Page 79 of Rescuing Nathaniel

What the hellwas that annoying beeping?

And why wouldn't it stop?

Nathaniel growled softly, his instincts alerting him that something was wrong a split second before his consciousness returned and everything came hurtling back all at once.

The soft growl morphed into a roar as he bolted upright.

Pain screamed through his body, and the irritating beep picked up in both speed and volume, but he cared little about anything other than getting to Ava.

She’d been taken. On his watch.

While he was outside sulking and nursing a grudge that was completely one sided, she’d been alone and vulnerable in her apartment. The traffickers were there, watching her, waiting, pretending to be moving furniture into the apartment across the hall.

By the time he realized what was going on it was too late. They shot him before he could shoot them. Before he could get his girl safely back in his arms.

Because no matter how badly he’d messed up, Ava was his. Had been from the moment he climbed into that life raft and found her curled up in the bottom. He was absolutely and hopelessly hers as well, and he wanted the chance to right his wrongs, fix what he’d broken, and try for a future he’d never thought he deserved much less allowed himself to want.

“Whoa.” Hands clamped on his shoulders, pushing him back against the bed. “You shouldn’t be going anywhere.”

“Get off me,” Nathaniel snarled, turning on whoever dared get between him and finding his girl.

Instead of doing as he’d demanded, the hands only tightened their grip, and when he blinked the hazy shapes in the room came into focus. It was Ava’s team, all five of them were sitting or standing around his hospital room.

If he was in a hospital, and not in an emergency room, then that meant that hours had passed since he’d been shot.

Hours meant Ava wasn't just gone she could bepermanentlygone.

After she’d already escaped from them once, they weren't going to leave her lying around and possibly mess up and give her a second chance. If he was an organ trafficker and all he cared about was making money, he’d have a team prepped and ready to go, that way he could ensure his investment played out.

“How long?” he growled at no one in particular.

It was Tobias who was standing beside his bed, preventing him from climbing out of it. Chelsea sat on his other side, watching him with big, worried eyes. Teresa had her laptop open on her lap and was watching him with a much more pragmatic expression. Josiah lounged in a chair by the door and seemed completely disinterested in anything other than whatever he was doing on his computer.

“Since you were shot?” Tobias asked.

When he nodded it was Teresa who answered. “Coming on sixteen hours.”

Sixteen hours.

That was more than enough time for Ava to have been operated on, all her organs taken, and her lifeless body disposed of.

Even though he knew the answer—her team wouldn't be sitting keeping vigil around his bed if it were possible—he had to ask anyway. “Is she here?”

“No,” Chelsea answered softly. “She’s gone. There was a small amount of blood in the apartment, not hers, and the cap from a syringe. They got to her.”

With a snap that seemed to echo through the room, Josiah suddenly slammed his laptop closed and shoved to his feet. “How?”

“How what?” Teresa asked, shooting her colleague a surprised look.

For all the anger bottled up inside Josiah Fleet, the way he segregated himself from the rest of his team, making it seem as though he were disinterested in everything and everyone around him, from the protective sparks glowing in his dark eyes, it was clear the man was protective of his team even if he wasn't close with them.

“How did she get taken on my watch,” Nathaniel answered Teresa’s question before Josiah got a chance.

More than ready and prepared to work hard to earn back the trust Ava had so freely given him, Nathaniel was playing the long game. Part of that meant he would also have to regain the trust of Ava’s team, they were more her family than the one she’d been born into. He needed these men and women on his side if he was going to build any sort of future with Ava, and that started with being honest with them.

“I went outside to clear my head,” he admitted, sagging back against the pillows.

“You left her alone? Why would you do that?” Chelsea asked.

---