She steps toward me. “You can keep me safe and still let me do this.”
The way she says it tugs at a cord.
I grunt, close my eyes, and pull her against my chest. “For the record, I don’t want you to do this.”
“I know.” Carefully, she wraps her arms around me.
As I brush my hand over her hair and cradle her to my shoulder, I start locking myself down. No more fucking hothead moves. Can’t strangle the bastard when it gets ugly.
And it will get ugly.
“Let me make the arrangements. Stay here.”
Jade pulls back and looks up at me with a tender expression that leaves me winded.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” I press a kiss to her forehead, holding it a second longer than I might normally. “It’s going to be hard to hear.”
“I’m fully aware of that.”
“The next time he gets questioned, I’ll let you watch the feed. I’ll get the other recordings together on a secure server location for you.”
I take a step toward the door, not wanting to leave. As she curls into the armchair by the fireplace, June immediately takes up her post. On duty.
I stand there for one more second, burning this image into my memory. Her. My girl. Brave as any of the men in that conference room.
Then I step into the hallway, close the door, and lean my head against the wall.
Fucking.Fuck.
Trevor needs to be gone.
With a curse and a shove against the wall, I stride into the meeting room and all eyes swing my way.
“Jade heard the interrogation recording.”
There’s a collective grimace.
“I’m the one who left the door open,” Colt says. “I take full responsibility.”
With a shake of my head I drop into a chair at the conference table. “Doesn’t matter. It’s done. Now she wants to…”
I clear my throat a few times.
“She wants to listen in. Not confront, thank fuck. Because I wasn’t going to let that happen and the way she looked at me told me that I might be signing the death certificate on a future with her. So it’s settled. She wants to hear what he’s telling us.”
Five experienced operators look back at me. Most sympathetically.
Thane speaks first. “She could help with the case.”
“You’re not wrong.” I blow out a breath dropping my head back against the chair, the cut on my face stinging, reminding me that Axle and I were throwing punches not more than 30 minutes ago.
I look at him. “You’re not going to like this, but I’m going in on the next interview.”
“Don’t give a fuck if you do as long as you don’t kill him yet. Which is exactly what you were thinking when I blocked you from going in that garage.”
I can’t deny it. “She’ll be watching this time.”
