Page 263 of Vicious Temptation

Maybe wanting something different has to start with believing I’m capable of creating it.

We stay that way for a while before another thought I’ve been carrying finally surfaces.

“Baby?”

“Hmm?”

“When we get back, I want you to meet my family.”

His fingers stop moving through my hair.

“I mean, really meet them.” I continue. “Not just running into them or knowing them because of me. I want to bring you home.”

His heartbeat quickens against my ear.

“I want them to know you and understand what we have and what you mean to me.”

Thiago doesn’t answer right away, and uncertainty starts creeping in before I remember what I’ve just asked him to do.

Five minutes ago, I told the man my family once belonged to a world where people killed for a living. Now I’m asking him, a cop, to sit down with them for dinner. I probably should’ve expected a bit of hesitation.

He holds me tighter and says, “I’d love to.”

I smile against his chest, relieved there’s nothing left between us that I’m afraid he’ll know.

Sixty-Four

thiago

The elevator doors slide open onto the second floor of the Philadelphia Police Department, and I don’t break stride. I’m not supposed to be here today. My duffel hangs from one shoulder, more out of habit than necessity, while every officer I pass offers a nod or greeting. But I barely register them because my mind is still on what happened over the last two days.

Remi told me everything last night. Not the information I gathered from files and surveillance reports, nor the pieces Helios fed me when they sent me after her. She sat in front of me, terrified that the truth might change how I saw her, and still chose to tell me anyway.

She told me she’d killed people, confirmed what her family had been and the world they once belonged to, then asked me to come home with her to meet them.

She trusted me with it, and I’ll take every word to my grave rather than let Helios use any of it against her.

I should probably question what that says about my loyalty to the organization I’ve spent years serving, but whatever remained of it took a hell of a hit when I saw the bruises on Remi’s wrists and heard how helpless Grey made her feel.

Those bruises haven’t left my mind since Miami.

I shove open the locker room so hard that it rattles against the stopper.

“Braga?” Ryan calls out as he approaches me. “Thought you were off today.”

“I was.”

He slows as I pass him. “Hey, everything good?”

“No.” I keep walking, searching the rows of lockers until I find Grey standing in front of his. He’s pulling a clean uniform shirt over his head when he catches sight of me in the small mirror mounted on the door.

The fucker grins. “Braga.” He slams it shut. “Didn’t know you were back already. How was⁠—”

I shove him, driving his back into the metal with a crash.

“What the hell?”

I step closer before he can recover. “You went to Sloane’s.”