Ian’s blood chilled, and he felt his icy demeanor from his Elite Eight days snap into place. Lila had just told her father he was going to kill her, and she said it in a calm voice. The fuck did she think she was doing?
“She’s playing him, Ian,” Autumn said. He knew he hadn’t said anything, but his sister knew him.
Eden and El were there to provide backup. He glanced at the twins. Jenner moved into his line of sight. They had tried to get him to stay behind, but the former medic had insisted that his medical knowledge would work better if he were with them.
Ian signaled that he was going to go in and El nodded. Having his team there, backing him up, was more important than he would have ever admitted. He was thankful that Seth had had his back, but his work family, they had restored his belief in good people.
“Go now, or he might escalate, Ian,” Emily said. “That was from Miko.”
He lifted his foot and kicked the door in. Underwood reacted immediately, grabbing Lila.
The moment his gaze landed on her, rage burned away the ice that had formed. She had definitely been roughed up. Her gaze softened as her body seemed to relax.
“Finally.”
Her belief in his abilities filled that one word.
“Sorry it took a little bit, love.”
He stepped closer to her, but Underwood was closer. He grabbed his daughter tighter and used her as a shield.
“Stop moving or I’ll kill her.”
Ian glanced at Lila, who rolled her eyes. He fought against the instinct to rush the bastard. He knew it was fear that was speaking to him at the moment, so he centered his attention on Underwood. If he looked at Lila, he might lose it.
“There’s no way out of this for you, Underwood,” he said.
“This is the guy?” her father demanded. “What is it with you and the Smith family?”
“Oh, I don’t know? Maybe it’s because they aren’t homicidal nut jobs?”
“Lila,” Ian said, without looking at her. He kept his gaze centered on her father, even while he sensed his team move into the room.
“It’s true. I mean, he killed my mother, brother, and a totally innocent guy so he had someone to frame, all because he felt the world owed him something.”
He glanced at her then and saw the intention in her gaze. She was trying to distract her father. He had to trust her, so he played along.
“Antagonizing him isn’t going to make him surrender any sooner.”
“He won’t surrender. He wants to go out in a blaze of glory. He wants me dead and he thinks he can shoot his way out of here.”
“Then he's an idiot,” he ground out.
“I am not an idiot,” Underwood said, moving to put the gun on Ian.
Satisfaction filled Lila’s gaze. She threw back her elbow, causing Underwood to loosen his hold.
“Drop, Lila,” he ordered even as she was already going down. He rushed forward, pulling her away from her father and pushing her behind him. Then he advanced on the bastard who had held a gun on her.
The man might have been in the CIA, but he had been an analyst and apparently did nothing to prepare to defend himself. Ian grabbed the hand holding the gun and twisted it.
“Argh,” Underwood shouted in pain. Ian did not let up. With an uppercut to his jaw, Ian began to take out all the anger that had been simmering in his gut since he’d realized Lila had been abducted. By the time El and Jenner pulled him back, Ian’s knuckles were bloodied. Underwood was in a fetal position sobbing on the floor.
“We got him. Tend to Lila,” El said, shoving him toward Lila. Her eyes were wide as she studied him. His heart broke. The horror he saw there told him she was disgusted by what she had just witnessed. The truth was if El and Jenner hadn’t pulled him back from Underwood, Ian would have probably beaten him to death. He was still her father, and he had been ready to beat the man to death in front of her.
“Ian,” she said, her voice small. He waited for her recriminations, but instead, she stepped away from Eden and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her entire body against his.
“I knew you would come. You always come.”
