“You picked me up,” she said, her eyes dropping as she recalled that horrible afternoon. “You picked me up and carried me to the SUV.”
“But I didn’t make it to the driver’s seat,” I whispered, taking her head in my hands. “Baby, I was fucking shot from behind.”
She jerked.
I searched her eyes, my gut twisting. “You’re telling me that one of Benson’s guys didn’t take you?”
“N-no.”
My forehead landed against hers, my chest heaving. My skin felt like it was on fire.
“Asher, you’re trembling,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around me.
“Who took you, beautiful?” I growled. “Who got into that fucking driver’s seat and took you away from me?”
“A CSIS agent! She told me he was sending in backup to get you!”
“Holy fuck.”
We both looked at the door, finding Jake, Margo, Carrie, and even Dominic staring at us in shock. Jake and Dominic looked like they were in pain.
“I thought you knew that,” Angel said, her voice shaking. “She told me she was sending backup! That her partner was just a few minutes behind her.”
Jake looked like he was about to explode. “You mean to fucking tell me that Ash suffered—”
No. No, she couldn’t fucking know.
“Enough,” I roared, coming to stand in front of her.
“Suffered?” she whispered. “Suffered what?”
Margo flinched. Carrie slapped her hand over her mouth, tears in her eyes. Jake’s eyes were filled with rage, his fists hanging at his sides, chest heaving. Dominic was still as a statue, a horrified look in his eyes.
“I’m taking Angel to my place,” I announced. I turned and swiped her car keys off the corner of the desk. I tossed them to Margo. “Get back to Astoria.” I looked at my boys. “Debrief in the morning.” My hand closed around Angel’s. “Come on.”
I took her to my empty apartment, a shell of the man I needed to be, the man I used to be. As her heels clicked across the empty floor, my memories were swarming.
Everything I thought I knew, everything I fought for, was a lie.
I watched her as she took the place in with a concerned look on her face. When she turned to me, my knees nearly gave out.
Angel had never been in Devil’s Den.
Someone had sent me in there on purpose.
Someone had wantedmeto die. Not her.
She was never the target.
I was.
Chapter Nineteen
Angel
It had been nearly three hours since we left Red Snake’s office. At first, I was under the impression we were going tohis apartment, then after the girls left and we said goodbye to Jake and Dominic, he took me to his truck, emailed Red Snake’s receptionist, and got on the interstate. I tried apologizing to him, doing anything I could for him to talk to me during the commute.
Nothing.
