Gracie’s shoulder’s fell a little.Damn.For a second there, she thought maybe they’d gotten the identification wrong or something. In a sweet, comforting gesture, Nate rubbed his free hand across her back a few times.
“You need to explain that, Turner.”
“It’s kind of a long story, but I’ll try to keep it like Gracie. Short and sweet.” Beside her, Nate rolled his eyes as his friend kept talking. “Basically, after all you guys left, Jake arranged for your mail to be forwarded to the office.”
“Oh, crap!” Gracie exclaimed. “With everything going on, I didn’t even think about my mail.”
“Don’t worry,” Matt told her. “That’s why Jake makes the big bucks.”
Despite the reason for the phone call, Gracie smiled. “Sorry to have interrupted. You were saying?”
“Right. So, anyway, between the regular R.I.S.C. mail, Sarah’s and Kole’s, and yours, there was quite a bit.”
“Thought you said you were making this short, Turner.”
“I’m getting there, jackass. Jake was taking the mail back to his office when some of it fell out of his hand. He picked it up off the floor and noticed something on one of the envelopes addressed to Gracie.”
“What about it?” Gracie asked, feeling as though she was on pins and needles.
“The name on the return address was Craig Wyatt.”
She couldn’t hold back her gasp. Her hand flew to her chest. “It was from Craig? H-how is that even possible?”
“That’s the thing. There was a note scribbled on the back of the envelope. A nurse at the hospital Craig was in wrote you a short note explaining how Craig had asked her to mail the envelope to you the day after you left for Texas. It got mixed up with some other papers and she forgot all about it. Apparently, she found it a few days ago and went ahead and mailed it.”
“What was in it?” Nate demanded.
His back was straight and his voice was tight. Focused. He was back in operative mode, just like that night in the alley.
“A letter addressed to Gracie.”
Her heart raced. “What did it say?” she asked, not caring in the least that Jake had opened her mail.
“Basically, Wyatt was letting you know he sent you something important. Something other than the letter. Once he felt it was safe, he’d be in touch to retrieve it.”
“Did he say what it was?”
“Not specifically, no. Just that he had evidence against Edric Yavuz that would change President Russell’s mind about signing the treaty with Turkey. He didn’t go into detail.”
“That’s why he was killed,” Gracie whispered the obvious.
“Agreed,” Matt said firmly.
“You don’t know what the evidence was?” Nate asked again.
“Unfortunately, no. He purposely didn’t go into detail for fear he’d be putting Gracie into danger.”
Nate snorted. “Yeah, that turned out well for the asshole, didn’t it?”
“Nate!” Gracie scolded, but she could tell he didn’t feel a bit sorry for what he’d said.
Those sexy, fierce eyes locked with hers. “That letter is the reason you’re in Yavuz’ crosshairs. Sorry if I don’t have much sympathy for the man who put you there.”
“Maybe.”
As if he’d just realized Matt was still on the phone, Nate cleared his throat. “What do you mean, maybe?”
“Unless Yavuz saw that letter, he found out about Gracie another way.”
