The Unforgettable Ex (Captured by Love Book 5) (Volume 5) (2 page)

Well, now she had every reason to put in more effort into falling for this guy sitting next to her. Gavin might be moving on from Amber, but clearly, it wasn’t with her.

*****

G
avin ordered himself not to glare at Leo for putting his arm around Natasha’s shoulders. Instead, he ambled towards Brad and Erin to say his goodbyes.

He really had to keep his emotions in check. He’d already taken risks by chatting with Leo for an inordinately long time, but he had to take the opportunity while he had it. Fortunately, the more they’d talked, the more his suspicions had lessened. He was glad. Even though watching Natasha date this man was like having a fork raked against the open wound in his heart, he’d rather Leo was innocent than Natasha in danger.

“Hey,” Carter said in a low voice, approaching him from behind and getting into step with him. “Did you find out anything new?”

“No. As you said, he doesn’t seem connected to Biggs at all,” he murmured, looking around to make sure nobody was within hearing distance. He caught Natasha looking at his direction, before she turned those beautiful blue eyes of hers towards Leo, who caressed a strand of lustrous chocolate-coloured hair off her forehead. Ah, damn.

“She’s been wondering why you were interrogating her boyfriend today,” Carter said of his sister.

“Don’t worry, I’ll put her mind at ease.”

“I was surprised you still decided to quiz Leo after I’d already cleared him. Besides, if he was sent by Biggs, he wouldn’t have exposed himself to
you
.”

“I know. I was trying to read his body language to figure out if he was hiding something. But everything about him suggests he’s innocent. Anyway, have you heard about how Biggs’ recent victim is doing?”

“She’s still in intensive care,” Carter answered. “She was lucky an ambulance was making its way back to headquarters and chanced upon the accident, or she’d be dead by now. It’s clear from the investigations that her brakes had been tampered with, and her husband confirmed that he’d received a message from Biggs saying that he could blame himself for what happened to his wife. Now the husband is scared for the rest of his family and has asked his lawyers if he could retract his witness testimony that helped put Biggs’ wife in jail. It’s too late for that, of course. All we can do is assure him we’re doing everything we can to catch Biggs.”

Gavin shook his head, trying to erase the picture of something horrific happening to Natasha if Biggs ever found out about her.

“Anyway, back to Leo... I think you’re jealous of him,” Carter said.

He snickered. “What? Why do you think that?”

“Because he’s the first boyfriend Tash has introduced to us since you guys broke up. And considering she took him to this important party...”

“I was just following my gut, which originally told me that your sister’s date might be shady. Thankfully, looks like I’m wrong.”

“Five years is a long time,” Carter said with sympathy. “And we thought we’d only need a few months to resolve everything, then you could get back together with Tash. I feel for you, bro.”

His chest tightened and he put on an unconcerned face to cover up his inner turmoil. “I thought it was a good move betting on myself for Marilyn’s game, don’t you think?” he said nonchalantly.

“I guess might as well start the ball rolling with this undercover work. If the operation goes according to plan, we’ll soon have Cameron Biggs under lock and key, then you’ll be free to tell Tash everything,” Carter said optimistically.

His lips curved up without cheer. “If she’s keen on Leo, I don’t want to mess with her happiness,” he said quietly. “I already did that five years ago. I’m sure she won’t appreciate me doing it again.”

“You had a bloody good reason why you did what you did. It was the
only
acceptable choice. And you got hurt just as much as she did—if not more.”

“I don’t have any regrets lying to her about it,” he murmured. “The important thing is she continues to be safe.”

“Yeah, I know,” Carter said softly, clasping his shoulder before walking off to Cassie.

Gavin inhaled deeply, shaking his head at his situation. His very best friend was the blood sibling of the woman he had to pretend he didn’t love, but who meant the whole world to him. Even when they finally caught Cameron Biggs, the illegal drug manufacturer who’d vowed to make his life miserable by threatening the life of any woman he was involved with, that time could still be too late. Natasha could very well fall in love with Leo or some other guy—maybe even get married and have babies. He’d be forced to watch, unable to hide or escape because of his tight bond with Carter. Ugh.

If only there had been another way to ensure Natasha’s safety while still being in a relationship with her. But he’d had no choice. To this day, Biggs still blamed him for his wife getting caught in the first place.

With plenty of dirty money to buy people’s silence, and ways to permanently shut witnesses up, the dangerous couple had been slippery, to say the least. It had only been a sheer stroke of luck that Gavin had spotted Biggs’ wife at a pharmacy, where they
hadn’t
expected her to be. So he’d called the police and helped finally capture the other half of the Biggs power duo.

Since then Cameron Biggs had been intent on revenge.

He exhaled slowly through his mouth as he remembered the handwritten note from Biggs that he’d received in the mail. His life had turned upside down the day he’d read it.

Fuck you to hell, Gavin Redford. You’re the reason my wife’s in jail. I could kill you, but that would be way too easy. So instead, I promise you’re going to suffer the same fate of not being with Amber or any other woman you ever love from here on in, dickhead. I’ll pluck them from your life, torture them, then kill them so you’ll never see them ever again. Oh, yes, I’m gonna make you suffer so bad, worse than I’m suffering.

Your worst nightmare,

Cameron Biggs

P.S. Do you know I hate you more than I hate the police?

Who would have thought that such a heartless, hardened criminal could be so enamoured with his wife?

And how could such a shrewd crook be fooled by what he’d seen on Facebook into kidnapping the wrong girl?

Amber had been putting pictures of her and Gavin on her Facebook profile, hoping for a reconciliation and believing that some of their happy memories would get his attention. Unfortunately for Amber, she’d caught Biggs’ attention instead.

Much as he’d felt guilty over Amber’s disappearance, Gavin was still grateful that Biggs had no idea that he’d gotten the wrong woman. Fortunately, he and Natasha had agreed to keep their relationship a secret from everybody until their first-year anniversary. They’d wanted to give their love a chance to develop in private without the pressure and attention of their families and friends, and he still was grateful every day for that decision. It had shielded Tash from Biggs.

Involuntarily, he touched his chest and rubbed the region of his heart. It still cut him that he’d abruptly ended his relationship with Tash. His own heart had shattered when he’d broken hers, but he’d had to ensure that she’d move away from him for her own safety. The priority was for Biggs’ interest not to be drawn to Natasha in any way. Warnings from the bastard were still coming regularly, even now.

“Gav.”

His heart skipped at the voice of the woman he’d been pondering about.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Sure.”

Natasha glanced at Leo, who was busy saying goodbye to the other guests. “Do you think Leo’s involved in something shady?” she asked in a low voice.

“No.”

“So why were you grilling him?”

“Grilling him? I thought we were only having a nice, friendly chat.”

Natasha narrowed her eyes. “He spent more time with you today than he did with me.”

“Oh, were you jealous?” he asked lightly, smiling at her cuteness even as she was strangling his heart.

“Gavin, come on. I know your talk wasn’t as innocent as you make it out to be. Did Carter ask you to do it? And if Leo’s shady, then don’t I have the right to know?”

“If he were shady, don’t you think Carter and I would have dragged him away from you already?”

“Okay, good. I didn’t think he’d be part of anything underhanded, but you made me worry when you interrogated him for hours even after Carter’s already done the checks. Did you tell him what you do for a living?”

“I told him I’m a corporate security consultant. I hope it’s okay with you that I didn’t tell him everything about my work.”

“Of course not. Secrecy is important for you. I haven’t told him yet either that Carter’s an undercover cop. Maybe I should soon.”

Ouch.
“So you really like him, huh?” he asked, ensuring he sounded genuinely teasing. Carter’s real job was not something they openly shared with anyone due to the sensitive nature of his work. For most people, Carter was an electrician working in their family’s electrical services company.

“I’m really keen for this to work out,” Natasha answered.

His heart twisted in jealousy. God, he could only take so much in a day. He had to leave now. “Well, we better go and give Brad and Erin their alone time.” He gave her the usual goodbye kiss on the cheek and walked away.

“Hey,” Natasha called out.

He stopped.

“Who’s your new girl?”

“You’ll know soon enough,” he answered, faking a bright grin.

“Well, I can’t wait to meet her—whoever she is,” Natasha said softly.

All he could do was smile, when what he wanted was to take Natasha in his arms and tell her that even after all these years, there was no one else but her. But, damn it, he couldn’t do that yet. When? He didn’t know.

And it seemed that his fear that it was already too late for him and Tash was all too real.

“
N
atasha, I have Leo on the phone for you.”

“Could you take a message, please?” Natasha asked their receptionist as she continued to frown at her computer screen.

“Okay. He did say to let you know that he’s left several messages in your voicemail, and that he’s on his way here now.”

She sighed, checking her watch. “I guess I should talk to him. Put him through.”

“Sure. Here he is.”

“Hi, Leo,” she greeted.

“Hey, gorgeous. I’m five minutes away from your office.”

“Um, okay,” she said, resigning herself to working on the weekend to finish a task that had to be ready by Monday. Having already cancelled two dates with Leo in the past week, she didn’t want to do it again to him today.

“Sounds like you’re not quite ready to go?”

“I’m not done with what I’m doing, but I can finish it over the weekend.”

“Work on the weekend! Why don’t I wait for you at reception until you finish what you have to do?”

“Oh, I don’t really want you to do that. I could take a while.”

“Well, how about you see where you’re at by the time I get there, then we’ll play it by ear? I really don’t mind waiting.”

“Okay,” she said gratefully.

“Good. See you soon.”

She smiled wryly as she hung up. Leo was so sweet and caring, and she was annoyed at herself for her inability to feel something deeper for the man. She did like him a lot as a person, but she just didn’t feel enough sexual attraction to even want to sleep with him. Sure, sex wasn’t everything in a relationship, but when she constantly found herself thinking up new excuses so they wouldn’t end up in bed, wasn’t it time to cut him loose and set him free?

It was so frustrating. Since she and Gavin had split up, she’d only slept with one guy. The sex had been so lacklustre, even though the guy had done everything he could to excite her. She’d had the same lack of interest with all the guys she’d dated since then that she simply couldn’t be bothered taking it further. So what was the point in getting naked with Leo when she couldn’t get wet enough for him no matter how much they both tried?

But she really wanted to fall for Leo. On paper, he was everything she wanted in a man. Except that her heart and body simply refused to cooperate. She wasn’t blaming him, because it was her fault for comparing him—and her previous dates—to Gavin, who could get her hot and moist with just a look, even when she was covered from head to toe.

So what else could she do to move on once and for all from the man who didn’t want her? “Argh!”

“Tash? You okay?”

“Carter!” She got up from her chair to greet her brother with a kiss.

“Mum and Dad working you too hard, Miss Operations Manager?”

She let out a laugh. “To the contrary, Mum wants me to make sure I don’t miss my date with Leo tonight. How are you?”

“Busy. Mum’s been complaining that she hasn’t seen me and Cassie in a month. Cassie’s on her way here too,” Carter said, settling on one of her visitor’s chairs.

“Hey, don’t forget that there’s a job you have to complete by the end of next week.”

“Uh, do you think you can allocate another electrician to finish that? I don’t need to go undercover in that place anymore. The case has been solved.”

She looked at her brother sternly, shaking her head at him. “Mum and Dad are very lax in letting you use our company as your cover for police work. And it’s not fair when you leave actual electrical projects unfinished. You have to go back there and complete the job in your own time, Carter. All our staff are busy and there’s no one we can allocate to it at the last minute.”

“You know it’s not often I leave a project unfinished. But okay, I’ll work on it a few nights next week to finish it off.”

“Thank you. And while we’re on the topic, have you thought about giving up your police job and stop pretending you’re just an electrician working for this company? You own a quarter of the shares, so shouldn’t you put on that fourth director’s cap already?”

“The time will come, sis,” Carter said half-dismissively. “Anyway, apart from me not doing my job to your satisfaction, what’s your other problem?”

“Other problem?” she asked with a frown.

“You looked frustrated when I got here.”