“We’ll extract all they can share,” Alexsei said, eyeing the agents. Because he was so focused on security, I knew that he said that with the intention to get all from them that he could. Any secrets, any plans, anything that could threaten Sadie or Carina. Or even me. That was his specialty, providing security, and I trusted him to do as he said he would.
Instead of staying, I went home to Sadie and Carina.
I found them in the living room, resting while the rest of the house was mostly quiet.
“Oh.” She smiled. “I thought it’d be a while before you’d be home.”
I went to her and kissed her before sitting next to her. Carina was asleep on her chest. Every time I gazed at her, I was in awe all over again. “I let the others handle it. Hufford was going to be a whiny bitch and drag it out.”
She laughed once. “Yeah. I bet.”
“Want to head to bed?” I asked. “You look tired.”
“I am.” She yawned. “Who knew dress shopping could be so exhausting?”
I smiled and took Carina so she could get up. “Plus the adrenaline rush of sneaking up on your former boss and realizing he wasstillwatching you.”
She nodded. “He won’t be anymore.”
You got that right.
“Did you find a dress?” I asked.
She gave me a saucy smile. “I foundthedress.”
I grinned as we headed up to my room. “You'd better start resting more each night until our wedding, then. Because I know I will be excited to take that gown off you and make love to you as your official and lawful husband.”
She laughed. “You? Lawful?” she teased.
The next morning, Alexsei greeted me downstairs.
“You get him to talk?”
“Hugo did.” He cringed. “That man is a twisted genius.”
I winced. “I can imagine.” Killing people was one thing, but having to dole out torture required patience I seldom had.
“He talked, and then some. Davis was more informative, but we have a file from all they shared.”
I poured coffee. “Did they own up to anything specific?”
“Hufford wouldn’t. Davis did. He knew all about how they were setting Sadie up to fail. Thwarting her research. Holding her back. Hufford and Davis had stakes in the Obsidian Eye group and they were clearly unhappy about our stopping them. They were also threatened after our assault. It seems some leaders blamedthemfor two-timing them and ordering the hit.”
I smiled.
“I’ve also contacted your favorite hacker for more assistance in this. Simon will begin looking for all evidence of hits placed on Sadie. All records of her cases from the agency will be wiped clean.”
“Good.” I patted him on the back as thanks.
I never liked to leave loose ends, and with those agents trying to sneak up on her, I was confident no other surprises would pop up at us.
“How’s she handling it?” he asked. “It sucks that she had to deal with that right before the wedding.”
I shook my head. “She’s fine. She was fine enough with it that she handed them over to me.”
Alexsei chuckled. “That’s what you need. A woman who can keep her temper in check and be patient not to pull the trigger when she really wants to.”
He could describe any part of Sadie’s personality that he wanted. It wouldn’t persuade me any further. She was what I needed just because she was who she was.
