True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (68 page)

“Please
go, Callen,” she said softly, rubbing her hand up and down his back reassuringly.

“Yes, please go, Callen. I’d like to have a discussion with my wife, privately if you don’t mind. I think she’ll be safe enough,” he said, venomously. On a normal basis, his brother’s
protectiveness wouldn’t bother him in the least, but right now in the moment it did.

Whitefox walked towards the door,
looking back at the woman and exchanging silent looks. He was looking for any sign that she needed him to stay.

Before he could leave the room, Christina appeared, and it was apparent that she’d been crying.

“I saw you came back, Director, and I came to see if you had more trace for us to analyze.”

Elizabeth and Callen both went deathly
quiet. It was the worst possible moment for her to show up. Elizabeth knew what was coming, and she prayed that the woman didn’t say a word.

“As a matter of fact,” Ethan Blackhawk pointed at his brother. “Callen has a sample from Carly Kester. Since you’re here, you can take it down with you.”

Christina sniffled, and took the bag, signing off on it, and continuing chain of evidence. “I’ll get it done as soon as I can,” she said, looking up at her boss.

Elizabeth
crossed her fingers behind her back, and she could tell Callen was doing the exact same thing. Again, they looked at each other and braced for worst case scenario.

“Are you going to be okay, Christina?” asked Blackhawk, focusing on the woman.

“I think so,” she answered. “I just can’t believe how this sicko killed him,” she said finally and there was an audible gasp.

Elizabeth realized it was her, and then she just closed her eyes.

Damn you, tech department for following procedures and logging the report the minute the ME had completed it.

Just for once she wished they hired incompetent idiots.

“Damn it,” she muttered.

“You’ve seen the report?” he asked, looking over at his wife, and then his brother.
Now he had confirmation that they both knew how Derek Williams’s life had ended and were keeping it from him.

“Yes, a few minutes ago, when Doctor Adare put it in the file,” and then she must have realized what she just did. “I’m so sorry,” she looked at Elizabeth.
“He didn’t know yet did he?”

“
I was going to break it to him now. ALONE.”

“Oh my God!
I’m so sorry.”

“
It’s okay, Christina.” Elizabeth had no one to blame but herself. She didn’t tell Doctor Adare to sit on the report for an hour or so. This was all on her.

Christina nodded with big eyes
and backed out of the room. Now she didn’t know who to be more afraid of at that moment. Elizabeth looked calm, and Ethan looked like he was ready to murder.

Callen
tried to get to Elizabeth’s side, but his brother moved between them. “Get out Callen!” The look on his face was somewhere between betrayal and murder.

“Ethan,
come on. Just take a break and calm down before you say anything. Go for a walk and get it out of your system,” he warned, knowing this was going to be a huge blow up and it was going to be directed right at the woman he loved. Already he’d placed himself directly in front of her protectively. “Don’t hurt her.”

“Get out now!”
he roared at his brother’s words. The implication enraged him, as much as the man trying to stand between them.

“Callen, just go,” Elizabeth
said, softly. She nodded at him and offered him reassurance that she’d be okay. Even this mad, she knew he’d never hurt her. He was just going to blow off steam.

He weighed the options, and if stay
ing made his brother angrier he should leave. He wasn’t going to go far that was for sure. Now he’d take sentry outside the door to be there if Elizabeth needed him.   

When the door clicked closed. The sound was so loud in the silence that it could have been a gunshot. Elizabeth almost jumped.

Ethan had never been so mad in all his life. Yes, they’d had fights before, and mostly they’d been his fault, but this time, she’d purposely withheld information from her partner, and husband. The betrayal he felt whipped at him, and clawed at his heart, that she shared information with his brother and not him.

“Ethan,” she started, unsure how to calm him down.

“Don’t even, Elizabeth. Trust me when I say, just don’t even try to justify it to me. You purposely excluded me from the loop. You know how our tech died, my brother knows how he died, and apparently our staff does too.”

Elizabeth said nothing;
she just stared at him with a blank stare. Her own temper was rising that after all they’d been through, he could really believe she’d hurt him intentionally.

“My own brother
kept this from me too?” he accused loudly.

She was one more step closer to her own eruption.

“Where’s the report?” He stepped towards her, and she stepped back from him. She only did that once before, and it enraged him further.

Elizabeth pointed at the table and watched his face as he picked it up, scanning it and then looking back at her. “So you didn’t think I could handle it? Wow, you have very little faith in the man you married.”

“Oh, I knew well enough what was coming and that’s why I did what I did,” she answered, angrily. Elizabeth was mad at herself that she backed away from him, and that she was actually afraid.

He lost it.

Rage ripped through him, as she admitted to keeping him out of the loop on purpose. He lost complete and total control; he rushed the table, clearing it in one shot, sliding everything off to the floor. Papers slid, reports mixed, and he found it offered him no reprisal from his anger. If anything the fire of rage just burned hotter.

Elizabeth took another step back to be clear of the rampage, as she almost fought to catch her tablet as it flew across the room and hit the floor.

Blackhawk saw her move and it infuriated him, even though it was completely rational, he still was beyond help. He turned towards the whiteboard and felt the anger at the picture of his tech on there, and how he failed completely as a boss in keeping his staff safe, and he swept all the pictures off that too, and then pushed it over.

His wife stared open mouthed.

“What’s wrong Elizabeth? Never seen me this angry before?” He stalked towards her, and as she moved away from him again. It ripped him to pieces inside, and he became more volatile.

“I think you’re being a total asshole, and you just ruined hours of
my work.” Elizabeth had a standard rule to never call her husband names, especially since his ex-girlfriend used that tactic to damage him. Yet now it seemed appropriate.

“I’m an asshole?”
Blackhawk repeated, incredulously.

“Yeah, this
is definitely asshole behavior!” Her own temper spiked. “You want to know why I did what I did? Well, Mr. Blackhawk I’ll tell you. I didn’t want to hurt you. I wanted to break it to you in private, and not in front of everyone that your tech was mutilated. I was trying to be a caring supportive wife who took her damn husband’s feelings into consideration.
NOW
I see how stupid that was on my behalf.”

He stared at her.

“I didn’t tell Callen anything before you. I asked Doctor Adare and she told me, Callen happened to be standing there and overheard the conversation. We decided to tell you in private, all together to be here for you and help you through it. In fact, we were going to tell you right now.”

Blackhawk looked into her eyes and saw nothing but truth.
Damn it! How he needed to see that she was lying so he could justify what he just did.

“Your brother and I wanted to tell you to your face, not make you read
it off a fucking piece of paper. Now I see that was a huge ass mistake, because you took it as us betraying you.”

Now she moved towar
ds him angrily, and he stepped back.

“So screw you, Ethan. I’m not going to stand here and be your emotional punching bag because you’re mad at a killer. I’m hurting too. While you went off with Callen to
get the DNA, know what I did?” She pointed at him, tapped him on the chest and crowded his space.

“No,” he answered.

“I went downstairs and stood over our dead tech, because he deserved to have one of his bosses there as he was cut open. I didn’t call his parents, or girlfriend because I knew you’d want to handle that, because you’re that kind of man. So I took one for the team, and watched him be autopsied.”

“Doctor Adare closed the autopsy.”

“She closed it to you, because we all wanted to keep you from losing it and doing,” she paused, and looked around the room, “THIS!”

Blackhawk felt the rage receding.

“I’ll even let you verbally slap at me because you’re hurting inside, and I’ll swallow it. But if you think you can tell me I have little faith in the man I married, then you know nothing about me. I have enough faith in you to start a family, and I have enough faith to give you my back when we go into a dangerous situation. I shared a secret that I swore to keep for our boss. That’s fucking faith, Ethan. I also know your breaking point, and this was it.”

His cheek twitched.

“I knew that you’d take this personally and you’d bleed in your gut over this, because you didn’t keep one of your own safe. My husband is an honorable man, and cares about people over his own feelings, so excuse me for wanting to protect your damn heart over this.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, finally breaking down. “I feel like I failed him. He was a boy,” he whispered, as the emotion overwhelmed him. “I sent him out, Lyzee
.” He looked into her eyes, and found sympathy and a safe place to go when he felt broken inside.

“This isn't your fault, Ethan. This is all about the killer, and how screwed up she is
.” Elizabeth touched his cheeks with her palms. “You didn’t kill him and this isn't on you,” she whispered.

Blackhawk let out a long shuddering breath, releasing the pain and anger he felt.
Now came the time where he handed it to her and trusted her with it, even though he just was a complete asshole and didn’t deserve it. “Elizabeth,” he said, allowing the weakness out, moving into her arms. Holding on to his wife helped heal the pain from his heart. “I’m sorry if I scared you,” he said, looking at the mess. “I’m so sorry that I terrorized my pregnant wife.”

Elizabeth rested her forehead against his, and held his hand. “I’m not afraid of you, Ethan. I am afraid that next time I’m going to lose my temper and kick your ass so hard you won’t walk right for a long time,” she whispered
, and looked over when the door clicked open. There stood Callen Whitefox, and he tried to ignore the chaos all over the room, and focused only on his brother and Elizabeth.

“You okay, Ethan?” he asked, moving towards his family, no fear on his face, only concern for his brother. He threw his arms around them both, and the three of them met with their foreheads in the center of the circle.
It was a family offering their wounded spirit a little support.

“I don’t know if I am, Callen.”

“We’ll get you there,” he answered. “We have you, Ethan.”

Elizabeth held onto both men
, and she could feel her husband shaking. “It’s okay darlin’. We can carry this together.”

Blackhawk was so grateful for his brother and wife, without them he didn’t know how he’d get through this.
“I’m sorry I was an asshole, Callen, and snarled at you.”

“Can I punch you?” he asked, grinning.

“Go ahead,” he answered, his mood already lifting. Then one of them punched him. “HEY!”

Both snorted.

All three looked over as Desdemona came in and locked the door behind her. “Holy shit,” she muttered, looking around the room and the wreckage. “Mom and dad are never going to go away and leave us along again!”

“I know, we’re so not getting our security deposit back after this kegger,” whispered
Elizabeth, trying to not laugh.

Both men snickered.

“Can anyone join this party?” she asked, hoping to be part of their group, and to feel like she belonged with them.

“Yes,” answered Blackhawk. He was really lucky to have all of
them, and even the addition of his brother’s new woman. Just the fact she too wanted to protect him from being hurt over his tech’s autopsy had endeared her to him.

There was a scraping sound as a chair was being dragged over, and the doctor stood on it. “What?” she asked. “Not all of us are as tall as you three,” she said
, laughing. “My head can’t touch yours. I come up to your chests.”

All three laughed and welcomed the woman.

“Let’s reconstruct the room, I’ll buy us dinner, and then we can head back to the house,” said Blackhawk offering a peace offering to his family.

“Yay, dinner!” cheered Elizabeth. When they all laughed she looked at them. “Hey, anyone here ever been pregnant before? NO? Then you don’t understand how exciting
it is to a woman carrying a baby around.”