Sapphire Read Free Page B

at the eye candy who casually nodded to her. For a brief moment she asked her self-sabotaging devils why, oh, why, did so many men who looked like they’d stepped off the cover of GQ also look as dominatingly powerful as this man did. As though he held her fate in his elegant hands.
    Looking up at the wall, Gabriella groaned, knowing that her fears were warranted. Not only was she faced with three powerful individuals who clearly were deciding her future, but the lights on the wall-sized screen confirmed that they had been reviewing the video of her last mission. The mission in which she took down the Diablos Cartel leader, and killed his second in command. And, incidentally, the mission in which she disobeyed four direct orders from her commander. Not to mention one from Ian Ross, who, according to her fellow agents, never stepped in unless it was absolutely necessary. To her knowledge, the only times he did, the agent in question never again worked for LOTN.
    Gathering her shredded emotional reserves, Gabriella focused on her boss who should have been her most dependable supporter. She forced herself to take a deep breath and spoke in as natural a tone as she could muster, trying not to notice how high and squeaky her normally modulated voice was.
    “You wished to see me, Riley?”
    Confirming that not only was her leader not her most dependable supporter but that she may have been her least, Diamond answered curtly, “I wouldn’t have ordered you to come here, Gabriella, if I hadn’t wanted to see you.”
    Biting down hard on her now swollen bottom lip, Gabriella did her best to swallow past the golf ball sized lump lodged in her throat. Not daring to look at the two men who were no doubt enjoying her unease, Gabriella decided that since she was going down, she would do so graciously. Or, if not graciously, at least with her head held high. Sucking in as big a breath as her overworked lungs could manage, she tipped up her chin and met Diamond’s cold gaze.
    “I understand that you are angry with me, Col. Davis. Clearly I’ve disappointed you. While that is painful to me, I understand.”
    When Riley didn’t answer, merely hardened her gaze, Gabriella’s hair-trigger temper flared. All right dammit, she’d been fired before and she was being fired now. But if these two, make that three, supercilious people thought they could humiliate her, beat her down, they were wrong.
    Biting her lip so painfully hard she was sure it was bleeding, Gabriella said carefully, “Thank you for meeting with me.”
    She glanced up at the now blank television screen and nodded. “Clearly, you have more than necessary grounds for dismissal. I agree. Now if you will excuse me, I won’t bother you further.”
    As quickly as she could, Sapphire turned and sprinted to the door. It was a graceless exit but knowing that the angry tears burning her eyelids would fall at any minute she was determined not to let any of them see her crumble. To her surprise, it was Ian Ross’s voice, not Diamond’s, that stopped her at the door.
    “Not so fast, Lt. Shaw. I think it is safe to say that Col. Davis and I wouldn’t have invited you here if we didn’t have something to say to you. Now if you would be so kind, will you please join us?”
    Gabriella forced herself to look at the handsome commander who was regarding her solemnly. She noted that he was pointing to the chair across from the dark haired man who had yet to speak. Forcing her shaking legs to carry her over to the chair, Gabriella plopped down, not knowing how she could stand upright another second. Deciding that Ian Ross was unexpectedly the least frightening of the inquisitor trio, she met his gaze. To her surprise, his lips were curled up at the edges in the slightest of smiles.
    Instead of addressing her, Ross spoke to the man Gabriella still had not looked at.
    “What to do you think, Jase? Think this feisty young woman can be brought to heel enough to trust her on the