“Not yet, but they’re bound to find somethin’ once his place gets tossed. I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.”
“Roger that. Oh, and send me a copy of the security footage from the parking garage.”
There was a beat of silence, and then, “Who says I have that?”
Jake smirked. “Just send it, asshole.”
Derek chuckled. Jake heard a few clicks through the phone and then, “Done. You should be get it in just a few seconds.”
Right on cue, Jake’s phone vibrated with the notification. “Thanks, D. I appreciate it.”
“I’d say anytime, but I’m hopin’ we’ve seen the last of this shit.”
“Yeah,” Jake exhaled loudly. “You and me, both.”
“Oh, and Jake?” Derek said at the last minute.
“Yeah?”
“That video...it’s hard to watch, man. And I’m not the one in love with her.”
Jake’s chest tightened, but he didn’t bother to denying it. “I know, but I still have to watch it. I need to know exactly what happened.”
“I get it. Just remember...Trevor got the guy, and Olivia’s safe there with you.”
“Thanks, D.”
Jake ended the call and pulled up his email. His finger hovered over the newest one, and his gut churned. He was about to see his friend get shot and the woman he loved get attacked and nearly kidnapped. Jake closed his eyes as his breathing picked up. He inhaled deeply and reopened his eyes. If she could live through it, he could damn sure do this.
His finger tapped the screen, and Jake watched his nightmare unfold. The whole thing only lasted about two minutes, but it felt like an eternity.
He was sick to his stomach, and his eyes and nose stung from his tears. It was one thing to hear Olivia and Trevor describe what took place, but to actually see it—Jesus, baby, I’m so sorry.
Jake wiped at his eyes and nose. He sniffed as he blinked quickly to stave off even more tears. The compulsion to kill the fucker hit hard. Too bad Trevor already took care of that.
Swallowing his anger and guilt, Jake called Homeland next. After ripping into Ryker for allowing Liv to turn away the protection Jake had ordered for her while he and his team were away, Jake proceeded to fill the other man in on everything that had happened to Liv. He then demanded that Ryker look into Carlos Hernandez as well.
Twenty minutes later, Ryker called him back with confirmation that Hernandez had no known ties to anyone involved in Cetro’s human trafficking business. Nor, was he involved with any of the other men they’d taken down in connection with Olivia’s abduction from Madagascar a few months back.
Jake had known the chances were slim, but when it came to Liv’s safety, he wasn’t assuming anything.
He’d just gotten off the phone with Ryker when Trevor called to inform him that Carlos Hernandez was definitely Liv’s stalker. According to Trevor, the evidence recovered from the guy’s apartment left no doubt.
The sheriff and his deputies found several pictures of Olivia from the past two months spread around the sick fuck’s apartment. His computer’s search engine was filled with inquiries on snakes indigenous to Madagascar, and there was a link to an underground site of sorts where one could illegally order rare animals—including the ghost snake—saved on the idiot’s desktop.
As if that wasn’t enough, they found a receipt for a large bouquet of daisies the same day Olivia reported her break-in. So, that was it. Case closed.
Why he chose to focus on Liv, they’d never know. Jake didn’t care about the why’s, though. Only that Olivia was here, with him. And she was safe.
He glanced at his watch. Nearly an hour had passed since Olivia had disappeared to shower and rest. Jake rubbed some tension out of his neck as he walked back to her bedroom to get some rest himself. The door was open just a crack, and there was a soft light spilling through it.
Slowly, Jake opened it and stepped inside the room. Instead of lying in bed, as he’d expected, he found her sitting in her oversized chair.
She was asleep, the light from a floor lamp positioned next to the chair. Trying not to disturb her, Jake reached over and turned the lamp off.
Jake started to close the curtains, but when he glanced back down at her, his hand froze, and he lost the ability to breathe.
The moonlight coming through the uncovered window illuminated her face. She looked like a vision. With her head tilted to the side, Olivia was resting against the chair’s tall, cushioned back.
