Loss Recovery (Alaskan Security: Team Rogue Book 1)

by Jemma Westbrook

  “You have Parker to take care of. He needs you.”

  I need you.

  It was the part he couldn’t say to her. Not yet.

  Bess stared him down. “If it comes down to me or him, the answer will always be me, Wade. Always.”

  Fighting her was futile. His only option was to make absolutely fucking sure that was never a choice to be made.

  Because no matter what, the answer would never be Bess.

  Or Parker.

  It would always be him.

  There was a sharp rap on the door at his back. A second later it opened just a crack. “Charles is here. He’s ready to sit down with you guys.”

  “We’ll be out in just a minute.” Wade rocked Parker a little as Bess disappeared into the closet. When she came out the pajamas she slept in were gone, replaced by a pair of fitted jeans and an oversized pale pink sweater. Wade caught her by the front of it as she came close, pulling her in. “I love that color on you, Sweetheart. Makes you look so sweet and innocent.” He caught her lips with his in a quick kiss before continuing. “Makes people think you’re not dangerous as hell.”

  Her mouth quirked in a suppressed smile as she shouldered out the door ahead of him. When they walked into the office Charles was already spreading papers out on the table in front of him. He glanced up as Wade and Bess walked in, shooting Wade a shit-eating grin before turning his attention to Bess.

  “This is the infamous Bessie Hines.” He reached one hand out. “It’s nice to finally meet the woman who has every man on this team a wreck.”

  Bessie’s brows lifted as she shook his hand. “Because?”

  Charles slid down into his chair, unbuttoning the expensive jacket he wore over a well-cut button-up. “Because they are ready to slaughter anyone who tries to get close to you and little man here.” His smile was warm as it stayed on Bess long enough to warrant a conversation after this meeting. “Apparently you’ve made quite the impression.”

  Bess snagged one of the papers with the tip of a finger and slid it across the table, eyes scanning the page as it moved. “What is this?”

  “That is the document I filed yesterday afternoon that includes the actual paternity test results showing Wade is without a doubt Parker’s biological father.” He scooted another set of pages her way. “This is the motion I filed to dismiss Mr. Snyder’s claims of paternity toward Parker.”

  Bess moved from the first set to the second, her fingers moving down the page. “Does Chris know these have been filed?”

  “Unfortunately, Mr. Snyder has jumped bail and the courts are currently uncertain of his location.”

  Bessie’s eyes jumped to Charles. “He’s here. In Brisbane.”

  “I didn’t hear that.” Charles kept going, not giving Bess a chance to repeat herself. “I did speak with his attorney yesterday and he assured me he would be leaving a voicemail on Mr. Snyder’s cell informing him of the change of circumstances.”

  Charles’ eyes moved to where Shawn was sitting quietly at his side. “Do you want to tell them the next part?”

  Bess looked from Shawn to Charles. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, Bess.” Shawn rested his arms on the table and leaned forward. “I want all this to be wrapped up quickly. The faster we get this situation resolved, the faster you two can go on with your lives.” Shawn paused, giving Bess a minute to process before finishing. “We need to flush Chris out of hiding.”

  Bessie’s gaze was wary. “And how do you intend to do that?”

  Shawn reached for the final stack of papers sitting in front of Charles and skimmed them across the table until they were directly in front of Bess.

  “I think you two should get married.”

  CHAPTER 18

  “THIS IS AN application for a marriage license.” Bess stared down at the paper in front of her before looking up at Shawn and Charles. “You’re serious.”

  “I think it will piss Chris off enough to make him act without thinking. We can do what needs to be done, and the situation will be over.” Shawn lifted his shoulders and let them drop. “Done.”

  “You fill that out, Shawn notarizes it, and I submit it to the courts.” Charles’ lips tugged into a smile. “Then I’ll call his attorney to be sure he knows it’s happening.”

  “So we won’t actually be getting married.” The realization sat a little strangely in her stomach.

  Marrying Wade hadn’t crossed her mind.

  Not really.

  Maybe in a few late night fantasies when she was sitting up alone with a crying baby, trying to find some way to dig out of the hole of depression she was always staring into. In those dark, silent moments, Bess would imagine having him at her side. A man who was strong, and solid, and reliable.

  And not crazy.

  That was the most important part.

  Wade leaned over her shoulder to look at the application. “I mean, I guess it depends on how long it drags out, right?”

  Bess couldn’t hide her surprise at Wade’s question. “We might actually have to get married?”

  Shawn shook his head. “I’m banking on this pissing him off immediately. If not, then I should probably retire because I’ve lost my touch.”

  “So we won’t have to get married.” Bess could feel Wade watching her from his seat at her side.

  “No.” Shawn’s eyes bounced to Wade before coming back to her. He gave her a grin. “Not unless you want to.”

  Bess ignored his last comment and plowed through the plan Shawn and Charles were proposing. “So you want us to submit an application for a marriage license we have no intention of using, because you think it will piss Chris off enough to make a mistake so you can catch him.”

  “Something like that.” Shawn leaned back in his seat. “What do you think?”

  It wasn’t the worst idea she’d ever heard. And it took the focus off Parker and put it right on her.

  The whole time Bess suspected it wasn’t really Parker Chris was after and she would like to keep it that way.

  He wanted to punish her. It’s why he tried to kidnap her son and why he was working so hard to force her to let them give Parker a paternity test.

  So he could be a part of her life forever. Making her suffer until the day she died.

  “What if we file to have Parker’s last name changed?” Wade barely glanced her way. “Add fuel to the fire.”

  Shawn’s eyes rested on Bess. “It’s an idea. Is that something you would be willing to do, Bess?”

  Her head was spinning. This was all happening so fast. For what felt like forever she’d been praying for a way to get Chris out of her life. Now it seemed to be happening at a breakneck speed. One that left her feeling a little disoriented and uncertain.

  Bess rubbed her eyes, trying to buy a little time for her feelings to catch up to the conversation. She liked to think her way through things. Feel the emotions that came up and work out how she really felt.

  Usually alone.

  But she hadn’t been alone in days. Maybe that’s what was wrong. Being around so many people without a second to herself was bleeding her dry.

  “I don’t know that he would care about that so much.” Parker had been her son and her son alone for over a year. She was his everything and he was hers. She made all the decisions. Did anything it took to keep him safe.

  And now here were all these people, taking that from her.

  Did she really even know any of them well? Did they really have Parker’s best interests at heart?

  What if they did this and Chris found a way to get Parker?

  He would kill him knowing it would fill every breath she took for the rest of her life with immeasurable pain.

  “I can’t do this.” Bess shoved up from the table, grabbing her son and pulling him out of Wade’s arms. She held him close as she ran from the office and escaped to the only place where no one could get to her.

  As soon as the lock on the safe room was flipped she slid to the ground,
holding her son against her chest.

  He’d been the reason for everything she had done. Every choice she made. Every breath she took.

  And now they were using him as a pawn.

  Her head fell back against the wall, tipped toward the dropped ceiling of the small space. Bess closed her eyes and took long, slow breaths, pulling in the sweet smell of her baby with each inhale.

  She’d done this a hundred times. Maybe more.

  Sat with Parker held close, breathing in his scent.

  Reminding herself.

  This was all for him.

  One more deep breath and she pushed up from the floor, ready to go back to battle. Flipping the deadbolt, she yanked the door open and almost fell back.

  “Bess, I—”

  Wade’s toes must have been touching the door, that’s how close he was.

  And the look on his face nearly broke her heart.

  But this wasn’t about him. Not right now.

  “I need to go talk to Shawn and Charles.” She pushed past him, steeling herself against the sadness in his dark eyes. She hurt his feelings, clearly.

  He was going to have to suck it up for a minute.

  Bess hurried into the office where Shawn and Charles were still sitting at the table, leaned close in a quiet conversation she was about to interrupt.

  They’d get over it.

  “The marriage license is fine, but I’m not drawing any more attention to Parker. Not now.” She peeked over her shoulder as Wade stepped into the open doorway. “I don’t want Chris to ever think if Parker weren’t in the picture things would have been different.”

  Oh, God.

  What if that was it?

  What if he blamed Parker for the fact that they didn’t reconcile? What if Chris believed the reason she wouldn’t take him back was because she was pregnant with another man’s baby?

  And that if Parker was gone she would reconsider.

  Maybe he wasn’t trying to simply kidnap Parker that day.

  The realization sat like lead in her stomach, heavy and nauseating.

  “We shouldn’t have told him about the paternity test.” Bess felt lightheaded as the room started to spin a little.

  Proving Chris wasn’t Parker’s dad seemed like the logical solution. Then he had nothing to use against her. Nothing tying them together.

  “It had to be done, Bess.” Shawn’s voice was stoic. “This needs to end before anything else happens and someone gets hurt.”

  Her eyes narrowed at the men across the table from her. “Wade already got shot.”

  Charles’ red-brown brows shot up. “Shot?” His blue eyes went to where Wade stood. “Did we change the definition of shot since I was here last?”

  “I don’t care what you idiots call it, he was shot.” Bess glared at the man trying to downplay what happened to Wade. “A bullet pierced his body. That’s shot in my book.”

  “If you’re going to be one of us, then you might have to update your book, Hines.” Charles stood from his seat, collecting the papers strewn around the table. He left the application for a marriage license where it was. “Fill that out tonight and have someone bring it over to me along with copies of your driver’s licenses. I think I can get it without birth certificates.” He clipped his briefcase shut and slapped Shawn on the back. “Keep me posted. I’ll do what I can from my end.” Charles gave Wade a matching slap as he passed through the door. “Good luck, buddy.”

  Wade nodded, but his mood was definitely off.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t get the chance to even breathe in his direction before Shawn was on his feet. “Grab a couple seats. Everyone should be here by now.” He poked his head out the door. “We’re ready.”

  Dutch and Harlow came in first. Harlow glanced Bessie’s way, an odd look on her face.

  Something was wrong.

  Bess didn’t get the chance to talk to her either, because Shawn was right. The entirety of Team Rogue filed through the door, one after the other. Brock sat beside Wade. Reed and Tyson sat across from her. Nate and Abe sat at the far end with Jamison and Rico came in last, sitting on her free side. Shawn stood at the head of the table behind Dutch and Harlow who already had their computers out. “Remember how we all thought this wasn’t just about Bess?”

  The men around the table nodded.

  Shawn switched on the overhead projector. “We were right, but our guess about who else was targeted was wrong.”

  Bess looked to Wade.

  They thought someone else was being targeted?

  He leaned in. “We thought the professional team might have had something to do with your father’s business dealings. We thought maybe there were two separate individuals targeting you by sheer coincidence.”

  “My dad is the most honest man I know.” The thought that he might have been involved in something that would put his family in danger was almost laughable. “And there’s no such thing as coincidence.”

  The words were out of her mouth before Bess realized the room had gone silent. Quiet enough that everyone heard her opinion of their hunch.

  “And that right there is why I want each of you to beg Hines to move her ass up here and come on staff as a strategist for Alaskan Security.” Shawn glanced to Wade and shot him a grin. “I expect some of you to put more effort into that than others.”

  Bess turned to the man beside her, lowering her voice this time so he would be the only one to hear her next words. “Did he just suggest you try to convince me to stay with sexual favors?”

  “That’s how I’m taking it.” He caught a bit of her hair and slid it between his fingers. “Not that I’m unwilling to offer other incentives.”

  “I know you’re up each other’s butts right now, but I need you to listen for a minute. You can whisper in each other’s ears later.” Shawn reached across Dutch to click the mouse of his computer. A still of the video taken the day Wade was shot flashed onto the screen. “We have reason to believe that Bess was not their intended target.” He glanced up from the computer. “We were.”

  Bess shot up from her seat. “What?”

  Were these guys idiots?

  Shawn straightened. “You disagree, Hines?”

  “Hell yes, I do.” She pointed at the screen where a team of five men were scattered across the snowy landscape, tucked behind trees, almost completely hidden in their white gear against the blinding snow. Her eyes snapped to Wade. “You said there’s no way one of them would have shot at me by accident.”

  Wade’s gaze held hers. “I did.

  “You said you would never have taken a shot at someone if you weren’t positive it was who you intended to hit.”

  “That’s true.”

  Bess turned back to Shawn. “Do you believe the team that shot at me is less capable than this group?”

  “I hope they are.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question.” She barely shook her head. “Actually it does.”

  This team was just as skilled as the men around her.

  That was the problem.

  “Why would they be targeting you?”

  “In the past we’ve dealt with very dangerous people, Hines. Both our clients and the people we were protecting them from. This team has made more enemies than we can count.” Shawn pressed both palms into the table and leaned against them. “It was only a matter of time.”

  Bess glanced around the table. “But there are ten of you. Why would they only send five men out?”

  Shawn’s head slowly dropped. “Fuck. She’s right.”

  “Nothing is a coincidence.” Bess eased down into her chair. “If they were after you they wouldn’t have shot at me.”

  “Unless they are soulless bastards that don’t care who gets hurt.” Brock was leaned back in his seat, spinning the leather chair from one side to the other.

  Was that a possibility?

  Bess looked to Wade. His eyes wouldn’t meet hers.

  A heavy weight settled in her stomach.

  Th
is is why he left her. The reason he’d decided never to find her, no matter how much he wanted to.

  Because of shit like this.

  “So they hacked your system.” Bess turned away from Wade.

  He might not have wanted her to end up in the middle of his life, but here she was.

  And damned if she was going anywhere now.

  Bess focused on Harlow. “I don’t know shit about hacking, but did you find anything that might help figure out what’s going on?”

  “Whoever got in was very experienced and careful. There wasn’t anything to track back to them.” Harlow lifted one finger, halting Bessie’s disappointment immediately. “But that alone tells me something.” She yanked the cord from Dutch’s computer and plugged it into hers, changing the display flashing from the projector to her screen. “There aren’t many people who could do that.” Harlow’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “And I know most of them.”

  Rows of names stacked down the screen.

  “I can’t help but notice that most of them are men.” Dutch didn’t look Harlow’s way.

  “Lucky us.” Harlow clicked to the next screen. “Means ego will work in our favor.”

  On the next screen Harlow had notes next to some of the names. “These are the hacker’s I’ve dealt with personally. Some of them I think can be eliminated right out of the gate. Some I could see working for a lawless group. A few would pay money to play with people doing bad things.” She squinted up at the screen. “I also have a few lines cast to see if I’m missing anyone. Hopefully I’ll catch something interesting.”

  Dutch was staring at her.

  Harlow looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “What?”

  He shook his head, lips pressing into an approving line. “Impressive.”

  “For a girl.” Harlow’s chin lifted.

  “Christ, Mowry. Get over yourself.”

  Harlow’s head snapped toward the man beside her. “Kiss my ass, Dutch.”

  Dutch leaned close enough Bess couldn’t hear whatever he whispered into Harlow’s ear.

  Whatever it was had her skin flaming, either in anger—

  Or something else.

  Something that probably pissed her off more than Dutch ever could.