Chapter Eleven

Stomping over to the desk, Donovan ripped the flash drive out of the computer and spun around to face off with Kent Warren. "Why the hell do you have my flash drive?" he demanded.

"You weren't supposed to survive," Warren stated without a trace of emotion. "Who the hell walks away from a plane crash?"

Suddenly, things began to fall into place fast and Donovan felt sick to his stomach. The hack, the plane crash, the men chasing them through the jungle and now his stolen flash drive. Warren had sent those men to steal his drone specs and kill him so he could take full credit for Spectre. He'd never had any intention to act as an investor.

That greedy fucking bastard.

Donovan's anger boiled over and he was about to rip into Warren when the man reached into his drawer and removed a Taurus .357 Magnum revolver. "I was assured you'd be taken care of but, as usual, I have to do everything myself."

"Whoa." Donovan raised his hands and backed up a step. "You fucked with the plane then sent those men to make sure I didn't survive."

It wasn't a question. The reality of the situation was Kent Warren was an avaricious sociopath who would go to any measures to pass off Donovan's drone as his own.

"You're a hard man to kill."

"Former Navy SEAL. We don't go down easy."

"But you do go down. And, now it's your time to—"

"We can still work together," Donovan insisted, trying to buy some time as he racked his brain on how the hell he was going to escape this clusterfuck. Because if anyone was going down, it was this arrogant prick in front of him.

"I don't work well with partners, so I'll just sell your idea to the highest bidder. And, trust me, there are some organizations out there who will pay a fuckload more than the U.S. government."

"Terrorists," Donovan murmured.

Warren shrugged a shoulder. "Narcos, jihadis…I don't care who they are or what they believe. The only thing I believe in is the almighty dollar. And whoever is willing to pay the most is going to get your drone specs."

Donovan shook his head, utterly disgusted. This was exactly what he'd been scared of—that his drone would fall into the wrong hands. And he couldn't let that happen. "You'd really sell out your own country?"

"Maybe you didn't notice, but I left there. Brazil is now my country."

"Fair enough. But what about your family and friends? You'd put them in danger? Because selling that drone to a foreign enemy means innocent people are going to die."

"My only loyalty lies with capitalism," he stated coolly and without emotion. "Do you have any idea how much a drug lord would pay for tech like this?"

"You already have billions of dollars," Donovan snapped.

"And I'll have a trillion when I sell this drone."

What a greedy asshole. Clearly, there was no changing his mind. But, Donovan still needed to buy some time. An idea was forming and he took a slight step closer to Warren. As close as he dared. Close-quarters combat had never been his favorite thing as a SEAL but, ironically, here he was and shit was about to go down. Donovan just hoped his rusty military skills would kick in and he could move fast enough to avoid a bullet in the head.

Because for the first time, he had someone to return to…and he really wanted to get back to Kate.

"Put the flash drive down," Warren ordered.

Feigning defeat, Donovan moved even closer, stepping right up to the desk and acting like he was about to set it down. Instead, at the last second, he grabbed the masked figurine statue, swung it upwards with all of his might and hit the gun right out of Warren's hand. Served him right for holding it straight out like an inexperienced idiot.

The revolver flew through the air and Donovan dropped the statue and launched himself forward, tackling the billionaire down. They fell backwards and Donovan threw several hard punches. Warren wasn't a fighter and after a fist upside the head, the man passed out.

Fuming, Donovan pushed off him and stood up. Then he walked over to the man's laptop, yanked the cords out and tucked it under his arm. There was bound to be some shit on Warren's computer to take the billionaire down and Donovan planned on hacking in and finding it. Their earlier conversation told Donovan that Warren had no loyalty to anyone and a penchant to make the most money however he could—whether legally or not. Donovan planned to sniff out and track down every nefarious and illegal source of income the bastard had and then expose him to the correct, trustworthy people there in Rio.

Despite what he thought, Kent Warren wasn't untouchable. And Donovan would do everything in his power to bring the asshole to justice.

◆◆◆

Kate expected to celebrate when Donovan returned, so when he told her what happened, she was shocked. He also explained that it wasn't safe to remain in Rio any longer and the best thing they could do was return home immediately.

Home to Tennessee, Kate realized with a heavy heart, while Donovan went back to New York.

Just the thought made her stomach clench into a hard, little knot of misery. And she hadn't even seen Tijuca.

As though he read her mind, Donovan said, "I'm sorry you didn't get to go to your park."

"Next time, right?" She heard the melancholy in her voice, but tried to act like it didn't matter. The truth was she wouldn't be returning to Rio any time soon. But, what made her even sadder was the abrupt end to her once in a lifetime adventure.

Because a very angry and powerful Kent Warren was still out there, most likely conscious by now and ready to wreak his revenge. Donovan encouraged her to pack quickly and, in less than twenty minutes, they were down on the curb and sliding into a car headed for the airport. Donovan had found them direct flights home, but they were on two different planes, bound for two different cities. Two different lives.

The idea of saying goodbye made her heart ache.

Everything seemed to be moving far too fast and before she could blink, they had checked their luggage and zipped through security.

"You don't have much time," Donovan said. "Let me walk you to your gate and make sure you get on the plane okay."

Emotion roiled through Kate and every step closer to her gate made her want to turn around and run away. She felt like she was headed straight to Death Row instead of a flight home. Everything she wanted was right there in front of her and about to be ripped away forever. Because a life without Donovan would be dull, boring and lonely. Once they reached their destination, Kate stared through the window at the stupid plane that would take her away from here. Away from Donovan.

Holding back tears, she looked up into his caramel eyes. It's best to just say goodbye and walk away, she told herself. Before he sees you sob like a baby. Yet her feet refused to move. "I don't want to go," she admitted, unable to stop the tears from trickling down her face.

"C'mere." Donovan pulled her close, wrapping her up in his strong embrace. "Please, don't cry."

"I can't help it. I'm going to miss you."

For a long moment he didn't say anything. He just stroked a large hand over her hair and down her back. Then, in a low voice, he murmured, "We both knew this moment was coming."

His words made her chest tighten. "That doesn't make it any easier."

"No, it doesn't."

Kate wasn't sure how long they stood there and held each other, but when the attendant at the desk announced it was final boarding, Donovan finally released her and stepped back. This was the moment in every one of her books when the hero grabbed the heroine's hand before she left, announced he refused to let her go and then kissed her senseless. It's when he told her she wasn't going anywhere and he loved her.

"You have to go," Donovan whispered.

But you're no heroine, Kate.

Pretending his words hadn't completely devastated her, Kate nodded bravely. Then she turned away and walked toward the airline worker who scanned her boarding pass. After it beeped softly, Kate stepped up to the long hallway that led to the jetway. She paused, feeling Donovan's eyes on her and, instead of looking back, she stood up straighter and forced herself to walk away from the best time she'd ever had.

And the man she was falling head over heels in love with.

◆◆◆

Letting Kate go and watching her walk away was probably the hardest thing Donovan had ever done. He almost went after her twice, but the warning glare from the airline employee had him hesitating. Without a ticket, he didn't want to push past and run down the jetway, yelling for Kate like a complete lunatic. In this day and age, he'd probably get arrested.

Instead, he let out a weary sigh and turned around to head to his gate.

The couple of hours he had to kill until his flight left were absolutely miserable. There were so many questions in his mind about how they could make it work when they lived so far apart. Ironically, he thought he'd wanted a long distance relationship. Until he met Kate and knew that would never satisfy him. He needed her all day, every day.

But before he could figure out the logistics of a future with her, or give her any false hope, he needed to destroy Kent Warren. And nothing was going to stop him from digging deep and finding out the asshole's darkest secrets. Warren was going down. Donovan would make sure of it.

◆◆◆

Later that week, Donovan met Jericho "Trip" Strong, Deacon "Thunder" Keller and Aidan "Vain" Wolf at a sports bar down the street from his apartment. Although Jericho and Deacon lived in upstate New York, they often came down to the city to visit. Aidan lived with his wife Kennedy in a loft that overlooked the Hudson River not too far away.

"Okay, spill it," Jericho said and tipped his beer bottle in Donovan's direction. He wore a Boston Red Sox cap—which was bold considering he was in Yankees territory—and he sported endless brightly-colored ink. "Why're you moping?"

"Yeah, D. You're acting like your fucking dog just died," Deacon added, taking a sip of his fancy IPA. Jericho's BFF sported even more tats, but he had a refined air and innate polish that made an interesting contradiction with his outer bad boy image. Probably because his family came from old money and possessed enough of it to buy half the city if they wanted. Too bad his parents were assholes.

Donovan glanced at Aidan who inclined his dark head. Aidan used to be the broodiest SOB he knew, but ever since he fell in love with Kennedy, he'd actually started to smile. Donovan had never even known the man had dimples before his woman came along and proved it.

"I'm not moping," Donovan practically grunted. Okay, maybe I am. A little.

"Bullshit," Aidan said, dragging a pretzel bite through a massive pile of mustard on his plate and popping it into his mouth.

Releasing a low breath, Donovan sat back in his chair. "Okay, you know how I went to Rio last weekend."

"Yeah, what's going on with Warren?" Jericho asked.

"They arrested him, right?" Aidan leaned forward, midnight blue eyes narrowing.

"They did. I hit pay dirt after breaking some encrypted files on his hard drive. Everything from bribes to shunting dirty money to politicians to attempted murder. I wouldn't be surprised if they discover he had something to do with last year's mysterious death of his number one competitor. The asshole was into all sorts of shady shit."

"That's how he made his billions," Deacon stated dryly.

Donovan dropped his attention to his beer bottle and picked at the wet label. "There's something else I didn't tell you."

"What?" Jericho asked.

"I met someone."

"What?" Jericho and Deacon exclaimed at the same time while Aidan's mouth edged up.

"No wonder you look miserable," Aidan said with a low chuckle.

"We were on the same flight to Rio—the one that went down—and then got lost in the jungle, trying to escape Warren's guys. We spent the weekend in Rio together and…" He raked a hand through his silky hair and frowned.

"Let me guess," Deacon said, grinning. "Best weekend you ever had?"

Donovan nodded. "It doesn't make sense, though. How can I fall for someone I've only known for such a short time?"

"Oh, it happens," Aidan said wisely. "Does it make sense? No. Do you have any control over it whatsoever? Hell no. Good luck, buddy."

"Thanks. That's helpful." Donovan downed the rest of his beer.

"So, where is this mystery woman?" Jericho asked.

"She went back to Tennessee. Kate has a life there and I have stuff here. It never would've worked."

"Why not?" Deacon pressed. "People do long distance all the time. I mean, I could never do it. One day without Adri makes me crazy."

"The whole weekend was an insane blur, so we never talked about the future."

"But you fell for her," Aidan stated.

It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I did," Donovan admitted. "But what can I do?"

"How does she feel?" Deacon asked.

"I have no idea. I mean, I know she likes me, but this was just a weekend fling, right?" Right? "I had to let her go."

The more he thought about it, the more Donovan wondered. Maybe he let Kate go too easily. Shit.

"I fucked up, didn't I?" Donovan asked, dread filling his stomach.

"Yep," Aidan said pleasantly.

"Vain is right," Jericho said. "You should've hopped on her flight and made a big production of getting her back. Chicks like that shit."

Fuck. "Should I call her?"

"I wouldn't recommend it," Deacon said. "She's probably pissed. Especially if you slept with her then let her walk away without a fight."

Donovan lowered his head. "Dammit. So, now what do I do?"

"You're kinda fucked," Jericho stated and polished off his beer.

"Unless you make a grand gesture." Aidan ate another mustard-soaked pretzel bite.

Donovan placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward. "Like what?" If someone told him a year ago he'd be asking these three clowns for relationship advice, he would've laughed. But now that they'd all settled down, he listened intently, hoping for guidance.

"Hop on the next flight to Tennessee. Show up on her doorstep and start groveling," Aidan informed him.

Donovan considered the idea then slowly nodded. "I can do that."

"And hope she's in a forgiving mood," Deacon added, and the other men laughed as Donovan's mind began to come up with a gameplan.

Letting Kate walk away had been the biggest mistake of his life. It was time for some damage control. And, quite possibly, some serious begging.