Javier
As soon as we get into the other room, Beckett shuts the door.
“Gabriella needs to know how to protect herself. Triker isn’t going to stop if he has his sights set on her. I want her to learn to shoot a gun. She won’t listen to me, and you need to press her harder on this.”
I scrub my hands over my face. “I’m on the same page as you, but she refuses. I can’t bring it up with her again.”
“You need to.”
“I can’t.”
Beckett reddens. “So, you’re going to let her be unprotected?”
My blood boils. I cross my arms. “I don’t like this any more than you do, but Gabriella has created her boundary. She isn’t budging, and I can’t do anything about it.”
“Sure you can. Talk to her again.”
“I can’t. She’ll break up with me.”
“Why do you believe that?”
“She warned me. That’s how strongly she feels about it.”
Beckett paces the room. “Triker isn’t going to stop.”
“Does he have anything against you?”
“Not that I am aware of, but he could just from the other night at the party when we kicked him out.”
“Nothing happened between you two in prison?”
Beckett stops pacing. “No. The only interaction I had with him was when he got stabbed, and I had to stitch him up.”
“Why would you stitch him up?”
“I got my nursing degree in prison and worked in the infirmary.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that. Those are good skills to have.”
Beckett shrugs.
“What about Skates?”
Beckett’s face hardens. “What about Skates?”
“Would he have something to do with this?”
“No,” he says a little too quickly.
“Because Skates is dead?”
His eyes widen before he catches himself. “He’s dead?”
“My hunch is that he is,” I calmly say.
“Why do you believe that?” Beckett asks.
Are we really going to play this game?
“You and I both know that something happened the day Henry and Mia went out on Skates’ yacht.”
He barks, “Mia didn’t—”
“Mia didn’t what? Go willingly?”
Beckett’s face hardens. “I thought you were interested in protecting my sister.”
He’s right. This is about Gabriella.
“I am.”
“Then why are you bringing this up?”
I step closer to him. “Let’s get something clear. No one, not you, me, or Chloe, wants Skates alive. So whatever happened out there, I’m sure there were good reasons for it.”
Silence.
“Tell me one thing, and then I’m not going to bring this up the rest of the time we’re here for this hurricane.”
“What’s that?”
“Is there any possibility this has to do with Skates, and he’s sending orders to Triker to come after Gabriella?”
More silence.
After a few moments pass, I say, “I’m going to take your silence to mean there’s no possibility?”
He continues to say nothing.
Yep. Skates is dead.
The pit in my stomach grows. “So Triker is coming after Gabriella all on his own?” I run my hand through my hair. This is worse than if Skates was ordering Triker. He wants Gabriella as his, and knowing what I know about Triker, he’s not going to stop until he gets what he wants.
“You understand why she needs to be able to protect herself, then?” Beckett says.
I spin on him. “Do you not think that every moment since Friday, this is all I’ve thought about?”
“Friday? I thought it happened yesterday.”
“We were at dinner. I went to pay the bill, and she went to the restroom. He manhandled her there, too.”
“And you didn’t shoot or arrest him?” he angrily asks.
“I didn’t have my gun on me. We were lucky it ended the way it did.”
He scowls. “And you let Gabriella go to work on Sunday?”
“I’ve been beating myself up about that.”
“Why didn’t they arrest Triker on violation of his parole? Mine clearly states any altercations with the law and I’m going back inside.”
“Chloe thinks Officer Hess is dirty like Henry. We don’t know if Triker is out or if he called the parole officer. No one would confirm or deny anything when we followed up several times today.”
“You have your gun now?”
“Yes. It’s in my bag in Gabriella’s room.”
“Mia’s is in my room. At least we’re covered if they try to come for us during this storm.”
“The house is locked?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t checked.”
“Let’s go do a full check. All windows and doors. Everything stays locked until we say, and I’ll let you inform everyone of the rules.”
“Okay.” He checks one window while I check the other. “Javier, you still haven’t answered my question on how we’re going to keep Gabriella safe when she isn’t with you.”
“She can’t go out unless she’s with one of us, and we’ve got our gun.”
“I can’t have a gun because of my parole.”
I turn toward him. “But Mia does?”
“Yeah.”
“She knows how to use it?”
“She can probably outshoot you.”
“Doubt that. I’m a trained Marine sniper.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
He grins. “Well, I’d love to see my wife go up against you, then.”
Wife?
“You and Mia are married?”
“As of last weekend,” he proudly states.
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
We finish checking the windows and move around the rest of the house, making sure everything is locked up. When we finish checking windows upstairs, I turn to Beckett. “I’ve spent a lot of hours reviewing your case. There are a ton of loopholes. I think now that Mia is back, if you both testified about what happened that night, you could get the felony removed from your record. It wouldn’t get the ten years of your life back, but it could make your future a little easier.”
“You believe I’m innocent?”
“Yeah.”
He scowls. “Because you’re sleeping with my sister?”
“No. I’ve believed that for the last few years.”
His head jerks back slightly. “Is that so?”
“Yes. Why, am I wrong?”
“No, I’m just surprised.”
“Why is that?”
He shrugs. “I’ve never claimed otherwise.”
“Maybe it’s time to start telling the truth?”
His face hardens again. “I won’t put Mia through that. As far as the world is concerned, I’m a murderer and felon. There’s no evidence to prove otherwise.”
“But you could—”
“No. I appreciate what you’re saying, but I have Mia and my job with my brothers. The only thing we need to focus on is making sure Triker never comes near Gabriella again.”
Without thinking about my promise to him earlier not to bring it up during the hurricane, I go back into FBI mode. “And what about Skates and Henry?”
He glares at me. “What about them?”
“You just said the only thing we need to focus on is Triker. We don’t need to worry about Skates and Henry anymore?”
Beckett growls, “Are you going to hound me about Skates and Henry the entire time we’re locked up in this house?”
Way to go, Javier. And this one is on you, not Beckett. You gave your word.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I said I wouldn’t bring it up again.”
Beckett steps closer. “Let me make myself clear, and then I don’t want to ever talk about this again with you. My only prerogative is to make sure my family is safe at all times. Right now, the threat seems to be on Gabriella. I suggest we focus on that because my sister needs to stay safe. Can we agree on that?”
“Yeah, we can.”
“Good. And one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“My sister said you make her happy. If you ever do anything to hurt her, you’ll be the first person I do kill.”
So it was one of your brothers or Mia who killed Skates and Henry, and not you.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”