No one spoke to break the silence. Finally, Beth nodded, tears beginning to silently stream down her cheeks. Her husband put his arm around her and pulled her close. “I know,” she finally said, sniffling. “But since we’re being honest… Eva, you really don’t seem all that upset that Drew’s dead.”
Eva gasped. Before she could speak, Ted held up his hand, his lips pressed together so tight they appeared bloodless.
“Beth, that’s uncalled for. We all grieve differently. I think Eva is a strong woman. Eva, I apologize for my wife’s rudeness.”
“Thank you.” Tone icy, Eva dipped her head in a gesture of gratitude before turning her gaze to her mother-in-law. “I’m going to overlook the appalling cruelty of your comment,” she said. “And I’m not going to dignify it with a response. While I understand how much you miss your son, I don’t owe you or anyone else an explanation for anything.”
With that, she turned on her heel and exited the room, her back straight and her head held high.
Jesse let her go and didn’t follow her. Instead, he eyed Drew’s parents and considered whether he should say anything in Eva’s defense. Because these people, for whatever reason, had insulted him as well as her. He truly didn’t care about their opinion of him, but he couldn’t stand when someone disparaged Eva.
In the end, he decided to make a short-and-sweet statement that couldn’t be misconstrued in any way. “I think Eva might be in shock,” he said. “A lot has happened to her in a short amount of time. Please give her a break.”
Ted nodded his agreement but his wife simply looked down at her feet silently, her mouth tight.
Oh well. At least he’d tried. “Good night,” Jesse said. “I’ll go ahead and see if I can scrounge up something until I can get plywood and nail it up over that window.”
Ted frowned. “Drew probably had plywood. Even so, you’ll need some help.”
Eyeing the shattered window, Jesse considered. Ted was right, damn it. He could have used a couple of his Brothers from BOS right now. “Let me go check out the garage and see if there’s anything in there I could use to block it up temporarily.”
“I’ll come help you,” Ted immediately responded. “Beth, go on up to bed. I’ll join you in a little bit.”
To Jesse’s surprise, Beth nodded and took herself off without arguing.
In the immaculate three-car garage, Jesse looked around. In one area, Drew had set up a workshop. Interesting, as Jesse would never have pegged the other man for the type to work with his hands. Propped up against one wall were several medium-size sheets of plywood, along with several two-by-fours.
“These might work,” Jesse said, grabbing them. He handed one to Ted, looking around for a hammer and nails. He located those easily, since it appeared Drew had also been extremely organized, bordering on a neat freak.
Back inside the house, Jesse considered the fastest way to secure the window. Normally, if it hadn’t been the middle of the night, he would have taken pains to knock out the remaining shards of glass and sweep them up, but he’d leave that for tomorrow.
With Ted helping, the two men made short work of covering the broken window with plywood. When they’d finished, Jesse returned the hammer and box of nails to the workbench in the garage. Back inside the house, he thanked Ted for his help. “Maybe we can all get some shut-eye now,” he said.
“Wait.” Ted went into the kitchen and returned holding two cans of beer. “Have a beer with me. I need to decompress a little.”
As peace offerings went, this was the kind Jesse understood. With a brusque nod, he accepted the can and carried it into the den. Ted followed him, taking a seat on the couch opposite Jesse’s chair.
“My wife is understandably distraught,” the older man said. “As am I. My apologies for the offensive comments earlier.”
Not sure how to respond, Jesse settled for nothing. In their short time here, both the Rowsons had disparaged bikers and him and Eva individually. He suspected they had no idea of their son’s true character but if they did, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they’d turned a blind eye.
Truthfully, he really didn’t want to know. When the investigation wound down and indictments were handed out, he hoped these two weren’t caught up in the frenzy of arrests. His life would go on, but anyone who’d been involved in illegal activities would have a high price to pay.
Ted excused himself and headed off to bed.
Once the other man had gone, Jesse went outside, digging out his burner phone, the one no one knew about. Despite the odd hour, he called his boss, knowing all the guys assigned to this investigation would be in a frenzy after the shooting. And not just because it meant a bad guy had paid the ultimate price to escape justice.
“Sorry to wake you,” Jesse began.
“No problem. It’s not like I’m sleeping much anyway. I was beginning to wonder when on earth you were going to check in,” E.J. Spinkler, assistant special agent in charge, or ASAC, exclaimed. “Everything’s going to hell in a handbasket. Do you have a report? Please tell me it will make me feel better.”
Since Drew Rowson had been one of the main focuses of their undercover operation, Jesse wasn’t sure he could do that. Nonetheless, he filled his boss in on everything that had happened after Drew had been gunned down.
“What about the wife?” E.J. asked. “Do you think she’s involved in her husband’s business operations?”
“She’s not.” Drew didn’t even have to think about it. “They didn’t appear to have a close marriage.”
“Keep watching her,” E.J. advised. “She might surprise you.”
“I will. Raul Mendoza is sending up a few more guys from the motorcycle club to watch over her. I’m not sure what exactly he knows. He hasn’t told me, other than to say she and her son are in danger.”
“Which makes me believe he might know the identity of the killer.”
“Exactly.” Jesse actually liked Raul. In his undercover role as biker club member, he’d actually found himself looking up to the older man. Unlike the stereotypical gang leader, Raul handled himself with intelligence and patience. He considered every angle before he acted and while he might be ruthless in his defense of those he loved—he thought of every Brother of Sin as his family—Jesse had seen him act with kindness and compassion too. While Jesse knew the others acted on his direction, to all appearances Raul kept his hands clean.
Initially, Raul had started the Brothers of Sin forty years ago as a simple motorcycle club. He’d been young and wild with only a used Harley to his name. He and three or four like-minded friends would meet up and go for long rides. Based out of Houston, BOS had grown, often in ways Raul hadn’t expected.
From what Raul had told Jesse, as the club had expanded, he’d chosen four men to act as his lieutenants under him. Without telling Raul, one of these men had begun selling guns. When Raul learned of this, he’d been okay with it, but he’d drawn the line at getting involved in drugs.
Now, BOS was one of the largest drug dealers in the southern U.S. Some of the weapons had been sold to known terrorist groups, which is why the ATF had sent Jesse in undercover.
The investigation so far would be hard-pressed to directly tie Raul to anything. He had four lieutenants under him who carried out the day-to-day operations. Jesse had tons of stuff on these men, more than enough to arrest and indict them. But the ATF wanted the big guns, the people who provided the weapons and drugs to BOS. Since they were a huge and violent Mexican cartel, Jesse doubted the ATF would be able to do much about them. Twice he’d refused an offer to extend his undercover work into Mexico. He had no intention of going there or dealing with those people. That was on an entirely different level.
He might be prejudiced, but on the whole he’d found the guys in the BOS to be good people, despite the fact that they wore their one-percenter patches proudly. This referred to a comment by
the American Motorcycle Association that 99 percent of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, leaving only the remaining 1 percent as outlaws.
For the first time in his years with the ATF, he found himself on the verge of losing himself in the role he was playing.
Luckily, he’d managed to pull himself up in time. Eva had had a lot to do with that, with her demand that he choose between her and the club. It hadn’t been a choice he’d wanted to make.
“You need to find the info on where Drew stashed the money,” E.J. said. “We’re not too far from moving in and shutting this thing down.”
Though this exact thing was what Jesse had spent years working toward, he felt sick. He wasn’t ready to close this chapter of his life, not yet, not while Eva still needed him.
Eva. And his son. For the first time he realized if Liam truly was his son, he’d never be able to close out this part of his life and walk away. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, abandon his son. Even if maintaining constant contact with the boy’s mother meant the gaping wounds on his heart would never heal.
“Earth to Jesse,” E.J. said. “Are you still there?”
With difficulty, Jesse forced his thoughts back on track. Eva could always derail him.
“Sorry,” he said.
“Be careful,” the ASAC said. “If you lose your concentration, you could make mistakes. We’re too close to have anyone do anything that might jeopardize the investigation.”
Too close. While he knew he wasn’t the only undercover operative, he wondered what else the ATF had. He’d been able to provide proof that Drew Rowson laundered money for the club. Lots of money. Which would explain the explosive growth of Drew’s real estate investments as they were a useful way to clean dirty money. Lawyering could only take him so far. And Jesse suspected a lot of the funds pushing Drew’s gubernatorial campaign came from dirty money. He needed proof. That had been one of the tasks he’d been quietly working on before someone took Drew out.
“Does anyone have any idea why Drew was killed?” he asked. “From what I could tell, the guy didn’t have a whole lot of enemies.”
E.J. scoffed at that. “Those guys always have enemies. Lot of backstabbing in politics, not to mention when you’re also dealing with criminals.”
“True,” Jesse allowed, even though the code of honor he’d witnessed among the BOS had been steadfast and strong. They truly had each other’s backs.
“Anyway, I want you to keep an eye on the wife,” E.J. ordered. “Watch her closely. I know the two of you were a thing a couple years ago, so use that to your advantage. We need to know the scope of her involvement.”
Though Jesse could have told his boss that would be a waste of time, he knew better. “Will do,” he promised. “That won’t be difficult at all.”
Difficult didn’t even begin to describe it.
* * *
Liam woke up crying, the baby monitor Eva still used to watch him transmitting his sobs clearly. Though she’d had less than four hours of sleep, Eva scrambled from her bed and staggered down the hall to his room. She gathered him up and held him, rocking him in her arms while murmuring soothing bits of nonsense to him.
“I’m hungwy,” he announced, his tears still wet on his baby-soft, chubby cheeks.
She kissed them away. “Then let’s go get you something to eat.” She settled him on her hip and carried him downstairs.
Alone in the kitchen, she made herself a cup of coffee while Liam sat in his booster, happily munching on Cheerios while she made his favorite oatmeal with milk and raisins. Her stomach felt hollow, so she made enough for her breakfast too.
They ate together, Liam keeping up a running monologue of sounds, some nonsensical, but most of them involving expressing his newfound desire for a puppy. “Doggy, mama!” he said, pounding the top of his high chair for emphasis.
Drew had emphatically said no when she’d asked a week ago. Since he so rarely spent time with his son, he’d expressed disbelief that a two-year-old could string enough words together to be understood.
She hadn’t mentioned it again. Maybe she’d revisit the idea once things calmed down. She’d grown up with dogs, large rotties who looked mean but really were sweet and loving. Though now she was thinking of a small dog, maybe a mixed-breed rescue puppy.
After Liam had cleaned his bowl and drunk his juice, she took him back upstairs, hoping she wouldn’t have to wake Kara again. Since the nanny’s door remained closed, she suspected she would.
With a sigh, she tapped lightly. To her surprise, Kara opened immediately. She’d already showered and dressed and appeared awake and alert, ready to go to work.
“Kawa!” Liam exclaimed, rushing at his nanny and hugging her legs. “Mornin’!”
“Mornin’, little bit,” Kara replied, ruffling his wheat-colored curls. “Have you been awake long?”
“Not too long. He’s been fed,” Eva said. “He’ll need to be dressed and then I’ll have to ask you to keep him in the playroom today. No walks, nothing outside, even in the backyard.”
“Why?” Kara asked, confusion furrowing her brows.
Liam zoomed past the nanny, spotting one of his toy trucks in her room. While he played with it, Eva quietly filled Kara in on the overnight events. When she’d finished, Kara’s eyes widened. “Are we safe here?” she asked nervously.
“Yes,” Eva answered, hoping she spoke the truth. “My father is sending up more bodyguards and I’ll make sure at least two are assigned to you and Liam. For now, just keep a close eye on him and stay inside.”
Swallowing hard, Kara nodded. Eva kissed Liam on the cheek and hurried to her room to get ready.
After taking her own shower and putting on makeup, Eva dressed in a carefully neutral outfit and went back downstairs. This time Jesse sat alone at the kitchen table drinking coffee. Judging from his damp hair, he’d also recently showered.
Despite herself, her heart skittered a beat when she saw him. “Good morning,” she chirped, covering her reaction with a determined upbeat attitude. She’d become a master at that over the past few years.
“Mornin’,” he grunted. “You look good. Way better than I feel. But then you were always good at functioning on little sleep.”
“I got even better once I had a baby,” she said, without really considering the possible impact of her words. “I’ve been up awhile. I’ve already fed Liam and had breakfast.”
For a second or two, Jesse locked gazes with her and didn’t move. Her stomach swooped but she held his gaze.
“Where is he?” he asked, his voice carefully casual. “Upstairs with the nanny?”
“Yes. Kara will watch over him while I attend to all the final details of the funeral.”
He nodded, finally looking away. When he looked back and spoke again, his tone had gentled. “Why do you even have a nanny, Eva? I know you. If there was ever anyone who would be perfect at being a hands-on mother, that would be you.”
“Drew hired her,” she admitted. “He said he needed to make sure I was available to perform the duties he required of his wife.” Even as she spoke, she was aware of how chauvinistic that sounded. She’d thought so at the time too, but figured as long as she could control the situation, she could make it work.
So far, it had. She still spent as much time as possible with her son. Kara had it easy.
Other than narrowing his eyes, Jesse didn’t respond to her statement. He didn’t have to. She knew exactly what thoughts were going through his mind. After all, they’d been together for over a year. Once, she’d taken pride in considering herself a fierce warrior woman. She’d never, ever been the type to let a man call the shots. Her father had taught her to depend on no one but herself and she’d been damn good at that.
Somehow, without knowing how, she’d obviously changed. She couldn’t even pinpoint the exact moment.
Even worse, she
felt too numb to be angry enough to do something about changing things. Maybe that would come later. Right now, it would be hard enough to simply make it through the day. She had in-laws to deal with and a funeral to finalize. The media would need a statement, as well.
She got a second cup of coffee and sat down at the table, intent on losing herself in scrolling through her phone. When Ted and Beth Rowson strolled in a few minutes later, already dressed and looking ready to go, that’s exactly what she was doing.
With everyone gathered in the kitchen drinking coffee, she knew she should offer to make something for them to eat, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that.
Eyeing her, Jesse must have understood. “I’m going to make a doughnut run,” he announced. “I’ll be right back.”
“Get some sausage rolls too,” Ted told him.
Jesse nodded as he went out the door. A moment later, the rumbling sound of his motorcycle starting up filled the kitchen.
Eva caught a look of envy on Ted’s aristocratic face, though the instant he saw her looking, he looked away.
Fifteen minutes later, Jesse returned with a large box of doughnuts. Everyone grabbed one or two and fell to eating them as if they hadn’t eaten for days. Eva stayed back and watched, unable to stomach so much sugar right now. She watched Jesse eat a huge bear claw with obvious enjoyment. There was something sensual in the way he ate, and she had to swallow back the shiver of desire skittering through her.
The doorbell rang at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Everyone fell silent.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense January 2021 Page 52