Choices will Destroy (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 14) (29 page)

He owed her this and so much more.

While she’d never ask for it, he was more than willing to suffer until the pleasure consumed her. Only then would he seek his own release.

Her hands wandered across his shirt covered chest, until her palm rested over his heart.

It was her sign of love.

It was a moment of salvation.

When he drove himself into her body, she exploded in orgasm. Her gasp of pleasure made him harder, but he still held on to control.

“More,” he whispered, forcing himself past the tightening of her body around his. He wanted this never to end, and he planned to make her scream his name at least once more.

As they continued their mating, their eyes met.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Ethan had never loved before her. His heart had always been a sucking void, swallowing everything around him but never giving back—until her.

Now he knew what love was, and he couldn’t lose it. He’d never survive his existence without the woman before him. She was his all.

“I love you, Lyzee. I’m sorry I hurt us.”

She found his mouth as he slid in and out of her body. The wet sound filled the room, turning them both on.

“So close,” he whispered. “Come with me,” he begged, praying she was close enough to the edge. When his fingers found that tight bundle of nerves, he flicked his fingers over them as he had her spread wide and pressed to the wall.

She shouted in release, taking him over the edge and into the deliciousness of pleasure.

Together, they fell.

As one.

As a couple.

As a strong unit.

The room spun around them as they both struggled to catch their breath. Slowly, Ethan dropped to his knees, keeping his wife trapped between him and the wall, as she remained impaled on his erection.

They were both silent.

Neither spoke.

“If you hate me, I won’t blame you,” he finally said, keeping his face buried in her throat.

“If I hated you, I’d blame me,” she replied. “That’s not the woman I am today. Back then, I did hate all of you, but I’ve changed too. I’m not the same person, and that we can love each other, after everything that happened is proof of that. Love heals, Ethan. It forgives, and it fortifies. We’re stronger because of it. We’re center, and that matters.”

He relaxed.

His whole body was released of the tension.

Elizabeth lifted his face so they were nose to nose. “It takes a big man to admit when he was wrong.”

“I hurt you. Had I known…I wish I could go back and erase it all, Elizabeth. I wish to God that I could turn back time so I could make it right.”

“I know you would have.”

“If I could go back, I would in a heartbeat. I hurt myself in this too. My stubbornness and callousness damaged me too. I would have ditched my partner for you. I would have found love earlier. I suffered for my choices. The coldness ruled my life, and I paid for it. I lost ten years with you. We could have had more kids. We could have found Callen sooner. My ego hurt you, but it hurt me too.”

She kissed him on the face. “Let’s go forward. I don’t want to look back anymore.”

He held her. “You’re right. I’m ready.”

So was she.

Ethan helped her up. As he was pulling up his pants, he heard the knock on the door.

“Shit!”

Elizabeth started laughing as she pulled on her jeans. The look of horror on his face was entertaining. As he struggled to pull himself back together, she laughed even more.

“This is not funny,” he said, pointing at her.

“You’re right. It’s beyond that. I wish I had a picture of your face. Where the hell is my phone? This should be my screensaver.”

He growled.

When she was dressed, he moved to the door. Pulling it open, he hoped he didn't look like he’d just fornicated with his wife.

To his surprise, there stood Callen.

“Hey, uh, is it my turn?”

“Zip it, Cal,” he muttered, checking to make sure the coast was indeed clear.

Elizabeth laughed. “Is there a line forming? I don’t know how many more times I can go.”

Blackhawk gave her the look.

Callen was amused. “Actually, I saw you two go in, and I’ve been standing guard.”

Ethan stopped scowling. “Really?”

“Yeah. I figured if anyone found you in there, you’d stroke out.”

Elizabeth moved around her husband to get to the other man. This was more proof that her other Native spouse was sweet. “Callen, you’re my hero.”

He kissed her. “Gabe is in autopsy. He’s looking for you two.”

She patted his cheek and headed off whistling.

“Thank you, Callen.”

“Are you two okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. We’re better.”

“Good. We have a problem.”

Ethan lifted a brow. “What?”

Callen told him about the conversation he had with Chris Leonard, and how he was thinking about leaving the FBI.

“Oh, shit. That’s not going to be good. Elizabeth won’t take that well. ”

“Yeah, you can say that again. We have another mess brewing right behind this insanity.”

Both men knew the truth. This was going to blindside Elizabeth, and now…it was the last thing she needed.

 
                 
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Morgue

The autopsy was done, the body was put away, and the team was only waiting on the boss lady. Merry stood there with trace ready to give her report.

And she looked like shit.

Apparently, when she said she was working all night, she wasn’t kidding.

She’d been trapped in the lab for hours.

“Merry, give me your report, and then I want you to head back to Gabe’s and get some sleep. You look like a zombie.”

“That good, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Everyone took their places. Gabe stayed against the wall, handling some emails, Elizabeth and Livy sat on a table, and both men weren’t far away from their pregnant woman.

“I pulled all the trace, cross compared it, and found something you might find interesting.”

“What?”

“There was a blonde hair on each of them.”

“Really?” Ethan said, glancing over at his tech. “Run it for DNA.”

“I can’t. There’s no root. While the shaft contains trace amounts of mitochondrial DNA, it’s not enough to test it.”

“Shit,” muttered Elizabeth.

“Since neither victim was a blonde, I found that suspicious. All that I can tell you is they are the exact same length. Maybe they had sex with the killer?” she suggested.

Jay Melrose glanced over at his old partner, waiting for him to drop the bomb.

“Tristan was gay. He wasn’t shacking up with a woman, so that’s probably out of the equation for him,” Ethan said.

“I found evidence of that,” Chris offered.

“Okay, so it wasn’t a sex partner with him, but how about with the director?” Elizabeth asked.

“I didn't find any vaginal secretions,” Chris stated. “I swabbed him, and even if there was a condom, there would have been something on his skin.”

Okay, that was a dead end.

“Other than that, the bodies were clean,” Merry said. “We found traces of fibers, but since they had likely been wearing clothes, they would have transferred.”

Callen made notes.

“Chris?”

“The killer was sloppy on this one. The cuts were hurried.” He saw the agent in the room flinching. “You should probably recuse yourself from this.”

He glanced over.

“Why?”

“He was your partner. I don’t want to be blunt with you in the room, and I have to be. So, I need you to go home.”

“It’s not happening. He was my partner.”

Gabe stepped in. “Head out, Agent. Take the night off. We’ll regroup in the morning. You lost your partner, and that means you’re too close to the fire on this one.”

Jay didn't look at any of them. Instead, he moved toward the door, but his body language was clear. “See you tomorrow.”

With that, he slammed the door behind him.

“What I wanted to say, but couldn’t,” Chris stated, “was that I ran the semen found in Tristan Case, it came back with a match.”

“Who?” Gabe asked.

Ethan already knew, so he saved his ME the time. “It’s going to belong to Jay Melrose.”

They all looked over except for Elizabeth and Ethan.

“What?” Gabe said.

Livy laughed. “I told you that agents had sex with each other. I don’t know why you’re surprised.”

“Maybe because they’re two men?” he asked. “I’m sorry if that catches me a little off guard.”

Elizabeth shrugged. “Okay, so at least we know he wasn’t sexually assaulted.”

“Can we keep this quiet?” Ethan asked. “Jay admitted it to me, but he doesn’t want this in the report. He loved his partner. This is hard on him.”

Gabe sighed. Keeping things out of reports was a mess in the making, but if the military had
‘Don’t Ask and Don’t Tell’
, the FBI should too. “That’s fine.”

Chris made notes to delete it.

“Anything else on your end, Merry?” Callen asked.

“We found a shitload of prints. Most of them we accounted for, but there are a few that I can’t answer for yet. I’m still running them. You know how long that’s going to take.”

They did.

“Head out, Merry,” Elizabeth said.

“I’ll have an agent escort you to our home,” Gabe offered. He didn't want anyone wandering around alone.

“Bless you,” she said, grabbing her gear. “See you in the morning.”

When she was gone, Elizabeth spoke up. “We have a huge issue.”

They all waited.

“What?” Gabe asked.

“We thought that this was a closed case when it came to Seamus O’Brien, but it’s not.”

They didn't get it.

Livy did.

“We went and interviewed his brother today at his house. PS…his sister hates our guts, in case anyone didn’t see that one coming.”

No one was surprised about that.

It wouldn’t be the first time or the last.

“Then we arrived at James O’Brien’s house, and found something rather troubling.”

“What?”

“Callen, pull up his driver’s license along with Seamus’s. Do a side by side for me please.”

They all waited and watched.

When the two pictures appeared on the screen, side by side, they got it.

Gabe gasped.

He couldn’t believe it.

“Seamus was an identical twin. Now I don’t know if I killed the right man, or if I screwed up. Once more, the age-old question is back on the table. Did I stop a serial killer?”

They all knew how hard it was going to be to prove it.

“Without fingerprints, we’ll never know,” Chris stated. “Identical twins have matching DNA. The only thing that sets them apart is when they’re developing in utero, they touch the amniotic sac, and their prints develop.”

Oh, she was well aware.

They now were right back to where they started.

She told them everything that the man had said to her. “His father and grandfather were butchers, and the brother confirms that Seamus knew how to use a knife.”

“That’s still good, right?” Chris asked.

Livy shook her head.

“He offered it up way to easily. It was like he wanted us to have the information.”

They glanced over at her.

“Hey, don’t look shocked. Once a Fed, always a Fed.”

Gabe heard it in her voice. This had to rattle her. She had just come face to face with the man who looked like her assailant. He wished he’d been there to take care of her.

“Callen, can you look up a person for me?” she asked.

“Sure, who?”

“Helena Brennan.”

There was typing, and finally her face appeared on the screen. She looked like an angel. She had red hair, green eyes, and looked a lot like the dead women from fifteen years ago.

“Okay, who is she?” Gabe asked.

“This is the woman who broke
‘The Butcher’s’
heart,” she admitted. “James mentioned that she was his brother’s muse, and when she drop kicked his ass to single-dom, he went off the rails.”