“You can’t do this.” The words emerged from Ava’s lips as a whisper when what she really wanted to do was scream.
“I will do whatever I deem appropriate to protect the reputation of my agency.”
Ava kept waiting for Dominic to do something, help in some way, but he only stood there, hostility pouring off him in palpable waves.
Bitterness boiled through her veins. She should have known.
His resentment shouldn’t feel like a betrayal. But it did. Humiliation flooded her. She would not break down in front of these men. She opened her borrowed clutch and offered her weapon to her boss, along with her creds.
“I’m a good agent,” she forced out. Then, without looking at Dominic, she left.
*
Dominic waited for the fury inside him to subside. He knew how to talk his way out of this. He knew that reactive anger would get them nowhere. He wanted to take Ava in his arms and calm her down, but he needed to calm himself down first.
She wouldn’t leave without talking to him. She’d wait for him somewhere quiet where they could discuss things. He’d fix this.
Dammit. Panic raced through him. No way would Ava stick around after she’d been insulted so thoroughly. She’d leave. ASAP.
Dominic started to go after her, but the director grabbed his arm.
“She isn’t worth it, Sheridan.”
He pulled away. The desire to put his knuckles through the man’s face was almost overwhelming, and he pulled in air to stop himself. He’d already punched his brother tonight. Ava had turned him into someone who would rather use his fists than his words, when it was his words that had gotten him where he was today.
This wasn’t who he was. What the hell had happened to him?
Finally, he figured out what he needed to say. “I know she’s only a rookie, but she is a damned good agent. She is the first person who figured out we had a killer targeting FBI personnel.” His voice sounded like broken glass grinding against itself. “At great risk to herself, she helped resolve a prison siege and prevented the warden from being violently raped while we all sat around and watched. She saved my reputation after the car crash when everyone believed I’d probably had a few too many drinks or maybe snorted a line of coke. She went after the truth and uncovered a drug smuggling ring the DEA had been after for months.”
“She’s a loose cannon—”
“She’s the best goddamn federal agent I’ve ever met!” Dominic yelled. “And you fired her when I kissed her. I’m the one you need to fire.” Dominic stuck his finger in the man’s chest, sure as shit about to lose his job. But he didn’t care.
If the Bureau he worked for treated someone as fiercely loyal as Ava Kanas like trash then he did not care.
He needed to find her.
She’d already have convinced herself that he didn’t value her enough to defend her. And his silence while he’d been trying to keep his shit together would reinforce that notion. None of this was her fault. Not getting kissed in public, not him decking his brother, not her getting fired.
This was all on him, and she was the one paying.
He went to hurry after her when the door was pushed open. Rather than Ava returning, his father and his godfather stood there. Secret Service agents hovered in the background.
“Problems, gentlemen?” President Joshua Hague and his dad came in, closing the door behind them.
And normally Dominic would say, no, sir. Nothing for you to get involved in, sir. He despised nepotism, but this wasn’t about him. This was about a grave injustice being dealt out to an agent he respected and admired.
“A fellow agent of mine, one I happen to care about deeply.” The director flinched at that, and Dominic knew he should feel ashamed for using his connections in a way he’d sworn he never would in the past. Except he wasn’t looking for favors, he was looking for fairness. And he’d only just appreciated how much Ava meant to him. “Was fired after I kissed her in public.”
The director opened his mouth to defend himself, but Dominic spoke over him. “Either the director fires us both, or he gives Ava her job back, and she faces the same disciplinary review process I do. What he does not do is treat us differently because she’s a rookie, and I’m the son of a goddamn politician.”
The president and his father came toward them.
“Is this true?” his father asked. “You fired Ava?”
“She and Dominic were involved in an intimate relationship—”
“Were?” Dominic snarled. Was he supposed to ditch Ava now?
Deep wrinkles gathered on his father’s forehead. “But that’s not frowned upon in the Bureau when they are both single.”
“Agents have to declare it to their supervisors. They can’t work together,” the director blustered.
“This just started,” Dominic said impatiently. He wanted to go to her but needed to fight for her first. “We didn’t plan to get involved. We were forced together due to…circumstances.” Dominic’s gaze flicked to his father and the president. He couldn’t discuss an active investigation even with them. “We fell for each other. Hard.”
Dominic closed his eyes. Oh shit. He had fallen for her so hard, from so high. His landing zone had been like the cross a parachutist aimed for from ten thousand feet. Tiny and insignificant until you got close. And then when you got closer you knew exactly what to aim for and where to go.
“I need to find her.” Dominic looked at the director. “I’ll hand in my official resignation tomorrow, but first I need to talk to Ava.”
“I saw her out front,” his father said. “With a pregnant woman. Senator Tremont’s daughter, I think…”
“Mallory Rooney?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
“Excuse me, gentlemen, but I have a relationship to save.” On the way out, he paused to put a hand on his father’s shoulder. “Sorry to ruin your party, Pop. I like Tracy, by the way. I hope you’ll both be very happy.”