So, no, I don’t like this plan. At all.
I would much prefer to keep Hazel at GMG while we keep investigating. After all, it’s only a matter of time until we find the evidence we need. Especially with Matt, Swede, and now Leo from the Sleepy Hollow Blade and Arrow team helping, as well.
“I get it,” Enzo told me when I voiced my concerns during our most recent meeting. “I’d be worried, too. But this could be the quickest way to end things. And there are women out there, potentially in trouble. The longer we wait…”
He didn’t have to finish his sentence. I knew what he meant. And if it were anyone else, I’d be in full agreement.
But it’s Hazel.
Seeing her hurting is unbearable.
Holding her after another nightmare, feeling her hot tears on my neck, hearing the sobs she tries to stifle, and not being able to fix things… It’s the worst kind of torture.
I never knew before. How someone could be so deeply embedded inside you that their pain becomes your own.
Is that love?
Is it possible to love Hazel already?
“Alec?”
Hazel’s voice pulls me away from my wandering thoughts. Jerking my gaze away from my plate of half-finished pasta, I look across the dining room table at her. “What, Haze?”
Her eyes are dark with worry. Tiny lines are drawn across her forehead. As I notice the bluish smudges shadowing her eyes, a fresh spurt of guilt sweeps through me. She should be back at the cabin. Resting. Relaxing. Falling asleep in my arms, like she has every night since the first time we slept together in bed.
She shouldn’t be sitting here at her house, offering herself up as bait.
Yes, I know it’s a solid plan. I know there’s every reason to believe she’s perfectly safe.
But still, I hate it.
Hazel spins her spaghetti around her fork but doesn’t raise the bite to her mouth. Instead, she drops the pasta back into an uneaten pile on her plate andsighs. “Do you think they’ll come tonight? Or is that just wishful thinking?”
“I don’t know,” I reply. “It’s possible. But given that you only got here this morning, I think we should be prepared to wait a few days, as well.”
“But it’s been almost four days since I got the messages. They must have been watching to see if I’d follow their instructions. Otherwise, what was the point of it?”
“That’s true.” I reach across the table to take her hand. “It could happen tonight. But—” I gentle my tone. “It’s possible they might not come at all. They might decide coming back to your house is too risky.”
“The message said to stop hiding,” Hazel retorts. “I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to do. Sit in the middle of Bliss with a sign that says,Here I am. Come get me?”
Her voice is strained. A tiny quiver shakes her words at the end. Her hand trembles in mine.
Shit.
She’s scared. And I hate it.
“Haze.” I hold her gaze. “We don’t have to go through with this. We can go back to GMG right now. It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind.”
“No.” With a shake of her head, she continues, “We’re already here. Your team is outside, waiting. We’ve planned everything…”
“That doesn’t matter,” I insist. “What matters is how you feel.”
“All the preparations, though. Sneaking you here in the trunk of my car, installing the extra security cameras, disabling the VPN so my location can be traced?—”
“None of those things was a big deal.”
“Your teammates,” she says. “They’ve been hiding in the woods for hours. Gage is out there with his drone. You’ve had meetings about this.” Her voice pitches up. “It was my idea, after all. How could I change my mind now?”
