She looked so different with her aggressive bangs and short hair, but she was still his beautiful, brave, intelligent Valerie. He ran both hands through her dark tresses and bent to kiss her warm, soft lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
His chest eased, and he rode the high. She loved him. She still loved him.
“I suppose you have me to thank for your happiness,” a man said from Scott’s left.
Hollowell.
Duncan?Valerie hardly trusted her eyes. Shouldn’t he be in Fiji or something?
Scott—ever the protector—moved quickly to put himself between her and her former boss. Then he faced the devil. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Valerie stood on tiptoe and peered over Scott’s shoulder. Duncan had a gun aimed directly at her lover’s chest.
All the blood drained from her head and the world tilted.
“Tsk, tsk, sniper,” Duncan said. “Poor situational awareness.”
Under her hands, Scott tensed, probably berating himself for exactly that reason. “I figured you’d be out of the country by now.”
Duncan cocked his head and caught Valerie’s eye. “We have a little unfinished business.”
Neither of them spoke, but Scott must have sensed her restlessness because he threw an arm back to keep her hidden.
“Thanks to you,” Duncan said, “the feds have frozen all my accounts. I figure you can help me get some of my money.”
Valerie’s throat went dry. They were less than a hundred yards from police headquarters, and maybe double that from the county jail staffed with dozens of sheriff’s deputies, and there wasn’t a soul around to help them.
“I think you overestimate my abilities,” she said. “I’ve never even tried to hack a bank.” Not entirely true, but a frozen account? “I certainly can’t do something like that in a few hours. You of all people should know that.”
It would require days or weeks of learning the ins and outs of the target bank before she could even start thinking about how to approach it.
“I don’t need you to hack a bank. There are plenty of other ways to use your skills to get money.”
Her entire core churned like hot lava.
Duncan made an impatient gesture. “Come with me now.”
“Don’t move,” Scott urged, squeezing her hip.
“Come with me or your boyfriend eats lead.” Duncan leered at them. “Live by the gun, die by the gun, right, grunt?”
God, no.“Okay.” Valerie spun away from Scott and scooted out of his reach. “I’ll help you.”
“Valerie,no,” Scott said.
“It’s my turn,” she said. She hadn’t been able to protect her dad, but she could keep Scott safe.
He growled in protest even as he kept his eyes on Duncan and his gun.
She made eye contact with her former boss. “I’ll go with you, but only if Scott walks away unharmed.”
“Goddammit, Valerie,” Scott said under his breath.
Duncan produced a set of handcuffs and held them out. “Lock him to that fence,” he said, pointing to the low chain-link barrier that bordered the parking lot.
She started forward, reaching for the cuffs.
