Angel: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone Read online

  “What?” He bit out the word. “She doesn’t even live there anymore.”

  “We’re not sure what it’s all about. But it’s another reason we’re all banding together. I just wanted you to know.”

  “I’m just outside of town. I’m turning around and will be at Bollinger’s house in thirty minutes.”

  “You’re not going to stay with Jordan?”

  He started the car. He would still have to explain Jordan’s betrayal. This was just going to make a bad day much fucking worse. “Jordan’s not in any danger. I’m on my way.”

  He disconnected the call and swung the car back around the way he’d come. The sleety mixture of rain and snow made driving difficult, but he was pulling up at Finn’s house less than thirty minutes later, once again trying to get his rage under control.

  What the hell was going on? Charlie’s brakes cut? Someone in Violet’s apartment?

  The door opened as he stepped up to it, his arrival obviously having been radioed ahead. Finn stepped aside for Gabe to enter, gazing at the storm for any further danger before closing the door again.

  The men in this room were warriors. Gabe had known that years ago when they’d worked a couple of overseas missions together. Tonight, they were warriors once again. Active duty was just a piece of paper when it came to protecting the ones they loved.

  Finn returned to one of the large chairs, lifting Charlie gently, then pulling her back down in his lap like he couldn’t stand the thought of being away from her. One arm wrapped around her, his hand spanned protectively over her entire abdomen.

  Zac was watching out a window, Annie close to his side. Aiden had his arm around Violet’s shoulder, but she moved away to come give Gabe a hug.

  “Aiden shouldn’t have told you,” she whispered. “You’ve already worried about me too much.”

  He pulled her closer. “It’s my job to worry about you. Besides, there’s something I need to talk to you about anyway.”

  God, he didn’t want to have this talk with these people.

  “You have men out in this weather?” he asked Zac, keeping one arm around Violet.

  Zac nodded. “Gavin, Wyatt, Dorian—and a couple of the guys who do some work for us part-time. Finn’s brother, Baby. Also, Boy Riley is in town and volunteered for some shifts. Most of them are in vehicles or shelters.”

  Gabe didn’t know who a lot of these people were, but if these men trusted them to watch their six—more importantly, to watch for hidden danger to their women—Gabe would trust them too.

  “Dorian’s the only one out in the actual elements,” Finn said. “The rest are in vehicles or shelters. This is one of the worst winter storms I’ve seen. Can’t decide what it wants to do: thunder, lightning, rain, snow, hail . . . so it’s just doing it all at once. Mother Nature is throwing a fit.”

  Gabe understood the feeling.

  Charlie hooked an arm around Finn’s neck and snuggled in closer to him. “I hope you rewarded your girl good and proper for saving our lives, Gabe.”

  Gabe let out a sigh and shook his head. “Jordan didn’t save your lives.”

  Finn shrugged. “Maybe not outright, but getting to us as quickly as she did, and letting us know about her father and the others . . . she certainly circumvented what could’ve been some real danger.”

  Gabe shook his head. “You don’t understand. Jordan is in on it with her father.”

  Violet stiffened and stepped away from him. “No, she’s not.”

  “I know you don’t want to hear this, believe me. But she is. She came to Collingwood Technology today and used the system access code I’d given her to backdoor into a vulnerable account.”

  They all stared at him for a long moment.

  “She’s guilty,” he continued. “I know it sucks, but you’ve got to believe me. Jordan betrayed us all.”

  Everyone still stared, saying nothing.

  “I have proof. Kendrick and I have been watching the accounts she accessed, knowing they were vulnerable. We thought we might catch someone trying to take advantage of it. Never dreamed it would be her.”

  “What did you do, Gabe?” Violet shook her head and backed away until she was next to Aiden.

  “Jordan told us all that,” Zac said. “She got to us at New Brothers and warned us of everything. Michael Reiss is working with Allan Godlewski and at least one other person. They were the ones who cut Charlie’s brakes. Michael told Jordan if she didn’t help him, Violet and Anne would be hurt also. Or maybe little Ethan.”

  Gabe stiffened, dread starting to work its way through him. “But . . .”

  “She took Michael to Idaho Falls to try to buy time,” Violet said. “For you. She knew if she used the computer at her house to access the system, Michael would’ve been gone with the money before you could have made a move to stop him.”

  “Going to the CT offices slowed Michael down,” Aiden said. “Evidently, he’d broken her phone. She did the best she could in a pretty shitty situation.”

  He remembered Jordan’s face when she’d shown up at CT, how her nerves had been strung out to the point of breaking. “Fuck.”

  “What did you do, Gabe?” Violet whispered again.

  “She accessed the account, and it triggered an alarm for Kendrick. We found footage of her leaving voluntarily with Michael. Smiling at him.”

  Charlie shook her head. “She was protecting us. Buying time to warn us.”

  Which was why Jordan hadn’t used the system access at her house. But what had she been doing tonight when she’d gotten home? “She accessed the system again tonight afterward. I caught her red-handed. She was going back in to cover her tracks. Why would she do that if she wasn’t doing something illegal?”

  Violet shrugged. “Because you mean the most to her. Charlie was teasing her about it earlier today at the bakery, about the smile that’s been a permanent part of Jordan’s features for the past few weeks that you put there.” She shook her head again. “After she warned us, she told me she had to get back to her house so she could try to fix the damage. I told her to let me call you, but she wanted to try to do it without you knowing.”

  “But why? I would’ve believed her if she’d called and explained.” It would’ve been so much less suspicious to him.

  “Part of it was that she’s young and she doesn’t know how to deal with conflict,” Violet continued. “But I think most of it was that she didn’t want you to be disappointed in her. Didn’t want to lose the bond the two of you have. I don’t think she was planning to hide it from you forever. She just thought it would be easier to explain if she’d already stopped whatever her father was trying to do.”

  “She’s always taken way too much responsibility for Michael’s actions,” Zac said, “and let Oak Creek beat her up because of it.”

  The thunder crashed outside around them, echoing the despondency growing inside him. He’d made a terrible mistake.

  “I didn’t believe it at first,” he whispered. “Didn’t believe that Jordan would do that. But when someone tried to withdraw $622,000 exactly, I knew it had to be her. That’s the amount she’s been working toward. Her plan. She wouldn’t ever tell me any details, just that it was the most important thing. When I saw it was that amount, I knew she’d played me.”

  “She never told you what that amount was?” Charlie asked.

  He spun to look at her. “No. Just that it was how much she needed for the life she wanted. Seemed like such a specific amount.”

  Charlie shifted away from Finn. “Six hundred twenty-two thousand dollars is the amount Michael Reiss stole from the people of Oak Creek. Jordan has had that sticky note on her fridge since she got out of prison last year. It’s the amount she wanted to make so she could pay everyone back.”

  Fear poured into him like the icy storm pouring from the sky outside. “Why didn’t she just tell me that?” His voice sounded hoarse even to his own ears.

  “Because she probably thought you would react like I did. Telli
ng her that she didn’t need to buy the town’s approval. She hadn’t stolen the money to begin with and didn’t owe it to them.”

  Yes, he probably would’ve said something similar. Because it was true.

  It all made complete sense now. Jordan had never wanted to leave Oak Creek. That was the piece of the puzzle that had never fit for him. She’d wanted the money because she thought it was what would allow her to stay.

  “And attempting to withdraw that exact amount he stole before is a nice little fuck-you from Michael, isn’t it,” Aiden said. “Intended to hurt you, her, everyone.”

  He met his sister’s eyes and this time she didn’t have to ask it.

  What had he done?

  Chapter 28

  “I have to get back to Jordan.” Gabe nodded at Violet. “And yes, it’s as bad as you think. Worse. What I said was unforgivable.”

  But, oh God, he had to try.

  “Gabe.” Zac held out a hand. “The time for groveling will come, but as long as Michael and his cronies are out there, nobody is safe. That includes Jordan. She didn’t know you knew about the account. Did you block Michael when he tried to access it?”

  Gabe scrubbed a hand over his face. “I waylaid access. Made it look as though the money would be available, but that it wasn’t instant.”

  “That means Michael doesn’t have any money yet,” Aiden said. “How long before he figures out it’s not coming? Because he may come back at Jordan when he realizes he’s empty-handed.”

  Zac looked over from the window. “And Allan Godlewski is bad news. We looked him up after the window incident. He did time for aggravated assault, and over the past few weeks, he’s developed a real hatred for this town.”

  “Might have to do with getting the shit beat out of him in the woods,” Gabe bit out, wishing he’d been the one who’d done it rather than Dorian’s invisible ghost.

  Zac shrugged. “Whatever his reasons, he’s pissed, and he’s dangerous.”

  “Then get law enforcement involved. Arrest him, since they don’t know we’re on to them.” Gabe just wanted to get back to Jordan, to figure out some way to make her understand how sorry he was.

  Finn shifted Charlie on his lap. “We did. We were able to get a print from Charlie’s car. Sheriff Nelson is running it, but in the meantime, when he went to bring Allan in for questioning, he was already gone.”

  “Obviously, Michael doesn’t care about hurting people this time around to get money,” Zac said, wrapping an arm around Anne and kissing her forehead. “The company he’s keeping just proves that. We were talking earlier and the best way to get to Michael—”

  “Is through Jordan,” Gabe finished for him. He looked around at the three men standing beside the women who had brought such meaning to their lives.

  Jordan should’ve been here next to him, part of this conversation, knowing she had someone to protect her too.

  Instead, she was once again alone, believing yet another person in this town hated her.

  “Yes,” Zac said. “We’ve got to stop Michael and Godlewski before they know we’re on to them and go to ground.”

  Gabe looked over at Violet, agony in his eyes. “I don’t know if Jordan will listen to me at all. I wouldn’t blame her if she never talked to me again.”

  Twice he’d accused her of not being much more than a whore. Once—amazingly—had proven forgivable. Twice? He couldn’t even imagine the circumstances under which she would forgive him for that.

  He turned to Zac. “You have all my money and resources at your disposal. The most important thing is to keep Jordan and Violet—and all of you—safe.

  Violet walked over and put her arm around his waist. “I want to kick your ass for whatever you did, but it looks like you’re beating yourself up just fine. Jordan is one of the most kindhearted people I’ve ever known. You’ll explain why you came to the conclusions you did, and how wrong you were—”

  “Plus, you’ll beg,” Finn threw in. “Like literally, on the floor pleading for forgiveness.”

  The thought didn’t bother Gabe. He only hoped it was enough.

  Whatever it took, he would make it enough.

  But first he had to make sure Jordan was safe.

  “I’m selling Collingwood Technology,” he told them. Violet knew and had agreed, a necessity since she was still part owner. “I’m going to focus on computer coding and cybersecurity since I have a very promising potential partner I hope I can still talk into starting a business with me.

  “I want to expand her house because she loves it there. It’s what I could never understand about the money she wanted when I thought it was to get away. If she could live in that house, on that land, every day for the rest of her life, she would. I want to add to it. Make her an office of all windows so she can look outside any time she wants to. She’ll never have to be separated from her home and the land again.”

  “Oh my God,” Violet whispered. “You love her.”

  He looked over at his sister, not even trying to deny it. “The thought that she’d thrown away what we could have been? Jesus, Violet, it gutted me. That’s why I said what I did. I should’ve known she was trying to fix it, that she was scared. I should’ve sat her down and had her tell me the whole story from beginning to end.”

  Violet squeezed his arm. “You’ll make her sit down, and you’ll tell her your whole story. She’ll listen.”

  He put his hand over hers. “I hope so.” He turned to everyone else. “I also started talks last month with Griffin Albert, owner of one of the banks in Oak Creek, about providing cybersecurity for some of the online features they want to offer. And . . . improving physical security in the safe deposit box room.”

  “That would be the perfect place to lure Michael in,” Aiden said. “Probably Godlewski too, if he really wants to publicly stick it to the town.”

  Gabe nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. If Jordan convinces Reiss she has a new target, I’m pretty sure he’d believe her and—”

  He fell silent as the door slammed open. In the space of a moment, the three men around Gabe had hidden weapons drawn and had placed themselves between their women and the threat. Gabe didn’t have a gun, but that didn’t mean he was weaponless against their attacker.

  But it wasn’t an attacker at all. It was Dorian stumbling in.

  “What in the actual fuck?” Finn said as he and Zac rushed to grab the huge man who was falling forward.

  He had an arrow sticking out of his bloody jacket.

  “Dorian,” Zac said. “Is this an attack? Reiss or Godlewski?”

  “No,” Dorian said. “I was on my way back in. Wraith shot me.”

  Zac, Finn, and Aiden all looked at each other, obvious concern in their eyes. Anne flew to Dorian’s side, looking at the wound.

  “Your same wraith person who beat the crap out of Godlewski a few weeks ago?” Gabe asked. “The one you said was hunting you?”

  The other three men cursed.

  “Who, Dorian?” Zac asked.

  “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us?” Finn asked at the same time.

  Violet and Charlie were surrounding him now, too. He couldn’t sit down because of the arrow.

  “Yes.” Dorian looked at Gabe, answering his question, ignoring the others. “The same person. She shot me.”

  “Well, honestly,” Anne said as she unzipped Dorian’s jacket and gingerly pulled it back to inspect his wound, “if you had to get shot with an arrow somewhere, this is probably the best place. The site will be sore once the arrow comes out, but there shouldn’t be any long-term damage. She’s either a very good shot or very lucky.”

  Gabe had no doubt it was the former. But he had no idea why someone would shoot Dorian. Even more, given everything Gabe knew about Dorian Lindstrom, he didn’t know why D hadn’t hunted down this mysterious wraith already and ended her.

  Charlie gasped from behind Dorian.

  “What?” Finn asked, rushing to her side.

  “There’s a
note attached to the arrow.”

  “This shit just keeps getting weirder,” Aiden murmured.

  Gabe was surprised when Charlie looked at him with panic before looking back at the note again.

  “What?” he barked, hackles already rising.

  “It says, Her house is burning and she’s all alone.”

  Once Gabe realized the her mentioned in the note was Jordan, he hit the door running.

  Jordan had been out of prison 249 days. She hadn’t taken a single one of those days for granted.

  The citizens of Oak Creek had done everything they could during that time to get rid of her, to make sure she knew she was unwanted here.

  She couldn’t say she didn’t care. It had hurt a place inside that she’d tried not to let anyone know about. But she wasn’t going to let them drive her away from the home she’d thought about every single day she’d been incarcerated. The home that had been in her family for generations.

  One random lightning strike in a freak winter storm had accomplished what the people of Oak Creek had been unsuccessfully trying to do for nearly a year.

  Get rid of Jordan.

  She stood and watched—frozen both inside and out—as her beloved house burned. She’d thought things were as bad as they could possibly get when Gabriel had left her house in such a rage. The lightning strike about thirty minutes later had proved her so wrong.

  She’d had no phone to call for help and once the blaze spread to the insulation in the attic, she knew the battle was lost.

  All she could do was make trip after trip inside to pull out whatever she could save. Picture albums, her mother’s quilts. She was wrapped in one of those quilts now, watching the fire.

  From a distance she could hear the sound of cars pulling up. Doors slamming. People talking—yelling—around her. She even thought she could hear a siren.

  Not that the fire department could do much now anyway.

  Arms wrapped gently around her from behind. “Rainfall, step back. The fire department is coming. Let them do their job.”