Bravery’s Sin: Masters’ Admiralty, book 5, page 23
And a list that included his home on Cyprus. A place she’d been before they came here, which meant Petro had been tracking her, somehow, before they’d showed up here last week.
He turned his phone so she could see the screen.
She started to read, her expression morphing from fear-laced anger to something more. Something far worse.
Dread.
“That’s the address of my first flat in England. And the coffee shop I studied at in Germany. This is…this is every place I’ve been. Any place that was important.” She looked up, and the expression in her eyes pleaded with him to make this false, to scrub away the evidence he now held. “He’s been tracking me since I left. That’s what Lazar meant. I was never free. I was always his. I…” Her gaze drifted back to the list. “No,” she whispered. “No.”
Milo and Eric had both turned to them, listening silently as Nyx’s perception of life fell apart. “Háromság főiskolai könyvtár. Trinity College Library.” She stumbled back a step. “I… I…
Nyx ran.
Chapter Nineteen
“Nyx!” Grigoris caught her halfway through the foyer of the private quarters. “Wait.”
Nyx was lightheaded and struggling to get air to her lungs. It was her fault…her fault…
Karl.
Josephine.
She’d given away their identities, their locations, allowed the mastermind…
No, she wouldn’t give him the benefit of that name anymore.
Petro. He’d used her to hurt countless innocent people, her friends.
“Nyx, please. Stop!”
He wrapped his hand around her upper arm, attempting to halt her escape.
She whirled on him. “No! Let me go. This is my fault. All of this.”
“No.” Grigoris rarely raised his voice with her, and she’d only heard this commanding tone of his when he was controlling a bad situation.
Or in the bedroom.
“You aren’t to blame for any of this.”
“He was always one step ahead because of me. Because…” Her hands shook as she considered where the tracker might be. How, and when, had Petro placed it on her?
No, in her.
Her stomach roiled and she feared she might be sick.
“Because of me, he took Karl. He killed J-Josephine.”
Grigoris scowled. “Nyx. I know you’re upset, but if you think about this logically, you’ll see none of that is true. Karl was taken because he was traveling. His capture was based on convenience.”
“That’s what we thought, but now we know Petro knew about my meetings at Trinity College. He could have discovered who I was meeting with and chosen to torture Karl because of our association.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“Ciril knew where to find Leila in Bucharest because she was with me. He knew where we were just hiding in Rome. Oh my God, James, Sophia…the others…we have to get them out!”
“Nyx, take a breath.”
“And Josephine…” Tears slid down her cheeks, her breathing becoming louder, more labored.
“Dammit.” Grigoris slipped his hand in hers, dragging her into the empty den. He closed the door behind them, roughly, then took her face in his hands and kissed her hard.
She was shocked for a moment, her brain shutting down completely, too devastated to find comfort.
He released her briefly.
“You can’t kiss me senseless, Grig—”
He kissed her again, with more passion.
Nyx’s tears slowed as she lifted her hands to his strong shoulders.
They parted once more.
“I mean it. I can’t—” she started, when he went in for a third kiss.
By the time he released her, she found herself with her back pressed against the wall and his hands under her shirt, his fingers stroking the bare skin beneath.
She was silent the next time he pulled away.
“I’m only going to say this once, so I need you to listen and understand,” he said gruffly. “Petro is the villain here. No one else. The things he’s done to you, to your friends, to other members of the society, will be answered for. But the fault lies with him. Josephine and Karl, as well as the rest of the librarians, understood the risks involved in taking part in the investigation. They made their decision to help the same way you did. Once you’ve had time to process what’s happened, I want the logical, intelligent, savvy,” he kissed her forehead, then continued, “part of your brain to kick in. Karl was taken because he was traveling. Josephine’s death was an obvious attack against Eric. Petro must have discovered their past association and decided to use it against the fleet admiral.”
Nyx wished Grigoris’ reassurances would sink in. The words made sense, but her emotions were too close to the surface for her to accept them. “But what if—”
“No. No what-ifs. You forget, Nyx. You suffered terribly at the hands of a man who dared to call himself your husband. Ciril attacked you on Petro’s command. Don’t let him take anything else from you, don’t give him the power to beat you down again, to destroy your peace of mind. Don’t do it.”
Words defeated her, so instead she reached out, wrapping her arms around Grigoris’ waist, grateful when he pulled her into a tight embrace. She pressed her face against his shirt, letting the soft cotton comfort her even as it dried her tears.
“Se agapó,” she whispered in Greek.
I love you.
“Ki ego se agapo,” he murmured, his lips pressed to the top of her head.
I love you too.
The door next to them slammed open and Eric strode in. The two of them parted slowly as Eric took in their embrace, then he jerked his head toward the front entrance. “We’re getting out of here. I’ve called in the Spartan Guard to deal with this fucking mess of a territory. Someone here knows something, but as much as I’d like to stay, we can’t risk some overzealous knight—or worse, someone Petro mentally fucked—shooting us.”
“Hans, the security minister, and the knights…” Nyx said.
“Are going to be renditioned to the dungeons at Triskelion Castle,” Eric said coolly.
“And we’re going where?” Grigoris asked.
“We’re flying to Cyprus.”
“Cyprus?”
“Oh yeah,” Eric deadpanned. “Did I forget to tell you? You’re about to have houseguests. Me, Nyx, and Milo.” He looked at Nyx. “I’ve had your X-rays from the hospital in Bucharest sent to that doctor in Spain, Gabriela Lopez. Perhaps she can discover exactly where the tracker is. We’re getting that fucker out of you as soon as possible.”
Nyx nodded, wondering if perhaps Eric would blame her for unwittingly revealing so many aspects of their actions to the mastermind. When he said nothing more, she replied, “I want it out too. More than I can say.”
Eric’s jaw clenched, though his eyes softened. “He’s going to pay for everything he did to you, Nyx. For everything he did, period.”
She accepted Grigoris’ hand, and the two of them followed Eric to the car.
For a moment, it felt like she was going home.
Then she realized the irony of the situation.
Because the truth she’d never accepted was…this place was supposed to be home, and now she was leaving.
Chapter Twenty
Grigoris led her, Eric, and Milo through his home on Cyprus, pointing out the bathroom and bedrooms as they walked past, though all anyone was interested in was Grigoris’ home office. According to Grigoris, his office was wired with state-of-the-art dedicated secure connection ports and a private server. He pulled out two laptops, keyed them to Milo’s and Eric’s fingerprints and made sure the phone in the room was routing through Israel, rendering it all but untraceable.
Fengári began rubbing around Eric’s ankles. Nyx started to reach for Grigoris’ cat, but Eric beat her to it. She was shocked when the fleet admiral cradled the small creature in his arms, absentmindedly stroking her soft fur as Fengári rolled to her back and purred loudly.
“Get me Gabriela on the speakerphone,” Eric said to Grigoris. “I want to know how the hell Petro is tracking Nyx.”
Nyx swallowed hard.
“And then I want a plan for how we check to make sure no one else is being tracked.”
Grigoris rubbed the back of his neck. “If we’d gone into that room, we could have… But no. It was too great a risk.”
“Agreed.”
“I shouldn’t be with you,” Nyx said softly. “I’m the Achilles’ heel.”
Milo was on one of the computers, his eyes scanning the screen. “My admiral sent a message.”
Eric walked over, bracing one hand on the back of Milo’s chair. “Talk.”
“He safely evacuated everyone from the bunker since Petro knows the location. He’s rigged it as a trap, in case our enemy makes an appearance.”
“Lethal or containment?”
“Containment.”
“Good. Petro will suffer before he dies.” Eric’s calm words were as alarming as a scream would have been.
Grigoris looked up from dialing to glance at her, his eyes widening in comical alarm. She relaxed a little more, smiling quickly in reply.
Nyx had been in shock when they’d fled the estate, but when they reached the airport her brain engaged, and she’d tried to stay behind.
Grigoris, Eric, and Milo weren’t safe as long as she was near them, and any place she went was immediately compromised. When she pointed that out, demurred about going to Cyprus with them, Grigoris had been two steps ahead and already had an answer. He’d assured Eric he had the best security system money could buy, plus some things that weren’t commercially available, and most importantly, it was a place Nyx had already been, so going there wouldn’t reveal any new information.
Nyx had selfishly felt relieved when Eric stuck to his decision that they would all go to Cyprus together.
This was Grigoris’ home turf, the place where she felt the safest.
Grigoris set the phone on speaker, and as it rang, Eric straightened and walked away from Milo.
“Buenos dias,” Dr. Lopez answered in a friendly, breezy manner.
“It’s Eric Ericsson,” the fleet admiral said. “Did you get the X-rays?”
Nyx could almost imagine the young doctor standing up straighter when she replied, “Yes, sir. I’ve been awaiting your call.”
“And?” Eric asked impatiently.
“The medical report said that the patient had several surgeries to treat a facial wound and a knife wound to the abdomen. Are those the only surgeries she’s ever had?”
Eric glanced at Nyx, who nodded.
“That’s correct,” the fleet admiral replied.
“That’s interesting, because I looked at all the X-rays, and the only thing that seemed out of place was something that looks like a dental implant.”
“Implant?” Nyx asked.
Gabriela clearly hadn’t expected to hear a female voice. “To whom am I speaking?”
“The patient,” Nyx replied. “Those are my X-rays. I’ve never had a dental implant.” Suddenly, she recalled something else. “I had my lower wisdom teeth removed when I was sixteen. They were impacted, so I had to be anesthetized.”
“I see,” Gabriela said. “You never had an infection in one of your back molars? Maybe cracked or broken the tooth?”
“No.”
“I have to caution you, I’m not a dentist, but I checked on this. You are missing your third molars—the wisdom teeth—on the bottom, but one of your second molars, tooth 18, is an implant, and the post is perhaps a bit larger than normal. I noticed it because that’s an odd tooth to implant.”
“Why wouldn’t the doctors in Bucharest have seen this?” Grigoris asked.
“I’m sure they noticed, but there was no reason to question it,” Gabriela replied. “After all, dental implants are fairly common. It’s possible an oral surgeon or dentist would have remarked on the oddness of having that tooth be an implant on someone Nyx’s age, but the injuries they were treating didn’t include the necessity of dental work.”
Nyx closed her eyes and tried to recall if she’d damaged a tooth when she was younger, but she honestly couldn’t remember. She was careful with her oral hygiene.
Gabriela’s next words made her blood run cold. “I think it’s possible the implant could have been put in at the same time the wisdom teeth were extracted. That’s the most likely scenario. You wouldn’t have thought the mouth pain odd because it would have been blamed on the extraction, and since you were under sedation, you wouldn’t have been in a place to count how many teeth were removed.”
“You said part of it was bigger than normal?” Eric asked.
“The post. It’s a metal rod that’s inserted into the jawbone, leaving a small amount sticking out through the gums. The false tooth is attached to the exposed end of the post.”
“That’s got to be the tracker,” Milo said grimly.
Sixteen.
It fit, given the long list of addresses Petro had kept on her whereabouts. Nyx swallowed the bile that clogged her throat. He had been tracking her since she was sixteen years old.
Grigoris must have come to the same conclusion because she heard him curse under his breath.
“Thank you, Gabriela,” Eric said, nodding at Milo, who reached over and disconnected the call before the doctor could say goodbye. “We pull the post,” Eric announced.
Nyx nodded, ready to open her mouth and do the deed herself. All she needed was a pair of pliers.
“I’ll call my dentist,” Grigoris said. “Find an oral surgeon. Set it up immediately.”
“Sooner than immediately. As long as that thing is in her mouth, we’re sitting here with our dicks out.” The fleet admiral sat down at Grigoris’ computer, the cat curling up on his lap as Eric made himself at home.
Eric tapped rapid-fire on the keyboard, doing God only knew what, as Milo pulled out several guns doing what appeared to be a weapons check. Grigoris reached for his cell phone, getting the name of an oral surgeon, then scheduling an appointment for her.
Nyx watched the three men as if they were all moving in slow motion. Life had been in fast-forward ever since she’d left this house the last time, traveling to Dublin, to Lake Balaton and back again—with a quick detour to Italy—before returning here.
She was still trying to wrap her head around everything that had happened.
“Okay,” Grigoris said. “I’ve made the arrangements. We’re going off books and paying cash.”
“I have money,” she said immediately.
“I don’t care about the money.” Grigoris slashed his hand through the air.
“When?” Eric asked.
“The oral surgeon can do it now, if you’re ready, Nyx.”
“She’s ready,” Eric said, not looking up from the computer.
Grigoris frowned, and she thought he might call Eric to task. Nyx placed her hand on his arm and gave him a genuine smile.
“I’m ready.”
Grigoris parked his car in the driveway, nodding when Milo stepped out on his front veranda. The security officer had obviously been watching the perimeter cameras positioned around his property and seen Grigoris’ return.
Grigoris walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for Nyx, grinning as he did so. She was loopy from the anesthesia and painkillers. She’d talked the whole way back from the dentist, waxing poetic about what she considered his very sexy ears. More than that, she’d giggled. A lot.
It was a sound he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard from her, but one he’d give pretty much anything to keep hearing.
He reached down to help her out and she drunkenly swayed, struggling to get out of the car. She slipped, falling into his arms.
“Opa!” she cried out, giggling once more. Grigoris caught her then, much to her delight, bent over to pick her up in his arms.
Milo gave her a shocked look when Nyx said, “Ciao bello,” to the security officer.
Grigoris chuckled. “Good drugs,” he murmured, but he couldn’t resist adding to the joke. “Although you really are a good-looking man.”
Milo shrugged. “I’m Italian; of course I am good-looking.” He stepped back and held the door open to allow Grigoris and Nyx inside. Then the security officer did a quick scan of the surrounding area before following them in.
In her new position in his arms, Nyx could now touch his ears, and she giggled as she tugged on them. “I want to bite them,” she said, her confession setting off a new round of giggles.
“Later,” Grigoris promised quietly as Eric walked out of the office.
Grigoris tried to gently place her on the couch. She wrapped her legs around his waist and started humming what sounded like a sea shanty.
“Oooo,” Nyx cooed when she caught sight of Eric. “There’s a tree I’d like to climb.”
Eric’s brows rose and his lips twitched. “Later,” he said, making it clear he’d heard Grigoris’ response to Nyx biting his ears.
Once Grigoris was free of Nyx’s clinging grip, he stood and quickly explained, “Painkillers.”
“Might steal a couple for after we catch this bastard. Oblivion looks good. Tracker?” Eric asked. Grigoris had become used to Eric’s cutting wit, but he’d been different since Josephine’s death. Calm, but not in a good way. In a fucking terrifying way.
“I broke it, but brought the pieces so we could have someone analyze them. Given its size, and how long it lasted, the tech used was more than just state-of-the-art.”
“Good.” Eric jerked his thumb toward the office. “We found some things while you were gone.”
Grigoris and Milo followed Eric to the office, while Nyx remained on the couch, apparently fascinated by her hair.
Milo handed Grigoris some printed-out pages. “First of all, we got our hands on Hanna’s dental records. She has the same implant.”
So Petro had put trackers on both of his wives. Grigoris didn’t think knowing that would make Nyx feel any better. He nodded solemnly. “What else did you discover?” he asked Milo.
