Gabriella
Three Months Later
My heart is racing, and I’m pacing in our condo.
I have to get out of here.
Just go out for a few minutes. It’ll be fine.
You promised Javier you wouldn’t go out without your brothers or him.
I pick up my phone and call Beckett, Ryland, and Hudson, but there is no answer. They’ve been trying to finish a job that got delayed by the rain, and the last few days they’ve been working long hours.
Javier already warned me he would be unavailable today based on whatever is going on at work he can’t tell me about.
How much longer is this going to last?
It’s been three months since Triker’s gang member tried to abduct me.
Is he still a threat?
Surely he’s forgotten about me by now?
I pull at my hair and pace some more then dial Mia.
“Gabriella?” she answers.
“Mia. What are you doing?”
“I’m taking dinner to the guys. They’ve been at the house since 5 a.m.”
“Oh. That’s nice.”
“Are you okay?”
I twist my hair around my finger and pull it. “I’m fine.”
“Where is Javier?”
“He’s working. I’m not sure when he’ll be home.”
“Are you sure you are doing okay? Do you want me to come over later?”
“Yes. Can you bring your gun?”
“Bring my gun?” Mia quietly says.
“I need to get out of here.”
“Beckett will kill me if I go anywhere with you without one of the guys. The last time we did that, he didn’t talk to me for several days.”
“Then don’t tell him.”
“Gabriella, I don’t want to lie to my husband.”
“Mia, I need to get out of here. I’m going crazy.”
“Let me come over, and we can work out.”
“I’ve worked out for three hours today,” I quietly admit.
“Gabriella, that’s too much.”
“I don’t know what else to do. I feel like these walls are closing in on me.”
“I’ve got another half hour until the food is ready. Let me drop it off, and I’ll come over,” Mia says.
I glance at the time. “No. It’s okay. By the time you get here, Javier will probably be home.”
“I can come over. It isn’t a big deal.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll make dinner for Javier. That will keep me busy.”
“Gabriella, are you sure you don’t want me to come over?”
“Yeah. I’ll be okay,” I lie to her and try to convince myself.
“Call me if you change your mind and want me to come over.”
“I will. Thanks.” I hang up and start to pace some more.
My phone rings. “Javier,” I say a little too excited.
“Gabriella, what’s wrong?”
“Are you coming home?”
“I’m about five minutes away. Do you want me to pick something up for dinner?”
“No! Take me out. Please. Or I’ll pack food, and we can go to the beach. I don’t care. I have to get out of here.”
“Gabriella, are you okay?”
“No. I think the walls are going to suffocate me. I need to get out of here.”
“All right, baby. We’ll go out. Did you eat today?”
“Yes.”
“Did you exercise?”
“For three hours,” I quietly say.
“Three hours? Gabriella, we discussed this. You can’t work out that much. It isn’t healthy.”
“Then what do you want me to do all day? You have me locked up here, and we haven’t even heard a peep from Triker. I can’t do this anymore.”
“I’m pulling in now. I’ll be up in a minute.” He hangs up.
I continue to pace and play with my hair then sling my purse over my shoulder and stand with my head outside the door.
Javier steps off the elevator, and I shut the door and run down to meet him.
“Whoa.”
“Get me out of here.”
“Okay, baby.”
The elevator has already left, so I yank open the stairway door.
“Gabriella.”
“I need air.” I race down the stairs with him in tow and step out into the muggy fall air.
“Gabriella. Stop.” Javier places his hand on my arm.
I spin into him. “What?”
He pushes my hair behind my ear. “Hi.”
I blow out air. “I’m sorry. Hi.”
“Can I have a kiss?”
I kiss him.
He smiles. “That’s better. Should we walk to the beach and have dinner?”
“Let’s walk.” The panic I’ve been feeling all day gets smaller.
He clasps my hand, and he leads me out of the parking garage. “I’m sorry I’ve been working late all week.”
“I know, but I’m going crazy in there. It’s been three months, and we haven’t heard anything from Triker. I think we’re taking this to the extreme.”
Javier pulls me close. “The threat is still there. He hasn’t lifted the declaration on you. Until he is captured or killed, we can’t change anything.”
“I need to live a normal life. I want my job back.”
Javier stops. “Gabriella, let’s not go back and forth on this. It’s not safe. This week has been hard, I get it, but until we find him—”
“Then find him. You’re the FBI!”
Javier’s face hardens.
I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I know you’re doing everything you can.”
“Intel was wrong again. I thought I would have good news for you tonight, but we had another sting that failed today.”
The pit in my stomach grows.
This is never going to be over.
I blink away tears.
He turns back to me and quietly says, “This isn’t easy for me, either, Gabriella. I don’t want you to have to live like this, but I don’t know what other option we have.”
For the first time since he came home, I study his face. Stress, worry, exhaustion are all over it.
You’re the cause of that.
Stop being a brat. He’s doing everything he can to find Triker.
Too many nights, I’ve woken to find Javier hunched over his laptop or phone, obsessing over finding Triker.
I lock my hands around his neck. “I’m acting selfishly right now. I’m sorry.”
“No, you aren’t. This situation we’re in, it’s not ideal, and I didn’t think it would have taken this long to find Triker.”
“It’s not your fault.”
He clenches his jaw.
“Javier.”
“Hmm?”
“It’s not.”
“Come on. Let’s go to dinner.”
We cross the street and walk through the parking lot and into the restaurant. Within a few minutes, we are seated and staring out at the ocean.
I take a few deep breaths of fresh, salty ocean air.
“Feel better?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
He scoots his chair closer and puts his arm around me. We’re both facing the water.
“It’s supposed to be nice Saturday. Why don’t we get up early and head out on the Jet Ski? We can spend the day on the water and outside.”
“I’d love that. I’m sorry I was crazy when you came home.”
He leans into my ear. “I’m crazy about you, so I guess that makes us even.”
“You’re a sucker for punishment, huh?”
He kisses my cheek. “Guess so.”
The waitress comes to our table, and we order waters and cheeseburgers.
Javier kisses my hand. “I think we need to figure out how to get you out of the house tomorrow. I can’t take tomorrow off.”
“Can you talk with Beckett? Mia can take her gun, and we could go shopping or something. She can shoot better than he can, so I don’t understand why he isn’t letting us go out together.”
“No. He made it clear he doesn’t want to put Mia in a position where she might have to use it, and I don’t blame him.”
“But—”
Javier holds his hand up. “Why don’t I talk to Beckett and see what he thinks about you and Mia hanging out at your parents’ place tomorrow? Maybe Connor and Gracie aren’t working, and you could all hang out by the pool. Mia can have her gun on her, and then you’re covered but not out in public. Your parents’ backyard and house is more secure than Mia’s.”
“That would be better than being in the condo.”
“All right. Why don’t we stay at your parents tonight, too? Get you away from the condo for a little longer.”
“What are we going to tell my parents about why we are there?” They still don’t know anything about what Beckett revealed at the picnic or that Triker is after me.
Javier sits back for a minute. “Let’s tell them there’s a plumbing issue in the condo.”
“Okay.”
The waitress brings our water to the table, and I take a long drink.
Javier pulls his phone out and types on it. “I’m texting Beckett I need to talk to him tonight. I think he’ll agree to it if you promise not to venture outside your parents’ place. I know your brothers are trying to catch up on their building schedule this week while the weather is cooperating, so I’m sure he’ll feel better knowing Mia isn’t on her own, too.”
I kiss him. “Thanks.”
“One day at a time, baby. That’s all we can do. Have a pool day tomorrow and then Saturday will be here and we’ll go out on the water. A few days of fresh air, and you’ll feel a lot better.”
“I can be happy with that.”
He puts one hand on my cheek. “I promise you I’m going to hunt Triker down and make him pay for ever touching you and causing you to have to live like this.”
I brush my lips against his. “I know you will.”