I knew who I was and after everything I’d been through. There was no way in hell I was allowing that version of myself to slip through my fingers.
“Before we begin, I need to ask you one question,” he said.
I looked over to him, finding his eyes on me, his jaw clenched, hands in his pockets. “You want to know how many,” I guessed.
“I think, after everything you and I have been through, it would be best to know.”
“Ten.”
“Including Alan Benson?” he prompted, lifting his chin slightly, the sun bouncing off his lenses.
“Yes.”
“Did you leave a mess for Red Snake to clean up?”
“Nope,” I answered. “All but Alan were clean, swift.”
Every single one of us had taken life. Not out of joy or for sport, but because it was necessary. Death was never easy, and I was sure that down the road, when I was old and gray, I would feela twinge of regret for killing Benson’s associates. Maybe. But I would never lose a second of sleep over him. His death had been sweet, and I’d relished every damn second of it.
“Please forgive me if what I’m about to say is offensive. While I don’t doubt your skills, how were you able to track him down after you searched all this time?”
My jaw tightened. “We don’t have to do this.”
“I think we do.”
“You sound like you already know.” I ticked my head to the side.
A thin smile appeared on his face then. “Perhaps. But I would like you to tell me.”
I sighed, looking at the window. “I called in a favor.”
“With whom?”
My eyes slid back over to him. “Tuck.”
Tucker Fitzgerald was a fellow retired SEAL. Back in the day, one could’ve said we were brothers, but during our last mission, something happened. To this day I don’t know what, but I always suspected it had something to do with his post-military career choice.
“Do I need to alert Grayson?” Dominic asked. His concern was blatant. Tuck wasn’t the man I used to know. He was a private contractor, hired by various…colorful organizations for security and transport.
“No.”
He grunted. “Why didn’t you contact him before?”
“Because I wanted to do things the right way,” I answered.
“Right as in following the law or right as in a way to keep your conscience clear?”
“My conscience is clear.”
Something dark passed over his face, but whatever thought he had, he didn’t share. Instead, he cleared his throat, adjusted his glasses, and moved on.
“I want to go back to June twenty-sixth,” Dominic began, coming back around his desk with his pad and pen. He turned one of the leather chairs around to face me and took a seat, his clipboard resting on his crossed leg. “Do you feel comfortable walking me through what happened when she came into Rossy’s?”
“You can say her name, Dominic,” I said, throwing my arm over the back of the couch. The new position allowed my shoulder to relax, the feeling damn near euphoric.
“Right, then.” He gave me a tight smile. “Angel. Tell me about that day.”
He hadn’t been there. In fact, he and Jake missed the entire show, the moment everything I thought I knew—or didn’t know—imploded.
