He gently trailed his hands over her hair, her arms and her shoulders, closing her in his protective embrace. “I almost hurt you. I can’t live without you.” He kissed her head, kissed the tears streaming down her cheeks. He took her lips in a gentle caress, swallowing her soft sobs as they finally broke free. “I’m so sorry. I can’t—I fucking love you. I love you somuch.”
His arms crushed her to his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck in return and squeezed,sobbing.
Cole bent over her, shielding her body from everyone in the room. Like a rabid beast, he yanked his head over her shoulder. Both of his brothers were watching them with mixed expressions of rage and fear. Cole jerked his head in the direction of the living room, giving them a silent command to shield them so he could carry Tomi into the bedroom without Stahl watching. They complied without question, standing side-by-side so they formed a wall. Cole carefully lifted Tomi into his arms, cradling her naked form against his chest, and strode down the hall without a backwardglance.
His brothers could deal with Stahl for the moment. After he got Tomi settled, he was going to fucking kill thebastard.
24
Alittle while later,Cole stalked into the living room, ready to free the furious beast he’d kept caged in Tomi’s presence. He’d told Stahl not to come out here. The arrogant agent had finally overstepped hisbounds.
Stahl sat on the couch, a frozen bag of peas pressed against one side of his face, his elbows resting on his knees and his shoulders hunched forward protectively. Clint and Carter had taken up residence in the two chairs opposite the couch, each holding a loaded pistol. They looked like they were ready to put a bullet in the agent’s head at a moment’snotice.
“What the hell are you doing out here? We had a deal,” Cole reminded him as he came to stand in the living room at the end of thecouch.
“Why don’t you call off your guard dogs?” Stahl snarledback.
“Not until you tell me what the hell you’re doing out here. We had a deal.” Cole crossed his arms and leaned casually against the doorway, affecting a relaxed demeanor even though his insides boiled withfury.
“The deal has changed,” Stahl said with a thread of steel in his otherwise impassivevoice.
Cole met his brother’s glances across the room. They didn’t bother playing nonchalant. Their nearly identical faces looked just as pissed off as Cole felt. Clint, as was typical for him, leaned in with intimidation, stroking the barrel of his gun like he couldn’t wait to use it. “I told you not to trust this prick. How many times have we seen the FBI and CIA double-cross their teammates? FBI agents who don’t stick to the plan have usually found a way to earn a quick buck on someone else’sback.”
Stahl’s hunched shoulders went stiff and he lowered the bag of peas from his already swelling eye. “Watch what you say, boy. I’ve already sacrificed more for this mission than you canimagine.”
“Boy?” Clint snorted. “I don’t think a boy gave you thatbruise.”
Carter was the only Fury brother who hadn’t moved. He’d sat still as a statue this whole time, watching and waiting. Cole knew exactly what Carter was up to. He was using his unique ability to read people to study Stahl while Cole and Clint interacted with him. Carter would speak up when it was time, after the brothers had rattled the agent’s cage enough to shake his actual motives and feelingsloose.
“I’m the only one here who looks like they’ve sacrificed anything,” Cole insisted. “It was my woman who was kidnapped. Hell, Wise’s woman was kidnapped too. Now, what exactly have you lost at the hands of this bastard?” Cole shifted away from his position at the door, moving to the end of the couch so he could more easily seeStahl.
The agent’s irritated expression went completely blank, erased like a lit match dropped into a well. That in itself was a bigtell.
Cole stayed put, feeling rather than seeing Carter shift forward in his chair. “Who did you lose,agent?”
“None of your fucking business.” Stahl’s quiet response held a lifetime ofpain.
“If it involves Tomi, it is my fucking business,” Colesaid.
Carter tilted his head to the side, his intelligent eyes never leaving the agent’s face. “Was it your wife?” heasked.
Stahl’s mouth flatlined and he stared straight at Carter,unblinking.
Carter kept probing. “Agirlfriend?”
The agent looked like a damn statute. His jaw didn’t even twitch in response to Carter’staunts.
Carter wasn’t making headway fast enough for Cole’s liking. He needed to get back to Tomi and comfort her. Her terrified expression still danced in the recesses of his mind, pulling him mentally back down the hall. She needed his comfort. More than that, he needed her solid form in his arms to reassure himself that she wasokay.
What he’d done had taken ten years off his damn life. He’d been careless, and it could have cost him everything. The thought ravaged his heart, chewed it up and left holes in it. His patience with Stahl, who’d put them all in this situation, was officially over. “So, what is it? Have you been working for Luis this whole time? He got you on the payroll?” Cole edged in closer, taking over Stahl’s personal space. “Or are you such an arrogant prick that you just feel the need to keep us on ourtoes?”
Stahl shot to his feet, his lifeless expression raging to life. Up close, Cole could easily see the ticking in the agent’s razor-sharp jaw. “Screwing that blonde must’ve drained yourbrain.”
“On the contrary, I think it made me sharper,” Cole firedback.
Hearing him refer to Tomi like that, like she was some nameless, faceless bimbo he was using to get his rocks off, infuriated him. Cole itched to wrap his hands around the agent’s throat. Instead, he balled them into fists, knowing that losing his cool was not the answer, not when he needed thisasshole.
Of course, when it came to Tomi, logic didn’t always win out. “Now, are you going to tell me why you went back on your promise and broke ourdeal?”
