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“Woulda thought the FBI would have been more worried about a missing teen than how we brought down a sex trafficker. Were you a part of that investigation, Special Agent Hernandez?”
Her eyes drifted as her lips pursed together. “No.”
“Was there an investigation? Before we found him alive?”
She made no attempt to answer. She also didn’t return her gaze to mine. Not until I spoke again.
“I thought not.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Who was the cop you were working with? The one from New York?”
I shook my head. “Quinn Radnor. An old friend of Levi’s.”
“And he had ties to the D’Angelo Syndicate?”
My shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Don’t know. Radnor approached us to help find Levi, considering we were the only ones still searching for the kid. Didn’t matter to me who he was. Only thing that mattered was saving the kid.” I shifted in my chair, guilt racing up and down my spine.
For Levi, we’d gotten there in time. He’d been traumatized, but his hacking skills were more valuable than his body to the man who’d taken him.
It was the only thing that made the year-long search easier to swallow than what happened to Kelly.
“Look, I’ve got a busy day, and nothing I’m going to tell you is any different than what I’ve already told the police a thousand times.” I could see a ripple of emotion cross her face before she tamped it down. I let a smile pull at my lips. “You’re welcome to hang out. Have some coffee. Catch up with your old friend in back.”
“My friend?”
Took everything in me to suppress a laugh. “Van Thaylor?” Her eyes fuckin’ bugged out of her head. “You didn’t know he works here? I’m sure he’d be willing to chat, although I can tell you now, he wasn’t with us in KC, so he knows nothing about Donnie or that case.”
Hernandez lifted her chin, then rose from her seat. “I’ll get out of your hair.”
“You sure? I’m sure Van’d love to catch up.”
With a pinched face, she told me, “I’m sure.” Then she high-tailed it right out of the room, only to slow her steps when she saw Van standing behind Joss’s desk.
Coulda cut the tension in the room with a fuckin’ machete.
She lowered her head and went straight out the door without another word. Van stared after her, his head whipping back to me when the wind blew the door shut.
“The hell’d you just do?”
That laughter I’d held back earlier rushed through me, and it felt good. Felt like medicine to the ache in my soul. “Told her she’s welcome to hang around and chat with you if she wants.”
Van scowled, looking like he wanted to throw a punch, which had Joss and me just laughing harder. “Don’t we have a staff meeting or some bullshit?”
Those words didn’t sober me like he’d hoped. “Sure thing. Joss? Why don’t you call the guys together? With Rylan out, we’ve gotta reshuffle a few things.”
“Will do, boss.”
Leaving the two of them behind, I went back to my office to gather my files. I snagged my cell off the desk and nearly stumbled on air when I caught the message on the screen. I pulled it up, heart in my throat, and let the wave of dizziness that washed over me push me right into my chair.
Unknown: I didn’t realize how much I missed you until I saw you last night. Watching you walk away this morning hurt as much as it did last year. I want to be worthy of you, Lee. I want to be worthy of your love, because I’ve never felt safer than I do at your side. And that scares me more than anything.
My chest heaved as I let out my held breath, my throat tightened, my skin itched.
She was more than worthy.
She was everything to me.
And that scared me too.
