Rescuing Jenna - Anna Blakely Page 0,73

couldn’t even begin to wrap their minds around.

Hell he’d shot two of the men standing in this very room in order to keep his cover and get the job done. But this?

If something happened to Jenna…if they hurt her worse than they already had or, God forbid she died because some asshole was pissed at him for killing the guy’s sick fuck of a father…

Without a sliver of a doubt, Adrian knew he’d never come back from that.

Damn it, Adrian. Get your head on straight and fucking focus. You can fall apart later, but right now. Jenna needs the ruthless killer she knows you to be.

Though it proved difficult, Adrian listened to the tiny voice in his head and blocked out everything but the most important mission of his life.

“Is there any way to trace the phone’s origin?” He shot Nate a hopeful glance.

“Sorry.” The other man shook his head with obvious regret. “I’ve been trying, but there’s a reason burner phones are used for shit like this. Whoever sent that pic knows what they’re doing. The number’s pinging off of multiple cell towers in different locations spread out all over the world.”

“They’re using a scrambler,” Kole inferred.

Nate nodded. “A high quality one, too.”

“Then what’s the fucking point?” Grabbing the hair on the top of his head with both hands, Adrian was tempted to pull every single strand out.

“Of what?” Ryker frowned.

“Of any of this. Them trying to kidnap Jenna the first time”—because yeah, there was no way that wasn’t connected to all this shit—“and then the drive-by. Amanté’s and Ben’s murders, and now this? They sent the picture, but there’s no ransom note with it or any other type of demand. I don’t understand the fucking point.”

“This.” Gabe met his frustrated gaze. His voice was calm and steady in the midst of Adrian’s emotional storm as he pointed toward him. “This right here is the fucking point. The person behind all of this wants you to suffer, Adrian. And not just physically.”

“He’s right.” Ryker agreed with the team’s leader. “I think it’s safe to say Matais Ortiz is the one we’re dealing with. And he’s playing with you. He knows your weakness and he’s using it…using her…to torture you.”

“Because I tortured his father,” he stated the obvious. “But how would he have known what Jenna means to me? Jenna and I…we were just starting to—”

“They’ve been watching you,” Matt interrupted. “When did you and Jenna first become close?”

Adrian scowled at the other man. “Are you asking when we first had sex, ’cause that shit’s none of your goddamn business.”

“Easy, man.” Matt quickly threw his hands up. “I’m not asking about the first time you slept together. I’m asking about the first opportunity someone had to see you two together. To realize what she meant to you.”

Adrian thought back, the answer slapping him square in the face. “The first time we slept together.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Matt muttered beneath his breath. “I just said, I’m not asking about—”

“No.” This time he cut Matt off. “I’m saying the first night we slept together would’ve been the first chance anyone would’ve seen us together.”

It had only been a few weeks ago, but so much had transpired between them since then, it felt as if a lifetime had passed.

“When was that?” Ryker put his hands on his hips.

“Three weeks before she came down here.” Adrian stared back at him. “So about a month ago.”

One of Gabe’s brows rose, but thankfully the guy didn’t choose that moment to give him shit.

“I only spent a few hours at her apartment that day, but…” Another thought struck. One that had his eyes closing. “Shit.”

“What?” Several of the men asked in unison.

The admission tore loose from his protective layers. “I went by her place a few times before that.”

Gabe looked confused. “And what…she wasn’t home those times or something?”

“She was home.” He sighed. “I just stayed outside.”

There was another beat of silence before Nate ever-so-kindly offered up a quipped, “So what you’re saying is you stalked her.”

“I didn’t stalk her, asshole,’ Adrian bit back harshly. “I went by her place a few times, that’s all. Just to make sure she was okay after everything that went down before.”

Okay, fine. Technically he’d stalked her. But not in a creepy ass, I want to sneak inside your home and rearrange your panty drawer kind of way.

Truth was, he’d been too damned chickenshit to approach her all those times before.

“When everything went down…you mean when you kidnapped her and then used