Page 128 of Drowning in Darkness

With a nod, I twine my arms around his neck. “Yes, please.”

When we enter the kitchen, I expect James to set me down on the chair near the table, but he doesn’t, choosing the counter instead. There’s already coffee made, so I twist behind me to pull down a mug from the cupboard while he goes to the fridge for eggs. After he sets them down, I hold out my cup and jiggle it. “Coffee me.”

He chuckles and fills it for me. But as soon as I’ve finished my first sip, he takes the mug, sets it on the counter, and presses in between my legs. I wrap them around his waist and drape my arms over his shoulders.

“Maybe what I really want for breakfast is you.”

“Hmm.” My lips curl into a smile. “On the counter sounds like a fun idea. I think I’d be⁠—”

James’s phone makes a soft chime in his pocket, and we both groan. I roll my eyes as he pulls it out, but sober when he flashes the screen at me. It’s Camryn. We definitely have to take this.

Hitting the green button and putting it on speaker, James says, “Hey, Camryn. What’s up?”

“Christopher has taken another woman.”

I appreciate that she gets right to the point.

“Yeah, I just got off the phone with him. He mentioned something to tide him over.” There’s a beat of silence, and then Camryn curses, and James steadies himself to provide the rundown of my plan. “We can take him down, but we need to find the other girls. Letting them die because we couldn’t find them is unacceptable. Stephanie has an idea, and at this point, I think we have to go through with it.”

“What is it?” I hear the concern in her voice. “And why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like it?”

“Because you won’t.” James doesn’t beat around the bush, and I loop my arm through his as he speaks. “She’ll go to the gala he’s bitching about as bait, lure him out, plant a tracker, and find out where he’s keeping the girls. It’s risky, but straightforward.”

“It’s incredibly risky.” Camryn doesn’t shout, but the intensity is there. “We’d need every precaution in place to ensure he doesn’t run off with her somewhere we can’t find.”

“That’s what I suggested. Control the exits, have eyes everywhere, and make sure that he doesn’t leave with me. I’ll just be there to lure him out and get a tracker on him. I can’t let other girls get hurt when there’s something I can do about it. You’re the FBI. Isn’t this what you do? Set up stings?”

There’s another break in the conversation, and this time, it stretches. I wait, flicking my eyes between James and the phone. He doesn’t rush to jump in, and I have to assume he’s giving Camryn a moment to think.

When that moment goes on a bit too long, though, James pushes off the counter, putting the phone close to his mouth and saying, “He’ll be gone, and the girls will be safe. We can’t keep hiding. I won’t make Stephanie live this way.”

“That’s not a lot of time to prepare, James.”

“You’ll have Honor’s complete cooperation, and I’ve seen you do more with less.”

Camryn sighs again, but I can hear the resignation in it and picture her shoulders sagging. “Well, I better get fucking planning then. I’ll keep you both in the loop.”

“Thank you, Camryn.” I look into James’s eyes as I speak. “We’re going to do this. It’ll work.”

“It better.”

The call ends, and James puts his phone back in his pocket. It’s beyond tense now, and I sip on my coffee while he starts cooking the eggs. The kitchen is quiet. My heart is already beating hard, and it’s not even the gala yet. But I’m not going to back down. We’re the only ones who can help those women, so we’re fucking going to.

As James leaves the stove to go put the egg carton back in the fridge, I just make out his whisper.

“You’ll be free of all this, Stephanie.” My heart squeezes. “If it’s the last fucking thing I do before the end. You’ll be free.”

FORTY-FIVE

JAMES

I could pick her out in a room of a thousand people because she is the only one who matters to me.

She looks like a goddess. Pink silk swishes around her curves, and all I want to do is steal her away from all this bullshit. I’m regretting so many of my life choices and exposing her to this scum of the earth is in the top five. Everything I’ve done wrong with her is number one.

“Stop looking like someone kicked your puppy,” Stephanie murmurs in my ear as she fixes my tie.

I grip her waist and tug her close. She fits as if she were made for me and I for her. “I will do worse than kick if he lays a single hand on you.” It’s a promise. She’s going to have to get close on purpose, and that is the one part of the plan I’m struggling the most with.