Chapter Five

Rossi

“So, what’s the plan?”

Rossi closed his eyes and swiveled his office chair, turning away from the view out his window before opening them to gaze at Frost. The man had been asking him the same question since his call three nights ago.

“I don’t know,” he rasped for the umpteenth time.

“Stop giving me that crap,” Frost said more than impatiently. The man had a no bullshit way about him, and Rossi supposed that was the reason he’d called Frost in the first place. Well, that and the fact that Frost had been with him and Stefano a long time—even before they’d created Phoenix. Back in the early days, it had been Rossi, Stefano, Frost, Storm, and Lash. It also helped that Frost was one of the few who knew his and Stefano’s living status.

“Rossi?”

“Yeah,” he answered abruptly like he’d been paying attention.

Frost gave him a flat look. “Have you checked his GPS?”

“He always turns it off…” His words trailed off. Stefano only turned his GPS off when he didn’t want to be found…

“Let’s have Reggie check it anyway.”

“Let’s.” He shoved from his desk and his chair cracked against the bookshelf behind him. Striding across his office, he headed down the hall to the stairwell. Screw taking the elevator, this was too important.

Frost was right on his heels as he took the stairs two at a time to the lower level and went through the access door. The hallway they entered led to the communications room where Reggie and his massive number of computers, monitors, and every electronic gadget known to man were housed.

He flipped his badge against the lock reader and when it beeped, he swung the door open and stepped inside the cool interior.

Both Reggie and Jordan sat working at separate monitors. He knew Jordan was working on the case they’d picked up a few days ago, but he wasn’t sure what Reggie was up to. Jordan had been quiet ever since the Pegasus operation, and Rossi made a mental note to talk to the guy when he got a chance. If Jordan wasn’t happy, then it affected Phoenix as a whole.

Reggie’s head snapped up at his entrance and the man squinted. “What’s wrong?”

Not only an excellent techie, but Reggie was also very intuitive. Rossi cleared his throat and advanced into the room.

“I need you to locate Stefano’s phone for me,” he said with a hard swallow.

“Why?” Jordan’s head snapped up. “What’s wrong with Stefano?”

Shit. He didn’t want to get into it and tossed a quick glance at Frost, who shrugged and lifted his eyebrows.

“You might as well start small,” Frost said.

Rossi had told Frost the full story about the fight between him and Stefano, and after getting an earful from the steely-eyed operative, Frost had yanked him into a hard hug.

Rossi gnashed his teeth. The man had been trying to get him to speak with the team ever since. Giving Frost a squinty-eyed look, he turned to both Jordan and Reggie.

“Follow me,” he growled and left the room. Chairs scraped and feet shuffled as the three men followed him down the hall. He went the opposite way past the bunk area. With a quick glance inside, he found Noah and Mac watching TV. The pair frequently stayed there when they returned from a mission.

“Meeting,” was all he said, and both men stepped out into the hallway and followed him.

The end of the hall spilled into a big bullpen with a large area rug. Desks and chairs lined the walls.

Lash, Fear, Caleb, Wolf, Quick, and Jagger were all clustered around Fear’s desk looking over documents spread out on the surface. Roscoe came out of the break room along with Wild. Both men carried cups of coffee. The only operatives missing were Rush, Seth, Allison, and Storm.

“Where’s Seth?” he asked Frost quietly beneath the noise of scraping chairs and the low murmuring voices of the unit.

Frost rubbed at his chin and quietly spoke, trying for his ears only, “He’s at home, but he’s known for a while.”

Rossi nodded; it made sense that Frost would share with his husband.

“Where’s Rush and Allison?” Rossi asked, raising his voice and glancing around the room.

“Allison is on pregnancy bed rest and Rush took time off to be with her. Stefano okayed it last week,” Reggie answered.

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” He didn’t remember because the day-to-day shit was Stefano’s job… but to save face, he acted like he did.

“Storm,” Wild spoke into his phone. “Rossi called a meeting.” There was a slight pause. “Yeah, okay.”

Wild hung up the phone and met his gaze. “He’ll be here in five minutes.”

Five minutes felt like an hour as each Phoenix operative took turns gazing at him and then away, as if nervous to hold his eyes for any length of time. Was he that intimidating? He sat his ass half on one of the desks and stayed like that until the door opened and Storm advanced into the room.

Rossi met the eyes of his son, Noah, who already knew that he and Stefano lived together. Noah gave him a small, encouraging smile as if he knew what Rossi was going to say.

“What’s going on?” Storm’s deep rumbling voice filled the room.

Rossi waited until Storm stood next to Wild and Roscoe. When everyone was still and had their attention on him, he finally spoke.

“Stefano has left me.”

There, he’d said it, and the words rang out loudly in the room.

“Left us?” Jordan echoed.

Rossi took a deep breath and let it out hard. “No, left me. We… were living together.”

“Wait…you and Stefano are in a relationship?” Reggie’s eyes went big and his mouth dropped open.

“And you thought we didn’t know?” Jordan asked.

Rossi nodded at Reggie, but then blinked at Jordan, who apparently was also very astute. A sudden thought brought his eyes around to the rest of the unit.

“How many of you already knew?” Rossi said.

“Knew what? That you’re in a relationship or that you’re living with Stefano?” Wild said.

“Both,” Rossi said and then squinted at the group when Jordan, Noah, Mac, Caleb, Wolf, Storm, Wild, Roscoe, and Frost all raised their hands.

Before Rossi could come to grips with the fact that his secret hadn’t really been a secret at all, Noah spoke.

“Where did Stefano go?”

Well, shit. Didn’t he feel all kinds of stupid. The thought that he’d lost Stefano over something so trivial had his eyes burning. Thankfully, everyone glanced at Noah before turning back to him.

“I don’t know. I need Reggie to track his GPS,” he admitted, getting a grip on his emotions.

“So, you all knew that they were together, together, and didn’t tell us?” Reggie scowled.

“We didn’t know either,” Lash said and pointed to Fear.

Quick raised his hand. “I didn’t know. The man tossed a look at Jagger, who thus far hadn’t said a word. “Did you?”

“Nope, I didn’t know,” Jagger responded.

“It wasn’t something we announced,” Rossi interrupted before those who didn’t know could get into an argument with those who knew. “We were keeping it quiet.”

“Why?” Fear asked this time.

“Because I was stupid,” he admitted with a quick hand thrusting through his hair. “Stef was keeping it quiet because of me.”

“And you did that because you thought we’d judge you?” Fear asked.

“Yes… partly… I was…” What the hell could he say? He was a private man? That was a fucking lie. Well, he was private, but that wasn’t why he hadn’t announced his and Stefano’s relationship. “It was out of fear. We moved in together almost two years ago.”

This would have been their second Christmas in their home.

“What?” Reggie sounded shocked again. “Why am I the last to know these things?”

“You aren’t the last,” Lash reminded the techie. “And I doubt Allison and Rush know.”

Rossi closed his eyes and gave another sigh before gazing around the room. “Any more comments?”

“When did he leave?” Noah asked, bringing the conversation back to Stefano.

“Three days ago.”

The weight beneath their disappointed faces brought a lump to his throat.

“I need your help. I have to find him,” he rasped.

Their faces changed from disappointment to understanding.

“Consider it done,” Wolf growled, and the rest of the unit nodded.

Reggie jumped on his laptop and a moment later, Rossi felt a huge relief when the techie spoke.

“He didn’t turn off his GPS.”

“Where is he?”

“Aruba.”

There was only one person he and Stefano knew who had bought a home in Aruba a few years back. Had Stefano called Barry Shaw?

“Hooah. Sun and sand, here we come.” Reggie slapped his hands together and Rossi didn’t have the heart to tell any of them they couldn’t come with him. He’d buy tickets for every damned one of them. Surely that would show Stefano he was serious?

It took everything in him not to phone Stefano and demand he call him back. No, he wasn’t going to do that. Instead, he was going to show up with almost all of Phoenix.

Maybe that was what he needed to do—have the whole unit with him when he came for his man.

Because whether or not Stefano wanted him to… he was coming for him.