GABE PULLED HIS car over to the side of the street. The drive was a quarter mile long and the house looked like the same two-story, three-wing, million-dollar mansion. He pulled onto the drive. Caisey wasn’t the only one who could protect the people she cared about.
Yes, he was really going to do this.
The doorbell echoed through the house, but no one answered. Gabe tried the handle, which opened to the cavernous foyer. His uncle’s office hadn’t moved, and that was where he found Holden Arturo—alone in his giant house, in the dim light of his office, hunched over his computer.
“Long time no see.”
Holden’s face jerked up and his eyes narrowed. He whipped open the top drawer of the desk and pulled out a gun.
“You won’t kill me.”
“After what you’ve done to this family, I should splatter your brains on the rug. You’re supposed to be dead already. I should shoot you right now.”
“But who would clean it up?” Gabe had seen the layer of dust on the shelves and guessed that when Nic’s mother took her suitcases and her court-appointed assets she’d taken the housekeeper too. But Holden probably didn’t care, so long as the outside was up to par.
Gabe folded his arms across his chest and prayed his uncle didn’t see the fear coursing through his veins. “It seems imprudent, after all the effort you’ve gone to, that you would go and ruin the plan now. You’d never get away with it.”
Holden’s jaw flexed. “I’d like to say I know what you’re talking about, but I’m afraid I have no idea. Sounds interesting, though. Perhaps you are confusing circumstances with one of your books.”
He said that like it was a foul word. No matter that Gabe had built something for himself through hard work, something that most would consider to be a success. That didn’t matter to Holden, who saw only ruthlessness as victory.
Gabe opened his mouth to fire back, but something held his tongue. “What happened to you? I expected the maids and bodyguards you used to have. Where is everyone?”
Holden sniffed. “What, have you been living in the boondocks all these years? The economy tanked. Business dropped off. Layoffs were inevitable.”
And instead of consolidating his efforts, Holden had merely clung to the crumbling ashes of his empire. Now he was only left with his pride.
“You know exactly where I’ve been living. I figured out you had the sheriff try and pin a murder on me.” It was a guess, but Gabe figured it was probably accurate.
“So you say.” His eyes narrowed. “Wearing a wire, perhaps? Trying to get me to incriminate myself?”
Gabe’s cell phone was recording the conversation from his jacket pocket, but he wasn’t going to admit that. “I just want to understand why.”
“That’s why you came? Closure.” The older man snorted, his wrinkled face shifting like an accordion being played. “So much psychobabble, like your mother. She always was more concerned with feelings. Your father and I are men of action. But you couldn’t be content with the comfortable life we gave you. You had to tear it all apart.”
Holden stood, set both of his palms on the desk and leaned forward. “You come to my house and dare ask me to explain myself? You are nothing, Gabriel. We gave you the world and you threw it back in our faces.”
Gabe wanted to step back, but he had to hold his ground. The old man would think him weak if he retreated, never mind that stomach acid stung in his throat.
“Leave us alone.”
Holden tipped his head back and laughed, but there was no humor in it.
**
Nic pulled onto the drive with Jenna in the passenger seat. His headlights lit up the back of Gabe’s Jeep.
“I was right.”
Jenna glanced at him, eyes wide. “He’s really here?”
“That’s his car.” Nic blew out a breath. “What is he doing? This is suicide.”
Jenna had already pulled out her phone. “I’m going to call Caisey.”
Nic stopped her fingers with his. “That might not be a good idea.”
“She’s a cop, Nic.”
“I know.”
“She can keep Gabe safe, and he’ll need her if your dad is half as bad as you all say he is. So which is it? Is he homicidal, or just a jerk?”
Nic worked his mouth back and forth. “Okay, call her.”
After Jenna hung up, she said, “Should we go inside? She said to wait for her, but maybe Gabe needs strength in numbers.”
Halfway to the front door, Nic stopped and turned to her. “You should wait in the car.”
“No, that’s not going to happen.”
“Jenna—” Nic sighed. How did he tell her that things between them were still so delicate that he didn’t want anything to crush either of their hopes? They could still have something great, just like he’d known when he walked away. “He’ll say stuff to you, horrible things. Trust me, it’s what he does. Threats. Belittling. He doesn’t mince words. That’s never been his style when he could go for the jugular and get faster results.”
She nodded, resolute. “I understand.” She looked like she was arming herself for battle.
“You’ll risk this all, for Gabe?”
“Of course. If he and Caisey are going to work out what’s between them they need the time to do that. They don’t need your father to destroy their future either.”
“Can you let me do this, please?” He held her shoulders. “I’m used to it.”
“Why?” Tears filled her eyes. “Why didn’t you just walk away?”
Nic held her gaze. He didn’t want to, but he had to explain it sometime. Why not now? Caisey was likely speeding across Denver and when she got here, she could use her clout to get Gabe out. Nic wouldn’t have to face the old man again.
He took a deep breath and let it out. “He had pictures of you.”
“Of me?”
“He knew everything about where you went and who you were friends with. He knew about us from the beginning. He said he let it go, because he assumed it was just some passing phase before I would settle for what he thought was better. But he didn’t know what I was feeling. He didn’t know I loved you. When I saw what he did to Caisey I knew he brought me there so he could show me what he would do to you. If I didn’t walk away. And that was when I didn’t even know you were pregnant.”
Jenna shut her eyes. “I don’t want Jake anywhere near him. Ever. We have to keep him safe.”
Nic shook his head. “I don’t know how to do that. He’s morphed my life into what he wanted to suit his purposes. I didn’t have anything else and maybe that made me weak, but I let him. I think I was trying to prove he was right, because admitting the alternative—that I’d made a horrible mistake in letting you go—would have been worse.”
Jenna lifted her chin, her eyes blazing with a fire he hadn’t seen in years. “We can’t let Gabe and Caisey lose what we lost. We have to help them.”
Nic wanted to laugh. “I just told you I’m a miserable excuse for a man, and you want my help?”
**
Caisey pulled up behind Nic’s car and saw him and Jenna in a huddle. She strode over, pulling out her weapon and flipping off the safety as she walked. “Gabe is inside?”
Nic nodded.
She didn’t wait to hear what else he had to say, just trotted up the front steps and went inside. The halls were dark, but dim orange light shone in the doorway of the study. She kept her steps quiet on the tile floor. She felt like throwing up at the thought of looking in the eyes of the man who had a teenage girl beaten bloody like it was just another day’s work. It would be incredibly satisfying if she were the one who finally got to arrest him. When she got back to the office, she’d have to ask the other agents if they would do her that favor even though she was on desk duty for a while.
Muted voices came from inside the study. Caisey rested her hand on the butt of her gun, still in its holster. She wasn’t here officially, so there wasn’t a whole lot she could accomplish without cause. She took measured steps to the door and then scanned the room too fast to connect with Holden Arturo’s eyes, imagining he was one of those beings that would turn her to stone if she did. Keeping him in view, she let her gaze settle on Gabe.
“Let’s go.”
“No. I want him to promise he’ll stop trying to kill us.”
Holden’s voice was low and lethal. “You think too much of yourself if you think I’m expending energy crushing a bug that means nothing to me.”
“Of course not.” Caisey turned her head a fraction toward him. “You have people for that.”
“I do?” Holden straightened. “Perhaps this is only due to your…tenacity.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“So eloquent, Special Agent Lyons. Just like your father.”
Fury whipped through her like a match to accelerant and Caisey had to grit her teeth. “Gabe. Let’s go.”
There was no point in being here. What had Gabe hoped to achieve by coming? They weren’t going to get the truth or even a remotely straight answer from a compulsive liar and life-long dealer of destruction. Every word he said sounded like honesty if you took him at face value. He was very convincing. But Caisey didn’t believe for one second that Holden didn’t know exactly what she was talking about.
Even if he confessed, it still wasn’t enough to bring him down. And looking around, he seemed like he’d fallen pretty low already. She almost felt bad for him.
“No? You don’t wish to discuss the old man who failed you?”
Caisey’s head started to pound. “That was your doing.”
“All I have ever done is strive to maintain the integrity of my family.” Holden glanced between her and Gabe. “It was the two of you who tore it apart.”
“You think you’re helping your family? You’re the one who destroyed it.”
Holden shot to his feet, gesturing with his gun at Gabe. “He destroyed it, when he betrayed us all!”
Caisey aimed. Would it be that bad if she ended this all now? Their troubles would be over, but at what price? “Put your gun down, Holden.”
Did he really think he was helping his family? He had destroyed them trying to do everything the wrong way. Even that couldn’t be absolved by the best intentions. Love didn’t matter if you put it into practice in a way that harmed.
“Both of you get out!”
Gabe backed away toward Caisey, who was closest to the door. When he was behind her, she retreated with him, her weapon aimed at Holden. The world would be a better place if he was gone. Eradicated.
When they stepped out the front door, she rounded on Gabe. “What were you thinking? No. Don’t tell me, because you weren’t. Not going in there like that, with no clue what you were doing. You could have been killed.”
“I could have been killed?” He laughed. The sound was an echo of his uncle’s voice. Did he even notice? “You don’t have the monopoly on protecting the people in this family, Caisey. Some of us can do it too.”
“I’m not saying that.”
“Right.”
She folded her arms. “You could have been hurt.”
“And I’m sorry that worried you. But you can’t handicap me from doing anything for you, for us, or for anyone else in our family. Because that’s what they are…our family.”
She knew it was true. She wasn’t going to argue. But her heart was about to burst. “Then why would you put yourself at risk like that?”
Jenna rushed over with Nic right behind her. “Can you even hear yourself? Gabe is right. You’re not the only one who gets to look out for us. Sometimes we even get to do it ourselves.”
“I know that. I—”
“He’s my uncle.” Gabe folded his arms. “This was my decision.”
Jenna huffed. “Funny. I remember someone saying that to me before she got abducted by a serial killer.”
Caisey shook her head.
Gabe didn’t look all that impressed. “So what do we do now?”
“You don’t worry about it. And you try not to get yourself killed, okay?” She took a step back, toward her car. “You guys should take off. I’ve got this covered.”