They walked through the front door. No guard. Apparently they were all dealing with Mia and Hutch.
He glanced around the room, seeing it for the first time. It was done up with twinkle lights and greenery, matching the garden theme of the event. There were lovely women in evening gowns and men in tuxedoes and suits milling about, drinking champagne and talking. Had no one noticed the blonde being abducted by big Americans?
“Stay calm.” Ian had his phone out and had dialed a number. “Alex, you in position?”
Alex’s voice came over the line. “I’m good and all’s quiet here. Malone and Li are on their way to the loading dock. I’ll hear it if something goes wrong. You got sight on the target?”
God, the target was his brother.
“Not yet,” Ian replied. “Keep this line open.”
Case saw a flash move toward the back of the room. “Nine o’clock.”
He started moving through the crowd, his heart pounding. He’d seen a brief glimpse of Mia’s long blonde hair and the back of a man in a black suit, pressing her along.
Theo. Theo had Mia and Case suddenly wasn’t sure what this Theo would do with her. He’d been so certain that no matter what anyone did to his brother, Theo would still stay Theo—patient where Case was quick tempered, jovial where Case could be surly. Never violent outside the bounds of his job. Certainly never violent when it came to a woman. Not Theo. Theo wouldn’t even scare a woman, but Case had heard Mia’s gasp on the line before it had gone dead. She’d been scared of his brother.
Someone yelled something in Spanish, but Case didn’t care. He had to get to Mia, to Theo. He had to stop whatever the hell was about to happen. He definitely had to stop them from getting away. He’d spent a year in hell mourning his brother. He knew in an instant he couldn’t handle mourning Mia. If they took Mia, he wouldn’t ever stop searching. If he found her body, he might lie down beside it and let himself fade.
Please don’t take Mia. Please don’t fucking take her.
He wasn’t sure who he was praying to, but the words pounded through his brain as he raced down the hall.
The lights were low in this part of the building. He could hear some shouting behind him and he could feel he’d gotten past Ian and Lawless. He was in front, but he couldn’t slow down. He wouldn’t lose them.
And then he stopped, his boots squealing on the floor as he came face to face with his brother for the first time in a year. Theo was standing in front of him, Mia held by one of the two men flanking Theo.
“Case!” Mia yelled.
He couldn’t take his eyes off his twin. “Theo? Theo, it’s me. It’s Case. I’m your brother.”
That was the moment that his brother, the man he’d spent his whole life with, who’d shared his world from the moment of their conception—that was the moment he lifted his gun and pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mia screamed as the gun went off and Case went down.
A hand clamped down over her mouth and she found herself dragged through the darkened hallway. “Don’t make a sound or you’ll be next. I don’t want to hurt a woman, but I will if I have to.”
She wasn’t sure which of the two were talking. She’d been watching Theo and then she’d been hustled to the hallway, her communication device crushed under Theo’s boot. She’d known Case would come after her, but everything happened so fast.
Case was shot. Theo had shot Case. Oh god, was he dead? Case couldn’t be dead.
“Did you get the other one?” Theo asked, his voice a cold, dead version of Case’s.
“He’s already in the back,” the first guard she’d spoken to said. Robert. He was the one with his arm around her waist, pushing her along. “Victor handled him.”
She turned, trying to see Case. All she’d had was one glimpse of him. He’d stood there, but he hadn’t seen her. He’d been looking at his brother. Her heart twisted at the thought. It no longer mattered why he’d pushed her away. All that mattered was she loved him. All that mattered was Case.
“Please let me help him,” she whispered as the guard pushed her through a door. “Let me go and get back to him. You can get away. Just let me go to him.”
“I can’t.” Her captor’s arm tightened. “I won’t.”
She heard the door close behind her with a quiet thud, heard the snick of a lock turning into place.
“Who the hell was that?” Robert asked, turning with her still in his arms. “He looked like Tomas. Just like Tomas. How is that possible? Are there more of us?”
“I don’t know.” Theo stared at the door he’d locked as though he could see through, see to the brother he’d left bleeding.