Page 24 of Maximus (Gold Team #4)

“Yeah, Eva, you did. And you did it in a way that cut me to the quick. What you didn’t do was throw a shit hemorrhage or be a bitch.

You laid it out for me and I want you to know, I heard you.

And now, seeing all these bags and Liam’s expression when he saw them, I understand where you were coming from.

It wasn’t cool of me to go around you and not ask.

It won’t happen again. Anaya’s a good woman.

Her heart was in the right place. I talked to Kyle and he said there’s clothes, shoes, and shower shit in there, too. But she’d worried she went overboard.”

“I wasn’t mad about the toys,” Eva murmured.

“Then why’d you pull into yourself?”

“I…um…”

There was a light tap on the front door. Eva’s body jerked before she went solid, and her eyes widened in fear.

“That’s just Declan,” I told her.

Eva nodded but still looked unsure.

“I wish like fuck I knew what’s been on your mind,” I muttered as I walked to the front door.

“What?”

“Nothing I want more than to pull you into my arms and wash that fear away,” I stopped and told her. “But without knowing where you’re at, I shouldn’t touch you.”

I left her standing where she was, put my hand to my hip, unholstered my weapon, and checked the peephole just as Dec tapped again.

I unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door.

“That was fast.”

“Street’s dead,” Declan explained. “Thought we’d do a walk-around, then I’d circle the block.”

I stepped away from the door, allowing Declan to enter, and open holstered my gun when the door was shut and locked.

I followed Declan’s gaze across the room. Eva was where I left her—no less tense.

“So, you’re Eva,” Dec drawled and walked farther into the room.

And just like she did the first time I met her, Eva’s armor clicked into place. Gone was any trace of fear—she stood taller, her hands balled into fists at her sides, and her mask of indifference replaced her soft features I’d grown accustomed to.

I hated it.

Clearly, Eva had no idea her attitude and posture gave away just how insecure and unsure she was.

“And you’re Declan,” she returned.

Dec glanced at me then back to Eva. The man was no dummy, he saw it, too. She was afraid of him, maybe not physically, but emotionally he could decimate her.

“Your kids settling in okay?” he asked.

And as if Declan’s question conjured up the boy, Liam appeared in the hall.

“Mom?” His hesitant tone had me stepping forward, blocking Declan from Liam’s view.

“Come on out, bud,” I instructed before Eva could answer. “I want you to meet my friend, Declan.”

“Your friend?”

Liam’s shaky tone made me wish Jay Dawkins was still roaming the streets somewhere so I could be the one Tex called on to put his ass six-feet under.

“Yeah. Declan and I work together. He came over to check on us.”

Liam came out of the shadows but stopped at his mother’s side. Eva’s arm wrapped around his shoulders and she held him close.

“Declan’s here to help Max watch over us,” Eva told Liam.

“Hey, Liam.”

My body jolted and my eyes cut to Dec. Never had I heard him talk so gently.

“Hi.”

“Bet you’re happy to be out of that car.” Dec continued to blow my mind with his soft tone.

“Yeah. It was long.”

“Looks like Max hooked you and your brother up with lots of stuff.” Dec motioned to the bags that were still on the floor and I wanted to throat punch him for the reminder.

“Mom says we’ll go through them tomorrow. She said we’ll keep what we need but it’s not cool to waste Max’s money on stuff we won’t use since we won’t be here very long.”

“Sounds to me like your mom’s pretty smart. No sense in being wasteful.”

Huh? What?

“Eva. Liam. It was nice meeting you both. Sorry to have disturbed you.” Dec tipped his chin. “Max, a word in private?”

I followed Dec to the sliding glass door off the dining room when Liam spoke, bringing me to a halt.

“Are you leaving?”

“No, bud. I’m just gonna step out back with Declan.”

“You won’t— ”

“Liam, I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying with you, your brother, and your mom. Promise.”

Liam nodded and wrapped his arms around Eva’s middle. I couldn’t miss her tight features—she felt her son’s attachment and uncertainty and she felt it deep.

Dec and I stepped outside, and before I had the sliding door closed, Dec started.

“It’s too bad that motherfucker’s already in the ground.”

I felt the same way but was taken aback Declan had voiced his thoughts.

“What?”

“That kid in there is jumpy as a rabbit. Doesn’t want you out of his sight. Kid doesn’t behave like that unless he’s been traumatized, scared, or both. I reckon that boy’s both.”

“He is,” I confirmed.

Declan knew all about childhood trauma, not that he spoke about his past. However, everyone knew he and his twin sister, Violet, had been separated and placed into foster care after their parents’ deaths. In a cruel twist of fate, Violet had not remembered she’d had a brother.

“Seems pretty attached to you,” he noted a second time.

I didn’t say anything because there was nothing to say. Declan was smart, he was also observant. He didn’t need me to confirm what he saw.

“Is this what you wanted to talk to me in private about?”

“Tom’s people got Landry to talk.”

“Tom’s people?”

Tom Anderson was the president of the United States.

He was also a personal friend of Zane’s; they were such good friends they were on a first-name basis.

Something I still wasn’t used to calling him even after several years, but the man became cranky if someone on the team addressed him by anything other than his first name.

And a cranky Tom Anderson didn’t make for a good day.

Harry Landry was a scumbag of the highest order.

He trafficked most anything of value but his favorite was the human market, and he’d been extremely successful until Anaya and Emerson took him down.

Even thinking about it now, pride hit my chest. Those two fierce women had done what we couldn’t—find and capture one of the major players in the Omni organization.

Declan’s gaze turned dark when he continued, “He didn’t give Zane specifics, just an update. Landry’s started to talk. We should have something to work with soon.”

“You know as well as I do, intel collected under duress isn’t always reliable.”

“Duress?” Declan barked out a harsh laugh. “You mean torture. Everyone is well-aware Landry could be fucking with us. Apparently, Ashaki Maloof has confirmed—”

“Seriously? Ashaki Maloof? Who knows if that bitch is on the up and up?”

Ashaki was supposedly undercover CIA agent.

When we first met the woman she was allegedly posing as the daughter of an antiquity dealer, Tatiana, Brooks’ wife, was tracking.

Ashaki’s cover was solid until Tatiana and Brooks saw the agent in a compromising position with her “father”.

And in the time since then, Ashaki Maloof hadn’t done a damn thing that made me trust her or the intel she’d supplied.

Either the woman was seriously committed to the cause and she had no issues with terrorists, traffickers, and dirt bags fucking her or she’d turned.

I couldn’t figure the woman out therefore I didn’t trust a fucking word that came out of her CIA-trained mouth.

“She got Emilio Ruiz to talk,” Declan informed me.

It would seem a lot had happened while I’d been out of the office, so to speak. Ruiz was a member of Omni, however his daughter had been the target of a kidnapping plot and he was no longer feeling the love for the organization he was once balls deep in.

“Oh, yeah? And what did Ruiz give up?”

“He confirmed Icon Fashions was a major player in the Omni organization. The way Ruiz explains it, Icon is the upper echelon.”

“So Garrett was right?”

Our in-house intel specialist, Garrett, had been adamant Icon Fashions was involved with Omni.

I trusted Garrett’s information the same as I trusted Tex’s—that was to say explicitly.

Neither man had ever led us astray. However, Garrett had been working on a hunch, which wasn’t unusual; we’d all learned to listen to our instincts.

But Garrett nor Tex had been able to find a link.

“Yes. Zane gave him the green light to start digging.”

“Like Garrett wasn’t already tunneling his way through Icon.”

“Yeah, well, now it seems the CIA boys are feeling generous. They have an agent in Icon and kicked some intel Garrett’s way.”

“Never gets any easier dealing with those dicks,” I mumbled. “No offense.”

“None taken. One of the many reasons I walked away.”

There was a story there, one Declan had never fully shared.

We knew he’d been undercover for the CIA in Brazil and shit had gone sideways.

Enough that it tweaked Declan and he left but other than that, he’d never shared.

Or at least, he’d never shared with me. And if Zane Lewis knew what happened, he’d never tell.

“First things first,” Dec continued. “Zane was clear that Eva’s top priority. Omni’s not going anywhere. We’ll handle Eva’s situation for Tex, get the three of them safe and set up somewhere new then we’ll finish off Omni.”

Safe and set up somewhere new . Why did the ‘somewhere new’ in that statement make my gut clench?

“Surprised Zane’s setting aside Omni for Eva,” I noted.

We were at war with Omni. The operation had started with clear and concise parameters; that was, until things turned personal.

Emerson, Thad’s wife, had been kidnapped and all the women attached to a man who worked for Zane Lewis had been threatened, and that included the president’s daughter, Erin Anderson-Doyle.

Now Zane, Tom Anderson, and every member of Z Corps wanted a piece of the men in charge of Omni.

“It shouldn’t surprise you. After everything Tex has done for Zane over the years—never asking for anything in return. No way the first time Tex asks for a favor, Zane’s not gonna drop everything and give it his full attention.”