Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“No, but since he was there to kill you, his testimony can’t be labeled as collusion with you.” He drummed his fingers together before adding, “You should go home and get some sleep. You look tired.”
Annoyed by the bureaucracy, I turned and walked out of his office. I hated being sidelined. He stopped me.
“I expect you here in the morning. Will go over all the time since the op until now.”
There had been gaps in the reporting, as I hadn’t wanted to implicate Griffin, Kelsey or Shawn. Something I needed to talk to them about. I had to find the fine line between a lie and the truth.
Still, there was one thing I forgot. I turned back and took the few steps to his office. “There’s something else you should know.”
He eyed me curiously. “What’s that?”
“I’m pregnant.” With that, I left his office and headed to my car.
I was so busy in my head that I didn’t hear the approach before it was too late. Someone grabbed my arm in a shadowy corner of the garage. I wouldn’t be taken again. I ducked and wrenched my arm up.
A low grunt came from the attacker as I twisted their wrist behind their back. My Quantico training was finally paying off. The person tried to wiggle out of my grip, but I held on tight.
From the shadows, I could see he was tall and broad-shouldered, but the black hoodie with the hood pulled low over his head obscured his face. Only I’d spent enough time in this man’s presence not to know exactly who he was. Fear prickled at the nape of my neck, but I refused to let it show.
“Ruin, what do you want?” I demanded, glaring at him.
He relaxed and revealed his face by removing his hood. Dim light cast shadows on his face. “I want to know why you aren’t with Rook.”
That name rang a bell, and I remembered the door guy saying Shawn Rook had placed the order. Now I needed to know what to say. Shawn and I hadn’t coordinated stories, given that Shawn assumed I’d stay put in New York.
“Is that why you sent a shooter to my apartment?”
“You’re alive, aren’t you?” He hadn’t answered the question, but would he really implicate himself? My guess was I wasn’t the intended target. “Now, why aren’t you with your owner?”
I didn’t like that word, but now wasn’t the time to debate it. “He let me go.” Ruin’s brows shot up, and I rushed on. “I told him I was FBI and he let me go.”
“Just like that?”
“I promised not to put him in jail,” I spat to make the lie sound better.
When he reached behind him, I felt the emptiness of my shoulder holster. “I promise to do the same for you.” I took the calculated risk and loosened my grip before letting go. If he had a gun, I would lose anyway. I needed to be able to move.
His eyes narrowed. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because you know who my family is,” I admitted. “And if you kill me here, the full force of the bureau will come looking for my killer.” I wasn’t sure what did it, but he seemed to consider it. “Alive, I will do everything to protect my family. Dead, not so much,” I added.
A door opened in the distance. He pointed a finger at my face. “If I get even a hint that you’re coming after me, I’ll kill your parents and take your sister as my next pet.”
I balled my hands into fists and tried to keep my face from showing the hate I felt.
He didn’t leave. “Tell me where my chattel is.”
It took me a second to put that sentence into context. He was talking about the women we’d freed. “I don’t know. I swear.”
“You took them.”
I slowly shook my head. “I didn’t.” I remembered the tracker. “That was when Rook let me go.”
There was no lying my way out of that. We had trackers on us. He would have known we were there.
Footsteps got closer, but Ruin made no move to leave. “Why was he there?”
I shrugged. “To look for you? I don’t know. He took me there after I told him I was FBI.”
Ruin was not easily read. “You talk and your sister lives.”
That threat was worse than him saying she’d die. I let him walk away. Though I wanted to run back into the FBI office and tell my boss what happened, I had to leave. If Ruin had a mole in the bureau, I couldn’t give the appearance I was going back on my word.
Back at my apartment, secure that my new security system was operating and no one had entered my apartment, I called my boss, not wanting to put my report in a file someone else could access. Though I would put it all in writing.