Still The One (Family Stone #4 Jack) (Family Stone Romantic Suspense) (8 page)

Jack agreed.
My, weren’t they being civil.
“I want to see the transcript of the cell call. Since this is my backyard, it’s possible I’ll have a better handle on who and what he’s targeting.”

Bliss rifled through a beat up black leather delivery bag until she found the paper she was looking for.

Jack scanned the transcript. Fear stabbed him, ice hardened his veins and slowed down his heart.

“What’s wrong?”

He hadn’t moved and she could tell something was wrong? Jack would dwell on that fact later. Right now he had more pressing problems on his hand.

“This address. It’s my office.”

“Your company isn’t listed at this address,” Bliss refuted. “I checked the building occupants myself. We couldn’t find any connection between Fernandez and the businesses or tenants.”

“GHR and Stone Consulting are actually under the umbrella of JSJ Enterprises. We have the top floor but we’re not listed as an occupant. And the building is owned by SAE.”

“I know.” Bliss crossed her arms over her chest as if getting ready to argue with him. “What does that have to do with you and your company?”

“JSJ is me. Jackson Stone, Junior and SAE stands for Stone Aeronautical Engineering.”

“Okay.” But recognition was dawning in her gaze, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Because everyone had heard of SAE. The company was as ubiquitous to the plane industry as Boeing or Airbus or McDonnell Douglas. “And?”

But he could tell by the way her mouth tightened that she already had a good idea what he was going to say next.

“That’s my father.”

“So....”

“My family is loaded.” He’d never shared that with her. He rarely shared with any of his acquaintances who his father was or the name of his father’s company. Bliss had been much more than an acquaintance and he’d never shared intimate details about his family. About his father. About how freaking dysfunctional it all was.

He tried not to have anything to do with dear old dad. Although he wasn’t going to deny that the trust fund money he’d inherited at twenty-five had made his life a whole hell of lot easier. And the next installment at thirty-three was how he’d been able to start JSJ Enterprises, Stone Consulting, and Global Humanitarian Relief.

All three of his siblings had pitched in money when they had come on board. But still the bulk of the money had been Jack’s. But he’d never told her he was connected to the SAE empire.

“And?”

“And we pay rent and our customers know where we’re located but we are not listed as the official occupants. Unless you know us, and we know you, we’re...difficult to find.”

“I take it that’s on purpose.”

“Absolutely.” Jack bit off. They needed to focus on the real issue here. José Fernandez had singled out his building to watch. That was clear from the transcripts. Fuck.

“And you’re upset because—”

“I’m worried about my assistant, Ava.” Jack figured that a response to her statement wasn’t really necessary. He paced the cabin of the jet. “What if the veiled threat in this transmission was for Ava?”

Bliss stiffened.

Shit. Jack rubbed his hand over the back of his neck again. They were in midair. They weren’t going to land in California for several more hours. He needed to let Connor know he needed to protect Ava. But he had to be discreet.

“It says observe and acquire target.” Jack’s stomach balled into a knot. Ava had been lucky the day that her friends went missing. She’d stayed home sick from school. Otherwise she might have been abducted too. He knew she lived with that guilt, still. Lived with the haunting question...Why had she been spared?

“I know,” Bliss replied. “We’re monitoring the police scanners for any unusual activity.”

Jack raised his scarred brow. That was pretty slick.

“I told you that I have my brother looking into Fernandez.” Jack clarified. “He’s using the company computers.”

“Your brother works with you?”

Jack let his happiness spread over his face and his mouth curved in a smile. “Yeah. All three of my siblings work for the company now. It took a while but I finally convinced them to come work with me.”

Something odd flashed over her face, gone before Jack could decipher what that look meant. Longing?

“That’s...nice.” Her voice was soft, almost sweet.

“Gives me the chance to look out for everyone.”

“Really?”

He knew what she was thinking. When they’d been together, he’d been loose and carefree. But that was after years of taking care of everyone. He shrugged. “They’re my responsibility.”

“Okay.”

And that responsibility spread to his employees as well. “I’m worried about Ava’s safety.” If the order to observe and acquire was for his brother, Con could take care of himself, but Ava....

“It’s slim.”

“But if I know about Maria and Ava, it’s a very strong possibility that Fernandez does too.”

“True.”

“I need to call Connor.”

“Absolutely not.” Bliss didn’t say anything else.

Shit. She wasn’t going to let him call. Well fuck that. What had happened to the compassionate woman he’d been in love with years ago?

“I need to warn them.”

“We can’t take the chance that Fernandez has somehow been alerted to the fact that we had a tap on that phone.”

“What about the chance that Ava is in danger?”

“Maria is more important that Ava Sanchez.” Her face was a cold mask as she shut him down. Her fingers were clenched white around her biceps.

“Seriously?”

“It’s for the greater good,” Bliss insisted stubbornly.

Fuck. That.

Jack knew from the look on her face, the same look she’d worn when she’d kicked him out years ago that she wasn’t going to budge. He couldn’t call from the plane anyway, they’d chosen to go unplugged for the corporate jet, so he’d have to wait until they landed.

“Let’s focus on what we’re going to do once we get to Monterey.”

They hammered out a plan, both kept the conversation tight, discussing how they were going to tail Fernandez, and when would be a good time to visit the house where Maria was kept captive. And how they were going to stay away from Jack’s office and his siblings.

Jack appreciated her ordered plan and her insight on tracking down Maria. But he had no intention of leaving Con and Ava in the dark.

Hours later they landed in California. Shane brought them down with a smooth as butter landing. As they taxied off the runway and toward their private storage hanger, Jack itched to pull out his phone.

Jack’s worry had grown proportionally with every minute they were in the air. He needed to talk to Connor. Wanted to make sure Ava was okay. She was like another sister to him.

While Bliss went to the bathroom, Jack made an executive decision and dialed Connor. “Con?” Jack barked.

“Jack, it really isn’t a good time.” Con’s voice was tense.

Jack could hear sirens and shouting in the background. It sounded like complete chaos.

“Ava is in danger,” Jack spit out.

Con said, “Jess, get down here now.”

Jess? Jack actually took his phone away from his ear and stared at it for a second.

Con spoke rapidly, “I know. I was trying to fix it.”

“I’m worried she’s going to be abducted,” Jack continued.

“I stopped it.”

“Oh, thank God.” Jack let a swell of relief roll over him. If Con had taken care of it, everything was good.

“But Jack,” Con said. “I’m about to mess up GHR’s good name.”

Fuck GHR. “Ava’s safe?”

“You aren’t listening to me. I fucked up and GHR is going to be all over the news.”

Jack ignored whatever Con thought he’d done. The most important issues were Ava and Con’s safety. “Ava’s okay? You’re okay?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Con, I’m proud of you. You did a good job.”

Bliss burst out of the head and ran toward him, a look of pure panic on her face. “Who are you talking to?”

“Shit,” Jack blurted out. “Got to run.”

Bliss grabbed for his cell phone. “Get off that phone now.”

She managed to curl her fingers around his phone and yanked, but since Jack had relayed the message he didn’t care.

“You’re going to ruin.” She jabbed the end button on his cell. “Everything.”

He’d protected his family.

Bliss shouted. “Jesus, Jack. Are you trying to send up a spotlight letting Fernandez know we’re onto him and that we’ve lost Maria? And that we’re in California?”

“First of all, I didn’t mention Maria at all,” Jack spoke calmly, quietly. He’d warned his brother and Con was on top of it. That was all he cared about right now. “My brother knows nothing about Maria Torres being found.”

Bliss opened her mouth to yell at him again, so he started talking over her objections. “Second, you’re making the assumption that Fernandez has our phones tagged.”

“Assume everything is tagged.” Bliss put her hand to her forehead and paced. “Un-freaking-believable. I should have taken your damn phone away from you.”

“I was right. Ava was attacked.”

“Bully for you.”

Jack hated having to explain himself. He hadn’t been that much of a self-centered ass when they’d been together, had he? He frowned as he tried to make her see reason.

“Look, Bliss,” Jack tried to explain. “She’s like my little sister. How could I live with myself if something happened to her? I wasn’t just blowing off your rules for the hell of it. She’s my responsibility.”

It was as if he’d punched her. Her shoulders slumped momentarily. And she closed her eyes, blocking the pain reflected in her gaze before she hid it from him.

Bliss’s stomach dropped. Damn him.

“My responsibility is Maria.” She closed her mouth and breathed hard, trying to control the overwhelming urge to screech at him. How could
he
not understand? Maria was her charge. She’d already lost her once. But she was more than just a job. “I have to protect her at all costs.”

“Who
are
you?” Jack shot back. “You have to protect her, even at the expense of my brother and a woman I consider like a sister?”

The blood drained from her face. It was clear from this fight that neither one of them was the person they were thirteen years ago.

“I could ask you the same,” she attacked. He’d kept some pretty big things from her. They had practically been living together. Jack had spent most of his nights at her place. It had taken boxes to get all his stuff and clothes from her apartment before he left for the Navy.

Her face had gone from deathly pale to bright red at the memory of his reply to Jill. Her feelings of anger and betrayal simmered and boiled over. “We’ve met?” she snarled.

“What are you talking about?” Jack tried to play it off. But he knew.

“We’ve met. That was the sum total of your response when Jill introduced us?” Her voice stayed even, he would have thought she was calm, except for the sparks shooting from her golden eyes.

Jack was done. The last two days had pushed his patience to the limit and he wasn’t the most tactful guy to begin with.

“Yeah, well, what did you want me to say?” Yes, he’d kept things from her but she’d kept things from him as well. He was not the bad guy. So, he’d been trying to protect himself by indicating that their association was casual rather than the truth. “We used to fuck, but then she ripped out my heart?”

Peripherally Jack realized that Shane was standing in the doorway to the cockpit, frozen, clearly trying to be invisible, which was impossible for a six five, black man with a barrel chest and tree trunks for thighs. But Jack gave him points for trying.

Bliss just stared, the bow of her pink lips rounded in a startled O.

“I’ll just...take off.” Shane’s voice rumbled from behind Jack.

And this just turned into a bigger cluster, because Jack was pretty sure they couldn’t do this alone. If Bliss didn’t want him to contact his brother or Ava, then Jack needed to draft Shane into service.

And fuck but he didn’t know if he wanted to continue this conversation with Bliss or pretend he hadn’t just left his guts on the sleek, carpeted floor of the Bombardier.

“Sorry, bud.” Jack shook his head, his gaze still locked with Bliss’s tormented honey eyes. “I know you don’t usually do fieldwork but I may need to tap you to do some surveillance.”

Bliss’s eyebrows rose.

“He’s not on the official payroll. He’s an independent contractor,” Jack said before Bliss could object. “We have him on retainer, but he has other clients as well.”

Jack finally broke eye contact and turned to face Shane. “Are you available?”

“Yeah.” Shane’s voice rumbled deep in his chest. “You had me on call until Thursday, so I blocked out my schedule.”

Jack nodded. “Good. Let’s get the post flight paperwork out of the way.”

“Sure thing.”

Jack hesitated, his mouth tight with tension. “Can you grab our stuff and put it in the trunk of Shane’s car?”

“Yes,” was all she could manage right now.

Jack finished, “And then we can figure out where we’re going to stay tonight.”

Shane’s eyes widened. “You’re not going home?”

“Can’t, apparently.” Jack snarked. “We’re worried about some sort of big brother surveillance on me and mine.”

Bliss tightened her lips and grabbed her rolling suitcase stowed in the overhead storage above the second grouping of cream leather seats and burled wood tables.

“Okay,” Shane said slowly.

“You have enough clothes for the next few days?”

Shane smiled. “Yep.”

“What about a weapon?” Jack queried.

“You think I’ll need one?” Shane’s brows rose. They didn’t usually do any work requiring they be armed on U.S. soil. Stone Consulting jobs tended to be in foreign places where maybe the military had trouble operating. Not in the U.S.

“I’d like all of us to be armed.”

“Count me in.” Shane grinned. “Been awhile since I got to shoot someone.”

Jack turned a menacing glare on Shane, his thick black eyebrows lowered into a V above the blade of his nose. “You won’t speak of this. It’s an extremely sensitive situation.”

But it was very clear, he wasn’t really talking about the extra work.

Seven