Chapter 21

It was takingeverything in Angelo not to demand that Teresa talk to him. He’d seen the way her former boss had stormed off. Heard the words he’d thrown at her.

From the second he’d walked into the bar, Angelo had clocked that Teresa’s former editor was scared witless. The way the man had kept scoping the room, as if expecting someone to jump out at him any second was a dead giveaway.

What frustrated Angelo the most was that his instincts were screaming that there was someone in the room who was watching everything go down as well.

Except he hadn’t been able to locate the perpetrator. As much as he wanted to get up and stalk around the room to find the fucker, he’d kept his ass planted in the seat he’d taken.

It burned him that he had to bide his time, and even though he suspected Teresa would work out he was watching over her, he hadn’t wanted to draw any attention to himself.

From where he’d positioned himself, Angelo had had a direct line of sight to Teresa, Monte, and the front door.

He couldn’t get a visual of the back door and assumed it had to be at the end of the hallway where the restrooms were located. No one had gone to the bathrooms, so whoever was there had located them in a way that even he, a former SEAL, couldn’t identify him.

“You good?” he asked after they’d been on the road for about ten minutes.

“Getting there.” Teresa’s fingers squeezed his, and he was grateful for the connection with her.

“Want to tell me what’s going on?” So much for waiting for her to take the initiative and unburden herself to him.

“There’s so much, but I only want to explain it once and I think we’re going to need the whole team to hear this.”

What’d been said between her and her former boss before he had arrived?

What had caused the man to lose his cool with her in front of everyone?

The entire room had heard him call her a liar and a cheat. Had he really meant it, or was he saying it to give whoever was lurking in the shadows the impression he wanted nothing to do with Teresa?

Anything was possible, and if she wanted the whole team to hear it—as much as it annoyed him—he’d grant her that courtesy.

“Okay. But why are we heading to your place and not the office?” Angelo indicated to turn down her street.

“Because there’s something I need to get.”

Looked like Teresa was giving her information out sparingly, as if they were virtual strangers instead of lovers.

He knew every inch of her body. Had spent the last two weeks worshipping her. Giving all of himself to her.

Why was she closing herself off from him?

“Here we are,” he said, instead of demanding she talk to him, tell him what was going through her mind.

At least she waited for him to open the door for her and didn’t do it herself. Nor did Teresa yank her hand away from his when he took it so they could walk into her building side-by-side.

Perhaps he was reading too much into her lack of conversation. They made the trip to her apartment in silence. Angelo still didn’t like her building and was infinitely glad she no longer lived there.

As they approached her door, her neighbor’s apartment opened, and Phillip’s head popped out. “Teresa! Where have you been? I’ve missed seeing your around.”

The man’s jovial greeting raised red flags for Angelo.

How had he known Teresa was at her door? It wasn’t as if this side of the building faced the street where they’d parked.

Were there hidden cameras in the building?

A quick look at the ceiling didn’t reveal any hidden cameras beneath the ceiling tiles, and nothing looked out of place. That didn’t mean anything. Special Forces had devices and cameras that weren’t noticeable to the naked eye.

Angelo would have to get Cass to see if she could find out anything about this building. Get a copy of the specs to see if there were any gaps that could give a person the ability to put cameras in.

What about motion sensors? It would be easy enough to pop one beneath the carpet.

Although if Phillip had put one out the front of Teresa’s door, it would’ve gone off only when they’d triggered it. His door had opened before they reached her apartment.

“Angelo? You coming in?” She tugged his hand.

Fuck, he’d let himself get lost in his thoughts, and he’d missed the exchange between Teresa and Phillip.

How the hell had he let himself get so distracted? Anything could’ve happened.

Phillip wore a smug smile, as if he was totally aware Angelo had lost his focus.

He flexed his fingers, itching to wipe the smile off the asshole’s face. Instead, he smirked at the man. He was the one walking into Teresa’s apartment—not Phillip. “Sure, babe. I’ll follow you anywhere.”

Fuck me, could I sound cheesier?

Was that a growl?

Angelo hadn’t made a sound, and it’d had a definite masculine tone, so Teresa couldn’t have either. He glanced at Phillip, and the genteel, welcoming fa?ade that normally graced the man’s face was gone.

In its place was a mask of hatred and derision. As though he thought himself better than Angelo.

Yeah, this asshole needed to be taken down a peg or two.

“Give me a sec, will you, Tre?” He gave her a little push and closed the door before she could answer him. He turned on Phillip and had him against the wall, his hand to his throat before the other man could blink. “Listen here, fucker,” Angelo growled. “That woman in there is off limits. You don’t touch her. You don’t talk to her. And if any hair on head gets hurt, I’ll know where to come.” He shoved the man aside.

Phillip grabbed at his throat, as if that would help to fill his lungs with air. “You’re gonna regret doing that, pretty boy. Just you wait. I’m gonna enjoy taking Teresa away from you,” he ground out.

“Good luck with that.” Angelo bent and got in his face again. “You don’t want to take me on because you won’t be the winner.” He straightened and opened Teresa’s door, enjoying shutting it in Phillip’s face.

“Feel better now?” Teresa asked, a dry edge to her voice.

“Not really. How about we get what you need, and we get out of here?” He kept his voice low in case in the two weeks since Teresa had last been here, someone had replaced the bugs he and Growler had gotten rid of.

As if she understood what he was getting at, Teresa nodded and headed to her bedroom.

Angelo took the time to do a quick sweep of the area, relieved when he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. There were also no hidden cameras, so whatever Teresa wanted to get wasn’t being recorded by whoever had previously placed bugs in her place. He entered her bedroom, pausing in the doorway when he found her sitting on the bed, staring at a fluffy toy panda resting between her two pillows.

Had that been there the last time he was there? He couldn’t recall.

The way Teresa seemed almost frozen to the spot, he was beginning to think it was a new acquisition—one she hadn’t purchased.

“Tre?” He squatted down in front of her, resting a hand on her knee.

When their gazes met, her eyes were wide and there was a hint of fear lurking in their gray depths.

Fuck, this wasn’t good.

Angelo brought a finger to his lips and canted his head toward the stuffed toy then pointed to the door.

Again, Teresa nodded, and rose slowly, walking out of the room.

Once she was safely out, he took a photo of the toy with his phone before he opened the Alliez app Cass had created. He activated the screening tab. Cass, using her computer skills and brain, had provided them with the tools that even the Navy would love to get their hands on.

Angelo quickly ran his phone all over the toy, relieved when there was no indication that there was anything nefarious or dangerous imbedded inside it. However, it had been left as a message.

A message that he planned to get to the bottom of.

“All clear, Tre,” he called.

She came back into the room, leaning against his side.

He immediately pulled her close, brushing his lips across the top of her head. “This wasn’t here when you collected your stuff to move in with me, was it?”

“No. But it’s like one I used to have a kid.”

“What happened to it?”

Teresa shrugged. “When I went to college, Mom packed up a lot of my stuff and gave it Goodwill. I didn’t mind.”

“So, your old panda didn’t hold any significance to you, then? It wasn’t given to you by someone special?” Angelo bit his tongue to stop himself from asking if it was a former boyfriend that had given it to her.

“No, I think I bought it because it was cute.”

“There’s no other reason why it could mean anything to you?” None of this made sense. Who could’ve known that she had a panda like this? Especially one that didn’t mean anything to her, yet it was left here like a message. A beacon of some sort.

“Not really. Unless—” Teresa went to pick it up, but he stopped her. “I thought you said it was all clear. That should mean I can pick it up.”

“I did, but I still don’t want you touching it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She sat back down on the bed, studying it.

“You were about to say something before I stopped you from touching it. What was it?”

“I know Mom really liked it. She thought it was cute and would always pat its head when she walked out of my room.”

“What you’re saying is that she may not have given it away when you left for college, but kept it to remind her of you?”

Tears glistened in Teresa’s eyes. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. It would be so something my mom would do.”

“Where’s your mom, babe?” In the two weeks they’d spent together, they’d talked about his mom, but they’d never touched on her family, and now he felt like the biggest asshole for not asking.

“As far as I know, she’s in Arizona where she moved after I graduated college. She had a friend who lived there and encouraged Mom to join her. They go off on trips all the time.”

Alarm bells were beginning to go off in Angelo’s head. “When was the last time you spoke to her?”

“It’s been a while because she was away when I started this assignment. I usually don’t tell her what I’m doing, as I don’t want her to worry. I want her to enjoy her life.”

Angelo nodded. “Okay, when we get back to the office, we’ll give her a call. Get what you need so we can go.”

Teresa nodded but kept her eye on the panda. “We should take this too, shouldn’t we?”

“Yep, if you get me a bag, I’m going to grab some tongs from the kitchen and pick it up that way. If there’s any chance we can find some DNA or something on it, I don’t want to disturb it.” Although even if they did find something, it’d be hard to match it to anyone. Having DNA to match later on was always a good thing.

“Okay.” She disappeared out of the room, and Angelo studied the small space, looking for anything that might stand out and give him a clue into what it all meant.

There was no simple explanation as to why the stuffed animal was sitting on Teresa’s bed. Especially if it was the one she’d had as a kid and her mom had kept it. Someone had come in and put it in her room, hoping that she’d know the significance.

The question was, how long had it been there, and what message did the person who put it there want to leave?

Angelo was also eager to confirm that Teresa’s mother was okay because if she wasn’t, he feared the cartel had just played their first card, and that wasn’t good—for anyone.