No, no, no.Did Atlas just threaten to bury a Fed?Right in front of me?
“Are you threatening me?”Gage asked bluntly.
“Of course, he isn’t!”She elbowed her way to Atlas’s side.
But Atlas and Gage stared straight at each other.The tension between them was thick enough to suffocate a person.She certainly felt suffocated.“I do not need testosterone crap,” she snapped.“Someone broke into my house and apparently stole some of my possessions, and all this happenedafterI was abducted!Believe me, things are bad enough for me already.I don’t need the two of you arguing right now!”
Immediately, Gage’s head swung toward her.“You’re so sure this happenedafteryou and Atlas were taken?You think it was the same perp?”
Ah…
“Is that what you’re saying Lily?”Gage pressed.
She glanced toward her open front door.A female cop in uniform had just exited the home.“I think it is certainly a possibility that we can’t overlook.”
“Why would he come here?Why would he break into your place?”
She wet her lips.“Because maybe he wanted to know more about me.The whole know-your-enemies bit.”The throbbing in her head was getting so much worse.Her gaze cut back to Gage.“Or maybe the perp just wanted to see what all I knew about him.”
“Fuck.”Gage shook his head.“How many times do I have to tell you?You aren’t a Fed, Lily.Don’t hunt the predators.Don’t screw around with them.”
Her shoulders stiffened.
But Atlas reached over and took her hand.Casually, he brought it to his lips and kissed the back of her knuckles.He acted as if it was a move he made all the time.It was not.It was the first time he’d ever kissed her knuckles, and such a small caress should not have sent a tremor of electricity surging through her veins.
But it did.
She sucked in a breath.Just like that, her gaze was on Atlas, not Gage.She found Atlas’s eyes right on her, too.
“Screw around all you like,” he invited her.“It’s because of you that I’m standing here right now.”
Holding her gaze, he bent his head and kissed her knuckles once more.
Gage cleared his throat.“If you want to check out the interior of the house, Lily, then you need to come with me.”
Atlas had retrieved her diary.That had been priority one.But, sure, looking inside was a fine plan.She wanted to see what the intruder had done.What he took from me.She pulled away from Atlas.
“Don’t touch anything,” Gage warned her.
She sighed.“Not my first crime scene.”And her prints were already going to be on everything.But she followed him down the narrow sidewalk and up the steps.Lily was highly conscious of the fact that Atlas trailed right on her heels.She was also conscious of the fact that, for some reason, his presence made her feel better.
No one had ever made her feelbetterin this world.
She was probably just too tired.How many hours was she running on with no sleep?She would be crashing soon.
One of the uniformed cops tried to block them from entering.
But Gage flashed his badge, and they got in.The first thing she noticed?—
Not a single thing is touched in the den.The sofa still had a cozy blanket tossed over the side.Her book was still half-open on the sofa cushion.The bookshelf still had all her titles in perfect position.The TV was off, with the remote on the coffee table.A glance to the right showed her kitchen in similar shape.Clean kitchen table.Dishes stacked neatly behind the glass doors of her cabinets.Dish soap and brush still near the sink.
From this position, it looked like no break-in had occurred at all.
But then they went into her bedroom.
Absolute chaos.The mattress had been cut open.Stuffing was everywhere, like a snowstorm had hit the bedroom.The books on the shelves in that room had all been pulled out, ripped open.Pages littered the floor.Every drawer of her chest had been pulled open.Her clothes ransacked.A glance inside the closet showed her that the items in there had been pulled from the hangers.Some looked slashed.
There was a whole lot of rage in her bedroom.As if the intruder had become?—
