Her eyes lifted—And locked on mine.
Relief slammed into my chest so hard it almost dropped me.
The man stood a few feet away from her, tablet in one hand, a gun hanging loose in the other.Middle-aged.Expensive coat.Politician-clean.The kind of man who never got his own hands dirty and thought that made him untouchable.
“She wouldn’t listen,” he said conversationally, not even turning to face me yet.“Some people confuse integrity with stubbornness.”
I didn’t speak.Didn’t breathe.
He finally turned, surprise flickering across his face before he masked it with a thin smile.
“Well,” he said.“You must be Dante Verdone.”
Nita’s mouth trembled.“I knew you’d find me,” she whispered.
That was it.That was the last thing holding me together.The man lifted the gun.
I fired first.
The sound was deafening in the enclosed space.The recoil ran through my arm, but I stayed locked in, trained, controlled.He went down hard, the tablet shattering against the floor as his body collapsed.
Tower moved instantly, clearing the room, gun sweeping corners, but my focus was already gone.
I was on my knees in front of her in seconds, hands shaking as I reached for her face, the chain, anything.
“Nita,” I breathed.“I’ve got you.I’ve got you.”
Her skin was cold.Too cold.I shrugged out of my jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, my fingers fumbling with the cuffs.
“I’m sorry,” she said hoarsely.“He—he made me type it.The resignation.He said if I didn’t?—”
“Hey,” I cut in, pressing my forehead to hers.“Look at me.You did what you had to do.You’re alive.That’s all that matters.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks, silent and exhausted.“He wanted me to cite you.Us.Said it made it clean.Said it would discredit the case.”
My jaw tightened.“What case.”
“The senator,” she whispered.“The money laundering.The shell nonprofits.Hampton Stanley’s connections and scams ran deeper than just Dreadnought, North Carolina.I was closing in on another politician.This one holds a senate seat.The man over there said he was the fixer.”
Tower spoke quietly into his comm behind us.“Local PD en route.We’re clear.”
I finished unlocking the chain and lifted her carefully, cradling her against my chest like she was made of glass.
She clung to me, arms tight, breath shuddering.“I wasn’t scared,” she admitted softly.“Not the whole time.I kept thinking you don’t quit.You don’t let go.”
I pressed a kiss into her hair, my voice breaking for the first time since the call came in.“Never.Not you.Not ever.”
As sirens grew in the distance, I held her tighter, grounding both of us in the truth we’d clawed back from the dark.
She was here.
She was alive.
And anyone who thought they could take her from me had just learned exactly how wrong they were.
Chapter21
Loco
