Burn (Breathless #3)(98)

“I want to know what the f**k that picture is about,” Jace said in a furious tone. “That was Charles Willis in that photo. Is he the one who hurt Josie and is threatening us now?”

“Yes,” Gabe said bleakly.

“What do you know that you haven’t told us,” Ash asked in a dangerously low tone. It was obvious by the look on Gabe’s face that there was a lot that Ash and Jace evidently didn’t know.

Gabe rubbed a hand wearily over his face, his eyes sick.

“What I have to say is going to piss you both off. I thought it was behind me and Mia. I was wrong, apparently.”

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Jace bit out. “What the f**k did you do, Gabe?”

“When Mia and I were together, before, when we were keeping it a secret from you, right before we went to Paris on business, my ex-wife came into my office saying all sorts of crazy shit. Then she accused me of being in love with Mia. Accused me of being in love with her when I was still married to Lisa. It hit me all wrong. I wasn’t ready to admit my feelings for Mia. And in an effort to distance us, to prove to myself that she was just sex, I set up a thing in Paris.”

“What kind of thing,” Ash growled.

Gabe blew out his breath. “Mia and I had discussed, before, her interest in being with another man. With me, I mean. I guess kind of like you and Jace sharing women. So I set it up that Charles Willis and two other men were in our hotel room. Jesus, this is complicated.”

Jace stared stonily at Gabe, his eyes glittering with anger.

“Things got out of hand. I was going to let them touch her, nothing else. I made it clear they weren’t to do anything but touch, which meant keeping their dicks in their pants. But as soon as it began, I knew it was wrong. I realized what I was doing, but before I could put a stop to it, Charles got rough with Mia. He was trying to shove his dick down her throat and then he hit her when she protested.”

“Son of a bitch!” Jace swore. “What the f**k, man? How could you do that to her? What were you thinking?”

Gabe held up his hand. “There’s more. It gets worse.”

“Jesus,” Ash muttered.

“When we got back, Charles confronted Mia outside the office building when she went out to get us something to eat. He tried to blackmail her into giving him information on the bids. He knew I had no intention of doing business with him, but he figured if he bid low enough we wouldn’t have a choice. He showed her that picture and said that if she didn’t give him what he wanted that he’d go public with it.”

“Un-f*cking-real,” Jace growled.

“Mia came to me instead of caving in, and I took care of the matter. Or at least I thought I had,” Gabe said wearily.

Ash’s jaw bulged. Rage smoldered through him like a wildfire.

“I’ll handle it,” Gabe said quietly. “I f**ked up. I’ll make sure that son of a bitch doesn’t get his hands on Mia or Bethany and I’ll make sure he pays for what he did to Josie.”

“No,” Ash said, the word whipping through the room like a gunshot.

Gabe and Jace both looked at Ash with narrowed eyes.

“You had your chance,” Ash said in an even tone. “I’ll take care of the little bastard.”

Jace’s face flashed with alarm. “Don’t think that’s a good idea, man. Your emotions are running high. Let me and Gabe take care of this.”

“I said no,” Ash snapped. “This is mine. Gabe had his chance. He f**ked up. I’m not leaving this to him.”

“Ash,” Gabe began but Ash silenced him with a look.

“If it were Mia or Bethany lying in a hospital bed, bruises, broken bones, punctured lung and God only knows what else, would you just sit back and let someone else take care of the ass**le who did that to her?”

Jace’s lips twisted and then he sighed. “No. I wouldn’t. But Jesus, man. After what went down with Michael, this is too risky. You got away with the first. You won’t get away with this. Charles Willis has nothing to lose. He’s not going to sway under threats. You touch him and he’ll have your ass in a sling.”

“Who said anything about threats?” Ash asked calmly. “In my world, threats are meaningless unless you do something to back them up. I have no intention of threatening Charles Willis. But I have every intention of taking him down.”

Gabe and Jace exchanged worried looks but Ash ignored them. They’d try to talk him down but in this he would not be dissuaded.

“This won’t touch you. It damn sure won’t touch Mia, Bethany or Josie. Not ever again. You don’t have to worry. You won’t be remotely tied to this.”

“Oh f**k you,” Jace said rudely. “The hell I’m letting you take this shit on by yourself. We’ve already been over this. You never have to ask. We’ll always have your back.”

“Means a lot,” Ash said quietly. “But I’m not pulling my family down. You and the girls mean far too much to me. I’m not going down either. You can take that to the bank. No way in hell I’m leaving Josie to survive on her own. I’m going to be there for her every step of the way and she will never have to worry about some ass**le with a grudge against us using her to get to us. That will not happen again.”

“What are you going to do?” Gabe asked quietly.