Never fucking leave home without it.
“I’m armed,” Gabe warned whoever was there. “And I will not hesitate to shoot.”
“I know.” A man’s voice rumbled low from the right side of his living room. “That’s why I turned off your light.”
Christ. He wasnotin the mood for this shit. “You picked the wrong apartment to rob tonight, my friend.”
“Oh, we’re not friends, Dawson.” The man chuckled. “Not even close.”
Gabe’s lamp turned back on, and it took a millisecond for his eyes to adjust. Even then, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Sitting in his favorite recliner as if he didn’t have a care in the world was the man Bravo Team had been itching to find.
“Hello, Gabriel.” Adrian Walker tipped his head. “It’s been a while.”
What the actual fuck?
Gabe’s finger slid down to his trigger as he took a large, advancing step toward the traitorous bastard. “What the hell are you doing in my apartment?”
“Now that was almostexactlyhow I imagined this little reunion playing out.”
Arrogant bastard.
Gabe took another step closer. “I’m about two seconds away from putting a fucking hole in the middle of your forehead, so I suggest you cut through the bullshit and tell me why you’re here.”
“Ellena.”
The name was like a physical blow. One that nearly sent Gabe stumbling backward.
Terror for the woman who would forever own his heart filled him with an icy cold.
Gabe’s trigger finger twitched, his voice turning low. Deadly. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me, Dawson.”
Slowly, Walker pushed himself to his feet. The second he did Gabe took two, large strides across the carpeted floor, nearly covering the distance between them.
Gabe’s next warning escaped as a deadly hiss between his teeth. “Don’t you fucking move, or I swear toGodI will pull this trigger.”
“Easy, Dawson.” The other man put his palms up. “I’m not on the job. On the contrary, I came because I have information that I know will interest you.”
“Why did you say her name?” Gabe bit out sharply.
“Because she’s in trouble. And the man after her, well…he plays for keeps.”
Another unexpected blow that left Gabe’s mind whirling. “Why should I believe you? You’re a goddamn traitor. A killer for hire who’s aided in the abduction and near murder oftwoof my teammates’ wives.” Walker had also shot and nearly killed two of Gabe’s men. “Now you break into my apartment and try to tell me my—”
“Guilty on all counts,” the man interrupted with a shrug. “I can assure you it was pure coincidence that my professional path crossed with your team on those other two occasions. But this time, it’s different.”
“Different how?”
“The man after your Ellena?” Walker’s brown eyes darkened. “He’s a special kind of twisted.”
The ice in Gabe’s veins melted as a heated fury took over. Schooling his expression, he swallowed that damn fear and said, “I want a name.”
“Go to her, Dawson.” Adrian ignored the request—and Gabe’s gun—and started for the door. “She needs your protection.”
With his mind filled with a whole slew of what-the-fucks, Gabe’s reaction to the other man walking away was slightly delayed.
