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God, this was his mistake. He’d bent too many rules. One finally caught up to him.
If anything happened to her, he would pay a heavy price. Shediddeserve a better bodyguard—he never should have let her talk him out of handing her care over to another teammate.
A roar ripped from his throat, and his fingers clamped as he whirled to punch the wall.
Corrine Modeen’s voice came clearly into his head:Don’t you dare put a hole in my drywall, Abel.
He whirled and directed his fist at the bed. It slammed into the pillow with a softpuffthat didn’t shatter his knuckles or have the same release as punching a wall would.
As he yanked his fist out of the fluff, something slipped out from under the pillow.
His lungs constricted as all the air left them.
The photo album.
Trinny had stuffed it under the pillow.
He grabbed it and flipped it open, skimming page after page. The entries talked about clandestine meetings. He spotted Trinny’s name, and his heart kicked up a notch. It thumped in his throat. Jaw tight, he forced himself to read the passage more slowly and saw it.
A name.
Matt Dom.
It meant nothing to him, but it was a start—and the only lead he had.
He’d been too careless with her safety, and she’d been snatched out from under his nose.
Her photo was in the local papers and had probably spread to other areas of the country. Also, her SUV getting blown up was no small story. While the team made sure to talk to all the witnesses and keep the explosion out of the papers, somebody probably snapped a picture of them fleeing the scene. Plenty of opportunities for Dom to track her down. The team thought she’d be well-protected right under their noses and now look what happened.
All the blame lay on his head. He should have done more to protect her, but his need to see her happy made him reckless.
He heard the grind of a motor and tires on gravel and ran to the front of the lodge just as Judd slammed on the brakes in the driveway and skidded a few feet to a halt.
Before his brother opened the door, Jaren was there, thrusting the album at him. “Matt Dom. Stay in the truck. We need to get to the office.”
“Dude, you’re not even wearing a shirt.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Just get me to the office. I know he took her. I know this motherfucker has the woman I love.”
As Judd drove, Jaren read as many of the entries as he could. His spine grew rigid and his fingers numb from gripping the leather so tight.
“Her mother was a real piece of work. This entire thing drips with venomous jealousy directed at her daughter.”
Judd grunted. “Ari’s father is cut from the same bolt of cloth as Trinny’s mom. Maybe Ari and Trinny are onto something when they said you and I are attracted to the same type of woman.”
He turned his head to pin a look on his brother. “You think we’re playing hero?”
“I think we fell for the same kind of woman because we are alike.”
“Hotheaded, impulsive, grumpy motherfuckers who stop at nothing to get our own way?” he asked.
Judd snorted. “That’s it.”
He delved back into reading, skimming through the middle entries that got far too personal about her mother’s sex life with this Matt guy.
“Her mother took the cruise with him. And it looks like she paid his way everywhere. She even gave him a hefty salary at the shipping office, but he didn’t need to spend it. He had a sugar momma. She withdrew from a CD for him to open some side venture, it says.”
“Motive enough to push her over that railing. Makes me question if even more money changed hands before she died. What is this guy after? What didn’t he get that he wants?”
