Acts of Manipulation (Paperback)

The head of the gang declared, kidnapped, and ripped me away from the love of my life and family.

Sid’s a monster, but not to me.

He tells me he loves me and will die for me.

And he claims it’s my choice—love him or choose not to.

No matter what he says, I can’t stop yearning to feel Javier’s arms and lips on me.

Nor can I forget the future he promised me, no matter how much Sid pressures me.

And the consequences of not picking Sid will kill my family and Javier.

All I want is for him to come rescue me before I have to do the unforgivable.

But I’m running out of time.

Agent Javier Lòpez

Retribution comes in many forms. It might be an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Some people believe that makes it justified, but the time I spent in Afghanistan with the military taught me retribution isn’t a level playing field. 

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth doesn’t exist in my world. 

In the Marines, my mission was to annihilate the target. 

In the FBI, my job is to capture them. 

Over four years of working on Twisted Hearts cases, and no takedown has ever been more critical. 

Two years plus, I spent trying to take down Skates, the mastermind and head of the vicious gang, and his retribution didn’t come from me. I wanted it to. He issued the order to kill my friend and fellow FBI officer, Peter Carter. 

Someone else took him down and ended Skates’ life and created more significant problems. 

When Skates was alive, there was order within the Twisted Hearts. Now, there is a new way of doing things, and it’s more sinister than ever.

Sid Triker, recently paroled from a thirty-year murder sentence, stepped into the role. He gives the orders, and thousands of members across the country follow. 

And he’s issued an order to deliver a woman to him, and offered a one hundred thousand dollar reward to whomever can bring him this woman so she can become his.

She’s my woman. 

And his retribution will be death. As soon as we bust into this old building intel told us he’s having a meeting in, I’m shooting him—directly in the head. 

There will be no mercy, no warning, no hesitation. 

My partner, Chloe, and I have our guns out. The safeties are off. She nods and, with adrenaline coursing through my veins, I turn the handle and shove the door open while we both stay on opposite sides of the entryway.

There is no noise. The fluorescent lights are on. I cautiously peek inside, and my heart sinks. 

It’s empty. Not one piece of furniture or other item remains. No one is present.

“Damn it!” 

“You have to be kidding me,” Chloe mutters. 

“We’ve been set up. Our intel is compromised. This is the third—” My phone vibrates in my pocket. 

I retrieve my cell, and a cold sweat breaks out on my skin. 

“Oh my God,” Chloe mumbles, staring at hers.

A picture of my beautiful Gabriella, gagged, tears shining in her eyes pops up in a text message.

I run for the car, and Chloe follows. The drive to my place, where Gabriella is supposed to be, feels like slow motion, even though I’m driving fast. 

I pull up to the building and throw the car in park, leave the keys in it, and take two steps at a time up the stairs. When I get to the third floor, I sprint down the hallway and punch in the code to my condo unit. 

“Gabriella!” I holler in panic. 

Please be here.

My heart is racing, and I run from room to room, opening doors, but she’s nowhere.

“Gabriella!”

“Javier, she isn’t here.” Chloe puts her hand on my arm. 

“Ah!” I tug at my hair. “We have to find her.”

Think, Javier. 

“Oh shit.” Chloe crouches by the entrance. 

“What?”

I hadn’t noticed it when I came in. I was only praying Gabriella would be here even though I knew in my gut she wouldn’t be.

Blood on the tile. I swallow the bile in my throat then crouch, swiping my finger over a drop. My pulse beats faster. “It’s dry. They could have had her for hours by now.”

“Where is she?” Hudson storms in.

“They took her,” Chloe says.

“No!” He hits his hand on my wall so hard the drywall crashes in.

Ryland and Beckett fly in behind him. 

I stand. “I’m going to kill them. All of them. When I’m done, Triker and anyone else who ever touched Gabriella will be dead.”

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