Page 9

9

B ellamy leaned against the railing, raised his coffee mug to his lips, and sipped the scalding liquid. He stared at the marina down below. The tall masts of the sailboats stretched toward the rising sun.

“We’ve got Darius, Wyatt, and me working on hacking into Eric’s personal email,” Waylen Brown said. Waylen had lived on Big Island until his father had died when he’d been only seventeen years old. He’d returned for a retirement party a few years ago, reconnected with his high school sweetheart, landed a job with the Brotherhood Protectors, and now worked as one of their cyber intelligence agents. While Bellamy and his team were recruited as a K9 unit, Bellamy and his brain were often called into Waylen’s office.

One of the side effects of being a genius .

Something that Bellamy tried to often hide.

It wasn’t that he was ashamed of being smart, but growing up, it didn’t do him any favors. He was often teased. In elementary school, being pulled out of his grade and dumped in with the older kids ostracized him from both age groups. He was frequently bullied. It was then his parents decided it was best to pull him from public schools and put him in a private one. That helped some, but he became hyper-aware of how much smarter he was than the kids in his grade, especially when he was a freshman and his teachers wanted him to skip a few grades.

He refused, much to his parents and the school’s disliking.

But it brought him closer to Octavia and Cooper. The two people from his childhood who understood him and his need to be like everyone else.

“Isn’t that illegal?” Bellamy asked with a sarcastic tone. He knew the law. He also knew those working with the Brotherhood Protectors often skirted it when necessary. It’s not like he’d never done it in the name of his country. The difference between what he did and what Eric had done so many times was that Bellamy never believed he was above the law. There was always a risk and he and his team would have to assess each situation and decide if the benefits outweighed the potential problems they would face if they got caught.

His first commanding officer told him there were three rules to rule-breaking.

First: Know and understand the rule.

Second: Have a good reason for breaking the rule.

And third: Be prepared to take full responsibility for the consequences.

That final one was always the key to any mission that required him and his team to do things that his government might have to look the other way.

Waylen chuckled. “Darius’ wife had a couple of run-ins with Eric when she was with the FBI. Fenmore isn’t a fan and she’s calling in a few favors from her old office to see what she can find out.”

“I know Fenmore,” Bellamy said. “I sat in front of her review board once. She’s a fair and reasonable woman. Always approaches things with an open mind. But how is she involved with these missing persons in Colombia if she’s no longer with the FBI and now working for our organization?”

“She does some consulting with the Feds and an old colleague of hers, a woman by the name of Georgia Adams, is in charge of the missing persons cases in South America. Georgia contacted Fenmore because of her connection with us about a year ago,” Waylen said. “Fenmore had a meeting scheduled with Tate for the day after he died in Texas. Obviously, that never happened.”

“Tate had to have found something, but he didn’t leave that with us. All he did was hint that Eric was involved in human trafficking. No details. But he did drop a name. Lemin Basker. Not sure how he ties in, though.”

Waylen nodded. “We know that he came back to the States for a meeting with the brass in Virginia. Then he had some other business in Texas. I’ve got someone trying to retrace his steps. Right now, we’ve got most of it mapped out except we don’t know who it was that entered that hotel and shot him. I’ve got my software working on facial recognition. I’ve spoken to the local cops in Texas and with his superiors inside DEA, including your parents, but their list of suspects is incredibly long.”

“I spoke to my folks this morning.” Bellamy set his mug on the post and turned to face the front door. “Eric is not on that list and from what we can gather, he wasn’t in Texas. But that doesn’t mean shit. I’m damn near positive he was in Colombia when that village was attacked, even though the paper trail says he didn’t get there until hours after it was over.”

“There’s no reason for Eric to be on that suspect list. Just because the two men didn’t like each other, doesn’t mean anything.”

“I spent half the night studying the timeline of Eric’s travels. According to the DEA, he was in Virginia when Tate was killed in Texas.” Bellamy arched a brow. “But he wasn’t in the office. He came in for a meeting at eight in the morning and was out by nine. No one saw him or heard from him until the next day at four. He states he was working leads on different cases. I can’t confirm any of that as of yet.”

“Keep working on it,” Waylen said. “I’ll see what I can do with my contacts as well.”

“We do know that Eric was in Colombia when Octavia and I were shot at. And Octavia believes he was the one who tried to kill her. His plane landed in Colombia hours after the raid ended. I don’t believe for one second he was on that plane. He was already there. That flight was to cover his tracks. We prove that and we’ve got him.” He slammed his hand down on the railing, knocking over his coffee. He didn’t bother trying to catch it. Thankfully the mug didn’t shatter. “He’s responsible and I don’t care what we nail him for; I just want him to pay.”

“We need to unravel this from the beginning and that’s figuring out what he was trying to cover up by raiding that village in the first place.” Waylen rested his hand on Bellamy’s shoulder. “I get how unsettling this is for you, but you’ve got to keep your emotions in check.”

Bellamy shifted his gaze and glared. “You don’t know what he did to her. ”

“Oh, I have a good idea.” Waylen lowered his chin. “Trust me, I know this is personal. I’ve been there. My wife’s ex-husband tried to blow her up on her own boat and that wasn’t the half of what that asshole did to Presley. But I need you focused on the problem and how to solve it. You have two roles in this assignment. To protect Octavia and to help us figure out what Eric was doing so we can connect the dots. He wasn’t running drugs. If he was, Tate and Nova would have nailed him by now. They knew the players and Eric wasn’t involved.”

“But he was doing something and whatever that is, it had something to do with where Octavia was located in Colombia.” Bellamy raked his fingers through his hair. “We know there are a lot of missing youths in that area. He’s got to be part of that human trafficking ring.”

“Fenmore mentioned that her friend Georgia had three dozen cases of missing kids across South America,” Waylen said. “They are digging further and also looking into Lemin Basker as well.”

“I read that in the document that Darius sent. I haven’t had a chance to call him yet. On my large list of things to do today.” Bellamy let out a long breath as he leaned over and lifted his empty coffee mug. “I asked my dad for Eric’s travel records for the last eight years from any joint missions with the DEA. But what I really need to do is call Claudius and get a detailed record of every mission, every trip outside of the United States, and everything Eric has ever worked on during that time frame.”

“Doing that might raise the kind of questions from Claudius that we don’t want,” Waylen said. “He waffles between believing his daughter could be dead, to thinking there’s a big chance she’s still alive. He’s also been able to give our guys the slip twice. He actually called Hank Patterson in Montana and asked why he’s being watched.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. What did Hank say?”

“Played dumb, but Claudius is smart. We’re hanging back as best we can, staying out of sight. But I fear Claudius will do something crazy.”

Bellamy nodded. “All the more reason I should call him. He’s the only one we can ask without causing major red flags within any government organization.”

“Maybe. But he could also tell Eric that we’re looking into it. That could bring Eric to our front door.”

“From what I understand from my folks and Nova, Claudius has some serious issues with Eric lately. I believe we have to take that calculated risk.”

“I don’t know Nova. Do you trust her?”

“I trust Tate and my parents and they trust her, so yeah. I do.” Bellamy nodded. “Even though I want to strangle her for not telling me Octavia was alive. ”

“You’ve got to let that go,” Waylen said. “Holding on to that anger is only going to cloud your judgment. Again, focus on solving the problem. Not what’s already been done. That will only eat you from the inside out.”

Bellamy inched closer to the big picture window. Octavia sat on the sofa with Roxy curled up at her side. Damn dog ditched him in the middle of the night and found her way into the master bedroom and slept with her.

Traitor.

But Roxy always did have an affection for Octavia, which made what happened during that rescue mission so damn hard.

He’d wanted to join them in the big bed, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. If he had, things would have happened. He wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands to himself and now that he was in his home, his emotions were all over the map.

His love for her was as strong as ever.

But that hadn’t mended his broken heart. She’d chosen to spend the rest of her life with another man. With Eric Moody of all people. It didn’t matter to him that she’d broken it off. It still happened and that hurt more than he could ever put into words.

Of course, he blamed himself for that.

There was also the conversation he couldn’t bring himself to have. Something he’d have to do as soon as Waylen and Presley left, and before Nova showed up. Walking around on eggshells wasn’t helping anything. All it did was bring up painful memories.

Waylen was right. He needed to let the past go. What was done was done. He couldn’t change what happened. None of it.

They had broken up and he hadn’t fought for her. That was on him. Not her.

He had no right to be mad that she hadn’t come to him after the raid. Especially not with what happened after the botched rescue attempt.

“I know,” Bellamy said. “Can we agree that I need to call Claudius?”

“All right. But what are you going to do when he starts asking you why you want to know?”

“I’m going to have to give him some truths,” Bellamy said. “And you and Hawk are going to have to let me do that.”

“Would you tell him his daughter is alive?”

Bellamy planted his hands on his hips. Octavia glanced over her shoulder and smiled. It wasn’t a big one, but at least she didn’t scowl and she had a right to be mad. He’d been an asshole ever since they’d landed in Hawaii. Something he needed to apologize for.

“Not right now.” Bellamy turned. “But at some point, after we have more intel, we’re going to need to turn up the heat and Eric already knows she’s alive. Eventually, he will probably come looking for her here. I’ve always believed it’s better to go on the offensive than constantly play defense.”

“Okay. But let’s regroup after you’ve had a chance to talk with him and we’ve had a chance to go through Eric’s personal emails.”

“Sounds like a solid plan.” The only question in his mind now was if he was going to tell Octavia that he was going to call her father. He should, but maybe he’d wait until after he’d spoken to Claudius.

Octavia snuggled with Roxy on the sofa while Maverick tried to get comfortable on her lap, but Roxy kept trying to nudge him away with her nose. It was too cute.

Roxy had been following her around all morning. Actually, she hadn’t left her side since about two in the morning when she found her way into the massive bed that Bellamy had snuck out of sometime before midnight. He had brought her a sandwich, climbed in bed, and watched television until she fell asleep.

But he’d been so distant during that time. He barely spoke, and he didn’t snuggle with her, staying on his side of the bed while the dogs took up the middle.

When she woke with a start at midnight, the dogs and Bellamy were nowhere to be found. But the cats were dancing around her head. She didn’t bother to go find Bellamy. Whatever had crawled up his ass, she didn’t want to discuss because it probably had something to do with her.

Perhaps he regretted being with her after all.

“I’m glad the clothes fit,” Presley said. “Men aren’t usually very good with sizes. My husband tries to buy me clothes, and they are always two sizes too big or way too small.” She laughed. “But he always gets the jewelry right.”

“I appreciate you bringing them over.”

“I’m really sorry about everything you’ve been through.” Presley held up her hand. “I don’t know much. Waylen doesn’t like to bring work home, so we don’t talk too much about it, but he did tell me some and made it clear I’m not allowed to tell anyone. I want you to know if you need anything, I’m right down the road. Day or night.”

“Thanks.” Octavia didn’t know what else to say and didn’t really want to discuss herself or her problems. “How long have you and Waylen been married?”

“Not quite two years, but we’ve known each other since we were kids. He was my first love. Really, my only true love, even though I was married once before. I’d be lost without him.”

Octavia glanced over her shoulder and locked gazes with Bellamy through the window. She smiled. It was hard not to remember all the good times. And there were so many. More than there were bad times, though they had shared some heartbreak. “I’ve known Bellamy since middle school. He was the first boy I ever kissed.” She had no idea why that came flying out of her mouth.

“Waylen was my first everything.” Presley leaned over and rested her hand on Octavia’s leg. “You’re in good hands with Bellamy and everyone at the Brotherhood Protectors.”

The front door swung open and the men strolled through it.

“Come on, babe,” Waylen said. “We better go. My mom loves that little one of ours, but there is only so much she can take.”

Presley stood. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too.” Octavia didn’t dare move in fear of disrupting the delicate balance of the animals. But it didn’t matter. Roxy stretched and leaped from the sofa to get a little love from her master. She glanced up at him with excitement in her eyes while her tail wagged eagerly back and forth.

Maverick darted from Octavia’s lap and raced under the sofa.

Who knew where the other two cats were.

Bellamy said his goodbyes and now they were alone in his big house once again. The silence was too deafening to bear but she couldn’t move a muscle. The weight of her situation rested heavily on her shoulders. When she’d been in Colombia, every time Tate came to visit, it brought it all back. The fear of what could happen if Eric knew he’d failed at putting an end to her life. It was so paralyzing she’d spend the next few days hiding in her hut.

But then she’d go back to teaching the kids and women in the village. She loved that part of her life. It was simple and she could forget about everything that had happened.

Or perhaps it had been cowardly of her, leaving the problems of her life to Tate and Nova to deal with. But the longer she stayed in Colombia, they more they believed she’d been onto something when it came to the missing young people and the connection that had to the raid.

And Eric.

She wanted to him to pay but didn’t know how to make that happen. Tate didn’t think rising from the dead would do any good. Not until he had more information.

Bellamy eased onto the sofa. “Nova’s meeting with Cooper and Hawk before coming out here.”

“Why?”

“Hawk wants to have a chat with her about a few things regarding what she’s been working on and since Cooper knows her pretty well, he wants him there.” Bellamy shifted, turning his gaze. “We need to talk. ”

“The last time you started a conversation off like that you told me you never wanted to see me again.”

“That’s because you showed up at my place rambling on about your decision to take an extended post with the Peace Corps while waving your hand around with a massive engagement ring on your finger. What the hell did you…” He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, O. I don’t want to fight about stuff that’s in the past and that’s not what we need to discuss.”

“Okay.” She tried to swallow, but her heart hammered in her throat, which had turned dry. She reached for her tea and took a slow sip. “Why are you so mad?”

“It’s not that I’m angry.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Though I do owe you one hell of an apology for how I’ve been behaving since we’ve stepped foot in Hawaii.” He reached out and traced her scar with his index finger. “I have no excuse for it. I’m so grateful that you’re alive. It’s hard for me to accept that you couldn’t trust me enough to reach out, but I do understand why.” He kissed her cheek. “I hate myself for taking out my frustrations for my failures on you and I’m sorry. I hope that you can forgive me.”

She wrapped her arms around his strong body and hugged him tight. “I don’t blame you for what happened. ”

“But you did blame me and Roxy for not finding you and frankly, I blame myself.” His hands danced up and down her back. “I knew something was wrong with her when the search started. All the dogs were acting off and we couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It caused a lot of problems for my team for years.”

She pressed her hand against his chest. The thumping of his heart connected to her palm. “When Tate mentioned Eric could have been part of a scheme to interfere with the search, I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I had called off our engagement, but why would he do that? Why wouldn’t he want me found?” She covered Bellamy’s mouth. “At that time, I wasn’t accepting that it could have been Eric who attacked me.”

Bellamy’s lips drew into a tight line. “But it was and let’s hope that he and I aren’t ever alone in the same room, because my temper will get the better of me.” He rolled his shoulders. “However, this is not what I wanted to talk to you about and only a small part of what caused my bad mood.”

She cocked her head. “Now you’ve frightened me.”

“I should have asked you this question back in Colombia.” He closed his eyes for a few seconds before blinking them open. “I didn’t use a condom. I have no idea if you’re on birth control and the last time we didn’t use protection, you ended up pregnant.”

Her heart dropped to her stomach. How could she have been so reckless? How could she not even think about that? Much less remember their loss. Or what it had done to both of them.

She gasped. Instinctively, her hands covered her stomach, not her mouth.

“Crap,” Bellamy said under his breath. “So, I take it that means you’re not taking anything to prevent pregnancy.”

“I haven’t had any reason to.” She jumped to her feet, nearly stepping on Ollie. Poor kitty. She made a beeline for under the sofa. Octavia made her way around the coffee table and paced. Tears burned her eyes. She remembered like it was yesterday the day she found out she was pregnant with Bellamy’s baby. She’d been thirty years old and they hadn’t been in the best place in their relationship. “I can’t believe neither one of us thought about that.”

“It’s not like I came to Colombia believing I was going to get laid.”

She stopped pacing and glared. “That was crude.”

He raised his hands. “Just saying I didn’t bring any condoms with me and there’s nothing we can do about it now except wait it out.”

She snorted. “I’ve only gone without birth control once and we both know what happened that time.” A tear dribbled down her cheek. “You didn’t want to be a father back then, I’m sure that hasn’t changed.”

“Excuse me? I never said I didn’t want to have a family.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I wanted that baby.”

She arched a brow. “You were not all that excited when I told you.”

“I was in shock and when I suggested you move in with me, you got mad. You went off on me about not wanting me to do something out of obligation. It made no sense. Obligation had nothing to do with it. I loved you and I wanted us to be a family. But then you lost the baby and a month later told me you needed space.”

“And you gave it to me in spades,” she said. “You let me walk right out of your life.”

“Jesus, O. Is that how you see it?” He stood, closing the gap. “We talked about getting married and having kids, but it was always in the future. I thought there were things you wanted to do and I was willing to wait. I didn’t want to be the kind of man who held you back. I didn’t want you to resent me because I got the career I wanted, but you didn’t.”

“Same old argument and the rub is you never heard me. Never really understood me.” She pointed to Roxy, who was sprawled out on the floor. She covered her nose with her paw. “You get your dog more than me.”

“That’s not fair and I don’t believe it’s true.”

“But it is,” Octavia said. “I wanted to marry you. Not move in with you, but you never asked.”

“Because you never gave me the chance.” He grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the stairs.

“What are you doing?”

“I need to show you something.” He took the steps, holding on to her tightly. “Maybe I didn’t handle that situation well. And you’re right, I gave you too much space. But I was hurting too and you wouldn’t talk to me. When I tried, you shut me down and don’t tell me you didn’t, because that would be a false statement.” He glanced over his shoulder when he got to the top of the stairs and glared. “I even showed up at your apartment with flowers two months after we broke up. I told you that I still loved you and that I wanted us to get back together. I asked you to let me take you out to dinner. I had this whole thing planned, but you refused.”

“I had something going on that night.”

“Yeah, a date with Eric,” he mumbled. “That killed me.” He turned and tugged her toward the master as if they were running a race.

Once in his bedroom, he made a beeline for the nightstand. He yanked open the bottom drawer, shuffled through a few things, and pulled out a small box. “When you called me to tell me you were on your way to the hospital because you were having a miscarriage, I was at the jewelry store buying this.” He shoved the velvet box under her nose. “I had it with me when I came to your house. Imagine my surprise when I learned you were seeing that asshole just a couple of months after we lost our child.”

Her chest tightened. Her blood froze. So much of the year before she’d died in Colombia made sense. All of Bellamy’s anger and why he’d kept his distance. With a shaky hand, she took the box and lifted the lid. Tears poured from her eyes as she stared at a diamond engagement ring. It wasn’t flashy like the one Eric had bought her, which she had kind of hated.

No. It was perfect.

It wasn’t too big, but it sat up in a six-prong setting and shined beautifully. It was exactly what she envisioned herself wearing. She glanced between it and Bellamy.

“You should have told me,” she whispered.

“I thought it would have been in poor taste after you lost the baby. You were so distraught. And then angry. At me.”

“Because I didn’t believe you wanted the baby,” she managed to choke out.

“And I didn’t want you to think I was asking you to marry me out of anything other than my love for you, so I thought waiting a little bit might be the right thing to do.” He took the box, closed it, and put it back in the drawer. “When I learned you were with Eric, I was devastated and I almost sold the ring, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “I know I screwed up so many things. Especially during that time in our lives. I can’t go back and fix them. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I didn’t show my excitement for the baby right away.” He lifted his gaze. “I was happy.”

She cupped his face. “I was too.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his forehead against her midsection. “When your father told me that you and Eric got engaged, my whole world shifted.”

“What do you mean?”

“Call me crazy, but up until that point, I still believed we’d get back together. After that, I gave up hope. When I thought you were dead, I decided that marriage and family were not in the cards for me. I would remain single for the rest of my life.” He tilted his head. “I have never been so confused by my emotions than I am right now. You’re not dead. You’re alive.” He ran his hands down her back and cupped her ass, digging his fingers into her flesh. “You’re not with Eric.”

“That man tried to kill me.” She shivered, remembering that final kick to her gut as her attacker leaned over her, speaking in Spanish, telling her she was going to die .

Bellamy pulled her to his lap, cradling her in his strong arms. “I’m not going to ever let him hurt you again.” He pressed his lips over her mouth in a tender kiss. “We can’t change the past, but what are we going to do if you’re pregnant?”

“I have no idea,” she whispered. “I’m too old to even be thinking about it.”

He laughed. “You’re thirty-eight. That’s a far cry from too old to be a mother.”

“I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.” She crawled off his lap and onto the bed. “Technically, I’m still dead to most of the world. Eric is hell-bent on finding me and finishing what he failed to do five years ago. It’s insane that after all these years we even let this happen.”

“I know jack shit about this stuff.” He fluffed a few pillows and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, nuzzling her head into his chest. “How long do we have to wait to find out?”

She thought about that for a hot second. She’d always struggled with birth control pills, which is why she’d gone off them years ago. But they had regulated her period. “A day after I’m considered late, but that’s kind of hard to calculate because every month is different. Sometimes I even skip a month.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“I’m trying to remember when I had my last period. I don’t track it,” she said. “But I could probably take a test in two weeks.”

“Can I ask you a crazy question?”

“Nothing could be more insane than this conversation, so sure. Go ahead.”

“What would you do if you were pregnant?”

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She’d always wanted to have a family, especially with Bellamy.

When she’d been with Eric, they had talked about it and at first, she’d been on board. She thought they loved each other. But as time passed, she filed that thought in the back of her mind. Eric was a selfish man and when she took the extended post with the Peace Corps, she wasn’t sure about anything when it came to her relationship with Eric.

“That was an unfair question,” Bellamy said.

“No. It wasn’t. I’m just scared. Not only of that, but of everything.” She lifted her gaze. “I want answers. I want to know why all those people were murdered. Why Eric raided that village and why he thought killing me was necessary.”

“You asked him to look into those missing persons, but you also took it to the local government. Did you take that to Tate before the raid?”

“I did.” She nodded.

“Tate had a conversation with Fenmore Ford, who now works for the Brotherhood Protectors, but she used to be with the FBI. I believe that’s our connection.”

“I’m not following.”

“Fenmore took it to a friend of hers. An FBI agent by the name of Georgia Adams. She’s been working on a human trafficking ring out of South America for years. They have a code name for the person running it, but they don’t have a real identity. Darius thinks Lemin could be that person and the go-between is Eric.”

Octavia bolted to an upright position. “I’ve read through everything. How did you get that from what Tate left?”

“When I study his travels to and from Colombia, it coincides with some of the missing kids. Darius has started looking into Lemin and made even more connections. But I need more intel on what both were doing and that means I need to go to your dad.”

“You want to call my father?”

“It’s not like I haven’t spoken to him before. And he knows I can’t stand Eric. With some of the chatter that’s been going on, he won’t think twice about me reaching out.”

“I don’t know.” Octavia snagged a pillow and hugged it tight. “And now that I’m back in the States, it’s hard for me not to want to see him. But I struggle with his involvement with Eric. He played such a huge role in Eric’s career. ”

“Eric has always been power hungry. But he’s also a master manipulator and as smart as your dad is, it doesn’t mean that Eric couldn’t have played him.” Bellamy palmed her cheek. “I need to call your dad. I need information if I’m going to find out exactly what Eric was up to so I can make him pay for what he’s done so you can live your life again.” He pressed his hand against her stomach. “And so we can have a second chance. Whether or not you’re pregnant, I at least want to see if?—”

Ding-dong.

She jumped.

“That must be Nova,” Bellamy said, slipping from the bed. “I mean it, O. I think it’s obvious I never stopped caring about you.” He turned and stepped out of the bedroom.

She flopped back on the bed, still holding the pillow tight, staring at the skylight. No way could she be pregnant. That would be a complication she couldn’t deal with.

And the idea that Bellamy wanted to pick up where they had left off eight years ago was ludicrous.

Wasn’t it?

But her heart told her it wasn’t.

Even if her mind told her she was flipping crazy.