Stephanie Tyler - Unbreakable

“I haven’t heard from Drew. That is . . . unusual. I grew worried. I see I was right to be.” Juan Carlos was staring hard at Donal now. “My friend, I’ll take care of this.”

Donal nodded, tried to jerk away from Gunner, but Gunner refused to let him go. He told Juan Carlos, “This isn’t Drew.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Donal spat.

Again, Juan Carlos looked hard at Donal. After a pause, he glanced up at Gunner, looking troubled. “And why would I believe you? Aren’t you a disgruntled former employee?” Juan Carlos made a motion and one of his men moved forward, a gun pointed at Avery. “Let him go and she’ll be unharmed.”

Gunner let him go and Donal preened smugly. “Juan Carlos, I apologize. I gave James a chance when I shouldn’t have.”

Gunner stared at Donal for a second, then grabbed the man’s arm. Donal tried to pull back, but Gunner kept the death grip on him, put Landon’s hand over his crotch.

The man hissed and pulled back like a demon that’d been burned with holy water. And Gunner smiled.

“What the hell’s going on, James?” Donal bit out.

“Drew Landon would’ve given his fortune if I’d touched his cock,” Gunner said, and Juan Carlos was studying them intently.

“I’m not gay,” Donal spat out.

“No?” Juan Carlos asked, as if he’d been waiting for this moment, and suddenly the air around them seemed to shift dramatically. Donal remained frozen in place as Juan approached him. He reached up and stroked hair off Donal’s face and Donal moved to rebuff the gentle gesture. “Do you remember the last time I saw you?”

“Yes. We had a meeting in Cairo,” Donal said confidently.

“Yes, a meeting,” he repeated. “And you missed another one—what happened?”

Donal frowned. “There was nothing in the appointment book, Juan Carlos. I’m so sorry—it won’t happen again.”

“No, it won’t.” Juan Carlos had his hand wrapped around Donal’s neck before anyone could blink.

Gunner saw Juan Carlos’s men shift their weapons toward Donal, and Gunner pulled Avery closer to him.

“It was an honest mistake—James has been fucking with my business,” Donal told him.

“The meeting you missed would never have been in any appointment book of Drew’s,” Juan Carlos told him in a fierce voice. “It was a standing appointment. Every three months. And Drew never, ever forgot. Not once in ten years.”

Donal struggled a little, but the bigger man’s grip was tight. Juan Carlos turned to Gunner. “He flirted. I know that. But Drew Landon was mine.”

He turned back to Donal, loosened his grip slightly when he asked, “Where is he?”

“I didn’t know my brother . . . was a fucking faggot,” Donal spat, and in a fast move, he kicked Juan Carlos’s knees out from under him and moved back.

“Don’t shoot him,” Juan Carlos told his men as Gunner advanced on Donal. At that moment, Gunner began to fight like it was for his life. It was for all those times he was made to fight Drew Landon’s guards, all those times he’d been made to do things he hadn’t wanted to. For all those things he’d done willingly too. All his demons were taking themselves out on Donal.

Finally, he pulled back. “Where is Drew?”

Donal laughed, his mouth bloody, teeth broken. “Why? You miss him? Gonna cry at his funeral?”

“I don’t believe he’s dead,” Gunner said through gritted teeth. “You’d have been bragging by now.”

“I don’t remember.” Donal was choking on his own blood. “I do . . . remember . . . killing . . . your . . . bitch. She . . . begged. Called . . . for . . . you.”

Gunner drew his hand that held his weapon back, but Avery caught it, stopped him. “Don’t, Gunner. Please.”

“Let me go, Avery.”

“I won’t. He doesn’t deserve to win this. Please.”

It was her please that got him. He looked up at her. “We can’t let them win. We may hate them, but we can’t let them win by bringing us to their level.”

Gunner looked down at Donal, told him, “You’re useless.” When he pushed up off Donal, he saw Avery staring at Donal. Juan Carlos was staring at her.

“This man hurt you?” Juan Carlos asked her.

“Yes.”

“And you won’t let your boyfriend kill him.”

“We’ve done what we needed to. I won’t put another death on his conscience. I don’t care how justified it is.”

Juan Carlos studied her, and then looked at Gunner. “Drew always liked you. You have to know that.”

“I do,” Gunner said.

“Donal’s the type who would keep Drew alive and suffering,” Juan Carlos said grimly. “Please, go find him. I will deal with this, the way Drew would want me to. I begged him to stop Donal years ago. But he had a soft spot for family.”

“I’m sorry,” Avery told him. Juan Carlos nodded, aimed his weapon at Donal’s head, and Gunner grabbed her hand and headed down the stairs as the first of the shots was fired.

“Any idea where Drew might be? We searched all the floors,” she told Gunner.

“Did you go to the guesthouse?” he asked.

“No. We didn’t see one,” she said. They raced down the stairs, where Dare was on the second floor, just escaping the bindings Juan Carlos and his men no doubt put on him.

“Thank God.” He let Gunner help him out of the last of the cuffs, and then Gunner led them both across the grass toward the guesthouse.

“Where’re Jem and Key?” Dare called.

“Looking for Drea,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ve got this—go help them.”

He watched Dare break away, but Avery remained with him. He slammed into the guesthouse and found it empty on first look. Together, he and Avery searched every inch of the place and found nothing.

As he looked around, his phone beeped. He looked at the text message from Jem.

Place is set to blow. Drea’s the trigger.

“What is it?” Avery asked. He showed her the message and she grimaced. “Can they defuse it?”

“I’m sure they’re trying. The faster we can find Drew, the better. We have to know if he’s still going to be out there after all of this.”

“Where else could he be? Is there a basement, like in Powell’s house?” she asked.

He stopped cold, a sudden memory flashing. “No, there’s no basement. But there’s someplace else. Come on.”

He grabbed her hand, pulled her along the lawn, looking for the small statue that was nothing more than a square monument that listed the name of the house and the date it was built. Innocuous, but in an odd spot. One night, Gunner had figured out why.

Now he yanked on the rock, pushed and pulled and heard the mechanism under the grass begin to move. Slowly, he rolled back the AstroTurf to reveal the opening. Then he went down first, with Avery following close behind.

The catacomb tunnels were narrow, claustrophobic. It was damp down here, and Gunner was almost certain it flooded during high tide. The lapping of the water along the floor as they rounded the corner told him he was right. Both their boots sloshed in the water that grew progressively deeper as they approached a hallway with several closed, locked doors.

Gunner kicked open each and every one of them, Avery holding her weapon, covering him. When they got to the last door, he kicked and saw the body lying in the water on the floor.

The man’s skin was deathly pale. There was blood coming from his nose and his ears. But still, Drew Landon had the strength to turn his head to look at him.

Key was next to Jem and both men got as close as they could to check out the mechanism.

“Gotta be attached to the main house in several places,” Key said quietly. There was no way to not let Drea know what was happening, and hell, they were certainly in this together.