40

LINDEN

I’d been blowing off steam in the gym for three hours, but no matter how I tried not to overthink, it was Jasper we were talking about. Sax didn’t look too happy to see me beating up myself for something I had no control over.

“Sex would be a good sub. I mean, for fuck sake, bro. You have a beautiful woman in bed, and here you are, lifting weights and punching a bag in the middle of the night. What’s wrong with you? If I only had someone like Estelle, you wouldn’t see me in the gym.”

“Because you’re a dick. Women are not only good for sex. They are not your sex toys or sex slaves, asshole.”

“Whatever, man. Maybe you need a cuddling or a bonfire date and make some s’mores. When was the last time you took her on a date?”

Guilt settled in my chest. I looked away. “I have more pressing matters, and Estelle understands me.”

“Of course, women sometimes are hard to read. They say they’re fine, but they aren’t. Maybe she’s just trying to be understanding, but deep inside, she also needs her boyfriend.”

“Fuck you.” Ignoring his annoying voice, I started throwing punches over the punching bag. It felt good, though, even if it began to wear me out.

Sax went to hold the bag as I punched it and did a high kick. “Whoa. That was awesome. Anyway, I visited Hanslo. He looked okay, considering he had a heart attack.”

“What did you find out?” I blew a breath with each strike.

“Jasper went to apologize to his father.”

I stopped, focusing on him. “That’s all?”

“I did what Sadie told me. He just smiled and said if you’re here to know what Jasper and I talked about, I told him he didn’t have to come all the way here. I’ve forgiven him a long time ago. He said one thing he didn’t regret was raising him in a tough environment. That’s how he survived. Do you know what that means?”

I breathed deeply as Sax helped me take off my gloves. “There was no good of searching for that person. He knew exactly where to go. The question is why and what’s his plan? Goddamn it. I should have kept him in Canada.”

“Well, you can’t blame yourself for everything that went wrong. Jasper’s life had already been fucked up a hundred times before you took him into your wing. You can’t save everyone, especially when he doesn’t want to be saved. I just hoped he knew what he was doing before he left.”

“No wonder we couldn’t find a trace of him anywhere. Considering we trained him to go under the radar, he knew how to hide. He could be underground at this moment.”

“Honestly, I admire his courage, and he learned a lot. Aside from Finnigan Morin, who else is his alias.”

“Jakob Resnikov, Yiannis Dimitris, Julien Pierre.”

“You’re kidding?” His jaw dropped.

“Jasper is fluent in Russian, Greek, and French with a degree of political science. He’s also good with an accent. A good asset to the FBI. The agency also wanted to recruit him, but he chose to stay. He said his life belongs to the Firm.”

He blinked. “Wow. That’s noble.”

“I can’t let him waste his life not only because he is a good asset, but he’s Sadie’s brother, and he’s part of Osmium. I owe him a lot. The least I could do was do my best to find him. If he sent me a message to know that I should stop looking for him, at least I know he is alive. That fucker Hanslo didn’t mention any clue or names? He must have his way of words.”

“I should have recorded it. Let me think.”

I watched Sax as he concentrated. “Come on. You can do it.”

He drew a deep breath before he spoke, which made me want to punch him in the face. “I think I’m gonna shit.”

“Fuck you.”

He wasn’t joking, though. Sax ran to the bathroom, and I went to the locker to grab my towel before showering. I found a missed call from Estelle twenty minutes ago.

I redialed her number, and she picked it up right away.

“Hey. Is everything okay?”

“Can’t I call just to check up on you?”

Shit. I pressed my forehead against the locker as I took a breath. “Sorry. What’s up?”

“You’re really not good at this, aren’t you?” There was humor in her voice. Sax was right. I was horrible to Estelle, yet she was still patient.

“I’ll be home in a few.”

“It’s okay. I’m watching a series with Micah.”

“I’ll make it up to you once this problem is over.”

“There will be another and another. I know your line of work. I can be busy sometimes, but I will always have time for you, Gabriel. Just take care of yourself. Get enough sleep and eat something.”

“I’m sleeping and eating.”

“You sleep late and wake up early. You just made breakfast for us, but you barely touched it. I’m worried about you, Gabriel.”

“I’m sorry, and I don’t know how long this gonna take, but I’ll be a better partner. I promise.”

I could hear her sigh, which reminded me of how an asshole I was. “Okay. See you.”

***

“Finish your breakfast, Gabriel.” Wow. I had to blink. That was the first time Estelle scolded me before my men and Micah. She looked hotter when she was mad and bossy, but I didn’t think I should piss her off all the time.

They shared a look and tried to hide their smiles while I just stared at her in amazement. Damn, she was a wife material.

“Yes, ma’am.” I ate until the plate and coffee cup were empty.

Estelle didn’t say a word but turned her ass on me and went out of the kitchen, leaving us stunned.

“You heard the lady boss,” Lynx agreed. “We need your hundred percent focus on the task, boss.”

“I’m good. Can you clean up? I just need to talk to her.”

“Go ahead. We got this,” Qamar said.

I found Estelle in front of the mirror as she applied lipstick on her lips.

“I’m not gonna be sorry for how I acted in the kitchen,” she stated firmly.

“I’m not here asking for your apology. It’s my fault, baby. I’ve been neglecting you, but you never left. I took you for granted for days, and I don’t know how to make up for that, but when I needed you, you were there for me. I was unfair. It won’t happen again. I’m so sorry.”

She pursed her lips as if to think if my apology was good enough. “How about you take me to lunch later?”

“That can be arranged.” My face ached at how big my smile was.

She tiptoed to cup my face. “I’m proud of you, Gabriel Rembrandt.”

She went to work in a separate car with my men tailing her. She didn’t argue with me when she was enlightened that all I wanted was her safety.

At Osmium, I had a lot of paperwork. We stopped searching for Jasper when he seemed didn’t want to be found.

“Hope, can you call Jay Den for a reservation for two?”

“Anything else, boss?”

“That’s all.” Before I forget, I wanted to make up for Estelle. “Wait. What kind of flowers a woman usually likes?”

Hope’s eyebrow raised, and then she smiled. “For Ms. Bladwyn, I suppose?”

“Yup.”

“She likes flowers, but you should never go for red. Have you checked out her Instagram?”

“No. I don’t even follow her. Is it bad?”

She hid her amusement, but it was still all over her eyes. “Not necessary. It means you trust her, and she trusts you. It’s also a part of my job to know about who you’re dating.” Everyone around me would come with a thorough background check, that included Estelle, but I hadn’t made that order.

“It’s okay. I understand.”

“Estelle likes pink, purple, and white. Don’t worry. I’ll send a bouquet to her office. Do you want a message?”

I paused for a moment. It had been a while since I sent a woman flowers. When I meant it had been a while, I meant it was ages ago.

“Just say what you wanna say. It doesn’t have to be sweet or cringy.”

I laughed. “Don’t work too hard.”

“See? You’re not so bad. Should I put Linden—”

“No, no, no. Gabriel is better.”

“Got it, boss. And before you forget. This Friday’s fundraising.”

“Shit. Can you find me a good tux?”

“I can do better than that. I know your measurement. You’ll have it on Thursday.”

“Thank you. I need a floor-length gown, too, Estelle’s size, and jewelry. Match the necklace with earrings. Use my card. Make sure it matches the gown. Not too glittery. Take black and white. Jesus, I don’t know what color she likes.”

“It doesn’t matter as long as it fits her. She has a beautiful skin tone. Black or white are safe choices.”

“Thank you.”

Four hours later, Lynx barely parked the car. I was running late, and I had to walk into her office building until I was almost hit by a reversing black sedan. Didn’t he see me in his rearview?

“Watch out,” Lynx yelled at the sedan. He had his arm on my chest, his body protecting me. “What the fuck?” He then turned to me. “Are you okay, mate?”

Amused and impressed, I stared at him. “Yeah. You’re better than ninja, man.”

The sedan stopped, the door opened, and a brunette in a suit exited the car. “Oh, my God. I almost hit you. Are you okay?” She came to us and kept babbling about her excellent driving.

I didn’t pay much attention, but I checked the time on my watch. Good thing I knew the restaurant wouldn’t cancel my reservation.

“Maybe you should reassess your driving skills, ma’am. You almost ran over my boss.”

“It’s fine. I’m late for my business,” I told Lynx. “I should go.”

“Wait. Gabe?” Wait. Did she just call my name? “Gabe Linden.”

Well, shit. When I looked closely, I realized I really knew her.

“You know her?”

“Skyla.” Fuck. “I almost got killed.”

“That’s over-exaggeration. Wow. Gabe, it’s been—”

“Seven years, yeah.” Skyla hadn’t changed, but I guessed she looked more professional in her outfit. She had the same smile the last time I remembered. And the last time I saw her seven years ago was when she told me she was pregnant with my comrade’s child. How fucking awesome was that?

“How have you been?”

“I’m good. Thanks. You?” I couldn’t help but check her fingers. She wasn’t wearing a wedding band or engagement ring. So that fucker didn’t marry her, or they got divorced in between those seven years.

“I’m good. I just came from the meeting. Maybe we should catch up sometimes.” Fuck no.

“Boss, we’re running late on your date.” Remind me to give an extra bonus to Lynx. I didn’t want to make the situation more awkward, like running into your ex, who broke your heart kind of shit.

Her expression changed. “So you’re seeing someone.”

“Yeah. I was about to pick her up. She’s in this building.” I pointed at the building behind me.

“I just came from there.”

“Look, I should really go. Take care, Skyla.”

“Bye.”

I dashed to get out of her as if my ass was on fire. She only reminded me of what heartbreak could do to someone.

“Let me guess, your ex.”

“That was awkward.” I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“She broke your heart.”

“Long story short, she was fucking someone else while I was on tour.”

“Well, bloody shit.”

“That was a good save, Lynx. I owe you.”

“Which one?” He smirked.

“Shut up.”