They weren’t just watching.
They were hunting.
Erin didn’t know it yet, but the timer on her implosion had already started ticking.
Remi Carter was still in holding.
Not because she belonged there, but because no one could figure out how to move her without triggering another media firestorm. She’d become a symbol, and symbols were dangerous things. They didn’t break easily. They could just as easily infect people or inspire them.
And I was the one who cuffed her.
Who failed her.
I turned the corner expecting her to be in her cell, maybe pacing, maybe curled on that shitty cot pretending to sleep. What I didn’t expect wasthis.
Remi was in the interview room, sitting sideways in the metal chair like she owned it. Jumpsuit still rolled at the sleeves, waves of darkhair falling wild around her bruised face like a lioness who hadn’t decided whether she was going to maul you or not.
Gray sat across from her.
And he was smiling.
Fucking smiling...
A real smile, slight, but there.
Reid leaned in the doorway, arms crossed, grinning like a damn schoolboy who just watched his idol make a touchdown.
Remi said something under her breath I couldn’t hear, but it made Gray chuckle, and that wasrare. And terrifying. Gray didn’t chuckle. Gray didn’t evenexistto most people until they were looking down the wrong end of a scope.
I stepped into the room and cleared my throat.
Remi’s gaze lifted to mine and turned to stone.
Reid straightened and offered me a tired nod. “We were just keeping her company, Chief.”
“Everything okay?” I asked, trying to read between the lines.
Gray didn’t answer right away. He turned to me and said flatly, “We’re good.”
Remi raised an eyebrow, expression unreadable. “Careful, Chief. Might want to check with your babysitter first.”
I tried not to react, but it was getting harder and harder by the day.
“You alright?” I asked her, eyes dipping to the bruises.
She looked at me like I was an idiot. “You’re the one with the cameras, right? Or are those just for decoration?”
Reid winced.
Fuck, I deserved that.
Gray stood. He moved with that unnerving stillness, the kind that made him feel like a ghost even when you were looking right at him.
Remi tilted her head. “You ever gonna give me your name, or do they just call you Shadow?”
Gray’s mouth twitched. Just slightly. Then he said, “Grayson. But they call me Gray.”
She looked amused. “Because of the eyes?”
