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I’d been waiting for this.

The guys had all assured me it would be fine, but how could it be?

I’d pushed a man over a balcony, and he’d died.

That was murder.

I clutched James tighter, a sick feeling swirling in my stomach at the thought of being separated from him again. Dax and Luca and Lynx would at least have him to love, but I was sure I would die from being away from him if I was sent to prison.

“Officers,” Lynx said, focusing on the older one in particular. “I hope you’ve come with good news?”

The older man diverted his gaze from Lynx’s, training it on me. A weird tension filled the room, and I was sure it wasn’t just because of my nerves.

The officer seemed distinctly nervous too. He fought to keep his gaze from straying to Lynx, and then Dax, but he fidgeted, his eyes flicking back and forth.

I frowned. “Do you three know each other?”

The officer shook his head fast.

But Dax nodded at the same time. “I did a giant back piece for him recently.”

It all clicked together.

This was the officer who’d kept Lynx without charges and had handed him over to my father.

The same officer Dax and Lynx had tortured with a giant tattoo a few days before, as a reminder to keep the cops away from Lynx.

Part of me wanted to jump up and claw the man’s eyes out for his part in everything that had happened.

Part of me just desperately wanted all of this to be over. “Are you here to arrest me?”

If Lynx had glared any harder at the officer, I was sure laser beams would have shot out of his eyes.

The officer answered fast. “No, we just came to tell you we won’t be pressing charges.”

Luca snorted softly beneath his breath. “Wow. How about that?”

I didn’t miss Dax delivering a sharp kick to Luca’s shin.

The officer continued anyway, “The reports on the balcony confirm your story, Miss Matish. There was clearly a weak point in the railing because there’s no way Mr. MacGregor’s weight could have broken it if there hadn’t been.”

“I told you, my father was slack with maintenance,” Luca said dryly.

The officer didn’t look at him.

I was pretty sure he was scared to.

“Furthermore, we spoke to the other men who were injured, and they told us it was MacGregor who shot them. The gunshot residue on his hands indicates that to be true. The woman held captive has confirmed she was taken from her dorm room and held against her will, but again, she identified a known associate of MacGregor’s to be her assailant. We have him in custody.”

Luca folded his arms across his chest. “If that’s all, I think Nyah could use some rest.”

The officer agreed quickly and stepped back, not daring to even peep in Lynx’s or Dax’s directions. He and his partner scuttled out of the room.

I raised an eyebrow at the three men left behind. “That was a very different man from the arrogant asshole he was last time I saw him.”

“He’s lucky I let him breathe,” Luca said beneath his breath. “He’s a corrupt piece of shit.”

Lynx leaned over and put his hand to the back of Luca’s neck, squeezing the muscles there reassuringly. “He serves a purpose. Those marks on his back guarantee he’ll keep the cops off our backs.”