Page 25

Chapter

Twenty-Five

LUNCHBOX

M aurizio Gallo was in France. He’d been vacationing near Nice and according to the reports Alphabet dug up, he was even now enjoying some time in a villa on the French Riviera.

“Taking her to Europe is going to be challenging.” I studied the map Bones had been building based on the data we’d collected. At the moment, Gracie had gone up to shower after her run.

As irritating--and hot—as it had been to listen to her cries of pleasure the night before, I couldn’t fault the shine in her eyes earlier in the day. That same glow seemed back after her run.

We’d locked her down and it was smothering her. From the way Bones and Alphabet watched her, I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.

“We’ll make it work,” Bones said in the same tone he’d used when he said we’d finish a mission or get Alphabet through recovery. It was a foregone conclusion, we would do it. Which meant we would also figure out the how of it.

“On our side,” Alphabet said as he pushed his chair back and stretched. There was a hesitation in movement present when he stood. He needed a break. “No one has reported her or her sister missing. It pisses me off that someone is going to all the trouble of erasing her, even if it also means we may not have as many challenges to get her from point A to point B.”

“Maybe,” Voodoo said, arms folded. He was also staring at the map on the wall. The details on Gallo, his holdings, and the number of “dismissed” legal actions against him. The only reason we even knew there had been lawsuits at all was the gossip reporting. Once they were “settled” or paid off, they were erased entirely.

Another red flag.

“Issues?” Bones said, pivoting to face Voodoo.

“Depends,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “She’s a pretty well-known face. You recognized her, Lunchbox.”

I shrugged. “True, but you guys didn’t.” A point in our favor. “Considering how many models are in the world, how many can you name off the top of your head?”

“But we still take precautions. Better to avoid any possible incidents.” Bones braced his hands on the back of a chair. “We’ve whittled down her list to four names. No guarantee that one of them is involved in this.”

“Then we’ll start peeling back another layer.” We’d do it until we found the problem. Blowing out a long breath, I studied the map. “We need to settle one more point before she comes back down.” I checked my watch. I didn’t miss Voodoo’s measured look.

Slugging him earlier had sanded some of the edge off my temper. It was hardly the first time for any of us to solve a disagreement with fists. More than likely we would do it again. With this much on the line and building an op on the go, we couldn’t afford to keep dancing around the gorgeous woman in the room.

“Cards on the table,” I continued when all three just stared at me. Maybe they didn’t want to discuss this right now, but I wasn’t going to let it go. Assumptions could get us killed. “We’ve been basically running by unspoken agreement. Alphabet and I got Grace out of New York because someone was after her. You came to back us up, then you,” I said with a nod to Bones, “sent Voodoo to take her and lure out any possible pursuits. Eventually, we got her here.”

“I don’t have a problem with her being here,” Alphabet said as he leaned a hip against the side of his desk.

“I didn’t say you did. I also do not have a problem with her being here,” I told him. “But we’ve never discussed the fact that we brought her here to our place. While Doc has a room here, even he hasn’t been here.”

“What’s done is done,” Bones said and I could almost hear him dismissing the topic. “But perhaps you three will take a little more care when it comes to our missions. The more she knows, the more she can compromise us.”

“No one objected to her coming here,” Voodoo said. “None of us. We could have, before we got on that plane. We didn’t.”

“No,” Alphabet said with a sigh. “We didn’t. It’s not just about not having a problem with it. I like having her here.”

“That,” I said with a nod to him, “is the point. I like having her here too. I know you do.” I lifted my chin to Voodoo. “That was very clear last night.”

“And this morning,” Alphabet said with a wry grin. Bones just scrubbed a hand over his face. “But Lunchbox is right. If we want Gracie to stay here, we have to know where all of us stand so we can be clear on where she stands.”

“Involving her is a good first step,” I said. “I want to help her. I want to nail whoever these bastards are that have turned her life upside down.”

“The fucker who had her from the first scoop is still out there.” Voodoo’s voice held a quiet threat in it. The guy was out there and that was something we definitely needed to take care of. “Then there’s the bastards who tagged her. The ones who put her on that truck…”

“And the ones who have her sister,” I added. “If she’s still alive.”

“Killing her would be impractical,” Bones said and it was such a cold assessment I frowned at him. “They’ve invested considerable resources into acquiring both sisters, into erasing them, and eliminating those around them like her manager, the photographers… You don’t profit if you kill the product.”

Hating that description, I tilted my head back. She wasn’t a product . But wasn’t that what all of these people were treating her as? A face. A body. A smile. It was all about how she looked.

“Until we have verifiable proof otherwise, we work with the assumption the sister is alive and we will find her for Grace.”

“That’s mighty damn optimistic of you, Bones,” Alphabet said and the cap just gave him a bland look. Not that it had any effect on him. “You haven’t said whether you want her here or like having her here yet.”

With a snort, Bones looked at the board. “She doesn’t really care what I think, remember?”

“She isn’t the one asking,” I countered.

“If I said no?” He raised his brows as he turned back to face us. “What would you all say then?”

I opened my mouth, then popped it closed. What could we say? Alphabet frowned, but it was Voodoo who said, “I’d call bullshit. But you’re not asking me.”

“I am committed to helping her. We’ll find the problem, then eliminate the problem so she stays safe. That’ll have to be enough for you, Lunchbox.” Then he left the room.

“Well, that went well,” Alphabet said. “I need to walk and stretch. Goblin could use a break too.”

“You want company?” Voodoo asked and Alphabet shook his head.

“Nah, I’m good. Keep an eye on Gracie. She seems better today and I want her to keep feeling better.”

“Already on that,” Voodoo nodded, then Alphabet and Goblin left and it was just me and Voodoo. He eyed me. “Spit it out, before you choke on it.”

“I like her.” Not even going to mince my words. “I like her a lot. So does Alphabet.”

“Same,” Voodoo said, shrugging. “Not complaining about your interest or his. Not apologizing for mine.”

“Don’t recall asking you for an apology.” I rubbed the back of my neck.

“Just saying,” Voodoo said with a shrug. “One piece of advice, though.”

I raised my brows.

“Leave Bones alone on this subject.” The other man nodded to the board. “Let him focus on that. He doesn’t want to split where his attention is and she is very much a distraction. His problem with you and Alphabet has everything to do with your interest in her in the first place.”

“I’m sure you bedding her five minutes after he passed her off to you really went over well.”

He shrugged again. “I don’t care what he thinks either. It works out well. I have some work to do. I want to get some feelers out there, pin down supplies and transport, especially if we’re going to France.”

Yeah. Once he was gone, I turned to face the board again. I had the information, the names, and the faces memorized. If any of them were behind the hell she had gone through, we’d disassemble them piece by piece.

Wasn’t sure it would be that easy though.

Putting a pin in that, I headed for the kitchen as Grace descended the stairs. Her damp hair fell around her shining face. She moved a little gingerly and I frowned. “Overdo it, running?”

“Maybe,” she admitted. “I haven’t been that active and I may have pushed it.” Then she held up the phone. “The music helped.”

“Good.”

“C’mon and hang in the kitchen. I’ll find you something to help with that.” I waited a beat to see if she would follow, then made myself move. Giving her a choice also meant getting out of her way so she could make it for herself.

It took her a moment, but she did follow me. “Where is everyone else?”

“Alphabet went for a walk with Goblin,” I told her as I went to get the meat out for dinner. I studied the contents of the fridge. We needed to go through whatever was defrosted before we left. No sense in letting food go to waste. “Voodoo is working.”

“And Boney Boy?”

I slanted a look at her over my shoulder. “Do you really care?”

Her grimace was adorable. “I suppose I deserved that.”

“Maybe.” I pulled out all five steaks. They were large, but I could section hers down if she didn’t want as much. Probably should have defrosted some fish for her. Right, I could work with it. “But he also went to get some work done.”

“Oh.” She moved to stand at the counter. “Can I help?”

“Not right this sec, but keeping me company is nice.” I headed for the dry storage. We had plenty of potatoes in there. I carried a sack out. Could bake them or roast them.

Bake.

Stopping at the first aid kit, I flipped it open and grabbed the acetaminophen. I put the bottle in front of her.

“That will help with the aching. Don’t sit still too long so you don’t get stiff.”

“Good advice.” She turned the bottle around.

“We worked out a rough plan,” I informed her as I washed off the potatoes. “We've got to tweak it a little, but we’ll be moving soon.”

“Toward one of the people I gave you?” Was she worried?

Of course, she was worried.

“Yes, the first one. Gallo. He’s in France, so we’ll have to go to him. We just have to work out some kinks in the plan so we can fly over. I don’t think it will take more than a day or two to get that sorted. So take it easy on the overdoing it. International flights are not fun when you’re stiff.”

She released a long breath.

“I told you, we were going to help you. We just had to carve away the distractions. Now you have our whole focus.” I got the oven heating and paused to look at her before I broke out the steaks. “We will help you. What we said about keeping you safe? We meant it.”

“Why?” The soft question probably shouldn’t surprise me but there was just a bit of a bewildered look on her face. “Sorry, that’s probably rude.”

“Direct, not rude.” Wiping my hands off, I crossed to her. Better to keep her gaze on mine while we discussed this. “In the beginning? We wanted to help you because you needed help. You were caught in a really shitty situation. We wanted to get you home. Then those assholes came for you there.”

Still fucking pissed me off.

“After that, it was a matter of honor to keep you safe. That, and we don’t like bullies who go after defenseless women and children. Traffickers? They are the worst kind of bullies.”

Then I traced a finger down the gentle slope of her nose and tapped it gently.

“Now? We want to help you because we like you. We’re going to include you in the decisions. There may still be times when we have to do stuff on the fly and we won’t have time to explain it. You’re going to have to just trust us. The rest? The rest you’ll have a say in.”

She shuddered, then scraped her teeth over her lower lip. “It seems like a lot. You guys just kind of met me and now all my problems are in your lap.”

“Lucky for you, we’re pretty big guys. We can handle it.” Then I dropped my head slowly, telegraphing my intention to give her a kiss and letting her have the time to back up. Thank fuck she didn’t, and I kept it light and simple. A brush of my lips to hers.

Surprise flickered in her eyes but she didn’t shove me away or slap me. Seemed a positive note.

“We like you Grace,” I repeated. “Keep that in mind.”

“Okay…”

“Now, I’m going to get started on dinner.” I backed off and turned back to the steaks. “How do you like your steak?”

We were definitely going to keep her safe. Then we could work out the rest.