AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He gave a huff, turning his attention back to the car. “Said she was a family friend, not my friend.”
“Uh huh. Sure. That makes sense.” Didn’t make an ounce of fuckin’ sense. “Suppose that means you ain’t doing it?”
“You’re the boss, Boss.”
I turned from the window, shaking my head at Joss, Kolton, Frankie, and Vinny. It’d been a long day, and my day wasn’t even close to over. There weren’t any insurgents out there, ready to shoot to kill, but it felt like I had a gun pointed at my chest, and I was worried about the hair trigger. “Time to head home. I’ll take care of this.”
Frankie was on my heels as she followed me back to my office. “The FBI, Lee? Seriously? What the hell is going on?”
“If I had an answer for you, I’d give it.” I shrugged on my coat, looking down at the woman as she stood before me like she wasn’t a few heads shorter than me. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an FBI agent to address before I go find a missing girl.”
With her lips pressed flat, Frankie gave a sharp nod. Then she walked out of my office, calling over her shoulder as she went, “I expect an update by the end of the week.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sucked in a deep, bolstering breath. Then, flipping off the lights, I followed my staff out the back door.
Only to go right through the alley to the front of the building.
Special Agent Hernandez was sitting low in the front seat of her car, staring at our office like it was a tropical vacation compared to the frigid winter in downtown Chicago. She had half that right. I pulled my collar up against the icy wind as I crossed the street and knocked on her passenger window.
The woman jumped, and had there been a gun in the seat beside her, I was pretty sure she’d be in need of a brand new window. As it was, she scrambled for her door, finding the right button before rolling the window down.
“It’s a lot warmer inside,” I told her once there was a gap just shy of big enough for my hand to slip through. “Next time, just come on in instead of staring. I promise, we won’t bite.”
Through the foggy window, I could just make out her tight smile. “I might just have to do that, Mr. Bridgewater.”
Dipping my head, I told her, “I look forward to it.” Then with a rap of my knuckles against the glass, I stood up. Before she could roll up the window, I dipped back down, peering into the darkness, to her face lit up by the dim lights of the dash. “Have a nice night, Special Agent Hernandez.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, but I didn’t bother waiting for a response. I stood once more, walking away before the woman had a chance to recover from the shock.
Owed Van for that one. I was a firm believer in staying ahead of the feds and police, and knowing her name, calling her out, was one of the only cards I had to play right now. Was gonna need to talk to Vinny in the morning, figure out what the hell this woman could be hunting.
Back down the alley in the employee parking lot, my Jeep sat waiting in the freezing cold. At least the press hadn’t thought to park themselves back there. Didn’t need no one ambushing my employees like that. Or following me around and finding out we had the fuckin’ feds sitting outside our door.
After getting in, I let the heat blow until thin wisps of warmth finally started coming out of the dash, the whole time scouring my phone for names and numbers, texting this guy and that girl, trying to find where Kelly could have gone. This wasn’t my first time in this rodeo, but I sure wished it’d be the last. Wished I could do something substantial. Wished I could catch the girl, keep her from running away, keep her from chasing her past and living in the lies that were told to her.
Wished I could help her, make her see she was more than this.
I’d saved her life once, and I’d do it again in an instant. I’d go back and change it all, save her before it got to that point, if I could.
Maybe then, things would be different.
Maybe then, we could at least be friends.
16
LEE
“You seen this girl?” I flashed my phone screen at the bartender at the twentieth fuckin’ bar I’d been to tonight. That wasn’t even counting all the clubs.
The man barely looked up from the glass he was drying. “Nope, never seen her in my life.”
My frown etched itself deeper into my face, in all the creases left behind from my complete and utter exhaustion. Digging out a twenty from my wallet, I set it on the bar top, then set my cell on top of it. “How ‘bout now?”
He paused, taking a moment to stare at the picture of Kelly on my phone. She was smiling a wide smile, her wild red curls taking up most of the screen, her pale face lit up by the summer sun as her freckles stood out just like mine always did. Fuckin’ breathtaking, that smile.
The bartender snagged the twenty from under my phone and shoved the bill into his pocket. Then he went right back to wiping the glass. “You mean, other than the last time you came in here showing that same picture? What was that, a couple weeks ago?”
My teeth hurt from clenching them so hard. “That’s right. She’s missing again.”
