“God, you’re a son of a bitch.”
I chuckled. “You are not the first person to call me that.
“You’re also nowhere near as unbiased as you’d like to pretend. Maybe Mallory is too close, but I have seen how you watch her.”
I’d been expecting the accusation, so I just repeated my earlier shrug. “I have skin in this game on multiple fronts.” Obsession didn’t just apply to the Unsub. There was a reason Iwas good at my job. “But I’m not making the mistake of letting my attachments cloud my judgment.”
Flint went completely still. Not explosive. Not defensive. Just—nothing. For a moment, I didn’t even think he was breathing. That was how I knew I’d hit it.
“You want cards on the table. Then here it is. You care about her,” I said. “Not abstractly. Not just professionally. You care in a way that makes this intensely personal for you. I don’t think you’re lovers yet, but you definitely want to be. If you were before, then I’d hazard she cut you off. Too much conflict?—”
“My level of interest in her personallyandprofessionally doesn’t make me compromised.”
“You’re invested, Carter,” I countered. “I don’t work for the network or a competing outlet. I don’t care if you fuck like bunnies every Thursday during happy hour. I’m not going to leak it or report it.”
He stared at me for a long beat, lip curled faintly then he shook his head. “You don’t get to judge from the outside, especially after knowing us less than a handful of days.”
“I’m not on the outside,” I reminded him. “I’m right here, having this conversation with you. One where you’ve been physically restraining yourself from punching me. Of course, the only reason we’re having this conversation is because no way is she going to just walk out with you. If you could have convinced her of that, I’d already be in the rearview mirror.”
“And what exactly do you thinkyou’redoing?” he shot back. “Because from where I’m standing, you’re not neutral—you’re indulgent. You want her isolated from friends and family. If I hadn’t insisted on being in the car, I wouldn’t be here at all.”
I didn’t interrupt. Or correct him.
“She’s intrigued you since the moment she walked into the conference room. You enjoy her mind, her wit, and the way she sharpens it on the people around her. You also enjoy how shereacts under pressure, how alive it makes her even when she’s crashing from the adrenaline afterward. You didn’t protect her today—you fed that need in her to be in front of the story because it put her out there to lure in your Unsub.”
I held his gaze. Didn’t deny it. Still… “Enjoyment isn’t the same as exploitation,” I replied.
“It is when you think it gives you permission to manipulate her,” he shot back. “You let her do what she wanted because it suitedyou. Maybe you can lie to yourself that you’re just protecting her agency and harnessing her contacts as she walks straight into danger… but don’t bother trying to sell me that story. You have a job to do and she’s a very, very attractive means to an end.”
“I almost hate to tell you this and burst your self-righteous bubble, but you want to be the one she looks to and gets permission from because it helps you manage your fear. Not her danger.”
“And you want her out there, every single day if you could get it, because it will keep your interest satisfied. Stay close to her, feed off her excitement, and reel in your target.” He dropped his voice, almost sounding like a narrator on a documentary. “If something happens to her, well, she was in danger already, hopefully you catch the bastard before he kills her too.”
Of all the accusations he’d leveled at me, that one landed the closest. It sliced right down to the bone. Somehow, I’d gone from trying to keep my body language neutral, to being toe to toe with him. The air crackled with the promise of violence and neither of us were backing down.
“She doesn’t belong to either of us,” I said at last.
“That’s rich,” Flint scoffed. “Coming from the man who keeps positioning himself as the only one who trulygetsher.”
“I don’t need to own her to understand her,” I replied. “You don’t need to cage her to care.”
“And you don’t need to pretend this is purely tactical,” he said. “Because if something happens to her, you won’t be able to tell yourself this was just about the case.”
I didn’t argue that.
Flint exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “If she gets hurt?—”
“I have no intentions of letting her out of my sight or letting anyone get close enough to hurt her. She isgoingto put herself out there, and we’re going to be there. Me and every other agent on this case.”
All at once, he moved away, the tension between us popping as he retreated. He paced to the door then turned to glare at me again. “For how long?”
“What?” The sudden shift had me reassessing him.
“You have all your resources here right now, you’re protecting her—for how long? How many days do you have set for this? What if he doesn’t do anything more than he already has? Will you be here for a few days? A few weeks? A few months? How long before you head back to your field office or your next case and she tries to pick up her life? How long are you going to behere, Brewster?”
For once, I didn’t have an answer. He didn’t seem surprised.
“That’s what I thought.” On that note, he left. The door clicking shut behind him.
