by Anna Blakely
The last thing I want is his pity.
She looked away from him, a damn tear falling down her cheek when she blinked. “I said, stop.”
“You were charged with assault, but because of your age, you went into a juvenile facility for nine months instead of jail. When you got out, you went to live with Everett and Annabelle Shoemaker, two teachers at the high school you attended. They have a daughter a few years younger than you. Her name is”—
“Sam.” Gabby looked back up at him, her heart aching with fear for her foster sister. “Look, if you’re going to kill me, just do it. Otherwise, you really need to let me go.”
“Kill you?” His handsome face contorted with confusion. “Why would I”—
“Isn’t that why I’m here?” she cut him off. “Your boss wants to know why I’ve been asking around about him, right? But why? Does Andino think I’m some kind of narc or something? Because I’m not.”
I just wanted to find my sister, which clearly isn’t going to happen now. The thought ripped her soul in two.
“So like I said”—she jutted her chin upward toward Zade—"whatever it is you came to do, either do it and get it over with, or cut me loose.”
By the time she was done talking, both cheeks were damp with fresh tears. Tears she hadn’t even realized were falling.
For the longest time, Zade did nothing but stand there, staring down at her from his spot near the table. He didn’t move any closer. Didn’t utter a single word.
He did nothing but stare, and for the life of her, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. What he was feeling.
Gabby was about to open her mouth and start screaming at him to do something, to say something, but closed it again when Zade sat the tablet down onto the table and began talking again.
“What were you doing in that club tonight?”
The truth was on the tip of her tongue. Part of her wanted to tell him. Wanted nothing more than to talk to someone she could trust about the pain and fear she’d been living with for the past two months.
Actually what she really wanted was to talk to Zade. Not the man staring down at her expectantly, but the sweet, caring Zade she thought she knew.
Too bad he doesn’t exist.
“Like I told your buddy...” Gabby lifted her stubborn chin. “I was there with some friends.”
“You also told him you’d never been to Grand Isle.”
Almost subconsciously, his eyes trailed her body as he spoke. Gabby was shocked to see the same heat she remembered flare to life behind the swirls of brown and green.
He blinked, and it was gone.
Jaw tightening, Zade brought his focus back to her face. “We both know that was a lie.”
She could feel her cheeks becoming flushed, wishing she could pull her damn skirt down. “My weekend there had nothing to do with the reason I’m here.”
“And that reason would be…” His voice trailed off.
“We’ve been over this, Zade.” She worked to keep her voice steady. “My friends and I—”
“Come on, Gabby,” he growled. The man actually growled. “We saw you come into Andino’s club. Watched you stand at the bar for quite a while. Alone.”
Keep your cool.
Neither Zade nor the other man had mentioned Sam, so it was possible they didn’t know she was the reason Gabby was here. She didn’t want to offer up that information, either, for fear word would get back to the man who’d taken her. If that happened, Sam could be in even more danger than she already was.
“I got there before they did,” Gabby continued with the lie. “I was waiting for my friends to show when—”
“Enough with the fucking lies!” Zade’s booming voice made her jump. Fists tightening at his sides, he looked both angry and…a little lost. “I want the truth. I think I’ve at least earned that much.”
Her brows arched high as anger flooded her veins. “I’m sorry, you’ve earned it? Why, because we slept together a few times? How about this, Zade. How about you tell me the truth!”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. You want to stand there acting like a freaking Boy Scout demanding honesty from me when you lied, too.”
Scowling, he spoke through a set of perfect, clenched teeth. “What the hell did I lie to you about?”
“Uh, your job, for one.”
Lord only knows what else.
“I never lied about that.”
“You told me you worked for a private security company in Dallas.” Gabby glanced around the room. “Does this look like freaking Texas to you?”
Zade swallowed. “I do work for a private security company.” His voice didn’t waver, his gaze on her remained firm. “It is based out of Dallas.”
Damn, he was good. Most dishonest people she knew had some sort of tell to give them away. Not this guy.
Of course, he doesn’t.
Gabby shook her head. “When you said private security, I thought that meant you installed alarm systems or something.”
Her eyes slid over his left shoulder. His shirt hid the scars there.
She’d seen them when they were in bed, together. Had touched them with her fingertips.
Gabby had kissed them, her heart aching for the pain she knew he must’ve suffered.
At the time, she’d assumed the injury was from his military days. But now…
Her eyes met his. “My fault, I guess. I didn’t realize ‘private security’ meant playing enforcer for a freaking cartel leader.”
Zade’s dark eyes widened before narrowing in an assessing glance. “You really think I work for Hector Andino.”
The statement made it sound as if this bit of news was surprising.
“Don’t you?” Gabby shot back, wishing he’d just own up to his shit and move on, already.
Except Gabby didn’t want to think it was true. Never in a million years would she have put the sweet, gentle Zade she’d briefly known into bed with a man like Hector Andino.
But he was here, and she was here. Either Zade or the other guy who’d been in here earlier had tied her to a chair after drugging and kidnapping her.
So there was that.
Gabby watched Zade’s wheels turn for several seconds before his brows grew closer together.
“What kind of game are you playing, here, Gabby?” When she refused to answer, a muscle in his strong jaw bulged. “Why were you in Grand Isle?”
She continued to remain silent. Out of preservation or spite, she wasn’t exactly sure. What she did know was that her silence had him nearly growling again.
“How did you know to target me?”
“Target you?” Gabby chuckled, unable to keep quiet at that remark. “Now who’s playing games, Zade? I didn’t target you. You targeted me.”
“The hell I did!” His face turned red, a vein in his forehead becoming much larger than before. Hands that knew every inch of her body flew to his hips as he took a step forward. Fury marred his handsome features. “How long have you worked for Hector Andino?”
“I don’t work for that bastard!” she shouted back, her body tensing beneath her restraints.
God, she was tired of all the questions and the games. She needed to get out of here.
She needed to find Sam.
“Well neither do I!” Zade yelled back, staring at her with fierce determination.
If she didn’t know any better, Gabby would swear he was telling the truth. And if that was the case, then…
“Why are you here, Zade?” Her demand was soft. “Why did you drug me and”—Gabby looked down at her raw wrists, refusing to let her fear show—“tie me up? And why are you interrogating me like I’m some kind of criminal?”
You are a criminal, remember?
Looking as honest as she’d ever seen him, Zade locked eyes with her and said, “I’m here because my team was assigned to take down Hector Andino, by any means necessary.”
Chapter 5
“Your…team?” The smooth skin on Gabby’s for
ehead bunched together. “What team?”
Zade watched her carefully before answering. Though it was almost impossible at this point, he did his damnedest to hide his body’s reaction to seeing this woman again.
For weeks, he’d done little else but think about her.
Think about her. Dream about her. Search for her.
And here she was, less than ten feet away from him. Tied to a fucking chair while he interrogated her.
Every night since coming back from that island, Zade had fantasized about seeing Gabby again. Though the scenes in his mind would change slightly from one night to the next, at their core, they all consisted of the same, incredible things.
Hot passionate kisses and making love until the sun came up.
But this? Of all the scenarios he’d imagined, this was about as far the fuck away from his dreams as he could get.
Gabe thought she was trying to pull one over on them with the whole, ‘they-work-for-Andino’ angle. Somehow turn the tables on them or some shit. Zade wasn’t so sure.
The Gabby he knew wouldn’t do something like that. Of course, the Gabby he knew never really existed. Did she?
Using the coms they were all still wearing, Zade had listened in on Gabby’s conversation with Gabe. He’d heard the lies she’d told. How easily she told them.
Then he saw her record.
Nate had taken her picture and her prints while she was still unconscious. Using facial recognition software, he’d run her through his system.
A system that shed one hell of a light on who this woman really was.
Struggling to reconcile the woman he’d only just begun to love with the one they’d abducted, Zade had been filled with too many conflicting emotions to make it past reading the first line of her background report.
The one showing her real name and arrest record.
Instead of acting like an experienced operative and reading the entire thing first, he’d immediately barged in here to confront her. Tired of her lies and deception, and feeling like a fool who’d been royally played, it wasn’t until he got to the part about her foster brother attacking her that he’d even questioned the validity of the charges.
When he saw her reaction to what he’d been reading aloud—her statement telling how her foster brother had assaulted her…had fucking raped her—Zade knew in his heart she’d been telling the truth all those years ago.
But was she telling the truth now?
Either way, Gabby had been the victim back then. She’d been assaulted, violated in the most heinous of ways, yet she was the one who’d been sentenced to juvie while the prick who’d raped her walked free.
All because no one had believed her. She’d had no one on her side.
I’m on your side, baby.
The thought was instant. It took no effort on his part and was simply there, despite the circumstances. It was as natural as breathing for him.
I’m going to find the sonofabitch who hurt you and make him wish he’d never laid a finger on my Gabby.
Whoa. That wasn’t right.
Until a few minutes ago, he didn’t even know her real name. So, no, she wasn’t his.
Except when they’d been together on that island, Gabby had felt like his. His present and his future. His…everything.
“Zade?”
He blinked, her voice tearing him away from his thoughts.
Shit. He needed to talk with Gabe and the others and figure out what their next step should be. Because all of a sudden, he had the feeling they’d made a massive fucking mistake.
“Helloo…” Gabby turned her voice all sing-songy. “Did you hear what I said? I asked what team you’re referring to. And are you guys really going after Andino?”
Her hopeful tone had Zade’s eyes sliding to hers. The hope she felt wasn’t only present in her voice. It was staring straight the fuck back at him.
She wasn’t working with Hector Andino. Gabby wanted the man caught as much as he did. Question was why?
Needing to get away from her so he could think clearly and talk it all out with his team, Zade turned and left the room. Gabby’s voice followed him as he went.
“You’re leaving? Wait! Zade, please! Don’t leave me here!”
He didn’t say a word. Zade simply shut the door behind him and blew out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Closing his eyes, he took a second to regroup.
After a few seconds, he pushed away from the door and looked around the room. The abandoned house had nothing but bare, peeling walls and a couple of tables and a few chairs.
One of those chairs was in the room he’d just left.
Leaning against the far wall near an opening that had once housed a window, Matt glanced his way. “Well, that was interesting.”
The other men had obviously heard his entire conversation with Gabby.
“That’s one way to put it.” Gabe stared at him from where he sat.
“Yeah, what the hell, man?” Kole was sitting across from Gabe. The man’s face had turned into a deep scowl. “You told her our objective?”
“Relax, Jameson.” Gabe looked at the other man. “It’s not like she’s in any position to run off and tell anyone.”
Because she’s still in there, tied to that fucking chair.
“She’s not involved with Andino.” The words were out before Zade had time to think about them.
Gabe’s gaze swung back to his. “You sure about that?”
He gave his team leader a single nod. “I’m sure.”
“Why?” Nate asked from his spot near the door. “Because she told you so, or because you two bumped uglies a few times?” The computer geek smirked, clearly amused by his own smartass comment.
Remember, he’s your teammate. You can’t kill him.
“No, jackass.” Zade looked over at him. “Because I saw it in her eyes. She’s telling the truth.”
Kole snorted. “That’d be a first.”
An unexpected rage filled Zade as he stormed over to where his teammate sat. “You got something to say, Jameson?”
Kole’s shoulder rose and fell in a casual shrug. “Just that she’s already proven herself to be deceitful.”
“He’s right, Zade.” Matt stood and walked over to him. “She lied to Gabe about why she was really in that club tonight. Lied to you about it, too. About all sorts of things, actually.”
“Because she thought we were Andino’s hired gunmen. As for the rest…she probably didn’t tell me the truth about who she really was when we first met, because she didn’t want me to know about her past.”
He wished she’d felt comfortable enough with him to be honest with him, but it actually made sense to him, now.
Their time together was supposed to be nothing more than a weekend fling. They’d both agreed going in. No strings or talk about a future, which meant…
“We were two, consenting adults having fun and blowing off steam for the weekend. There was no reason for her to divulge her time spent in juvie.” Zade gave Matt a raised brow. “Did you share all the shit you did in the past with every woman you slept with?”
He knew the remark would hit home with his friend. There’d been several women in Matt’s life before he and Katherine finally found their way back to each other.
Since then, the former playboy didn’t so much as glance in another woman’s direction. Kat was it for him.
I want that, too.
With Gabby? He thought he did. Now, he wasn’t sure.
What he was certain of was that she played no part in Andino’s skin trade business.
“If that’s all it was”—Matt kept on, bringing Zade’s focus back to the subject at hand—“then why have you spent the past four weeks searching high and low for this woman?” The man’s question came with a challenging tone. “It may have been fun for her, but you, my friend, fell hard and fast for that woman in there.”
No, he’d fallen for the woman she projected herself to be.
That was the fucking c
rux of the whole damn problem. Zade didn’t know what to believe right now. He didn’t know which version of Gabby was the real thing.
The liar?
The lover?
Both?
You know.
Running a hand over his jaw, Zade shook his head. “Look, none of that matters now.” Though he’d damn sure be clearing that particular issue up soon. “What’s important is finding the girls Andino’s planning to sell and getting them back home where they belong.”
Zade had two sisters. Some bastard ever even attempted to do something like this to either of them, he’d hunt the fucker down to the ends of the earth if he had to.
The girls Andino had taken deserved nothing less.
“All right, fine.” Nate was the first one to relent. “In the meantime, what do we do about Red?”
“Red?” Zade shot his friend a look.
“She has red hair, doesn’t she?”
Hell yes, she did. He’d spent hours running his fingers through her long, thick, silken hair.
“I say we have Ryker send in a team to take her back to Texas,” Kole shared his opinion. “Let Homeland deal with her.”
“Deal with her?” Zade glared at the other man. “She’s a human being, for Christ’s sake. Not some goddamn stray cat.”
“Look, man. I get that you have a history with her.” Kole’s tone was steady and in control. “But it’s not like we can keep her tied to a fucking chair while we go searching for our target.”
“He’s right, Zade.” Matt’s remorseful gaze locked with his. “Not to sound like a total prick, but if Gabby’s telling the truth about not working for Andino, she’s of no use to us.”
“We don’t know that. Hell we still haven’t figured out why she’s here,” Zade reminded his teammates. “There has to be a connection. Either to me or Andino. I know I can get her to—”
“Talk?” Kole looked unconvinced. “The woman’s been awake for damn near an hour and hasn’t given us shit.”
He had a point, but it didn’t matter. Not to Zade. “She’ll talk to me. I just need more time to show her she can trust me. To convince her we’re not the bad guys.”
Kole stood and walked around the edge of the table. “The girls Andino took? They don’t have the luxury of time, Zade. Every minute your girlfriend stalls is a minute closer to those other women and girls being sold. It’s a minute closer to them being taken against their will…again…for God only knows what purpose.”