Noah lifted a hand. “I’ve already called David’s medical facility. They’re on high alert, and I’ve arranged for security to be stationed there until further notice. Guards are on the way right now.”
Alena’s breath left her in a rush. Relief, sharp and fleeting, swept through her, but the concern clamped down again almost immediately. She needed to see David with her own eyes. She needed to be certain he was safe.
Noah leaned forward, his gaze moving from Cal to Alena. “I know the two of you don’t work together anymore. But I thought you’d both want in on this.”
Alena’s pulse jumped. Before she could gather a response, Noah picked up the remote again. The screen flared to life with another image.
Melissa Trent.
Her smiling face filled the wall monitor, a promotional photo clipped from her workplace. But Alena remembered another time. When there’d been no smiles. When DexterWestbrook had had her in that warehouse. The backup Crossfire Ops team had finally gotten to her, had finally rescued her, along with apprehending Dexter and making sure he was locked away.
For all the good that’d done.
“Melissa failed to show up for work this morning,” Noah said. His voice was flat, carrying a weight that made Alena’s skin crawl. “About an hour ago, her neighbors found this.”
The photo on the screen shifted. Melissa’s living room appeared, the scene stark and violent. A lamp was overturned. Cushions ripped from the sofa lay scattered across the floor. Blood smeared the carpet in a dark arc that made Alena’s stomach twist.
But it was the wall that froze her.
Written in jagged red strokes, the words were clear, a scrawl that stabbed straight into the past.She’s mine. Nobody takes the bitch from me.
Alena’s lungs locked. She could still hear Dexter’s voice echoing off the steel rafters of that warehouse, screaming nearly the same words before the blast tore her open and left David broken on the floor.
She dug her nails into her palms, forcing air into her chest. The bastard was back to finish what he started.
Across the table, Cal’s jaw was clenched tight, his eyes hard on the screen.
Alena swallowed the bile rising in her throat. Dexter was free, Melissa was in danger, and everything she thought she had buried six years ago had come roaring back to life.
Noah reached across the table and tapped the console. The speakers crackled, then a voice filled the room, low and rough with the same venom that had haunted Alena’s nightmares for years.
“Granger. Warrington. You listening?” the man spat out. Dexter’s voice. “Payback’s gonna be a bitch.”
The message cut off with a click.
Alena’s fingers curled tight around the arms of her chair, fighting the chill that had crept up her spine. She glanced at Cal. His jaw was granite, his eyes locked on the dark screen as if Dexter might crawl out of it.
Noah’s voice broke the quiet. “If the two of you can work together, your mission is to assist the police in finding Melissa Trent.” His mouth tightened. His eyes went sharp. “And stopping Dexter Westbrook before he destroys anyone else.”
Chapter Two
Cal’s hands curled into fists on the tabletop as the recording cut off. Dexter’s voice still rang in his ears, dredging up the roar of the explosion, the sting of shrapnel tearing past him, the sight of Alena crumpled on the concrete with blood spreading fast beneath her. David lay nearby, his head wound painting the floor, his body frighteningly still.
The memories slammed into him with brutal force. For a few heartbeats he was right back there in that shithole, choking on failure. He shoved it down, hard, forcing his mind onto the now. Melissa was in danger again. Dexter was loose. That was all that mattered.
He looked across the table at Alena. Her chin was high, but he knew the scar beneath her shirt had to ache the way his own scars did. He cleared his throat, his voice rougher than he meant.
“Can you work with me on this?” he asked.
For a moment, silence stretched between them. Then Alena gave a single nod. “Yes.”
Cal held her gaze. He knew exactly what it cost her to say that. Every time she looked at him, she saw the nightmare all over again. It was the reason she had walked away. The reason that after everything they had shared, they were still legally married but bound now by nothing more than a hollow title.
Husband and wife in name only.
He swallowed the bitterness and forced his focus forward. Whatever was broken between them, one truth remained. Together, they were Dexter’s best chance of being stopped.
Cal forced his thoughts back to the present. “Has there been any sign of the nurse’s car?”
