I can’t let Vic die.
He dialed the FBI. Used the contact number that Victor had given him. Within minutes, he had Tracy Adams on the line. Before he’d left Miami, Victor had told him that Tracy had been cleared through the FBI channels. The suits in power had put her back in the field.
“Saxon?” Tracy asked, voice confused. “What’s going on? I-I thought you were gone…”
He had been gone from the game, but his brother’s life was on the line now. “I need you to help me find Victor.”
“What?”
“Victor’s in trouble. I know he’s somewhere in South Carolina, but I need a specific location. He’s…his life is on the line here.”
“But he’s not on any sanctioned FBI case.” Her voice lowered, became hushed as if she didn’t want anyone to overhear her as she said, “The Brass is pretty pissed at him because he went off radar. He was supposed to come in for an interrogation, but he didn’t. Said he was working something on his own.”
My fault. “He’s working for me. He’s trying to get Luther Bates to take the hit off Elizabeth Ward.”
“What?” Now her voice sharpened. “But—but she’s gone. The last I heard, the US Marshalls were supposed to be putting her into protective custody.”
“She’s with me.” And I won’t risk her, but I will save Vic. “I’ll be flying in to the Charleston airport, and Tracy I’m going to need help.”
“You have it.” Now her voice was soft again. “I’ll get there before you do.”
“You can track his phone, right? Find him that way?”
“I’ll find him,” she promised. “You just look for me when you land.”
He ended the call. Exhaled. For a minute, he stared down at the scars on his hands and he remembered the past. Once, he’d fought Victor. Now, he’d fight for him.
Just as Victor had fought for him.
***
Elizabeth glanced around the tasting room once more. She had plans for a kick-off gala to be held in that room. She’d already started making arrangements with a local caterer so that they could be ready—
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
She whirled at Saxon’s voice, a wide smile on her face.
But he wasn’t smiling back at her. His face was hard, so very tense. Just as it had been the first time I saw him.
He stalked toward her, an air of menace hanging around him. “Do you know what I would do…” Saxon asked quietly. “To someone who threatened your life?”
Goosebumps rose on her arms. “Saxon?”
“I’d destroy him. I’d destroy anyone who wanted to hurt you.”
There was a hard, flat tone of utter certainty in his voice. She shivered.
His head cocked to the right. “Does that scare you?”
“Nothing about you scares me.” That was the truth. She wanted all of him, good and bad and everything in between.
His hand lifted and his knuckles slid over her cheek. “I can be here, wearing the suit, pretending to be someone else, but deep inside…we both know what I am.”
“Saxon—”
“A killer, a—”
“No.” She caught his hand and held tight to it. “You’re a fighter. A protector. You’re the man I-I want.” She’d almost said he was the man she loved. But Elizabeth had held back. Why? Because she was scared. Not of him, never of him. Her eyes searched his as worry slid into her heart. “Something’s happened.’
He gave a faint nod. “I have to leave town for a bit. One of the winery’s security guards will be seeing you home today.”
Her hold tightened on him. “Where are you going?”
His gaze became shuttered. “To see Victor.”
He was holding back on her. “What’s going on?” When he was silent, she stepped closer to him. “Please, Saxon, tell me.”
He glanced away from her. “I’m going to see my brother. A short trip. Nothing for you to worry about.”
“Liar,” she whispered.
His lips curled the faintest bit. “I’ll be back before you know it.” He pulled away from her and headed toward the door.
She stood there a moment, her mind whirling, then she blurted, “I want to come with you.”
He stilled. “That’s not an option.”
“Why not? If you’re just going to visit Victor…”
Saxon looked back at her.
She could see the terrible truth in his eyes. “Victor is in trouble, isn’t he?” Her voice was hushed.
The lines near his mouth deepened. “I’ll take care of him. It’s what we do. We take care of each other. Me, Victor, and Jasmine…” He turned away again.
She raced across the room and blocked his path before he could reach the door. “I want to help. Whatever is going on here, let me help you.”
He stared down at her. There was longing on his face, in his eyes, but he gave a determined shake of his head. “There’s one thing I won’t risk for him.”
“What? Saxon, I don’t understand what’s happening.”
His hands curled around her shoulders. He pulled her up against him. Crushed his mouth to hers. Kissed her with a wild fury that made her heart race and her body ache.
“You,” he rasped against her mouth. “I won’t risk you.”
Then he left her, striding quickly from the room.
And Elizabeth knew that whatever was happening—whatever dangers Victor faced—they were very, very bad. The last time she’d seen Victor, he’d been determined to get the hit on her canceled.
Whatever has happened to him…it’s because of me.
***
The airport was busy when Saxon strode inside. There were families around, laughing, talking. Businessmen rushing to collect their luggage.
He barely spared any of them a glance. Everything happening around him—it was all just noise. Getting to Victor, saving his brother, that was his priority.
He hadn’t called Jasmine. He didn’t know what he’d find waiting for him in South Carolina, and he didn’t want to risk Jazz, too. Tracy had promised to provide support for him—and he would trust her. Victor had said the woman was a good agent, the best on his team.
He would—
The noise around him dimmed because she was there. Standing just a few feet away and nervously biting her lip.
“Elizabeth?”
She swallowed and nodded.
He was at her side in an instant. “What the hell are you doing here?” He’d left her all safe and sound back at the winery. She shouldn’t be in that busy California airport with him.
“Something has happened to Victor, right?”
His back teeth clenched. “Yes.”
“Because of me?”
He looked away.
“You do that…you look away when you don’t want to lie to me.”
Saxon caught her arms and walked her over toward the wall, blocking her view of everyone else with his body. “Whatever is going on—”
“It’s because of me. Victor was trying to help me. And now you’re flying off, and I’m coming with you.”
The hell she was.
But Elizabeth reached into her bag and she pulled out a ticket. “After you rushed out on me, I talked with Vanessa. She’d booked your flight, so I got her to book mine, too.”
No, this wasn’t happening. “You can’t come with me.”
On the intercom, he heard them announce the boarding for his flight. He backed away from Elizabeth, but she caught his hand.
“Why not?”
And he wouldn’t lie. “Because the bastard who has Vic—that bastard wants you! He wants to trade Vic’s life for yours, and that isn’t happening.”
She paled as she stared up at him.
“I can’t lose you, and I won’t lose Vic.” That meant he went on the plane by himself. “You mean too much to me.” And because he didn’t know what the hell was going to happen when he got to South Carolina, he leaned forward and kissed her once more. This kiss was different from the one he’d given her in the winery. Not wild, but soft and sensual. He poured his emotions into that kiss. He wanted her to know how he felt even if he didn’t have the words that he should be able to give her.
Do I love her?
Yes, he thought he did. But he’d never told a woman that he loved her. Never had those words come out. He wasn’t sure they could. He was so screwed up on the inside. Far more damaged than his sweet Elizabeth probably realized.