by Vivi Anna
Elise hadn’t asked Gabriel if he’d been involved with anyone. She just assumed that he wasn’t, which was probably ego on her part. But maybe there was something between him and this woman. She could understand the allure. Sophie was stunning and, by her scent, a full-blooded lycan, not a mixed blood like Elise. Not that she thought Gabriel cared about such things.
“What do the doctors say?”
“Not much. They never do tell you the total truth, do they?”
Sophie shook her head. “No, they don’t.”
Elise looked at Gabriel again, suddenly shaken by the sallow look in his face. She’d never worried about him like this before. She’d never seen him injured, or at least not severely. It was devastating to her. She glanced back at Sophie and wondered if she was as distressed.
“Do you think he’ll wake soon?” Sophie asked Elise, as if she had all the answers.
Elise brushed the stubborn hairs from his brow again. “I don’t know.”
His eyes fluttered at her touch. Excited, she stroked a hand over his face again. This time his eyes came open.
“Oh, Gabriel, thank God,” she murmured.
He blinked several times trying to get his bearings. Finally, his gaze settled onto Elise. Licking his lips, he tried to speak.
She quickly grabbed the water cup on the side table and set the straw at his lips. He took a few sips and nodded his thanks. His gaze then went to Sophie, who stood still at the end of the bed.
“Hey, boss,” she said.
“Did you—” his voice came out dry and cracked “—find out what happened?”
She nodded. “It definitely wasn’t an accident. Someone tampered with the wiring that held up the lights and ceiling panels.”
He nodded. “I thought so.”
Elise looked from Sophie to Gabriel. “Are you saying that accident was meant for me?”
“Yes.”
She sat back in the chair, anger and remorse surging through her. Angry that someone would do this and remorseful that Gabriel had been the one injured in a trap meant for her. “I can’t believe this.” Elise shook her head.
Sophie took that moment to finally lay her hand on Gabriel’s foot. “Are you all right, Gabe?”
“I will be. I just need to shift.” He lifted his hand and touched the side of his head, where a huge black bruise had started to form along his temple and up under his hairline. “It’s only a bump on the head.”
Sophie smiled at him, and Elise felt she was spying on them.
But before she could stand up and give them some privacy another person bounded into the room. It was a male someone, and a vampire to boot. Grinning, he came up behind Sophie and wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey, Gabe, good to see you awake.”
Sophie covered his hands with hers and she lit up like someone had turned on the light inside her body.
“We missed you,” the vampire went on.
“Yeah, I bet,” Gabriel said with affection.
The vampire glanced at Elise, and his eyes widened as if truly noticing her for the first time. He leaned past Sophie, without letting go of her, Elise noticed, and offered his hand. “I’m Kellen Falcon. I’m really pleased to meet you, Ms. Leroy.”
She shook his hand. “Elise, please.”
He nodded and went back to hugging Sophie.
Elise let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and, leaning forward, grabbed Gabriel’s hand.
He looked down at their joined hands curiously, then up at her. “Did I miss something?”
“Just the last three hours.” She gave him a half smile. “Can’t a girl thank the man that saved her life?”
“It’s my j—”
She put her fingers over his lips to silence him. She shook her head, tears still threatening to fall. “Don’t you dare say it.”
Someone, either Sophie or Kellen, cleared their throat. “We’re going to go,” Sophie said. “I’ll come back when they’re ready to release you, boss.”
“I’ll be out in a couple of hours.”
Sophie nodded and, hand in hand with Kellen, left the hospital room.
“I think you should stay a little longer and make sure you’re okay,” Elise suggested. “Your leg is pretty ripped up.”
Gabriel was already in the process of sitting up. “I don’t need to stay. I just need to get out and shift and go for a run. I’ll heal better that way.”
“You’re very stubborn.”
“Me? I’m stubborn? Woman, you wrote the book on obstinacy.”
“I’m just determined, is all.”
He shook his head. “The all is, because of this, you need to shut down filming and get out of town for a bit.”
“I’m not going to hide.”
“Elise, this isn’t some silly love letter you’ve received from a fan. Someone is out to harm you. If that ceiling had fallen on you…” He swallowed, as if he was having difficulty finishing his sentence. She reached for the glass cup. He closed his eyes, then continued, “You could’ve been killed.”
She sat back in the chair and looked at him. He was all banged up and bruised, and when he moved she could see the immense pain he suffered. He had saved her life. Saved her from some deranged obsessive fan. She couldn’t let his sacrifice be in vain.
Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose where her pulse was thumping hard. She was going to agree to something only because it was Gabriel asking her.
“Okay. There is this lovely villa I just bought out in the country.”
“Is it well-known?”
She shook her head. “Only a few people know I own it. I bought it under a different name to keep it private.”
“Good. Keep it that way.” He shuffled up in the bed trying to get comfortable. The blanket fell off and Elise saw his bandaged leg.
“I’m so sorry, Gabriel.” The tears fell then. She couldn’t stop them.
He reached across the bed and grabbed her hand. “Elise, this is not your fault. Don’t take the blame for what some unstable person has done.” He squeezed her hand tight. “I’m going to be fine. Nothing can keep me down for too long.”
“I know,” she sniffled.
“You have to promise me, though, that you’re going to look after yourself. Screw what people are going to think, and stay safe.”
She nodded.
But he obviously didn’t believe her. “I can’t do my job if I have to worry about what you’re doing all the time. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Good. I’ll hold you to it.”
He didn’t release her hand and in that moment she felt something building between them. They couldn’t be in the same room together for too long without something building. But this was different, more mature.
Her gaze never leaving his, Elise stood and, leaning on the bed, she neared his mouth. When she was only a breath away, she murmured, “Gabriel, I’m still—”
“I see you’re awake.” A nurse charged into the room and, almost shooing Elise to the side, began to take Gabriel’s stats.
Smiling wanly, Elise backed up and grabbed her purse from the chair. “I’ll let you get straightened away. I’ll go make arrangements.”
“Okay. Good,” he said. “I’ll make sure the superintendent sends someone with you, so you’re looked after.”
“Okay.” After a final awkward nod, Elise left the room. But what she really wanted to do was climb into Gabriel’s bed with him and tell him exactly how much she missed him and still wanted him.
Worse, she was afraid she’d never get another chance to do so.
Chapter 10
“The mayor thinks that you’re the best man for the job.”
Gabriel couldn’t believe what the superintendent was telling him. He’d been back at the lab for maybe a half hour before the man had cornered him in his office and sprung the bad news.
His leg was still really sore. After being released from the hospital, Gabriel had quickly driven to
his favorite park, shifted and gone for a run. He couldn’t run far because of his injured thigh, but just being in his wolf form had enabled him to heal a lot faster. After that, he ate red meat, then swung by the lab where he had hoped to catch up on the case.
Instead, he got sideswiped.
“You have got to be kidding me. I need to be here in the lab, doing my job. With Elise out of the city, she should be fine.”
“She asked for you, Gabriel. So the decision’s been made. There is no discussion.”
He rubbed a hand over his face, anger welling inside. “I didn’t realize I worked for Elise Leroy now.”
“You don’t, but you do work for me and for this city, which in turn, truthfully, is the mayor. She called him, and he called me. You know how it rolls.”
“Yes, obviously.”
Jakob rapped his knuckles on Gabriel’s desk. “Besides, you’re still injured. I would’ve been sending you off to recuperate anyway. So now you can recover in luxury at a beautiful country cottage.”
Gabriel just looked at Jakob. What could he possibly say? It was obvious there was no room for debate or discussion. Elise had snapped her fingers and everyone had jumped.
He had wanted to truly believe she wasn’t like that, that she hadn’t changed into a demanding star, but some of her behavior told him otherwise. This one topped the list.
“I’ll leave you to the details, Gabriel. I’m sure the case will be solved in days, a week at the most.”
Gabriel nearly groaned at the prospect of spending a week with Elise in an isolated cottage. Just the two of them. He’d actually have to make conversation with her. What did he possibly have to say to her? He’d already mistakenly spilled his guts about missing her. He couldn’t take that back now. It was out there. And he was sure Elise would use it to her advantage.
With an angry sigh, he picked up the phone to call his team in for a meeting. If he was going to be gone, he wanted his people to be working extra hard on the case. Every stone had to be turned, including looking into all the people who had been close to Elise over the years. Gabriel had a feeling this attack was from someone she knew and trusted. It was too close to home to be a stranger. The saboteur had gotten onto a closed set. Not an easy thing to do.
The phone on his desk rang. He picked it up. “Bellmonte.”
“I heard you got hurt.” It was Olena, his lead investigator.
“Nothing to worry about.”
“What about the case? Do you need me? I can be back in ten hours. Cale and I are in London for a time visiting his folks.”
“We’re good. Don’t cut your holiday short. You earned it and then some.”
“Okay, but don’t hesitate to call. I know how hard it is for you to admit you need help, but don’t be an ass about it.”
He laughed. It was just like Olena to call it as she saw it. There was no bull crap with her. “I will.”
“Uh-uh. We’ll see.” And with that she hung up. That’s what he liked about Olena—she was no-nonsense. He figured she’d be the one who took his job eventually.
* * *
Forty minutes later, most of his team had assembled in his office. Sophie, Kellen, Francois and the other head investigator, Maria Serrano, sat around his office as he laid it out.
“I’ve been recruited to be Ms. Leroy’s bodyguard while she’s out of town so it’s up to you guys to put this case together and quickly.”
Kellen smiled. “So, the two of you are going to shack up together somewhere all quiet and private like?”
Gabriel glared at Sophie. The lycan decidedly couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
She shrugged under his scrutiny. “Que? I couldn’t help it. That’s just too much to keep to myself. I mean, you, Gabriel Bellmonte, had a relationship with the most beautiful and talented actress in the world. It’s too odd and strange to not tell everyone.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
He ignored it. “Can we talk about the case, please?”
Everyone nodded in agreement again.
“Where are we with the prints?”
Maria noted from the report she was holding. “We ran the extra set of prints on the letter through our database. We got a hit. They belong to Reginald Alcott.”
“The director?” Sophie asked.
Maria nodded. “Looks like he was arrested in 1886 for participating in the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago where eight police officers were killed by a bomb. There was no real evidence against him so he was released.”
“I remember that day,” Kellen said. “I wasn’t in Chicago but I do remember it.”
Gabriel ran a hand through his unruly hair. “Wow, I didn’t know we had records from that long ago.”
“You’d be surprised what we have on file,” Maria said.
“Okay, obviously Elise’s assistant was mistaken on who touched the letter. She must’ve called him to come look at it and forgot that she’d done that.”
“Or he is the culprit,” Francois added.
Gabriel shook his head. “No, I’m pretty sure it’s not him. But to be on the safe side, we need to have a long talk with him. And with Lily, Elise’s assistant. There’s something going on there with her, I’m sure of it. She’s keeping something secret. It might have nothing to do with what is going on with Elise, but we need to be sure.”
Maria flipped open her cell phone. “I’ll make the call.”
While she barked orders into her phone, Gabriel looked at Sophie. “Any leads on the sabotage?”
She glanced at Kellen. “I checked at the way it was rigged and there’s nothing there of too much interest. The wires had been frayed. The perp could’ve used just about any instrument for that. No marks to indicate any specific tool that we could track. It did look like a rush job, though, so that might be something. Maybe he or she was interrupted. Or they only had a small window of opportunity.”
Gabriel nodded. “That’s good info, actually. Check with the front gate guard and get a list of everyone who was in and out the night before or the very early morning.”
Sophie jotted down notes in her notebook, a habit she’d picked up from Gabriel. “Will do.”
“Anything from the charity event? Any leads there?”
She shook her head. “We have no witnesses. The vehicle was scratched with either a knife or a sharp piece of metal. Not much to follow there.”
“Any word on the driver?”
“No. He’s still missing,” Sophie said.
“Let’s get a warrant to check his place. I don’t think he’s involved, but we need to make sure.”
She wrote that down. “Okay, boss.”
