She gathered those things to her, holding them tightly, letting them—and Swanny—burn brightly in her mind. Because something in the deepest part of her soul realized that she was going to need to tap reserves she wasn’t sure she possessed. But damn if she was going down without a fight.
CHAPTER 33
SWANNY was waiting impatiently in the lobby with his teammates, checking his watch and muttering under his breath. He didn’t like leaving Eden, no matter that the threat to her had been eliminated. His gut wasn’t quiet. It was going off like a mofo.
Deciding to fuck it and risk her disappointment since she wanted to surprise him, he turned to stride toward the elevator just to ease his screaming gut when Hancock stormed through the entrance to the hotel, his features creased with rage and . . . worry.
It was the worry that stopped Swanny in his tracks, because nothing worried Hancock. The guy was an automaton and he only had one expression. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. When he’d come to Eden’s room, it was as if an alien had temporarily taken over his body because the man had actually shown emotion and tenderness with Eden. There was obvious affection between the two, and Swanny still couldn’t get over the fact that Hancock considered Eden and her family his own family. And he called her cupcake. For the love of God . . .
“Where the fuck is Eden?” Hancock demanded.
Typical no greeting, no pleasantries. That wasn’t Hancock’s way and, well, it wasn’t Swanny’s either. They both got straight to business without meaningless chitchat getting in the way.
“She’s in her room finishing dressing for tonight’s launch party,” Swanny supplied. “She should be down any minute.”
“Son of a bitch!” Hancock swore. “You left her unguarded even for a few minutes? What the hell kind of operation are you running here? I have intel you need immediately.”
At that, Swanny’s entire team came to attention and crowded around, all business, as they waited for Hancock to continue.
“Well, since you obviously eliminated the threat to her, it doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense that you’re freaking the fuck out,” Joe drawled, staring pointedly at Hancock to let him know that KGI was well aware of who got to Sanchez.
Hancock swore again. “He wasn’t the threat. He never was.”
“What the fuck are you saying?” Swanny demanded. The dread in his gut intensified. Goddamn it, he knew something wasn’t right, and he damn well should have put his foot down and never agreed to give Eden ten minutes to finish dressing alone.
“Short version,” Hancock clipped out. “Eddie had it all wrong. He thought the mother and daughter were killed when their mission went FUBAR. He assumed it was the son seeking revenge after I took out the father after he killed Eden’s mother. But it never made sense to me. If he was seeking revenge, a wife for a wife, then why wouldn’t he have killed Eden then? Wife for wife, daughter for daughter.”
Swanny’s panic level was reaching epic proportions. He didn’t like where this was going a damn bit.
“Let’s get to her room,” Hancock barked. “I’ll give you the rest on the way up. I want to make damn sure she’s safe because the threat to her has not been eliminated.”
At that, Swanny and his entire team broke into a run, Swanny pounding on the elevator call button.
As they piled into the elevator, Hancock continued.
“The daughter survived. It was only thought she was killed in cross fire. It’s not the goddamn son after Eden. It’s the daughter. It explains how inept the attempts on her life have been. This isn’t some hired assassin after Eden. The daughter is coming after Eden herself.”
“Son of a bitch,” Swanny swore. “Goddamn it, Hancock. Haven’t you ever heard of a fucking phone? Why the hell didn’t you let us know immediately instead of waiting until you got here to spill? You talk about us not doing our job, but if Eden means so goddamn much to you then, why the fuck didn’t you immediately get on the horn and warn us?”
“Because I thought you’d keep doing your goddamn job,” Hancock snapped. “I came straight here after taking out the son and his security. It was there I found correspondence from his sister and him begging her not to go after Eden. To stop the cycle of revenge and retribution. In all of this, it appears the son is the only halfway intelligent one. I didn’t discover this until after I’d taken him out. I fucked up. I admit that. I should have made him talk because he didn’t deserve to die. He tried to talk his sister down, but she’s batshit crazy and is obsessed with making Eden and Eddie suffer and taking Eden out. She wants Eddie to know, to see his daughter suffering, and that may be the only goddamn thing that gives us time to find her before she kills Eden.”
The blood in Swanny’s veins froze. Dread clutched him by the throat and wouldn’t let go. Oh God, please let Eden be in the hotel room where she’s supposed to be. No matter what, he wasn’t leaving her side until the crazed lunatic trying to kill her was taken out for good. He cursed himself for relaxing his guard even for a moment. No matter how prettily Eden had asked for a few minutes to dress and meet them in the lobby, he should have insisted on remaining with her the entire time. He hoped to hell his fuckup didn’t cost Eden her life. He could never live with himself. He could never live without her.
They rushed off the elevator, guns drawn, and when they got to her suite, Swanny went cold with dread.
The door wasn’t completely closed, a maid’s cart partially obstructing the entrance. He shoved it inside, gun up, his team flanking him as he burst into the room.
“Eden!” Swanny bellowed. “Eden, are you here?”
They rushed in, spreading out quickly. Swanny ran into her bedroom only to find it empty. A quick check of the bathroom turned up nothing, and he began to sweat as panic gripped him by the balls.
“She’s not here,” Hancock yelled. “Fan out. We have to search the hotel from top to bottom. Go, go, go!”
Somehow Hancock got paired with Swanny and they hit the stairway, running full tilt down each floor. Nathan, Joe and the others would do a floor-by-floor sweep, but Swanny knew if Eden had been abducted, her kidnapper wouldn’t have stuck around.
They ran to the basement floor and used the access key provided by hotel security to open the door leading to the stairwell. As they rounded the corner where the elevator stood, Hancock let out a vicious curse.
Swanny saw the maid lying on the floor, eyes glassy with death, a bullet hole low on her forehead, directly between the eyes. Blood had already congealed and she was cold, and rigor was starting to set in.
Son of a bitch. The crazy-ass daughter had gotten into Eden’s room by posing as a maid and used the key card from the cleaning lady she’d shot and killed.
Swanny bolted up and ran toward the exit, throwing open the door, ducking out, hoping against hope that he wasn’t too late and could get a bead on the crazy bitch who’d taken Eden from her hotel room.
What bothered him the most and filled him with overwhelming panic was how she got Eden out with no issue.Eden was trained in self-defense. She could handle herself in a bad situation. So the only way someone would get her out of a hotel with no one knowing and without one hell of a fight was if Eden had been drugged.
Thinking back on the hotel room, there was no sign of a struggle. Nothing had been out of place. Just the maid’s cart, and the door had been left ajar. She had to have been drugged. It was the only explanation.
With a maid coming in, Eden being Eden would have been nice and welcoming, never suspecting a maid could be a danger to her. Especially since Swanny had assured her the threat to her had been taken care of.