Into the Mist (Falcon Mercenary Group #1)(22)

Now he faced rebuilding his network from the ground up, but his first priority had to be finding a way to help Ian and Braden.

He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to come. He hadn’t rested in more nights than he could count. Even as he floated away, the tantalizing image of Tyana Berezovsky whispered at the edges of his mind.

What did she want? What game was she playing?

He could have followed her back to the island, but no doubt it would be an impenetrable fortress now that she’d found his tracking device. And besides, it was her move. She’d come to him. He was as sure of that as he was anything.

He didn’t yet know what she wanted with him, but she’d find him again. And when she did, he’d be ready.

Chapter Seven

Jonah was pissed. Oh yeah, he was hanging on to his temper by a thread. He hadn’t even said anything to her. He just stared at her with that tick in his jaw, his dark eyes furious.

And as predicted, he picked up the radio. “I want the entire island in lockdown,” he ground out to his security team. “No one gets on or off unless it comes directly, and I do mean directly, from me.”

He dropped the radio and folded his arms across his chest. He continued to stare her down, but she didn’t flinch. She stared back at him as Mad Dog stood to the side, no doubt trying to figure out if he’d have to jump in and separate them.

“You’ve compromised every single one of us with your actions.”

Still, she didn’t say anything. An apology wouldn’t cut it at this point, and he wasn’t done with his lecture.

“You can’t keep this up, Ty. Your attempts to help D are only going to bring trouble to our front door.”

She looked down, no longer able to meet his gaze.

“You’re out of commission until I can figure out what the hell to do about Eli Chance.”

She yanked her head back up. “You can’t do that.”

Fire blazed in his eyes. “I just did. You aren’t leaving this island. You’ll stay where I can see you at all times. Are we clear?”

She glared at him, her teeth and lips so tight together her jaw ached.

“I said, are we clear?”

She nodded.

“I want to hear it, Ty.”

“We’re clear.”

“I suggest you go find D. He’s not that happy with you either at the moment. If I can’t talk some sense into you, maybe he can.”

She turned away, guilt and worry nagging at her. Why had he told D?

“He’s not stupid, Ty,” Mad Dog said in a low voice. “You tend to think if you don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. Jonah didn’t have to tell D anything. He knew.”

She walked out of the room, avoiding Jonah’s gaze. She went to find D. She’d missed him. Lately they hadn’t spent much time together. Between her search for Eli, and more recently her jaunt to Paris, she hadn’t had time to do much else.

She found him on the deck, staring out over the ocean. She walked past the open sliding glass doors. He looked up when he heard her approach.

“Hi,” she said in a soft voice.

He opened his arms, and she walked into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. Just like so many times before.

His lips brushed across the top of her head. She turned her face up so she could see him. “How are you?”

“I don’t want to talk about me.”

She closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest. Strong fingers slid under her chin and forced her gaze back up to meet his.

“I want to talk about you, Ty.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t spoil things, D. Let it go.”

He tapped her cheek with his finger, causing her to open her eyes again. “I’m not letting it go.”

“There’s nothing you can say that will change anything. I don’t want to fight with you.”

He sighed and gripped her a little tighter. “I won’t let you do this. Stay away from him, Ty. I won’t let you kill yourself for me.”

She pulled away and gripped his shoulders in her hands. “I’m not going to get myself killed. You know I’m better than that. But if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you suffer, then you know nothing about me.”

Damiano turned his back to her to stare over the ocean again. “What you don’t understand, Ty, is that I’d suffer more if something happened to you. Maybe you should think about that instead of trying to fix things you can’t change.”

She curled her arms around his middle and laid her cheek to his back. She could feel the tremors rippling through his muscles. The resignation in his voice made her want to scream. Never had she felt so helpless in her life. Not in the orphanage, not when they came for her and Damiano, not when Damiano stood in front of her, determined to take whatever he could for her.

“He’s stable, D. He has absolute control over his shifts. He has connections we don’t. Someone or something helped him. If it can help him, it can help you. I won’t accept that I can’t make this right for you. I won’t.”

His hands closed over hers and pulled them up over his heart. “I’m asking you to stand down, Ty. Don’t do this.”

She closed her eyes and kept her face buried in his back. He never asked her for anything. But this was one promise she couldn’t make him. So she said nothing, because she wouldn’t lie.