“He threatened her!” I yell. “He threatened Hannah. He knows who she is.”
“We’re aware, but like I said, they will be well protected here. It’s you we’re most concerned about at this time, Thomas. They clearly have a vendetta against the people working directly with the case and want to eliminate that as best as they can.”
“I can’t leave Hannah behind. I saw that glint in his eyes when he brought her up. She’s in as much danger as I am.”
“I understand you care for her, Officer Cunningham, but unless you two are engaged or married, we don’t have any real reason to send her with you,” Elena says, folding her hands in front of her on the steel table.
I take a few deep breaths. She might kill me for this, but this is the only way that I know she will be safe, that I can be the one to protect her. “She’s my fiancée, Elena. She has to come with me.”
Elena sits in stunned silence, her eyes widening as she takes in my words. “She’s your fiancée?”
“Yes,” I state firmly, my hands balling into fists under the table. “It’s new. We weren’t telling anyone yet, not even our family knows.”
Elena lets out a weary sigh. “That changes things.” She stacks up her paperwork into a neat pile. “I’ll be back.”
“Can I at least see my fiancée?” I ask, laying it on thick.
She sighs. “I’ll check.”
I let out my own sigh of relief.
She lets herself out of the room, and I’m left to my own thoughts. I can’t believe I said that Hannah was my fiancée, but it slipped out. The thought of them making her stay here, working in the field when shit like this is going down, and the dealers clearly know who she is, and know that hurting her would hurt me? Yeah, I can’t handle that. I would never live with myself if something happened to her and it was because of me.
I don’t want to go to a safe house, but if I have to, then I have to. Fuck, I never thought something like this would happen to me. I’ve heard stories of guys who’ve had to go into safe houses before, but I always brushed it off. They have a reason for sending me away, so maybe I should really take it seriously.
A few minutes later, the door opens, and Elena strides through. “She’s in the next room. I’ll give you two a few minutes.”
“Thank you,” I breathe, already rushing to the door.
I pull it open and rush down the hall and fling the door open, my eyes searching for her. As soon as I see her, my heart sinks. Her eyes are red, cheeks blotchy. She’s clearly been crying again.
I move as fast as I can to cross the small room and pull her into my arms. She lets me wrap my arms around her and hold her tight to my chest. “Shhh, Hannah. You’re safe. I’m here.”
She nods, but it’s not enough, I need her to know I’ve got her. I pull slightly away and cup her cheeks in my palm. Those watery blue eyes hold me captive. “I have to tell yousomething,” I say, hoping like hell she will go along with this.
“They’re sending you to a safe house,” she says, her breath catching, like that’s all I have to tell her.
I shake my head. “Us. They’re sending us to a safe house.”
Hannah’s brows raise. “What? No, they said I wasn’t going, that there wasn't a reason for it.”
“Technically, there isn’t. Except, we’re engaged.”
16
HANNAH
“Engaged?”I repeat the word back. “We’re not engaged, Thomas, we aren’t even dating.”
Thomas looks up at the ceiling, closing his eyes. “I need you to trust me, Hannah. Can you do that?”
“Thomas what are you?—”
“I told them we’re engaged,” he interrupts me.
I let his words simmer in my brain, and I don’t know what to say. He told them we were engaged? Why would he do that? We barely know each other. There is no way anyone would believe that we are engaged. It’s not believable. I mean, we only had our first date tonight, and with how much this town talks, everyone will know it’s fake.
“Why did you do that?” I ask, my voice shaking.
