Dying to Love (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 18) Page 25

  He needed to regroup, rest, and wait to see what the media was saying about her.

  About him.

  Before long, he’d have what he wanted. He was sure of it. She was going to be his biggest gift ever.

  And he was never letting her go.

  She was his.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Whitefox-Blackhawk

  Compound

  They stumbled home at a ridiculous hour, and when they arrived, Ethan was in the kitchen waiting for them. He was still dressed, so that meant he had been working really late.

  From the look on his wife’s face, she was barely awake.

  “Come here, baby,” he said, scooping her up in his arms. He’d carry her to their bedroom.

  “I may have gotten out of hand,” Callen said, as he could see the bite-marks turning to bruises in the light of their home.

  Yeah, Ethan could see that.

  “Who won?”

  She raised her hand.

  He started laughing. “I don’t doubt it in the least.”

  In their room, they stripped her down, cleaned her up, and slipped her into bed. The men followed, protectively placing their bodies around her.

  Anymore, they barely moved. They were accustomed to the sleep arrangements, and it worked for them.

  Elizabeth was in her sexy native cocoon.

  When they kissed her on the cheek, she was already asleep.

  “Did you have fun?” Ethan asked.

  Callen simply grinned.

  What happened with Jackson James, stayed with Jackson James.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Yeah, it was definitely a yes.”

  The men settled down.

  They closed their eyes, and then they fell into sleep.

  No one moved.

  There was peace.

  Until…

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Three Hours

  Later

  Her phone went off.

  She didn’t know why she was shocked. This was the karma of having one hell of a sexy romp.

  It was bound to come back and bite you in the ass. Well, here it was.

  They had a body.

  Of course the killer would pick tonight—the night she’d only get very little sleep—to make his move.

  It was her own fault.

  Long nights, frolicking with a sexy man while they had a killer on the loose, was always a bad idea. She’d stayed out with Callen, and not sleuthing.

  Here was her payback in full.

  Callen handed her the cell.

  “Whitefox-Blackhawk, and someone had better be dead,” she stated. “If not, there will be.”

  She listened to dispatch.

  “Okay, we’ll be right there. Alert my team. I’ll contact the ME.”

  She hung up.

  For a brief second, she rested between them.

  “Body?” Ethan asked.

  “Yeah, you should get some sleep. I’ll brief you in the morning when you get to work,” she offered.

  Callen rolled out of bed.

  They both looked like shit.

  When Ethan got up, Elizabeth glanced over. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m off duty, and I want to be with my family. Besides, this might help me with the profile. I didn’t see the other two scenes.”

  She went to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Thank you, Ethan.”

  “Don’t thank me. I miss my partners,” he offered.

  Yeah, they missed him too.

  Elizabeth got dressed, and she headed down the hall to Christopher’s room. When she softly knocked, there was his invitation to enter.

  “Body?” he asked, slipping on his glasses and turning on the light on the nightstand.

  “Yeah, there is.”

  “I’m awake.”

  It was hard not to notice that he was naked in bed, a sheet draped over his waist. She remembered back to their days as a couple.

  He didn’t ever sleep in clothes.

  Why?

  If he died in his sleep, it would be easier for the ME who had to autopsy his body.

  He was such a weirdo.

  “I’m sorry to wake you. Trust me. I needed a few more hours of sleep too.”

  He was okay with it. Work was work.

  “You look beat.”

  “Long night,” she said, turning her back so he could get dressed.

  “You need to rest, honey.”

  She was aware.

  “I’ll rest when I’m dead,” she stated.

  She could hear Chris getting dressed. Did she need to look away? Probably not. She’d seen it all before. Out of respect for the men in her life, she still did it.

  “I’m good,” he said.

  When she turned, he was pulling on a polo.

  “Ethan’s coming out with us to do a profile.”

  Chris didn’t say anything.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “When this is over, I’m moving out.”

  She stared at him.

  WOW.

  And the hits kept coming. What the hell was it with this case? Was she destined to curl into a ball and cry?

  Did her karma suck this badly?

  “What? Why?”

  “It’s time, Elizabeth. The truth is out, and we both know Callen and Ethan won’t like me here.”

  “So you’re leaving me?”

  He hated this, but he needed to do it for her. All those years, she protected him, and now it was time to protect her. He owed her that much.

  “You know I love you, and I’ll see you every day at work. I just need to give your husbands space.”

  “I see.”

  “Do you? Callen found out. What do you think will happen when Ethan does?”

  She already knew.

  This moment sucked.

  It hurt her heart.

  “If that’s what you need to do, Chris. If that’s what you feel is right for you, then I get it.”

  It hurt that he was breaking her.

  Chris hoped she’d see it was his sacrifice for her.

  “I will always love you, Lyzee. We have our past, we have our present, and we have our future. I just need to be respectful of both men. I can’t live under Ethan’s roof and lie to him. I can’t look him in the eyes and pretend it’s okay.”

  She wiped her eyes.

  “Please don’t cry,” he said. “I’ll still be by every morning. I’ll still be here for coffee.”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay, Newton. If it’s time for you to go, then you know what’s best.”

  “Are you mad at me?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No, I’m mad at me. In one week, I’ve lost Livy, probably Gabe, you’re leaving, and Ethan will leave me if he finds out all of this. I just wasn’t ready for you to go too. I figured I’d at least have you to help me put it all back together again.”

  He moved closer.

  Elizabeth stepped back.

  “Lyzee, honey.”

  “Time to fly, baby bird. It’s time to fly. I give you back your wings.”

  With that, she walked out.

  Chris stared at her as she left. He could tell she was broken. Her shoulders were hunched, her step was hesitant, and she was off her game.

  “I love you, Elizabeth. I’m sorry.”

  And he was.

  He’d made so many mistakes. This wasn’t the first time he’d broken her heart.

  It would haunt him forever.

  Down in the kitchen, the men were pouring coffee into travel mugs. When she walked in, they saw it.

  “What’s wrong?” Ethan asked.

  Oh, she wished she could tell him. She wished she could say ‘I’m losing my brother because he’s afraid you’ll hate him’, but she couldn’t.

  The web of lies got even more real.

  “Chris just told me he’s moving out.”


  “Oh,” said Ethan. “He doesn’t have to do that. I love having him and Bethe here.”

  She grabbed her coffee and stared at Callen. “He feels the need to go. We have to let him.”

  Callen knew why he was leaving.

  He wasn’t shocked.

  While Chris loved Elizabeth, he wouldn’t lie to them. He wouldn’t stay there if he couldn’t be one hundred percent faithful to their friendship. Now that half of them knew, he figured what was coming.

  “I’ll talk to him later,” Callen offered.

  “I will,” said Ethan.

  She grabbed her gear and pulled it on. “No. It’s time,” she said. Elizabeth heard him coming. “Chris wants to move on, and I don’t blame him. He’s entitled to his life. I want him to be happy because I love him. Being here is not what he needs.”

  He walked into the kitchen carrying his bag.

  “Elizabeth.”

  She walked out. She couldn’t do this. This case had her world upside down, but this time it had nothing to do with the killer.

  Maybe she was off her game.

  Maybe she was getting too old to pull it off.

  All she did know was that she had a job to do, and at that moment, it was about the dead woman and catching a killer.

  Her heart would have to wait—like it generally did.

  “Let’s go,” Ethan said, handing Chris a coffee. The man wouldn’t look him in the eyes.

  Something was up.

  He could feel it.

  There was tension in the air, and he needed to get to the bottom of it.

  For his wife, his friend, and for his family.

  Someone had to set this right.

  It was time to dig.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Across Town

  Georgetown

  When they pulled up to the park, she already knew why he’d picked this place. It was the park that she used to run in years ago when she didn’t live that far away.

  In fact, this was the park she walked to with Ethan when they came back to exhume her father and Chris when they had a date.

  “Son of a Bitch,” muttered Ethan.

  “What?” Callen asked.

  Blackhawk admitted, “We both came through here when we ran, and he knows it.”

  Callen was worried.

  If he knew it, that meant that this was a sicko stalker from their past. He’d studied them for a while.

  “Chris lived a block from here too,” she added. “He was one street over.”

  That was news to Ethan.

  “Did you?” he asked the man.

  “Yeah, I did. I bought my place to be near Elizabeth. It made our lives so much easier since I was her ME.”

  Ethan agreed. While he’d been an agent all those years ago, he had a particular ME he used too. Doctor Raymond was his preferred doctor.

  She was efficient.

  She was spot on.

  She didn’t like to chitchat.

  Back then, Ethan was all about getting to the bottom of the case. He’d never worked with Christopher Leonard because the man came across as a joker.

  He’d been very wrong.

  Chris made Doctor Raymond look like an idiot.

  “I don’t like how this feels,” Ethan stated.

  They all looked over at him.

  Elizabeth didn’t know if she should worry or…

  Callen took control. “So he’s studied her?” Callen asked, sounding a little over the edge.

  It looked like it.

  “Yeah, that would be my guess.”

  “Let’s get this handled,” Elizabeth stated. “I can’t wait to see what he’s left me now.”

  Chris whistled, and all the techs began milling about, looking for anything they could use to help their boss. They were putting up barriers, getting kits, and soon, they’d be helping take the body back to the morgue.

  “Where is she?” Elizabeth asked a cop on the tape.

  “Over in the sandbox, Director, and she’s a mess.”

  Great.

  This was going to be a long day.

  Heading across the park, her husbands, and Chris, followed her. Their head tech was kneeling by the body, a kit open, as he waited for the ME.

  Chris immediately pulled on gloves and got to work. He was worried too.

  This was freaking him out. How long had this killer been watching them?

  “What do we have?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Your victim appears to be a hooker,” Chris stated.

  Elizabeth glanced down. “Oh, shit.”

  They all looked over at her.

  “What?” Callen asked.

  “She was one of the hookers I spoke to last night. That’s FeeFee McFuckme.”

  They all stared at her.

  “I know. The name is ridiculous. I thought that too.”

  That wasn’t what Ethan was thinking.

  He had other things to worry about.

  “She was with you last night, and now she’s dead? That’s not good, Elizabeth. This killer is trying to tell you something.”

  “Yeah, that he’s a stalker,” Callen stated.

  “Well, I can tell you one thing about her,” she stated, “other than she was definitely a hooker.”

  “What?” Chris asked.

  “She didn’t have kids. So, YAY! No more dead babies to find tonight.”

  “She’s missing her lips,” Amir stated.

  She stared at him.

  Did he think she didn’t notice that?

  “Gee, thanks for the update,” she stated. “I wasn’t sure. I thought she’d just been trying to kiss a fan.”

  He closed his mouth and got back to work.

  Elizabeth knew that was bitchy, but this was pissing her off.

  “What are her lips sitting on?” Callen asked, motioning towards them on the ground.

  Chris bagged them, and then flipped over the paper. “It’s your business card, Lyzee.”

  Great.

  She was ready for one of her husbands to lose it. It was only a matter of time now.

  Ethan pulled out his phone and stepped away.

  “Amir, give us a moment,” Callen stated.

  The man left his kit behind and got the hell out of there and fast.

  “Chris,” Callen asked, lowering his voice, “why are you leaving our home?”

  Elizabeth didn’t want to do this.

  She wanted to forget.

  “I can’t lie to him. So, either I have to be honest, or I have to go. Ethan was kind enough to let me stay there.”

  “It’s our home too,” Callen stated. “You’re welcome in it.”

  “Can we stop this?” Elizabeth asked. “He wants to leave, so he can leave. I have to end this. I have to focus on the case. Now is a really shitty time to bring this up, both of you.”

  The men got it.

  She was done with it.

  Ethan headed their way. “Security has been doubled on you, Elizabeth, and our home.”

  That helped her relax.

  At least her kids would be safe.

  Elizabeth could see Johanna and Broderick heading their way.

  “Which one of you has a tablet?” she asked.

  Brody raised his hands.

  “I want you to find out how this hooker connects to the others. I also want you to run them against me. Find out if I’ve ever crossed paths with them. I grew up here until I was ten. Take them all the way back to my youth, and run their families. I want to know if maybe this goes deeper than it looks.”

  Ethan was proud of his wife. She got it. This was going to be all about her. Now she was being proactive.

  “Yes, ma’am. We’ll get right on it.”

  “You can do the research in a vehicle.” She told the duo the hooker’s street name. It would be easier with her real name, but they didn’t have that yet.

  They hustled away.

  “Chris, can we touch the other items?” she asked.
>
  His heart skipped. She’d called him Chris—not Christopher, not Newton, but plain old Chris.

  It hurt.

  God!

  This whole thing hurt.

  “Amir! Get over here and snap some pictures.”

  He rushed back over and did just that.

  “You can touch them now,” Chris said when he was finished.

  Elizabeth pulled on gloves and picked up the rose. It was yellow with a red tips.

  “Someone google the color meaning,” she asked.

  Callen whipped out his phone and did just that. It didn’t take long to find out what it meant.

  “Uh oh.”

  Ethan didn’t like the sound of that.

  “What?”

  “It means falling in love.”

  She scrubbed her hands over her face. This was going to make Ethan lose his damn mind. Suddenly, she wished he’d stayed at the house.

  Then she could sugar coat this for him.

  “That’s not happening,” Blackhawk stated. “No one is falling in love with her.”

  Callen agreed with his brother.

  “I’m maxed out on the love life, guys. I think I can navigate this,” Elizabeth stated.

  “Want me to read the note?” Callen asked, offering to take one for the team. They were clearly avoiding it.

  “I have it,” she stated, taking it once Amir had bagged it.

  ‘Elizabeth,

  Roses are red, but this one is yellow.

  You’ll be mine, so screw your fellows.

  Romeo.’

  Elizabeth glanced over at her husbands. “I’m not in danger, but you two are,” she stated.

  Ethan wasn’t worried about himself. “I'm inside all day long,” he stated. “I have more security now, especially since Gabe is going to be out for a bit.”

  “What’s wrong with Director Rothschild?” Amir asked.

  “He chewed newbie ass, and it didn’t sit right,” she stated, not even looking at him. “You may be next.”

  The man rushed through his work.

  Elizabeth focused on Chris. “Didn’t you teach him rule number one with techs?”

  He tried to laugh, but his heart hurt. “I’ve been busy.” They all knew that the golden rule was that techs should be seen, not heard.