Page 60 of Brutal Collateral

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Griffin

My blood runs coldwhen I see Ava collapse to the carpet. A rush I’ve never known pulses through me.

Something flashes in front of my eyes and I’m back on that obstacle course. Hearing her fighting off Miller, I raced up the instructor’s ladder. She wasn’t screaming for help. No... Ava didn’t want help, that badass.

That wasHadleigh, though.

I knew what she was capable of back then, her stellar performance in BUD/S always left me stunned watching her. But in that moment on the platform, all I saw was a woman under a six-foot-four beast trying to stick his hands inside her camo pants and I fucking lost it.

I’d never pulled a gun on that assignment until that day. Snarling, I raised the barrel to Miller’s head, and fuck, I wanted to pull that trigger.

There’s no gun to pull right now.

I only have my hands. I sink the floor next to Ava, and while I want to yank her against my chest, I think she’s too traumatized. “You’re okay, Ava. You’re safe.”

“I started believing I’d die,” she whispers. “And that no one was looking for me.”

“I was looking for you,” I admit softly. “For months.”

“To do your deal.”

“Aye, yes. I had no idea you were Hadleigh.” I shake my head.

And I’m not sure what I would have done or said differently had I known exactly who that bastard Brandon was keeping locked up.

“We moved around a lot,” she says, offering me a reason why no one could get a lock on where she was. Accepting why it took so long.

Hearing the front door open and the familiar cadence of my brothers’ voices, I lift Ava to her feet. “Come on. Don’t let Connor and Shane see you like this.”

Her eyes widen. “Huh?”

“They think you’re a knife-wielding, psychopathic, badass.”

She scoffs and lets me lift her. “I am.”

“I get that.” I hold her face. “I get you. I’m not the enemy. Even though I want to ring your neck for leaving me tied up in that motel room.”

She dips her chin with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Clearly, I made it out unscathed.” With my arm around her shoulder, I call out to my brothers instead. “We’re in here.”

The door opens and those brats stride into the office with Rhys.

“Trace said he’ll be here tomorrow,” Rhys, my top assassin, says about his brother.

“He just got married, he can take a few days off,” I tell him.

“Got a honeymoon planned down the road.” Rhys looks at Ava and dips his head. “Miss Zervas.”

“That’s my enforcer’s second, Rhys Quinlan. His brother Trace is the one who got married today. You’ll meet him.” I give Ava a once-over. Regret for the whole trunk thing hits me. “Trace and Rhys will arrange a guard for you.”

She groans, staring at the ceiling, but wisely doesn’t vocally protest.

A loud knock on the front door turns all of our eyes that way. Sounds like trouble, but that’s what I have guards for.

Shane checks the camera, and smirking at me, he says, “We have company.”

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