Every word impacts me exactly where she intends it to.
June whimpers, circling Jade’s legs until Jade drops her hand into the fur, grounding herself. She stares at the floor for a moment. When she looks back up, some of the heat has shifted.
“Jade, I wanted to kill him. I would have done it in an instant, for you, for revenge for everything he did to you. But we need all of the information we can get out of him. Keeping him here gives us that access.”
The crease in her brow softens. A fraction. Still tight with worry.
“I’m not going to fight with you about it right now,” she says, causing me to choke out a relieved breath.
“But we’re going to talk about that later.”
“We can do that.”
She turns back toward the window, arms crossed over her chest. “Is he still being interrogated?”
“Yes. That was a recording from earlier. It’s ongoing.”
A beat of silence while I watch her trying to read the subtle cues in her body language, then she rushes out. “I want to listen.”
My whole chest locks up. So much for relieved.
“No.”
She turns to face me, and what I see in her eyes stops me cold.
“I don’t want to be in the room. I want to listen.”
Thatshouldmake me feel better.
My worst fear was Jade would demand to confront Trevor. This doesn’t seem that different when it comes to how protective I feel over this woman.
“Jade—”
“He was paid to hurt me, Ryker.” There’s a hitch in her swallow, but she goes on. “That man was paid by my own father. I deserve to know what he’s telling you. All of it.”
I drag a hand down my face, a sharp sound building deep inside of my body.
“This is not just about me,” she says quietly. “Think of all the people they’ve done this to. How many more there will be if one important detail is missed. I know things you don’t. It could be helpful for me to contribute.”
She lifts her chin and I get a flash of the strength I saw in the forest, the steel in her spine that always amazes me.
“I want to do this because itmatters.”
Those words strike my stomach like punches.
The same reason I became a SEAL.
Because it mattered.
Not for ego or some cult worship. I did it because it mattered to the people we were saving and keeping safe.
I still want to keep her from listening to the interrogation.
Every protective instinct I own is screaming, no.
“I will be safe in the house,here.”
Oh god. I’m torn right down the middle. She’s not asking to walk into fire. She’s asking to stand at the edge of it. Where I can keep her from getting burned.
