Chapter 9

<Gavin Forrester>

I open up the front door and slip silently inside but my heart sinks when I catch a glimpse of a light from the living room. Damn, I'm not as sneaky as I thought.

"How long did you think it'd take for me to notice that I was the only body in the bed?" Victoria crosses her arms and continues to stare at the wall.

"I was hoping you'd just stay asleep." I mumble under my breath. I don't need to be yelled at by her at four freaking thirty in the morning.

"Great excuse, I'm so proud." Victoria stands up and glares at me. "You're hiding something, Gavin and I have no idea why. What are you not telling me? Don't I deserve to know?"

"It doesn't involve you; it's something I have to do on my own." I grit my teeth and try to walk down the hallway and away from the conversation but Victoria blocks my way.

"What the hell were you doing leaving the house at midnight and not showing up again until four thirty?" Victoria tilts her head and looks at me angrily.

"I couldn't sleep; I went to go get a coffee."

"What an excuse; this is beautiful. If you couldn't sleep then why'd you go get a coffee? That has caffeine in it which would make sleeping less likely to happen than congress passing a budget." Victoria's eyes narrow and she looks absolutely disgusted.

"I don't need to explain myself to you. You trust me, right?" I ask her in a serious tone.

She nods without hesitation, however, the ferocious anger doesn't leave her expression.

"Then trust me when I tell you I just couldn't sleep and needed to get out of the house."

"You've needed to get out of the house a lot since yesterday." Victoria snaps.

"I'm free, I just needed some time to process everything."

"There you go again. You only tell me half the truth and give me all of these vague answers whenever I ask you very direct questions. I just want to know because I can't shake the feeling that what you're hiding is bigger than just you." Victoria brushes a tear from her eye and walks back over to the couch with me trailing behind.

"If you trusted me then you wouldn't accuse me of hiding something from you."

"Give it a rest, Gavin. I've known you for a while and I know when you're lying. If you trusted me, you would just tell me this whole big secret you're obviously hiding." Victoria lets out a shaky breath and doesn't meet my gaze.

"I can't because I don't want to hurt you." I whisper and rub her shoulder a little.

"What? Did you find someone better and you just don't want to hurt me with the truth?"

"Where'd that come from? Is that the kind of guy you think I am?" I say, my voice choking up with hurt.

"No but it would make your life easier if you just found someone else; there'd be a lot less problems in it then."

"How can you just sit there and say that to me? I went to hell and back for you, Victoria and I'd never even think of loving another girl. Why would you think I'd ever cheat on you?" I stand up forcefully and glare at her.

"No guy leaves the house at midnight to go get a freaking cup of coffee." Victoria states simply as her eyes travel over to me.

"You said you trusted me...You know I'd never do anything that despicable to you; I love you, Victoria." I say in a broken whisper.

"You know what, it was stupid. I'm sorry, I was just tired and upset that you left without telling me." Victoria mutters in a rushed tone and then tries to leave the room.

I grab her hand and pull her back so she's standing right in front of me.

"What's wrong? You know I'd never cheat on you, right?" I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear and let my fingers linger on her cheek.

"Yeah, I do. I just don't like you having to keep a secret from me. It makes me feel distant from you. I don't want distance because that means I'm losing you, Gavin." She places her hand gently on top of mine and rubs her thumb over the top of it.

"You could never lose me, Victoria. I love you too damn much too ever want a life without you. The reason I can't tell you my secret right now is because I want to protect you and if you knew then you'd be in more danger than you could ever imagine." I tilt my head and stare into her eyes.

"You're not going to kill anyone, are you?" Victoria says in a small voice as she stares down at the ground.

"I only kill if it's absolutely necessary, babe. I don't go around murdering for money anymore." I place my fingers under her chin and bring her head up so she's looking directly at me. "You don't need to worry about me; that's my job."

"Isn't it nice to know that I care enough to worry about you?" She chuckles and her eyes sparkle a little in amusement.

"Knowing that you care means everything to me but I don't want you to be constantly scared for me." I run my fingers through her hair and give her a half-smile.

"I just don't want to ever have to lose you; I've already lost so much in my life in so little time..." Victoria's voice trails off as she brushes another tear from her eye.

"Please don't think about that, I will do everything in my power to stay and keep you safe. I won't let you lose anything else." I whisper as I place my lips gently on hers.

~~~~~

It's an hour before I have to go meet Ainsley and I'm trying to come up with an excuse that will satisfy Victoria and my friends. Why can't this be easier? I sigh and fill up a cup of coffee as Victoria comes into the kitchen.

"Hey, babe, what's on the agenda for today?" Victoria kisses my cheek and takes a seat at the table.

I bite my lip as I try to think of the perfect excuse.

"Do you have to go somewhere today?" Victoria sighs and gives me a sad pout.

"I'm sorry but when I get back we'll go out to the party on the beach or something. Okay?" I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Fine." She stands up and goes to pour herself some coffee. "Are you taking the car?"

"No, I'm going to walk; fresh air will be good for me."

"You're going to walk to town..." Victoria says with suspicion as she glares at me.

"Yes." I confirm as I walk to the door.

"You're an idiot." She rolls her eyes as I open the door.

"Love you too." I smirk and begin to walk down the steps.

Once I'm on the ground I break into a run and I don't stop until I reach town, legs burning and heart pumping fast. I lean up against the window of the jewelry store and check my phone. It's noon right on the dot.

I hear a car drive up which is followed by a quick honk of a horn. Ainsley's eyes are hidden behind a pair of large sunglasses and she's wearing the darkest clothes possible. I slip into the front seat and she hands me a pair of sunglasses to disguise myself.

"You ready to take down Satan?" Ainsley chuckles as she backs out of her park and pulls onto the main road in town.

"I've been ready since he tried to have Victoria killed." I mutter and situate my notebook and pen on my lap.

"Adorable." Ainsley rolls her eyes in a good-natured way as she continues driving down the road.

After about an hour of silence, we pull into a park that's right across the street from Talon's crack house headquarters. Ainsley takes out a pair of binoculars and a large camera from the messenger bag by her feet. She also takes out her laptop and turns it on before setting it in my lap.

"Here's how this is going to work. I can hack into the security cameras from my laptop and you're going to keep notes on everything that goes on in that building. I'm going to take pictures of every exchange going on outside of the building and then we're going to switch. Got it?" She asks quickly as she logs into her computer.

I nod and fidget with my paper and pen.

"Okay, I'm going to go walk the perimeter and get pictures from all angles. Just watch my computer; don't change anything because it's also keeping track of every piece of information that enters and leaves Talon's computers. We may be able to stop a few operatives from succeeding in their missions today." Ainsley winks as she gets out of the car with her camera.

I scoot over to the driver's seat and lock the doors. I put her computer in my lap and look at the ten security camera windows that have now split the screen up. I put my pen on the paper and watch the ten camera windows very intently.

I scribble down a few quick things and then pick up the binoculars so I can watch the front of the building as well. I scan the side of the building and see Ainsley crouched in the bushes, trying her best to take pictures and not be caught at the same time. I smirk and then go back to watching the boring, lifeless security cameras.

~~~~~

It's been a couple of hours and all I've discovered is that Talon now runs an extremely boring business where next to nothing goes on. Ainsley laughed when I told her that but it's the truth. It's been like three hours and the most interesting thing that's happened it the security guards changing shifts.

"This isn't the only stakeout I'm planning on dragging you to." Ainsley chuckles as she hands me a coffee and a bag with my lunch in it.

She locks the passenger door and then takes a long swig from her water bottle as she continues to watch the building.

"Don't we have people we can switch out with so we won't be the only ones doing the staking out?" I whine which amuses Ainsley even more.

"Those guys I was telling you about last night told me that they could do a few stakeouts for us but they charge heavily by the week."

"Then pay them so we can do something else besides watch this boring crack house for ten hours every day. Can't you wire Talon's money to them anyway?" I mumble and take a sip from the steaming paper cup in my hand.

"Depends on how much. He won't notice if a few thousand go missing but if I start wiring a hundred thousand like these men want then Talon is bound to notice eventually." Ainsley bites her lip and now seems to be lost in thought.

"Talon is too lazy to do his own accounting and I'm sure Carter wired millions to his contacts while he was working for Talon." I say absentmindedly as I watch the building.

"Carter still works for Talon; the little bastard hasn't been fired or killed yet."

"What the hell? Why is he holding onto Carter? Carter was going to sell him out." I jerk my neck back around and give Ainsley a 'you've got to be kidding me' look.

"You were going to sell him out too but you escaped and Carter has connections. If Talon let him go then all of his connections would go with him. Carter's connections are also the reason Talon pretended to not notice the millions that were going missing. That was a bad move on his part though because now Carter thinks he can keep doing it and Talon is going to keep losing millions. It's a lose-lose situation."

"Being Carter Jacobson is a lose-lose situation; you're stupid and asshole." I chuckle and write down a quick note on the paper next to me.

"Next stakeout we should come at night. Talon may be an absolute idiot but he's not stupid enough to do illegal things in broad daylight." Ainsley takes her computer out of my lap and begins to study the security camera footage with determination.

"Yeah, if he wasn't a complete psychopath he might actually make a good businessman." I nod my head slightly in agreement as a moving figure in the distance catches my eye.

I grab her camera and get out of the car. I speed across the street and crouch down in some bushes as stealthily as I can. I aim the camera lens and widen my view until the two figures are included in the picture.

I almost drop the camera when I realize who those two people are. Chief Grayson and Talon Tenebris are conversing as if they are best friends instead of mortal enemies. I snap a few pictures and continue to observe their behavior. Chief Grayson better be faking it because nothing will break Victoria like finding out her step-father, her protector, is now working with the man that wants her dead.

Talon smiles and gives Chief Grayson a warm handshake as if they are parting amicably. I see Talon slip what looks like a bag of crack into Chief Grayson's hand before going back inside of his headquarters. The police chief, the man I've been running from for three months, walks over to his car like what just happened was a completely normal exchange.

I take a few more incriminating pictures before watching Chief Grayson drive away. I wait for him to be completely gone before I race back over to Ainsley's car. I knock on the door and she lets me in.

"Gavin, you look like you've seen a ghost. What happened out there?" Ainsley asks in a concerned tone.

I press a few buttons on the camera until the screen displays the most recent photos. I point to Talon and then to the police chief. I try to talk but no words come out of my mouth.

"It looks like a completely normal crack dealing to me." Ainsley raises an eyebrow at me like she's confused as to why that scares me.

"That's Victoria's dad, NYPD Police Chief Edward Grayson. He's the guy who you were trying to get off of my back." I draw in a deep breath as I try to wrap my head around what I just witnessed.

"You mean to tell me that Chief Grayson, the all-American dad, who's only wish was to have his precious daughter back, is now buyin' crack from the man who tried to murder her?" Ainsley gives me a look of disbelief as she goes through all of the pictures I took.

"A picture tells a thousand words. He better be faking it because I don't think Victoria would be able to take it if her step-father was crossing over to the other side." I bite my lip and stare dead-ahead.

"I hate to break it to you but Grayson wouldn't be the one doing the drug-busting." Ainsley touches my arm gently, an attempt to comfort me.

"Even if it was to get information about his daughter?" I turn towards her, a broken-hearted look on my face replacing the stone cold one from a few seconds ago.

"He's too prestigious and well-known to be going undercover, especially with such a crap disguise. Also, every law enforcement agent knows that there's a warrant out for Talon's arrest so if Grayson was working against Talon then he'd be slapping handcuffs on him and carting him back to the U.S., not swapping stories and smoking crack with him."

"So, I guess I'm all Victoria has left to count on. Damn, how could everyone she loves turn on her so fast? I really thought she'd have Grayson to count on." I shake my head bitterly as I try to imagine the look on Victoria's face if she ever found out about this.

"The better question is why everything keeps leading back to Talon."

"He's the root of all evil and all the evil flocks towards him." I flare my nostrils as a new sense of anger washes over me. "You know what's ironic about that little exchange between Talon and the chief?"

Ainsley shrugs which gives me permission to continue.

"He called her when we first ran away to make sure she was okay and not hurt by the dangerous criminals but he was going behind her back and selling his soul to Talon Tenebris for some mediocre crack cocaine which, I believe, makes him a criminal. The way I see it, he's no better than me, except that I didn't completely betray Victoria for a few grams. He could've bought drugs from any bum on the streets of New York but he deliberately chose to fly to Barbados and buy crack from the devil."

"You can't tell Victoria. She's broken enough and she doesn't need to know that she really has no one to go home to." Ainsley blinks a few times and stares out the window at the lifeless building we've been watching for hours.

"Victoria was going to leave and go back to him." I say after a few minutes of silence. "She thought it would solve our problems. I'm so glad I didn't let her leave."

"Gavin, we have to solve this problem; we have to get rid of Talon. Once he's gone then you and Victoria can start over somewhere new and all the people who've betrayed you guys won't matter anymore." Ainsley pats my shoulder awkwardly like she's not sure whether or not she should be comforting me.

"She'll never get over her dad betraying her for the one person in the world she hates the most; take it from someone who knows." I cross my arms and look out the rearview mirror.

"How did your dad betray you?" Ainsley whispers and then bites her lip.

"It's ancient history." I mutter through tight lips.

"You brought it up for a reason." Ainsley puts her fingers under my chin and forces me to look at her. "Now spill."

"When I was fifteen, I had a best friend named Abigail." My voice chokes up when I say her name.

"Was she more than a friend?"

I nod in response to Ainsley's question before continuing.

"We'd been friends since we were two because our mothers were in the same book club and they would often drag us along to the meetings. Her mom was the meanest woman alive and hated my guts. I sometimes wondered why my mother even wanted to be around her but that was none of my business." I take in a deep breath to calm myself down.

I look out the rearview mirror and then continue with my story.

"When we were fifteen I figured out that her mom was abusing her. Abby came into to school in long sleeves even in June and whenever we were alone she'd show me her bruises and burns. It made me so mad and I tried to get my dad, who was a judge, to get her mother taken away from her but he said he couldn't do anything unless Abby came forward. I begged Abby to go tell the cops but she was convinced her alcoholic, drug-addled mother would change. Abby finally got taken away, in a body bag after her mother beat her to death. I fought like hell to get that awful woman put away in prison, because I knew I owed that much to my best friend but no judge in the state would convict her; they were all under my dad's spell. I even made my dad try her case but that's when I found out something that made all of the pieces click together. My dad had been having an affair with the woman who killed my best friend and that's why the woman wasn't getting convicted. He betrayed me, my mom and the law he loved so deeply because of a stupid fling. My mom forgave him but I never could and I still can't."

"Gavin, you don't have to forgive him. What he did was one of the lowest things I can think of and I work for Talon; I'm the lowest of the low." Ainsley wipes away a few tears and rubs my forearm.

"I know what it's like to be betrayed and I never want Victoria to feel that lost and hopeless. I couldn't protect Abby and now I feel like I'm being given a second chance to protect the person I love the most. I don't want to screw this one up." I sniff a little and then look out the rearview mirror for the tenth time since this conversation started.

There's a car parked behind us that's been there for at least an hour. I squint to see if I can see who's driving it but the person is wearing sunglasses. I shake my head a little to snap myself out of my day dream and then I turn my focus back to the building. The car drives by about a minute later and for a split second I think it's Jeffrey's Jeep but the car is out of my line of sight within a few seconds so, I don't really know what I saw.

"We should probably get going soon. I don't think we'll see much else today; I'll get my guys to come and scope out the place at night some time." Ainsley says as she gestures for us to switch seats so she can drive home.

I get back into the passenger seat and click my buckle into place. Ainsley does the same and I set my hand on her shoulder before she can begin driving away.

"Thank you for this, truly." I give her a small smile and surprise her by pulling her into a hug.

"You're welcome, Gavin. We'll figure this out; I promise." She whispers as she wraps her arms tightly around me.

We let go when we finally realize what just happened and then I cough awkwardly.

"Never mention this again?" I mutter and stick out my hand.

"I think it'd be best if we didn't." Ainsley smirks and shakes my hand gently.