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Alan narrowed his eyes and thrust his hands in his pockets. They’d never been friends exactly, but Rafe had always respected him. He was an agent who put the job first and did what had to be done.
“Who is this chick to you? You’re really sticking your neck out there for a piece of ass.”
Rafe had his hand around the other man’s throat before the last word even left his mouth. Alan sucked in a strangled breath as Rafe leaned closer.
“Don’t worry about what she is to me. Do your fucking job and stop trying to do mine.”
“Is there a problem here?”
Rafe released him, and they turned to see the same young agent that he’d left Diana with originally.
The guy eyed Rafe with trepidation before he spoke to Alan. “Agent Granger, sir. I was told to tell you that her story checks out. She can leave if she’s under protective custody.”
“She is.” Rafe interrupted. “She’s with me. And if you need us, you know how to contact me.” He turned to leave before he could say or do something else that would get them locked up.
If everything he’d worked for was going up in flames, he’d prefer not to light the match until he was at a safe distance.
As
they drove back to the penthouse, the anger vibrated through him.
Rafe hadn’t been this angry in years. Maybe ever. And he was angry at everybody. Alan, Emilie, Diana. But mostly, he was angry with himself. He hadn’t put the pieces together. He hadn’t seen how much trouble she was in. He hadn’t seen the setup. But if you had seen the setup, would you have done anything differently?
Yes.
He would’ve killed her brothers at the hotel. With his bare hands. Anything to make sure she was safe.
The whole drive back to Noah’s, he could feel her eyes on him, watching him. She hadn’t said a word the whole drive back home. He knew she was scared and tired, but he didn’t have much to give her right now. At least not anything that would come without anger. He needed to process the whole fucking day first.
The moment they returned to the penthouse, he tried to put some distance between them in the foyer. “I’ll be in the conference room.”
Diana reached for him. “Rafe, I know this is a lot. And I just want to say thank you. For everything.”
Her fingertips grazed his arm, and he deftly sidestepped. “I said I would protect you and I am. I’ll see you later. See if Lucia or JJ are here. Don’t leave.” He would’ve thought that went without saying, but given everything that had happened, he didn’t exactly trust her to stay put. Granted, she wouldn’t be able to leave. Not with Matthias’s eagle eye on all the cameras.
“So when can we talk about everything?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Not now. We’ll talk later.”
He was an asshole. He knew it. But he needed some time away from her.
As soon as he was in the conference room, he sagged against the wall, finally letting the fear, anger, worry, and shame wash over him. He’d pushed her to go in today, and Emilie almost had her arrested. He was fucking pissed at Alan for his bullshit. And the shame, that went without saying. He’d been part of the biggest trauma in her lifetime. There was no saying I’m sorry for that.
Luckily no one was around. From the schedule he’d seen earlier that week, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, what he’d taken to calling Ryan and Dylan, were out on bad-husband-babysitting duty. Oskar was off. And Jonas and Noah were busy with the new trainee assessment. He assumed Lucia and JJ were home, but now that he thought about it, there might have been some fashion thing or other on the calendar.
After nanny-gate of last year, Isabella was with Nonna and the nanny. It was going to be a minute until they trusted a stranger again. Matthias… was on watch as always, monitoring the cameras. And the kid couldn’t really judge him, could he?
But after a moment of self-indulgence, Rafe got to work. All he wanted was to keep Diana safe and to find the jewel. If her brothers wanted it, maybe he could bargain with them for her life.
When they’d left his place, he’d brought the contents of his safe with them. He went straight for the safe in the conference room, punched in the code, and found what he was looking for. His files. There had to be something he had missed.
That diamond, he’d never seen it. Why were all fingers pointing to him? Emilie had practically called him a thief. Did the bureau really think he had it in him?
Yes.
If he were being honest with himself, he had been under Orion’s thumb for a long time. He could’ve turned. But hadn’t he proven himself by now?
The diamond had been missing all this time. Hadn’t he already proven his loyalty to the good guys? He forced himself to focus on the time he would just as soon forget. But as much as he went through the files, through past operatives, nothing stood out. Nothing about that mission at all.
