“Evening, Mr. Dempsey.”
“Crawford,” I greet him, not knowing what else I’m supposed to do. How I’m supposed to react. This is just too fucking much, and my nerves are still shot to shit from thinking I was going to die, from thinking Colby would never get out of here alive.
Harry stares at me for a long moment, enough for my brain to come back online, enough for the familiarity of those blue eyes to slow my heartbeat.
He knows me too fucking well, that’s the damned truth, and only walks closer when I’m in control once more. He bends down and grabs the gun Colby pushed to the ground, then holds it by the barrel and offers it to me.
That’s such a ballsy move, and I know Harry just as well, so I don’t know why the fuck it surprises me.
He stares at me for a few endless seconds, and I see in his eyes what he’s trying to tell me—the plea to trust him.
It’s not difficult, there’s no one I trust more.
I grab the gun and holster it back under my suit jacket so no one gets nervous.
“You may leave,” Harrison says, and I can tell he’s trying to sound dismissive and just a little threatening.
Hell, to literallyanyone else in the worldhe probably does sound scary as fuck.
But not to me.
No, I am instantly furious.
I can see it in his eyes, he wants me to keep trusting him. I don’t care how much power he has, I don’t want to leave him here, but he keeps asking with his eyes, he keeps reminding me of who he is. And fuck, he’s already proven to me he can handle this. Brent still looks like he’s barely controlling his bladder.
So despite every instinct inside me telling me to stay right here, I nod. I place the laptop I’m still holding on the desk, grab the duffel and throw it over my shoulder, then reach behind me and pull Colby next to me.
All the damn people shuffle around to make space for us to pass, and we’re almost at the door whenfucking Harryspeaks again.
“Mr. Major?”
Colby and I freeze, and though I hate to see the abject terror on his face, I don’t stop him from turning around.
“Y-yes?”
“The folder,” Harry instructs simply.
Colby’s mouth drops open, and I can tell he wants torefuse, but I can’t let him do that. I nudge Colby’s side and so he hands the folder over.
“Much appreciated,” Harrison says like a fucking aristocrat.
I’m going to give Harry hell for this.
17
EIAN
“Faster,” I urge Colby as we climb back out of the trap door and into the alley.
“Eian, do you know who those people are?” he whispers, sounding beyond distressed.
As soon as I’m out, I close the trap door then take Colby by the shoulders and shake him roughly.
“Think, Colby!” I snap at him. “Of fucking course I know who they are, but we can’t say shit.”
“He kept the file, Eian!” His tone is moving dangerously close to hysterical, so I grab his forearm and start pulling him down the alley.
No one can see us here, we need to get back to the car.
