I shouldn’t be in here. I should leave, let them get back to their lives.
But the pull of the last drawer drew me in, begging me to finish my search before I ditched this office.
The sink was turning off in the bathroom, Leo would be drying the wound.
There were mere seconds left.
Gripping the cold metal, I opened the drawer. It slammed open, more empty than the others. The clatter of metal sliding inside was the only sound it emitted.
“Fuck.” I jumped back at the sight of a pistol. A glock. But it was the red behind the gun that took my attention.
“What the actual fuck?” My eyes widened as I touched the missing poster under the gun. The same poster I’d seen at the bar, the night Leo and Spencer had kicked Gabe’s ass.
Why does Dom have this?
But then my finger peels the corner, revealing another poster underneath it. A different girl, this one blonde. The same woman from the news report Spencer had been watching.
The blood drained from my face as I lifted another corner. A third poster. The woman described in the amber alert.
And below that, more and more and more. There were a dozen of them. Just stacked there. Like it was nothing. Like the gun was a paper weight on these missing women. Holding them in place. Holding themhostage.
I could hardly breathe, my lungs feeling as if they were being squeezed by a boa constrictor, taking my last breaths.
Everything came together. The car I’d cleaned, The rope and zip ties inside. It was everything they would have needed to kidnap someone. And I’d put my prints all over it.
Then I heard the sound of zippers, Leo’s bag being sealed up from the bathroom.
I had to get the fuck out of this office, right now.
Slamming the drawer closed, I rose to my feet — feeling my knees slip out of place as I rose.
I ran from the room, moving as quickly as I could to the car Leo had been working on. Just as I managed to lean on the grill, the bathroom door swung open.
Leo’s imposing figure filled the doorway as she looked at me.
Was my face flushed?
Forcing a smile, I swallowed as much of my nerves as I could handle. “Is it bad?”
It was the same question I was asking in my own mind.
Leo’s stern face flipped to a smile. “Don’t worry, Princess. I can take a hit.”
Crossing the shop, Leo sauntered toward me. Her brows furrowed as she watched my face. She could read me like a book. Suddenly I was regretting letting her get so close to me.
Does she know? Is she in on it?
I wanted to believe she didn’t, wanted to believe that someone who would put a rapist through The Gauntlet wouldn’t ever hurt a woman. But if they were the judge, jury, and executioner, were they exempt from falling in love with the power?
“You okay?” Leo touched my arm, her warm touch feeling like a burn on my skin. Leo couldn’t. She was a doctor. Do no harm and all that shit.
But the truth was, I didn’t really know these people. I didn’t really know any of them.
I’d never seen her degree, never saw her accreditations. It all could have been a lie.
Nodding, I looked toward the red Ducati. “Yeah, just tired.” But that soft look in her eyes had me doubting everything.
Maybe she doesn’t know.
