True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (44 page)

“Go where, sweetheart,” he asked. Part of him knew if she ran now, he’d never get her back, and that left two choices. Talk her out of it, or run with her.

“The police just called. My alarm company was alerted at my house. Someone broke in and wrecked the place,” she said, ready to cry. They didn’t have to tell her who did it, she already knew. The stalker that haunted every step of her life had accessed the one place that was sacred and destroyed it on her. Her home wasn’t safe anymore.

“I’m going with you,” he said, sliding from the bed. “Give me a few minutes to get dressed, I’ll drive you.” He was already moving to the door adjoining their room.

“Callen, wait, you have a job to do here. I’m finished until the next victim turns up, I can go. You can’t.” God, she hoped she couldn’t talk him out of it. Inside her head she pleaded with the mystical higher powers to not let her push him away, even as her words did just that.

Whitefox walked back over to her, took her face in his large hands and looked down into those green eyes that
intrigued him. “I’m going with you. I can’t let you face this alone. I promised you Desdemona, so stop asking me to when it’s just a useless waste of time and breath. I always keep my promises, because that’s the foundation to everything in life. If you break those you have nothing.”

“
Callen.” Desdemona said his name, as her eyes filled with more tears.

Leaning down to her, he kissed her delicately on the lips, no push, no hardness. Just gentleness that he thought she needed at that moment to keep her from shattering a
part. “I’ll meet you downstairs, and I’ll tell Ethan and Elizabeth that we’re leaving.”

Doctor Adare
nodded and watched him walk away. Hope bloomed; all the while terror began feasting at her heart and soul.

Callen packed his bag fast, as he clipped his gun to his hip and tucked in his badge. Next was trying to convince his brother that he had to go, and if it came down to it, he’d quit in a heartbeat and worry about the consequences later. Desdemona was going to take precedent over work, and he wasn’t letting her do this alone.
Tonight he screwed up, but he’d at least keep the woman safe.

Walking to his brother’s door, he knocked lightly.

“Come in,” came his voice.

Whitefox opened the door and immediately he noticed
both Elizabeth and Ethan were sitting up, but his brother was still protectively around his wife. Just in case.

“What’s wrong?” he asked,
relaxing as his eyes focused on his brother before him. Whitefox had taken a seat beside his wife.

“Desdemona just got a call,” he paused,
linking fingers with Elizabeth, for support and strength. All he could hope was his brother didn’t fire him. “There was an alarm at her house, someone broke in, and wrecked the place.”

“The stalker?” asked
Elizabeth, squeezing his hand.

“They didn’t say, but who else could it be? Some random coincidence
?” He stated in doubt. “She’s packing to head back, and I’m going with her.” Whitefox put it out there waiting for his brother to tell say he wasn’t going.

“Head downstairs, and give us two minutes to get down there. I’ll have the FBI tech team at FBI West go in and run it for prints and for any trace.”

Callen loved his brother more than words would ever be able to express. Yeah he was his boss, but he just put brotherhood first. “Thank you, Ethan, for understanding.”

“It’s what family does
, especially the Blackhawks.”

~ Chapter Twelve ~

Thursday early morning

Desdemona lugged her suitcase downstairs, and she was surprised to find everyone waiting for her. Both Blackhawks and Callen stood having coffee and leaning against the counter in the kitchen. There was this little wave of worry that kept pushing at her and making her scared, but she knew she was an adult and needed to handle the messes that she found waiting for her. Telling her bosses she was leaving the assignment was probably going to be one of those messes.

C
allen immediately took her bag and placed it by the back door. The Denali was heated up and they would begin their trip as soon as she was ready to go.

Elizabeth
felt sympathy for her new friend and poured her a cup of coffee, pushing it across the counter to her, noticing that she looked worried. “You’ll need this,” she added. “It’s bitching cold out there.”

“I’m sorry.” It was all she could think of at that moment.

Elizabeth went to her friend and hugged her. “Hey, you didn’t sneak to your house and wreck the joint, so stop apologizing.”

Desdemona hugged her back, and knew that part of her would love this woman forever. She’d accepted her and offered her something no one else ever had. Unconditional friendship. “Thank you for understanding.”

Blackhawk spoke up. “The other tech team
is in en route to your house. They’ll sweep for anything they can find and then run it.”

“But this isn't FBI related
!” Desdemona tried to object.

He knew it wasn’t and again the curiosity rose to the surface of how his wife pulled it off.
“You heard Director Rothschild. Elizabeth and I are going to handle this, so just give them the next two hours to do the initial sweep and then you can enter the house. Don’t drive like maniacs to just be in their way.” That was meant for his brother. “You have our house key. Take Desdemona there if the tech team is still busy working the scene. Use the quiet there to crash for a while. You know the alarm code.”

Whitefox nodded and went to Elizabeth. “Thank you,” he rubbed her belly and his yet born nephew.

“Come back in one piece, Callen,” she whispered back, taking his face in her hands and looking into his eyes. “Promise me.”

He kissed her on the lips, and made the oath. “No worries
beautiful. You keep an eye on my brother.”

Elizabeth nodded, releasing his wrist.

Next he went to his brother and hugged him. “Thank you for understanding.”

“Watch your back, Cal,” he whispered in his ear.

“Yes, Sir!” Callen saluted, and his sister-in-law laughed.

“Come on, Desi. We’ll go take care of this, and get back here before anyone knows we’ve even gone,” he said grabbing the bags.

“Thank you,” she said, following him out the door into the bitter night.

Both Blackhawks watched them leave, and he looked over at his wife. “Worried, baby?” he asked, noticing the look on her face.

“Yeah, Cowboy I am.”

“Me too,” he said, locking the door and pulling his wife
away from the kitchen door. They had a few hours until they needed to be back at work. “I’m not going to be able to sleep.”

“Me either.”

“I think we need to talk.” It was time. “We need to discuss how you got our boss to allow the FBI to foot the bill for Desdemona’s problem.” Blackhawk knew the minute his wife registered what he wished to discuss. Her whole body went rigid and tense.

Elizabeth’s first instinct was to lie, but then she remembered who she was talking to and couldn’t bring herself
to damage the trust between them.

“Well Elizabeth?”

Again she didn’t speak. She wasn’t sure how to broach the conversation.

“How about we bring our coffee upstairs, I light a
fire and we discuss what you’re hiding from your husband?” Blackhawk knew tossing out the title of husband was playing dirty, but then again, keeping secrets was just as dirty.

Elizabeth grabbed her coffee and his. “
That sounds good to me. I love a crackling fire,” she answered, trying to keep it light and airy. Once she told him the truth, she might lose her husband and his respect.

Blackhawk led
his wife up the stairs to their room, and he released her hand. He went to the love seat, and he noticed she chose to sit on the bed, placing distance between them. This had to be very bad sign of what was coming.

“When I was back in the FBI under Gabe Rothschild, my last assignment with Livy was a bad one. We were sent in to work on a serial killer assignment. It was one of my firsts.
I had just transitioned from violent crimes into Gabe’s department. When he was promoted, he pretty much took me with him.”

Blackhawk sipped his coffee and just listened.

“The killer became infatuated with Livy,” she paused, slipping back into her memories to find the secrets she’d buried so deep.

“Infatuated?”

“He was stalking and killing redheads. Maybe you remember the case. It was in Boston, ‘The Irish Butcher’. Elizabeth watched the look on her husband’s face. Ethan was the king of poker faces, and it was bad when his suddenly cracked, when the information hit its mark.

“That was your assignment?” he asked, incredulously. They’d all seen the dossier on it, because it was legend at Quantico, and not for a good reason. It was a big slipup that allowed the killer to get away, and all the families were furious that the FBI screwed up and didn’t get them justice.

Elizabeth laughed. “Yeah, I headed that clusterfuck.”

Blackhawk didn’t know what to say, but it still didn’t answer why she was able to manipulate Gabe over it. If anything she should owe him, her name was never tied to it.

“The killer focused on Livy. The sicko began stalking her everywhere, and we contemplated using her as bait.”

“Okay, I’m with you so far.”

“Right about then, Gabe and Livy fell in love. She asked him to marry her,” Elizabeth laughed. She remembered the day, and it still made her smile. Her boss was so stiff and rule orientated that Livy rocked his world upside down.

“Gabe told me that Livy proposed.”

“Yeah, she didn’t like to play by the traditional rules, and it’s probably a good thing. Gabe tends to drag his feet on certain things, like living wild and crazy.”

“You’re stalling.” He hoped it didn’t come out hard, but he was starting to get a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Yeah I am, because what I’m going to tell you is that damn bad.”

Blackhawk wanted to go to her, but
he knew his wife and for now she needed to work through this.

“Anyway, this wackjob was getting more
twisted and leaving presents for her, dead animals, nasty notes and then one night she called me. I couldn’t understand the call, it was her whispering and it was garbled. I rushed over as fast as I could.”

“What happened?”

“She went home to her apartment after work, Gabe was working late, and
‘The Butcher’
was in her place.”

“
Oh shit.”

“Yeah,
when I got there he had roughed her up and was going to kill her, but I interrupted.” Elizabeth left it at that. The details weren’t hers to share, and she hoped her husband understood that.

“Baby, I’m so sorry,” he said, the emotion was clearly visible on her face, and he couldn’t imagine what she was feeling.

“I called Gabe, and he was going to go after the guy.”

“I don’t blame him,” Blackhawk stared at his wife. It was starting to all come together.

“I wouldn’t let him. By that time in the case, Livy and I had a suspect, and when he came at her, we knew we could identify him, but it would mean her having to testify against him.”

“He assaulted her, didn’t
he?”

Elizabeth felt her eyes welling up. When her husband went to move to her, she shook her head. “I need to get throu
gh this, and you can’t sooth me. I don’t deserve it.”

Blackhawk sat back down. “Okay, Elizabeth.”

“Ethan, if I tell you the rest of this, you’re obligated to arrest me. I broke the law, and Gabe buried it.”

“What did you do, Elizabeth?”

“I played judge, jury and executioner for my partner and my friend.”

Ethan walked to the bed, took the coffee from her hand and placed it on the end table. “
I’m guessing ‘The Irish Butcher’ didn’t really get away did he?”

“No. The victims got justice, but the families never knew it.”

Blackhawk’s cheek twitched.

“If you want a divorce, I completely understand, and
if you want to turn me in, I’m ready,” she said, placing her hands on her child growing in her body.

His heart broke that she’d been carrying this alone, and honestly believed he’d see her differentl
y. “I wouldn’t ever divorce you.” Blackhawk climbed on the bed beside her and pulled her into his arms. “Elizabeth, I love you, and you aren’t some sicko killing random people.”