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Ava could see that Gabriel was in the hallway, he was opening a locked drawer, she could see on another monitor that the masked man was moving slowly towards where Gabriel was. Avas first instinct was to call out for Gabriel, to warn him. But it would mean the masked man would know he was close to Gabriel, and he would know where she was. Ava didn’t know what the man’s target was, if it was her, or Gabriel, both of them, or if he wanted something else in the apartment. But alerting him to their whereabouts was a bad idea. She needed a plan, and she needed it quick. She took out her phone and texted Zane.
A: Someone has broken into the apartment.
She then took a last look at the monitors, making sure nothing had happened and walked out of the panic room. She moved as quietly as she could and took the rout that would lead her into the living room from the opposite end to where the masked man were. She could see him as she moved through the doorway. He was at the other entrance, looking out into the hallway. Ava assumed he was watching Gabriel. Without it being a conscious decision, she picked up her laptop from the couch as she passed it. The soft rug under her feet helped to silence her steps as she moved forward. When she was behind the man he moved to straighten up. Ava reacted instinctively as she raised the laptop in both hands and smashed it down over his head. He grunted and unsteadily turned around to look at her. She smacked him in the head with the laptop a second time as she squealed. His eyes went blank, and he fell down.
“AVA!” Gabriel called as he came running with a gun in his hand.
“I-I’m fine,” she told him as they both stood looking down at the man. Gabriel had his gun trained on him. There was a loud pounding at the door and Ava jumped. Gabriel fired the gun and hit the man in his leg.
“Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to do that,” Gabriel said. Ava giggled and it turned into a laughter that was on the verge of being hysterical. A second loud pounding was heard from the door.
“That would be the men trying to get in,” Ava said.
“Right, I should open the door for them,” Gabriel said. Then he hesitated as he looked at the man and the gun. Then he looked at Ava and he didn’t seem to like the options.
“I will go,” Ava offered. He nodded. Still trying to stop her giggling, she walked around the man on the floor, gave Gabriel a kiss on the cheek and walked to open the door. As she looked out through the peephole, she could see a horde of their men standing outside. they seemed to be discussing something. Probably how to break down the door. Ava unlocked it and opened it.
“Mrs. A!” they all called out as one.
“I’m fine, Gabriel is fine. But we do have an unconscious man in there that has been shot,” she told them. She stepped aside to let them in and two of the women gently guided her into the bedroom and made her sit on the bed, she was soon joined by Gabriel.
“Mrs. A, you should check your phone,” one of the men said. Ava realised she had put it on mute as she had sneaked out of the panic room. She took it out and saw twenty-five missed calls from Zane and several texts. The texts all said the same thing, just worded a bit differently. Zane was demanding she tell him she was in the panic room and then he was telling her to pick up her phone. Ava felt bad as she knew he must be going crazy. She was about to call him when she heard him shout her name. Someone must have told him where she was because she had barely got up from the bed before he was in the door opening.
“We’re fine,” Ava told him as she saw the storm cloud of a face he had on. He drew her into a tight hug, and she hugged him back. She was aware that Ryder had stormed in after Zane and was holding on to Gabriel.
“We will talk about this when we get home, angel. In detail,” Zane whispered in her ear. “But for now I’m just happy that you and the baby are safe,” he said in a softer voice. The conversation was low, not to let anyone else hear it. He then released her from the embrace and looked out into the living room. “Who shot him?” he asked out loud.
“I did,” Gabriel said. Zane looked at him and nodded approvingly.
“But how did he fall unconscious? It’s not that serious of a wound,” Ryder asked. Ava had hoped they wouldn’t have asked.
“That was me. I kind of hit him in the head. Twice,” she confessed. She could feel Zane’s eyes shot back to her.
“You did what? Why were you out of the panic room and why did you hit him in the head when Gabriel had already shot him?” Zane asked.
“Well. The gun shot happened after the hitting on the head,” Ava told him.
“You hit him on the head, twice. With what? And why did Gabriel then shoot him? I’m guessing he was unconscious at that point.”
“She used her laptop. We need to buy you a new one,” Gabriel told them. “And I shot him because the men knocked on the door and I got scared. I said I was sorry,” he added. Ryder looked at him like he had a hard time understanding what his boyfriend had said. Then he started laughing.
“Maybe we should hold off on the guns for a while longer,” Ryder said between spouts of laughter.
“Do we know who he is?” Ava asked. Ryder became serious and looked to Zane.
“Let’s find out,” Zane said. Then he paused and looked at Ava. “Maybe you should…” he started.
“If you are going to say that I should stay here, I won’t. I hit the man, twice. I think I can be there when we look at him,” Ava told him. He sighed and pulled her into him and they walked out to the living room with Ryder and Gabriel. the living room was filled with their men. Some was guarding the gaping hole that had been a window. Some was looking at the place where the window had been connected to the wall. There were a group that was guarding the masked man. Someone had put a simple dressing over the wound in his leg and the was now laying on his stomach with his hands behind his back.
“Take of his mask,” Zane said. A man bent down and pulled the ski mask from the man. Ava gasped as she found she recognised him.
“Fuck,” Zane swore and kicked the man in the side. The man groaned and the pain seemed to make him wake up.
“W-what?” hue stuttered as he tried to take in his new reality. He struggled against the zip ties and then he saw Zane’s feet. He followed them up until he saw Zane’s furious face. “Boss?”
“Fucking traitor,” Ryder growled. The man on the floor seemed to understand what was happening and he turned pale.
“I want him in my basement within half an hour. No one touches him before I do,” Zane said. There was no room for objections. Zane had a steady hold around Ava’s waist as he started walking out of the apartment.
“Gabriel, you and Ryder will come stay with us until this place is cleaned up and put back together,” Ava said over her shoulder.
“Thank you, babe,” Gabriel called after her. “We will just pack a bag and we will come right over,” he added. Ava and Zane were surrounded by a group of people as they moved in the building and walked to the car that was waiting outside. When they were inside the car and Tom was driving them away, Zane unbuckled Avas seatbelt and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her and then buried his face in her neck. All the emotions he had to hide while they were in public, he let out now. Ava just held him close to her and let her fingers rake through his hair.
“I could have lost you,” he said.
“But you didn’t,” she reminded him.
“It was too close. The risk came from the inside. How am I supposed to keep you safe if I can’t trust my own men?”
“You can trust them. At least the inner circle. You know this. Listen to me Zane. I won’t allow you to become paranoid. We have good people that we can rely on,” Ava told him.
“You are right, angel. I need to be reminded of that sometimes.”
“I am happy to remind you whenever you need.”
“Don’t think I have forgotten what you did today, angel. I believe you had a good reason to risk your life to smack the laptop on top of Tristan’s head. But I also remember you promising me that you would get into the panic room if anything happened,” he told her.
“I did get into the panic room, just like I promised you. Then I got back out. So, I didn’t break my promise,” she said.
“That’s semantics, and I think we have had this discussion before,” he reminded her. Ava nodded.
“When we get home, I want you to head up to our room and go and relax. Take a bath or crawl up in an armchair and crochet, or read a book. I will join you as soon as I’m done,” he told her.
“I’m going to wait on Gabriel. I’m guessing Ryder will join you and Jax in the basement. And Gabriel and I never got our pizza so we will need some food.”
“Fine. But please don’t do anything that I wouldn’t approve of. I don’t think my nerves and heart could take any more surprises today,” he said, and he sounded tired.
“We will be good. We will eat and we will watch some movies until you are done,” she promised. “Maybe order me a new laptop.” Zane chuckled.
“I love when you show your warrior side, angel. Even if it’s going to put me in an early grave,” he told her and kissed her.