Page 86 of Too Guarded to Love

“Are you fucking serious?” Nic ignored the biofeedback Scarlett’s news ignited. “Olivia has a fucking tracker with a camera in her?”

“And maybe a listening device. I won’t know for sure until we examine it. She’s delaying while I work to override the locks so we can get to her. Natalie’s code is good, but if she was high when she wrote it, it might be easier to crack.”

“Hurry, Goddammit.” If anything happened to Olivia…

No, he wouldn’t let it. He always got the girl, usually without much effort. This time, he’d die trying to get the one he loved.

Natalie snapped her fingers. “Pay attention, Nic, or I swear I’ll let your girlfriend die.”

Despite the situation, he liked hearing Olivia referred to as his. “What do you want?”

Natalie darted her gaze around the stairwell. “Protection.”

Oh, she needed protection all right, and not from the shitty way she’d feel in the morning after the drugs left her system. That is, if he let her live until morning. “Who do you need protection from?”

“The Diablos. The cops.” She held her palms out to her sides and shook them. “Following Jonathan to that coffee shop has landed me in a world of shit.”

Nic crossed his arms over his chest. His heart thundered against his fist. “Explain.”

“Jonathan told me he made a deal with the Diablo drug cartel about a year ago to infiltrate VIPER by way of Olivia in exchange for a ton of cash. The plan was to woo her into marriage, move to DC, become besties with her brother and you guys, and learn VIPER’s secrets.”

“He was contracted to date her?” Jonathan was lucky he was already dead.

“Holy fuck.” Kane let out a snarl. “My sister was targeted because of me.”

Nic felt Kane’s realization deep in his soul. Every decision had consequences. Even honorable ones like joining a classified fighting force to serve your country.

Natalie rubbed her thumb and fingers together. “The deal sounded like a real moneymaker. For every piece of intel Jonathan transmitted to the Diablos, he’d get a bonus. Olivia fucked up that plan. He was so desperate to win her back after she dumped him at the airport, he arranged a scenario where she’d be stranded and scared, and she’d call her big, strong ex for help. Instead, you found her and got her shot. Way to woo a woman, Nic.”

His pulse spiked high enough to short-circuit his biofeedback function. “Keep talking if you want help.”

“The Diablos…” She shot her gaze to the door, as if one of them would appear. “They gave Jonathan one more chance to win her back—at the coffee shop. He failed and they threatened his life. Jonathan told me he wanted you out of the way so he could try again.”

Nic didn’t have to ask how Jonathan knew about him and Olivia. The camera in her tracker likely recorded every conversation they had.

And everything they did.

Fuck. Olivia had fled the gossips in her hometown only to land in the middle of a whole new level of intrusiveness. He wouldn’t blame her if she ran from him as quickly as her boots would carry her.

She’d already been targeted because her brother was a super soldier. She’d have a bigger target on her back if she were married to one. Christ, if he had ignored the damn connection when they’d first met, she wouldn’t be in danger. And he wouldn’t be thinking about marriage, but hell did he love the idea of putting a ring on her finger.

“Keep her talking until we get the whole story.”

He acknowledged Edgar’s order. Instead of wrapping his hands around Natalie’s neck, he placed his hand over his heart. “VIPER will protect you, I swear. I’ll get it in writing from my director, but we don’t have time for that right now. My buddy, who’s a police officer, said he saw some men who looked like they could be Diablos lurking in the parking lot.” He wouldn’t be surprised if his lie was true. “We can’t protect you if we don’t have all the details about the threat.”

“Oh shit.” She glanced over her shoulder at the window. “How many?”

“Fifteen.” The age they’d been when she’d stolen baseball from him.

“I can’t get away from that many. I barely escaped two earlier.”

Nic’s patience stretched so tightly it hurt. When his mother had gotten whiny and glassy-eyed like this, she’d drone on for hours. Olivia didn’t even have minutes. “Talk before I have my team round up the Diablos and let them torture the information I need out of you.”

She held up her hands in surrender. “Okay. I offered to help Jonathan with another shot at Olivia by taking you out in exchange for payment. I never intended to end you, though. I intended to kill her. Instead, I wound up shooting Jonathan.”

“How?”

“This afternoon, he called and told me to meet him at some stables not too far from here. When I got there, he was arguing with a woman on a horse. She was accusing him of jamming her calls so she and Olivia couldn’t connect and calling him a lying bucket of horseshit for not bringing Olivia like he’d promised.”