Page 93 of Burning Justice

Brett had taken total advantage of the fact that when she slept, she slept like the dead. The worst part was that he’d stolen her laptop.

Gemma fisted her hands in her hair, straining the sutures in her scalp and trying not to scream. She snatched her cell phone from the floor and cued up Brett’s number. After four rings, it went to voicemail. “Brett, you bastard. I want my files back. I can’t believe you would do this to me.”

Her voice cracked, and the lump in the back of her throat choked off anything she might have said next. She ended the call and threw the phone on the mattress. Tears stung the backs of her eyes, and she blinked rapidly, refusing to let herself cry over him. Too late.

Hot tears trickled down her face faster than she could wipe them away.

She could probably recreate most of her evidence, but that would take time. Everything had been meticulously organized and catalogued. It would take days, if not weeks or a month, to recreate everything.

She let her head fall back and took a deep breath, trying to steady her swiftly disintegrating control.

It didn’t matter what his reasons were for doing this. This was unforgivable.

How could she have been so wrong about him?

She’d once thought they were in sync, professionally and personally. The personal pain was worse. Much worse.

Last night, she’d given him the physical comfort he so obviously needed, but she’d given him so much more than that.

She’d fallen in love…and he’d betrayed her.

Crushed didn’t begin to explain how she felt. The hurt she’d experienced yesterday seemed trivial compared to this.

Where once she’d stupidly thought he understood why she worked as hard as she did, now she realized he’d never respected her, never really seen her. Now she knew that had to have been an act.

He was just like everyone else, like all the other men she’d ever worked with who constantly overlooked her.

“Oh God.”

Her ugly history was repeating itself. What Brett planned to do with all their evidence wasn’t clear. He’d been removed from the case, but he could be planning to hand it over to his own agency. Since he took everything, whoever wound up with the case would probably run it to the finish line without her.

Or he could have something else up his sleeve. Like taking this to the finish line alone, which was what she should have done in the first place.

“Fine,” she gritted out. It didn’t matter what his plan was. He’d shown his true colors, and she should be glad he’d been exposed before their personal relationship went any further.

“Two can play this game, and I can do it just as well as you can, Special Agent Tanner.”

Gemma shoved her arms into a thin cotton robe, then began charging up the stairs. She’d gotten halfway up when the doorbell rang. “What now?”

Turning, she headed back downstairs and peered out one of the front windows. Bonnie stood on the other side, dressed for work and massaging her back.

Still in the throes of a complete and utter meltdown, Gemma yanked open the door with more force than necessary. Only her friend’s perfectly positioned head prevented the blaring sun from burning her retinas.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Bonnie’s gaze dipped down then up. “Rough night? Or should I say, good night?” She sent Gemma a suggestive look. “You’ve got that post-sex look about you, and I caught your partner leaving your house about an hour ago.”

“Yeah, well.” Gemma stepped aside. “You might as well come in and get off your feet. And for the record,” she added, closing the door, “that was the walk of shame, and I don’t mean about sex. This was a real walk of shame.”

After they’d sat on the sofa, Gemma told Bonnie everything that had gone down between her and Brett since the moment they’d met, including his recent absconding with her entire case file. By the time she was done, she’d practically gouged five slits in one of the sofa cushions from where she’d been digging her fingers in deeper and deeper.

“Hmm.” Bonnie pursed her lips. “Okay, you’re pissed off.”

Gemma held out her arms. “Duh, Mrs. Obvious.”

“Let me finish,” she said in a soothing tone, one Gemma had witnessed her use many times on clients at Hands of Hope. “Have you considered there may be another perspective on this? Another reason other than ditching you that drove Brett to take your case file?”

“No.” Gemma sat back with a huff and crossed her arms. There was no redeeming reason she could come up with to vindicate his actions.

“For someone so smart and so observant, you’re missing some very critical things. You’re looking at this from a strictly professional perspective and completely ignoring the personal side of things.”