“You think a damn senate seat means more to me than my sister?”
No. Gabe knew it didn’t. He was just pointing out the obvious reasons why Chloe wanted to keep the disgusting video under wraps. “No,” he answered aloud.
“Mom said she was working for you. How did she seem? I didn’t see much of her last time I was home.” Blake’s words held regret.
“She was doing good, getting over his abuse.” Gabe had spilled everything to Blake, knowing he was going to need the help of Chloe’s family. The only thing he’d refuse any one of them was access to the video. Chloe wouldn’t want her brothers or any of her family to see her like that.
“Do I have any reason to kick your ass?” Blake asked bluntly, stopping his pacing to glare at Gabe, who was seated in one of the living room chairs.
“Not unless you want to beat me up because I love her, too.” He was done pissing around. Blake needed to know how he felt.
“You care about her safety, or you love her?” Blake looked at Gabe frankly.
“I love her. I love her so much I can hardly breathe. If we don’t find her soon, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep my sanity. So yeah, I love her. I want to marry her more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
Blake’s eyebrows rose. “You’ve been busy.”
Gabe nodded. “Busy losing my heart to your sister. I’d never hurt her, Blake. I love her.”
Blake answered, “I know you wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t complain at having you for a brother-in-law. At least I’d know she was safe.”
“I haven’t done such a great job at keeping her safe. Look what’s happening now,” Gabe grumbled, still angry at himself for losing the entire night thinking that Chloe was telling him the truth about wanting James back. He’d spent the night feeling sorry for himself rather than keeping her out of that asshole’s hands. He should have gone after her, refused to accept her explanation. Instead, he’d let his broken heart blind him to the truth.
“It’s not your fault, buddy. Didn’t you just say that I needed to focus on now and forget the past? I’m telling you the same thing.”
As usual, Blake could almost read his thoughts. He knew him that well. Gabe nodded. “Let’s focus on now.”
“What happened?” a feminine voice asked as Lara entered the room. She was dressed casually in jeans and a sweater, like she’d been on her way to school.
Gabe nodded at Tate, who was right behind his wife. Lara looked too frantic to acknowledge much of anything.
Blake took over, filling Tate and Lara in on what had been happening with Chloe. Lara burst into tears, looking guilt-ridden, as Tate held her in his arms, trying to comfort her while seething with anger, and making threats against James.
“I should have known he’d try something. He was pissed, determined to marry her. I was so damn relieved when she broke it off for good and called off the marriage,” Lara said breathlessly, her tears finally stopping.
“You knew?” Tate asked, a look of surprise on his face as he looked at his wife.
Lara nodded slowly, sadly. “Some of it. I set her up with counseling she could do over the Internet with an incredible psychologist. She was doing so much better. But I should have known that James wouldn’t let it end that easily. I think he just wanted her money.”
“You didn’t tell me,” Tate replied, sounding hurt.
“I know. I’m sorry.” Lara reached a hand up to run a palm down the side of his face. “I didn’t tell anyone. Chloe begged me to keep her secrets. She was humiliated. I couldn’t break her confidence. She was making too much progress. I didn’t want her to go back on the defensive.”
“You know more than me about those things, I suppose,” Tate admitted, reaching out to clasp her hand. “I understand. I think.”
“We’ll talk about it, later. I promise. Right now I’m worried about Chloe.”
“They still aren’t there,” Zane’s voice sounded from the entrance as he stepped into the living room. Gabe had left the front door unlocked because he was expecting this kind of traffic. He’d called every member of the Colter family except Marcus. “I searched the entire place, and I finally found the laptop hidden underneath one of the floorboards in his office. Jesus, couldn’t he be more original?”
Gabe’s heart started to race. “Is everything gone?”
“Yeah. I think he only made the copy to send to Chloe, and he didn’t send it by email. I don’t think he wanted to take the chance of it ever getting replicated, especially if he was going to marry her.” Zane went and flopped on the other side of the couch from Gabe.
“You destroyed it?” Gabe rechecked, wanting to know everything was gone.
Zane rolled his eyes. “Do you think I’m an amateur? Just because I haven’t worked for the CIA or the FBI doesn’t mean I don’t know how to get rid of evidence for good. Nobody will ever be able to recover it, and I’m positive there’s nothing else out there except for your copy.” Zane eyed Gabe carefully. “You did destroy it, right?”
“Almost immediately,” Gabe admitted. He’d been unable to stop himself from destroying the video for good. He never wanted anyone to see it. Ever.
“Where is my baby girl?” Aileen Colter entered the large room, looking frantic. “What did he do to her?”
Blake, Zane, Tate, and Lara all hugged her, and they huddled together to explain.