Page 28 of Ravaged Hearts
Fuck. That.
Brandon entered a code on the security panel, and we stepped inside the nerve center of his intelligence-gathering operations. The room was at odds with the rustic feel of the rest of the lodge. A dozen screens with live camera feeds from around the globe filled one wall. On the other side of the room was a large desk with laptops, tablets, and whatever gadgets an elite hacker required.
“Before you come at me”—Brandon closed the door behind us—“take a deep breath, and remember we’re on the same side.”
My jaw clenched. I didn’t want to be mad at Brandon, but he was enabling Hope’s plans, and that didn’t sit well with me. “That’s easy for you to say. What if it were Sage volunteering to put herself in danger?”
“I’d probably be as worked up as you. But I’d listen to her, and if her argument was sound, then I’d respect her decision. You can’t let your emotions get caught up in this.”
“My emotions?” I let out an incredulous laugh and started pacing the room. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve spent years not giving a shit about anyone. Fuckingyears, man. And then I finally find a woman who means something to me, who makes mefeelsomething, and you expect me to just let her go? Just send her off to that pit of vipers without me? I might never get her back. She could be hurt or killed.” I spun to face Brandon. “So please tell me, how the fuck am I supposed to not get emotional?”
Brandon folded his arms across his chest and planted his feet wide. “You remember the objective of our entire operation. You look into the eyes of the victims recovering here and tell them why we haven’t stopped the assholes who keep hurting women just like them. And while you’re at it, think about the people in Hope’s village, who are running out of time before they meet their own version of hell. And if you really want to get deep about it, consider what this will mean to Hope. Because if you take this away from her, Brother, she’ll never look at you the same way again.”
I took one breath, then another as each of Brandon’s annoyingly valid points clawed at me more painfully than all the cuts that had marred my skin combined.
I propped my hands behind my head, clutched my hair, and let out a savage growl. “This is fucked-up.”
“I know.” Brandon nodded.
“If anything happens to her?—”
“I won’t let it.Wewon’t let it.” He gave me a meaningful look. “This will have the team’s full support. Everyone gets called in for this op.”
That meant my brother Owen, Kane and his twin Wyatt, Shep, plus a bunch more guys we’d recruited over the last couple of years. It was a solid unit, the best I’d ever worked with. It didn’t make me any more comfortable about what Hope would have to do. I’d rather go through torture a thousand times over than send her to Espinoza.
I shook my head. “If the plan’s not a thousand percent solid?—”
“It will be.” He held up a palm to placate me. “And if it’s not, we won’t send her. You have my word.”
No op was foolproof. We did our best to mitigate the risks, but there was always an element of unknown.
Brandon leaned against the desk and crossed one ankle over the other. “You’re in love with her.” The bastard didn’t even have the decency to frame it as a question.
I rubbed at the ache beneath my ribs, at the place where I’d thought my heart had long since abandoned me.
Was that what this feeling was? Had I fallen in love with Hope? The realization both terrified and surprised me. Maybe it explained why even now, when I knew Hope was safe and under the same roof as me, she was still too far away. I craved her nearness like a goddamn toddler their security blanket. So how was I supposed to let her walk into the devil’s lair without my protection? She was more precious to me than anything.
I dragged my hands over my face before bracing them on my hips. “Things between Hope and me are…intense. It’s all happened so fast.”
“The moment I laid eyes on Sage, I knew she was it for me.” One side of Brandon’s lips tilted up as though he were remembering the first time they met. “Took a little longer for her to catch on.”
I scratched the stubble on my cheek. “Pretty sure Hope wanted to punch me in the face as soon as I opened my mouth.”
Brandon made a poor effort of concealing his mirth. “Respectfully, Decker, everyone wants to punch you in the face as soon as you open your mouth.”
Fair point.
“I want you to check this out.” Brandon went to a cabinet and plucked something from it. “New tech from a contact. Specifically designed for a woman.” He came toward me with a small box.
I opened it and found two items. A black claw-style hair clip and a feminine silver belt buckle. “What am I looking at?”
He folded his arms. “The smallest GPS trackers on the planet.”
I picked up the clip and inspected it. It weighed a little more than expected but looked like a regular hair accessory. The buckle was just as impressive. How the heck had Brandon’s gadget person crammed GPS tech inside these things?
“Battery life?” I asked.
“They’re good for up to a month. They only send out a location ping every minute, so they use very little power.”