Gambled - A Titan Novella by Cristin Harber

you wanna…” He shrugged. Pool. Hot tub. Ice cream. Where did he want to turn the conversation when the mood had clearly been assassinated by the Titan Group’s head honcho from a thousand miles away?
    “Call him.” She slapped her hands to her hips and jutted an adamant chin. “I’m concerned. Curious. For heaven’s sake, Brock. Multiple emergency messages. Call him.”
    “We didn’t part on the best of terms.” He scrubbed his face with a hand and stared at the hotel room phone, willing it to combust. No such luck, and Sarah was right. “Fine.”
    He dropped onto the bed, and she joined him. Inches away, but miles in thought. Not how he thought they’d spend their first moments in bed in Saint Lucia.
    “Call him,” she urged again. There was that bite of her lip. Nothing aroused or excited on her face; it was pure nerves.
    He pinched his eyes closed and picked up the handset. A few punches of the dial later, and Brock’s international call to Titan’s headquarters rang in his ear. He used a backdoor number that would connect to Jared’s office. If there was an emergency, maybe the bastard wouldn’t be there. Maybe, like he thought before, this was just Jared giving him a proper heads up that the time had come, and even if Brock was on vacation, Jared was gunning for him.
    An unfamiliar unease made his stomach twist as Sarah stared, barely blinking. Brock wasn’t one to overthink, but right now, he was. Weeks ago, everything had been so normal. Jared was his buddy. His mentor. Sarah was sweet and innocent. No reasons to check out the self-help section in the bookstore. An abduction had changed it all, and he’d never seen it coming. What was he missing now?
    “Brock,” Jared barked when he picked up the line. There was nothing unordinary about that, except that the tension between the two men was palpable.
    “Jared.”
    There was a familiar heave of a burdened sigh. “I have a situation. Obvious reasons, you’re the last person on the planet I’d want to call. But this cropped up fast, and I have no options. None. Except for you, asshole.”
    Having no choice would be the only reason Jared lasted on the line that long. He wouldn’t ask for help when a trust problem existed. There must’ve been a red-flag issue that required differences be ignored temporarily.
    “All right—” Shit, Brock almost said Boss Man . “Let’s hear it.”
    Long pause. Jared never hesitated. It spoke volumes and ripped like a knife through Brock’s gut. How could he have betrayed Titan? Sarah caught his eye. Easy. He’d take out anyone if he thought he was doing right by his family.
    “Damn it,” Jared growled. “I have no choice.”
    He nodded, knowing that bitch of a feeling. “Look, man. Nothing happened the way it should’ve happened. Sorry about that. But I’m not sorry about doing what I did, just how I did it. So if that’s what you need to hear, there you go.” It needed saying. Got it over with and done.
    Sarah smiled at him and patted his knee. Unexpected but appreciated. He waited for Jared’s response. Wondered how that would go down. Maybe Brock should say congrats on getting hitched? Sugar was perfect for Boss Man. What did it matter?
    And what was he trying to do, pick up a job in Saint Lucia?
    No. Not at all.
    His only goal should be his wife. But a familiar adrenaline spike rushed through his system. He tried to swallow it away. Centered on Sarah, but the back of his mind called out the possibilities: There was a mark, a target, someone or something that he could take on or take out. Black ops percolated in his blood. It was a game. An urgency…
    What would Brock do after they returned to the real world? Get a job at an office? Punch a timecard instead of bad dudes?
    Jared cleared his throat. “There’s a sex trafficker who snagged a client’s teenage daughter off a beach in Barbados. We know very little about this trafficker other than his reputation—if we lose this girl today,