* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Conference Room
Elizabeth’s Makeshift
Office
Friday Afternoon
When Elizabeth strolled in, she was drinking her coffee and thinking about what was going on in the case. She was looking forward to pissing Bonnie off, but she was also looking forward to hitting the town with Ethan in tow.
The rumors of their destroyed marriage needed to be put down—like a rabid animal—and she was the woman to do it. As soon as the media saw them together, they would get the picture.
She hoped.
She wished she could erase the last few weeks, but she had to ride it out. Once she did something else scandalous, they’d be talking shit about that.
It was only a matter of time.
As she headed into the area she called her personal space, she heard someone clear their throat.
Sitting on Livy’s old desk was…Livy.
Well, she hadn’t seen that one coming—at all.
“Hey, stranger,” she stated, trying to keep it light and airy. She didn’t want this emotional mess right now. Elizabeth needed to be focused. It was hard enough with what had gone on with Ethan and her marriage.
“Hey.”
Elizabeth waited. When she didn’t speak, it was time to get this train moving. She had work to do.
“Can I help you with something? Are you looking for Gabe? I haven’t seen him.”
“No, I just came to see you. Gabe is in his office.”
Uh, okay.
“About what?”
Livy hopped off the desk and headed her way. “I tried to see you when you were in Salem. I couldn’t get up the driveway. Ivan is tenacious.”
She was going to either give the man a raise or kiss him. It was debatable which at this point.
“Really?” she asked, trying to be surprised. She was shocked Livy bothered to try. She wasn’t shocked Ivan laid down the law.
“Yeah, really. I wanted to see if you needed anything. I called your phone, but it went to voicemail for about three days. So, I hopped a flight, rented a car, and brought chocolate.”
Elizabeth said nothing.
“I wanted to help you through it. I can’t imagine how hard it was for you.”
What the hell was this?
“Why?” she asked.
This was definitely not Livy behavior.
“What you said on the last case, about me being a selfish twat—it resonated with me.”
“I believe it was selfish bitch. I don’t usually say twat. It’s not classy. You know me. I like to keep it tasteful and not crass.”
Livy laughed.
Well, at least Elizabeth was cracking a joke.
This couldn’t be too bad.
“I wanted to prove I’m not like that. Once you told me it was how I was behaving, I saw you were right. I wanted to show up to help you like you’ve done for me so many times. You killed ‘The Butcher’ for me. That’s love.”
“Shhhh. I like to keep that little detail on the DL, if you don’t mind. You know…prison, the chair, and all.”
She smiled. “Gotcha.”
Elizabeth stared at her.
It was like she’d walked into the Twilight Zone.
“You’re still mad at me?”
Was she?
About the BS they’d dealt with, no.
Something else, yes.
“Here’s what I’m pissed about,” she stated. “Someone told Ethan about Chris and my past. The day I was in the hospital, someone told him by leaving a ‘Dear Ethan’ note on his car.”
“You think it was me?” she asked in horror.
“Who else would want to do that to me? I kicked you out of my life, I told my husband I wouldn’t partner with you, and then suddenly, that note appears.”
“Wow!”
“Did you do it?” she asked. “Did you want to get even with me and break up my marriage?”
Livy’s eyes filled with tears.
“Stop. That won’t work on me.”
Livy shook her head. “You know what? If you can accuse me of that, even when I would NEVER do that, then you were right. It’s best we do part ways.”
Elizabeth watched her.
She believed her.
“I’ll let you go. Good luck on your case. I hope you catch Bonnie. If you need help, let me know.”
With that, Livy headed out.
Elizabeth could have stopped her, but she wouldn’t. For weeks, she wanted to know who betrayed her.
Someone had.
It sucked.
There was a rat in her house, and eventually, she’d figure out who.
It had to be someone who was privy to her past and her relationship with Doctor Leonard. It wasn’t something just anyone knew.
The list was short.
Callen
Chris
Her
Gabe
Livy
Tony
They were the only ones who knew it, and Ethan certainly didn’t send himself a note.
So, if they didn’t do it, then who?
Elizabeth grabbed her folder and headed back down to the garage. She had to worry about this later.
For now…
She had to chase crazy.
Not the betrayer who nearly destroyed her life.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Livy reached her car and sat there crying. She couldn’t believe that Elizabeth would think she’d do something so heinous. Yes, she’d been a shitty friend, and yes, she’d taken advantage of their friendship, but it was never intentional.
Ever.
She’d never sabotage someone’s marriage. If that happened to her, she’d be crushed.
There were a few sacred things in a person’s life, and marriage was at the top of the list. No one should butt into someone else’s marriage, especially to do harm.
It was bad.
No, it was all kinds of wrong.
She couldn’t believe Elizabeth even thought she’d do something so nasty.
That wasn’t her style.
Livy was an in your face kind of person. She’d actively hunted Gabe down, trying to get into his pants. She’d stalked him, followed him, and then threw herself all over him.
She didn’t do sneaky like that.
She liked people to know her intentions.
This was not her fault.
She had an alibi.
When Elizabeth had been in the hospital, coming out of surgery, she’d been at home. She had been waiting for the kids to come home from school.
She pondered it.
Then it hit her.
“Jesus,” she muttered.
She had to be wrong.
Livy pulled out her phone and dialed her husband. “I need to talk to you. Are you still in your office?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you when I get there. We have a problem.”
“I don’t like when you say things like that, Livy,” he stated. In fact, he hated it.
“Yeah, well, I hope I’m wrong.”
Livy Rothschild got out of her car, ignored the security that followed her back to the elevator, and prepared to do what was right.
She had to.
Whether it hurt or not.
In a way, Elizabeth had been right.
This was all her fault.
Chapter Ten
Gabriel Rothschild’s
Office
H onestly, Livy wanted to be sick. She couldn’t believe it. There was no way she could be right about this. What she needed was Gabe to talk some sense into her. That was going to be the only way she could get through this. If she was right…
Yeah, she’d screwed up royally.
When she arrived at her husband’s office, his administrative assistant was there. Derek was a sweet man, willing to go that extra mile. The only reason Gabe had a male secretary was for her.
Once
more, he was trying to take care of her by lessening her fears.
She loved him for that.
“Hey, Derek. I need to see my husband.”
“Mrs. Rothschild,” he said, standing to greet the boss’s wife. “He’s ready for you. Would you like some tea or some coffee?”
Oh, she hoped he was ready.
This was a big problem.
“No, thank you, Derek. We just need a few minutes. Then I’ll be out of Gabe’s way.”
He sat back down and went back to work.
As Livy headed into the ‘Dragon Slayer’s’ domain, her sexy, bald husband was sitting behind his desk, working on something that was likely damn vital.
She took a few seconds to study him.
His shirt was unbuttoned at the neck and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. There was never a sexier man in the world. Something about the combination of power and bossiness just turned her to mush.
Then she thought about what had happened to Elizabeth. If someone screwed with her marriage, she’d be devastated.
Marriage was sacred.
To her, it was the foundation.
Watching him, he was busily taking care of business. Livy knew that he likely had better things to be doing, but she had to tell him what she’d just figured out.
“Gabriel.”
“Livy,” he said, looking up as she rushed into his office. “Are you okay? What’s going on?” he asked.
“Oh, Gabriel, I screwed up.”
That didn’t sound good at all.
In fact, his gut began tying in knots.
Something was coming, and it wouldn’t be good. From the look on his wife’s face, he knew it was going to be bad.
“What?” he asked, praying it was something he could fix. If not, he didn’t know what he was going to do. As of late, Olivia had been trying to be less diva, more understanding, and he really believed she was going to pull it off.
Until now.
He couldn’t imagine what was going on to have her this frazzled, and all he could hope was it wasn’t going to be more drama.
Their lives were full of it already.
“I did something bad. I think I nearly broke up Ethan and Elizabeth’s marriage.”
He stared at her.
Jesus!
This was three days past bad.
This was horrific.
“Oh, Livy. Jesus Christ! Please tell me you didn’t leave that note on Ethan’s car.”
“He told you about it?” she asked.
“Yeah, he came to the house after work the one day. You were at your spa appointment, and I was there alone.”
She recalled it.
“Ethan was really showing the wear and tear, but he was trying to be strong. I asked what had happened. I’d seen the news, and I was worried.”
“And?” she asked.
“I offered to help.”
“So, it wasn’t you who left the note?” she asked.
He was appalled.
“Hell no! I love Elizabeth and Ethan. I know damn well that they need to be together in order to function. That’s why I have an ulcer—it’s from trying to keep them as a team.”
“I did something.”
“Yeah, you’ve said,” he stated. “I really hope it’s not what I think it is, Livy. This is bad.”
Gabe sat, leaned back in his leather chair, and closed his eyes as he braced for it.
“Again, I ask. Please tell me you didn’t leave that note.”
She shook her head, but tears filled her eyes—none-the-less.
“I didn’t physically put it there, but I may have had a hand in it.”
Gabe got up, went to his liquor cabinet, and took out the bourbon he kept in there for when he had high powered meetings. Drinking at the job was generally a no-no, but when you ran the FBI, sometimes you needed to self-medicate.
This was going to be one of those times.
He could tell.
Then again, this was his drug of choice since he didn’t smoke.
Gabe poured a glass and shot it down. He didn’t even flinch at the burn that cascaded down his chest and right to his churning gut.
He was braced for it.
“What did you do?”
Livy sat down and began explaining to him how she’d inadvertently had a hand in the mess.
“Right after Elizabeth had told me to pound sand, I was sitting in our bedroom.”
“Okay, and?” he asked. That sounded pretty safe considering where this was heading. Gabe wasn’t getting the connection of it all.
“I was looking at that old box of photos that you’d pulled out after you’d found out you had cancer.”
Gabe still didn’t get it.
None of this sounded dangerous. So far, this all seemed harmless.
“And then what? I’m not seeing the connection between this and what happened. Please don’t tell me you think you blacked out. No one is going to buy that, including Elizabeth. Are you trying to tell me that you put that damn note on Ethan’s car?”
“No! Listen. I was sitting there, and I was crying when I got to the picture of Elizabeth and Chris holding Amy as a baby.”
He tried to be patient.
It wasn’t easy.
If this had been one of his agents, he’d be riding ass like no one’s business. He liked his reports short, sweet, and to the point.
He was a busy man.
Livy was drawing it out.
His blood pressure was going up.
“Amy came into our room, and she asked me what was wrong. I told her that I’d made Elizabeth angry, and she dumped me as her friend.”
“And?”
“She asked more questions about the picture. I told her we aren’t supposed to talk about Elizabeth and Chris’s relationship. I told her that Uncle Ethan didn’t know about it, or he would be upset.”
And there it was.
There was the shit fest he’d been waiting for the entire time.
And it was huge.
“Oh, Livy.”
Gabe was up and pacing. This was the worst-case scenario, and it was just dropped into his lap. Only, this wasn’t something he could brush aside and pretend it didn’t happen.
This was bad.
Bad for Livy.
Bad for him.
Bad for all of their work relationships.
Ethan was his freaking partner, and he’d just suffered seven weeks, holding up the fort.
Jesus!
“Elizabeth thinks it was me because who really knew?” she asked.
“Ethan told me Callen, Chris, Elizabeth, and that’s it. He asked me if I knew, and I said yes, and so did you.”
“I think Amy was trying to protect me by getting back at Elizabeth. I was having a breakdown. It was over your cancer, losing her friendship, realizing what a tyrant I’d been, and…”
She had to be wrong.
Gabe went into rationalization mode.
“Amy wouldn’t do that, Livy. She loves Elizabeth. She was named after her, and she’s her godmother. There is no way our daughter could do something this shitty.”
Livy couldn’t ignore the facts.
She began laying it out, as if she was an agent trying to prove the result to her boss.
This sucked.
“The day Elizabeth was shot, Amy was late coming home. She told her security she had practice, and they believed her.”
“I’m sure…”
She cut him off.
She knew she was right, and it was a horrible realization to come to for a mother—especially one who had to keep in mind what Amy’s biological father had been like.
He’d been a sneaky killer.
What if…?
She had to push it out of her mind.
“Gabriel, Amy’s school is a block from the hospital, she knows Ethan’s Mustang because she told him when she gets her license she wants to drive it, and I looked on the family schedule. Practice was cancelled that day because of parent-teac
her conferences. I had to go to the school that night, and then I had planned to head to the hospital to see Elizabeth. I picked Amy up, and she told me practice was the same old. She lied to me, Gabe. Why?”
He sat.
Jesus.
Was his first born capable of that? Amy, to their knowledge, never lied.
This was out of character for her.
“Livy, if she did this, we have to talk to her. We can’t let her think that doing sneaky things is acceptable. She caused one hell of a mess. She nearly destroyed a marriage by interfering in it, and that’s all kinds of bad. I’m disappointed in her.”
“This is all my fault, Gabriel. I raised her, I told her about Elizabeth and my fight, and I…”
He cut her off.
“NO, this is on Amelia. If she did this, then she has to be accountable to it. Tonight, when we get home, she’s going to have to face the consequences. That’s the kind of mother you are. When your kids break the rules, you make them own it, right?”
She did.
“I know.”
“We have to punish her,” Gabe said. “Tonight, we handle it, and in the morning…”
“I have to tell them.”
He leaned back in his chair. “WE have to tell them. Amy is OUR daughter, and if what you suspect is right, then she’s going to have to pay the consequences. She’s going to have to face down Elizabeth and Ethan and tell them she was responsible for this mess.”
“Oh, Gabriel, this makes me want to be sick.”
Yeah, she wasn’t the only one.
His daughter had played dirty pool, and with people he loved.
He only prayed they could forgive and forget.
Or at least forget…
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Bonnie and Lizzie were lying low after the last kill. Neither woman was ready to make their next strike, knowing that Elizabeth was in the area, searching for them. After nearly being caught in the house across from the dead nun, Bonnie wanted to regroup.
Patience was a virtue, and she had to think things through. If she jumped in, half-assed, bad things could happen.
Revenge has Come (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 19) Page 32
