Page 72 of Six of Hearts
"Stop," Gabriel said firmly, walking over and putting a hand on Ronan's shoulder. "We're not doing this. No more self-pity."
"He's right," I said. "We have to do something. We have to find her, and we have to find out who sent her that package so we can prove to her that it wasn't true. We need her, the kids need her, we have to figure this out. Gabriel, where is Liam? What have you two learned?"
"When I called him, he answered and just said 'I'll be there, but I'll be late,' and hung up on me," Gabriel said. I crossed my arms, frustrated. Gabriel and Liam were our best hope for a lead, and Liam had told us that he'd paid someone he knew down in Florida to track down the person who sent the package, but we hadn't heard anything additional since then. We had to be ableto do something more. We had to be able to find the woman we loved.
"Can't you do something else?" I asked Gabriel. "Did you run the fingerprints?"
"There were about fifty prints on those photos. They'd been handled by everyone from the sales clerk at the place they were printed, to random people along the chain. The prints are no good," Gabriel explained. "All we were able to learn from the paper is that it was from Florida, which we already knew, and we have nothing to compare the handwriting test to. We ran it through the system to see if there were any matching samples, but came up totally empty."
"So, what?" Ethan said, his voice strained. "That's it? We're just at a dead end?"
"Can we go back to the delivery company?" Julian added. "Lean on them a little more?"
"All threads lead back to Florida and the address that we already have. It's not a residential address, but a police department with over 100 officers. We can't exactly walk in there and start interrogating cops about a witness protection case," Gabriel said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "We're doing everything we can, guys. We want to find Aria just as badly as you do."
"Damn right we do." I looked over my shoulder and Liam was walking into the kitchen. "And we've finally caught a break."
"You've found her?" Ethan said, jumping up from the stool where he was sitting, looking hopeful.
Liam looked at Ethan and shook his head.
"No, but I did find our blackmailer." He set a folder on the counter and opened it, and everyone gathered around. The top page was a picture of a man with short blond hair, cyan blue eyes, and a severe, cut jaw. "An ex-cop from West Palm Beach, Florida. Nathan Greene."
"The brother?" Julian said, remembering Ronan's story from before. "Running you out of town wasn't enough?"
"Evidently not," Ronan said quietly. "How did he find me? My new name and location were only known to a select few."
"Yeah," Liam said, flipping the top image of Nathan over to reveal a picture of another man with a drill sergeant look to him, with buzz-cut hair. “Recognise him?"
"The FPD captain," Ronan responded. "Cross Jones."
"Apparently, Cross had a thing for your ex. He was told your identity as a confidant of the FBI to inform them if Nathan tried anything, but he worked with Nathan instead to find you," Liam said, flipping the top page and revealing a distant shot of the two of them clinking whiskey glasses in a bar.
"My contact found them talking about how Nathan had delivered the photos and everything should be falling apart for you."
Gabriel's jaw clenched. "Please tell me they're being dealt with."
"They are," Liam said, his voice taking on a professional tone. "And we did it the right way."
Ronan looked up. "What do you mean?"
"I called the FBI," Liam explained. "I have contacts there from cases I've worked. I told them that their PD captain had violated federal law by compromising your identity in witness protection, and that Nathan used that compromised identity to stalk, blackmail, and harass both you and Aria."
"And?" I asked, leaning forward.
"And they took it very seriously," Liam said. "Cross Jones violated his oath as a law enforcement officer and broke federal statutes. Nathan committed multiple felonies—stalking across state lines, blackmail, harassment, interfering with a federal witness. The FBI arrested them both three days ago."
The room was silent for a moment as we processed this.
"They're actually in custody?" Gabriel asked. "Federal custody?"
"Yes," Liam confirmed. "And they're being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Cross is looking at prison time for his violations, and Nathan's facing serious charges. The FBI doesn't mess around with witness protection cases."
"How did you pull this off so quickly?" Julian asked.
"I've been working with the FBI for years on various cases," Liam said. "I know who to call, how to present evidence, how to expedite investigations when there's an active threat. Gabriel provided all the physical evidence through proper channels—the photos, the envelope, the delivery records. Everything was documented correctly."
Gabriel nodded. "I made sure every piece of evidence was logged and handled by the book. Chain of custody, proper documentation, everything."
