Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(86)

“Play it or I’ll do it myself.” He didn’t give a shit that his whole body ached. He would fight to get to watch that tape, fight to get to see the truth.

Alex’s head fell back. “He’ll do it. He’s just like his brother. He won’t stop until he’s seen it and f*cked up entirely.”

With a curse, Liam moved the mouse and rolled back the tape.

Hutch was on the ground, barely moving. God, he hoped Theo hadn’t been the one to do that. Hutch was the funny one, the one who always came through with a joke, but he was also the brilliant one amongst them. He could hack a system with the best. When he’d joined the team, he’d learned how to fly a helicopter because as he’d put it, he didn’t want to be a one-trick pony. Theo had been one of Hutch’s closest friends.

“He’s alive,” Ian said, his voice dark. “You can see him breathing.”

“He was alive then.” Case felt the need to point out a few truths. “We have no idea if he’s alive now. They’ve had hours to do whatever they want to him.”

“She’ll keep him alive. She’ll use him like she’s using Theo.” Alex’s eyes were on the screen.

Case forced himself to watch as Mia was pushed into the camera’s range. She wasn’t alone. One of Theo’s partners had her in his grips. That rat bastard was holding her so tight. “I want to know who he is.”

“I’ve already got Adam on it.” Liam sat back. “He’s got a copy of the tape and he’s putting it through facial recognition. We’ll figure out who the other two are. It might give us another starting point.”

Because they would need one. Because Theo was in the wind.

Because Mia had lied.

He watched as the woman he’d grown to love lied to his face. She’d seen the door open and then Theo had said something to her. He’d shoved her out of camera range and shot twice before disappearing behind that hidden door.

And then Case watched himself rush into the room like a f*cking idiot. Theo was right there. He couldn’t have gotten more than a few steps away. The door had barely closed and Mia hadn’t said a word.

Except she had. She’d claimed she had no idea where he’d gone. She’d told him she didn’t know.

Honesty. It was all he’d asked from her.

Anger thrummed through his system, hot and rabid. His brother had been five feet away. Hutch had been taken and he was gone right now because Mia hadn’t opened her mouth and told him where his brother was.

“Case, do not talk to her right now,” Ian ordered. “We’re going to get a drink and discuss what to do about this.”

He barely heard his brother’s words. They didn’t matter. What mattered was looking Mia in the eyes and letting her know what she’d done. She’d cost him everything.

He stalked out into the main room and the minute she turned, she paled.

“Case? I thought you were going to bed.”

“Were you going to try to erase the recording while I was asleep?” He had no idea how far she would have gone to cover her tracks.

“Recording?”

She didn’t know? That was why she’d so confidently manipulated him. The last she’d likely heard before Theo had taken her earpiece had been that Fain had failed to bring the cameras online. According to what he’d heard Li say, Fain might not have known he’d made it work at the last minute. She’d thought she’d been safe and that he would never know how she’d lied. “Fain got the cameras online at the last minute. Or rather he managed to push enough buttons that Hutch’s protocols did the job for him.”

Fain looked up from his computer. “I did?”

“What’s going on?” Lawless asked.

Mia ignored all of it, turning tear-filled eyes his way. “Case, I can explain.”

He heard someone walk into the room behind him. Likely his brother and the rest of the team. It was there in the back of his mind that this might not be the time or the place to have this discussion, but all he could see was how hollow his brother had looked, how still Hutch had been on the ground. His anger was in control and logic had left the building. “You can explain? There’s no explanation for what you did. You let Theo go.”

Those tears started to fall on her cheeks. “He was going to hurt you.”

He should have known she would turn this into some kind of play to save him. “He’d already hurt me. He’s very likely hurting Hutch right now. Did you think about him at all? Did you think about what they would do to him? Or were you so f*cking scared for yourself that you didn’t give a damn?”

“Hey!” Lawless was on his feet again.

Mia shook her head. “I wasn’t scared for me. I was scared for you.”

He wasn’t going to listen to that crap. He could take care of himself. He was two hundred and twenty pounds of former Navy SEAL. He didn’t need to hide behind a woman’s skirts. “You knew how much this meant to me. Hutch was under my watch. Mine. He was my f*cking man and he’s being tortured right now because you decided to take that choice from me. Did you think for two seconds that if I knew there was a secret door, I could look for other ways in?”

She started to reach for him and then pulled back. “It happened so fast. He said he would be waiting behind that door to shoot you.”