  The man swore colorfully. “She was only seeing me. I got her pregnant as planned.”

  “But somehow she managed to salvage her reputation and keep public scrutiny away from her father. Nothing we do affects him. It’s time
to make the next step in our plan.”

  The door to the conference room flew open and a man entered, at least a full head taller than the others already in the room. “I’m sorry I’m late. I had a lead I needed to follow up on.”

  “It had better be good.”

  “Oh, it’s good, all right. I found the priest who married them at the president’s mansion two days ago. It took some—convincing, but he admitted he’d been sworn to secrecy and paid to forge the documents with a new wing for his precious church.”

  “They lied.”

  “It gets better. According to the maid, Grace’s new husband sleeps on the floor.”

  The man with the glasses piped up. “It isn’t love at all. Vasile hired someone from this HERO Force to marry his daughter.”

  The commander smiled widely. “Mason, you come up with a strategy. Find the best way to use this to our advantage before the election. I want Vasile’s credibility destroyed and the public to understand his daughter is nothing more than a common slut.”

  Mason shook his head. “It won’t work. The country is in love with the first daughter and her handsome husband.”

  The commander crossed his arms. “It will work.”

  “Enough of this bullshit.” Mason leaned back in his chair. “Our plan failed. Vasile married her off to escape the scrutiny, and the wedding made him more popular than ever.”

  The man with the glasses cleared his throat. “We still have more terrorist attacks planned. He’s taking a beating for those in the news and the polls, and the subway is going to be the worst one yet.”

  “It may not be enough. It’s too late in the game for us to be counting on that.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “What we planned all along.”

  The commander shook his head. “No. That is our last resort.”

  “And we are there now.” Mason leaned forward, letting the front legs of his chair slam down. “He’s been warned—we told him what would happen if he didn’t step down. He knew exactly what the consequence of continuing with this election would be.”