His brothers had taken over the recliners once more, and they now stared at him with almost unreadable expressions. Almost. They were masters at hiding their true feelings from everyone but Cole. Their mouths were too tight. Their golden eyes too sharp. He’d shocked them…and not in a goodway.
The tension in the room was thick and heavy as molasses. It clung to every corner in the silent room. Tomi’s screams of rage echoed down the hall, ratcheting up thepressure.
Cole stood at the end of the couch, his legs spread hip-width apart, and dared anyone to try and freeher.
“You’re insane.” Stahl clasped his hands together and hunched over on the couch, looking at thefloor.
“She’s mine.” Maybe one day she would understand he’d done this out of love. But right now, he couldn’t allow her feelings to affect him. He couldn’t let anyone, Tomi included, put her life at risk. He couldn’t even bear to consider thethought.
“You love her,” Stahlsaid.
“Yes, Ido.”
“You can’t keep a woman like her lockedup.”
Cole felt nothing. Not even a tinge of remorse. “I can if it keeps heralive.”
Stahl looked at him, searching for something. Maybe weakness? The agent was sorely out of luck if that was his hope. Tomi was his weakness, and he would do what it took to protecther.
“You’re making a mistake,” Stahl said in a quiettone.
“The only mistake I made was trustingyou.”
“Maybe that’s the way you see it now, but we both know you never would’ve found her in the first place if not for me.” Stahl got to his feet, for once appearing wary. Smart. Maybe he sensed he’d pushed Cole toofar.
“Now you’re trying to take her away and we both know I’ll never let that happen,” Colesaid.
“Think about it. Even if you do keep her locked up, you can’t hide from a man with Luis’s resources forever. He’ll hunt you down and kill you both, and then what would all of this have been for?” Stahl swept a hand to the air. “She’s still going to die—only now she’ll die hatingyou.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Cole hedged, trying to ignore the logic behind Stahl’swords.
Stahl gestured to himself and laughed bitterly. “You are just as stupid and blind as I was. God must hate my fuckingguts.”
Cole glanced at his brothers. He had no idea what the agent was talking about. Clint and Carter shrugged, equallyunsure.
Stahl didn’t leave them guessing for long. “You listen, and you listen hard, because I’m only going to say this once. My partner got deep into Luis’ ring. She infiltrated one of his innermost circles. She got too close for comfort. I pulled her back when she begged me not to. Because of me, Luis found out who she was.” Stahl stabbed a finger into his own chest, his flat gray eyes turning to dark storm clouds full of agony and self-loathing. “My fear is the reason why the woman I loved got kidnapped. And now you’re doing the same stupid thing. You’re letting fear rule your judgment. Luis will win in the end if you let him. Don’t make the same mistake Idid.”
Stahl walked to the door and yanked it open, turning back to give them one last look. “I’ll give you tonight to think it over. Whatever you decide to do, I’ll help. All I’m asking is that you take a step back and use your hard-earned training and skills and help me get this fucking bastard so he can never hurt anyone we care aboutagain.”
Stahl stepped out and shut the door with a soft snick. A minute later his car engine fired up. Cole stood rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to breathe, as he watched the car disappear down the long graveldrive.
The decision to keep Tomi had been hard and easy at the same time. He could convince himself of anything if it meant keeping her out of danger. But if they didn’t take down Luis, there would always be a target sign on herback.
“Cole, brother, you can’t watch her every second of every day. You’ll blink one day and she’ll be gone. She will run from you.” Carter slowly unfolded his lean yet muscular form from the chair. “And then she’ll be all alone when he finds her. I hate to say it, because I care about Tomi too, but Stahl is right. If we don’t end Luis now, it’s just a matter oftime.”
Carter put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. The physical contact was like a lightning bolt striking straight through the icy barrier he’d attempt to reconstruct around his heart. “I’m scared,” Coleadmitted.
“We all are, but I know we can do this. We can pull in our team. We can set a trap for Luis and take him on our turf. Make him play by ourrules.”
Clint jumped to his feet and began to pace behind Carter, his movements rough and fast—the complete opposite of Carter’s calm energy. Clint said, “I don’t like it any better than you, but he’s right. Our entire team and the FBI will be protecting Tomi. I think we can dothis.”
Cole’s legs went weak and he had to lock his knees out to keepupright.
“I don’t know if Ican.”
Carter put his hand on his other shoulder, facing him squarely now. “It’s not just you anymore. We’re all in thistogether.”
Son of abitch.
