focused on each inhale and exhale, holding back the wince of pain.
“You owe me for taking my father, my mother, and her.”
Her? He must have been hit harder than he thought.
“I gave her a choice. Fire you or I would walk.”
He struggled to connect the pieces through the pain screaming from every inch of his body. The breach. Her. Firing him. “Rachel?”
A backhanded slap smacked across his jaw with enough force to throw his head to the side and send a string of blood flying through the air. “You don’t deserve to say her name!” Pain burst across Bull’s cheek and the taste of copper filled his mouth. His chest heaved as he fought another wave of nausea.
He glared at the man in front of him. Rafe. Was that even his real name? The bastard had played the long game. Using Rachel to gain access to him. And in the process, the son of a bitch had hurt Rachel when he left her.
Bull’s vision faded in and out, but even that couldn’t keep him from seeing the pain beneath the man’s gaze. Rafe may have started out by using Rachel, but it was clear she hadn’t been the only one hurt by the breakup.
The memory steamrolled into his tired mind. “The building explosion.”
“Messier than I had planned but I was running out of time and didn’t care. You pissed me off, and I just wanted you dead. I didn’t know you asked her right-hand man to step in at the last minute.”
He thought back farther, to when things started. “The airport…” Bull cleared his throat, willing his voice to sound clearer. “That was you… I was the target, not her.”
“That wasn’t me.” Rafe scoffed. “I wouldn’t have put her at risk.” He leaned in closer. “And I wouldn’t have missed. Those were dipshits who couldn’t follow orders. I was very specific. You alone or with a loved one so they would feel your pain.”
Bull stared, refusing to react to Rafe’s words.
“Any of your loved ones would do.”
There wasn’t a chance in hell he would reveal any sort of vulnerability to this man.
“Maybe your father.” Rafe slowly cocked his head. “Or your sister.” He glanced upward as if plucking a thought from the air. “Natalie.”
Bull’s pulse sprinted at the slow-growing sneer in Rafe’s expression.
“Maybe Ben.”
Bull tugged at the binds on his hands, the prickling on his skin awakening to the sensation of the rope burning into his wrists.
Rafe’s eyes sparked with something dark and twisted. “Is this the part where you tell me to stay away from him?”
This is the part where you’re lucky I’m tied down.
“Finally. I’ve struck a nerve.”
A shot of adrenaline spiked Bull’s blood. He twisted his hands, checking again if there was any give in the rope.
“Ben, with the big green eyes.”
How does he know that? He desperately tugged his hands again, his chair shifting with the efforts.
Rafe’s laugh sent a chill up his spine. “Glad you still have some fight left.” He inched closer. “Let’s see if we can beat it out of you.”
= ♥ =
Ben was going to lose it.
The fewer witnesses, the better.
He pressed his palms to his eyes, willing his heart to calm. He hadn’t been able to shake this feeling of dread for the last half hour and he couldn’t get his heart to calm.
Rachel’s connection had been the missing piece. It explained how the man had gained access—to their home, to Gabriel, to their world. Enraged, she had given Aidan every tiny piece of detail she could recall, and Anthony had retrieved the background check he had run months ago. Between the two missing pieces, the puzzle slowly began revealing a clearer picture. The man she knew as Rafe hadn’t lied about his name or his legitimate businesses. But she and Anthony had been more concerned about his monetary interest in her and Davenport Holdings than deep diving into family history and other connections outside of work and finances. With enough truths in the information they had, Aidan was certain Dylan and Jessie could find the rest.
With a face and now a name, Aidan had been granted the authority he needed to tap Dylan—legitimately—to use government resources to narrow down the list of potential locations where Rafe could take Gabriel. He had also received special clearance to summon one person for Gabriel’s recovery mission.
After the fact, but still aboveboard…now.
That explained why the stoic, patiently waiting statue of a man leaning against the kitchen counter had arrived twenty minutes before the official