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“I know, babe.” I see her sigh. “But I’ve got to keep you safe, and I can’t have you there as a distraction. Anton knows who you are, and if he has another chance, he’ll use you against me.”
“I understand. I hate every minute of it, but…” She sighs again. “I do understand.”
I look at her. Her green eyes are filled with a deep curious longing. Her look of complete devotion is enough to bring me to my knees, and I want to do everything I can to get her into my arms again as soon as possible.
“I promise, as soon as this is over, I’ll come get you, and you and I…we’ll start off on a better foot.”
She chuckles. “Oh really?”
“Yes.” I laugh along with her. I give her another kiss, this one as intimate and intense as the first one. It leads us down a dangerous path just as another knock sounds on the door. I groan this time, hating being interrupted. “I hate that door,” I say, earning a cheeky smile from her.
Opening it, I see a disgruntled Ford holding a bag. “Delivery.”
I grab it from him and let him follow me in then hand Margaret the bag and tell her to get dressed.
When she’s in the bathroom, I look at Ford and see him giving me a know-it-all grin. “What?” I grunt out.
“Oh nothing, just a bit surprised is all.”
“Surprised at what, exactly?”
I’ve known Ford for years, since we both joined the FBI around the same time. He’s often a pain in my ass, but he’s also generally a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. It chaps my ass.
“You and Margaret—it’s very unexpected,” he says, gesturing to where she’s locked behind the bathroom door.
“Well, I like the unexpected,” I say, surprising him again if the lift of his brow is any indication.
“Apparently.”
I look at him seriously and point his way. “You keep her safe, you hear me?”
He frowns at me, seemingly hurt by my words. “Of course I will, Stokes. I feel like I let you down already with her.”
I sigh. “You couldn’t have known they were out there. They likely followed a random lead.”
He looks at me seriously and steps forward, whispering like someone has the place bugged. “You think someone inside did this?”
“Well, how else did they find that place? They sure as hell weren’t following me,” I say with certainty.
“Who then?” he asks. He knows how serious this is. Everyone was thinking I was the bad guy, thought I was the one feeding the bad guys the information they needed to keep their drug operation under wraps, but I’ve had a feeling all along that someone else was in on this whole deal. I just didn’t know who.
“I don’t know.” I look at Ford. I trust him; he’s one of the few I do in this messed-up game we play. The FBI often feels like a life outside of the real world. We’re the people hiding in the shadows, and depending on who you are, we’re either there to hurt you or protect you.
“Well, we need to find that out.”
I shake my head. “Your only priority is to protect Margaret. Everything else, you leave to me.”
He takes my words in stride as Margaret walks out of the bathroom, fully dressed and ready to leave again.
“You ready?” she asks him, but she’s staring at me. “You find that asshole, okay?” She tells me more than she asks, and I gather her into my arms and hold her snugly.
“You can count on it, Mo.”
With a final kiss, I say goodbye and hope to all hope it’s not long before I can keep those promises I made to her. I’d do anything I could to change this for her, for us, so we can live a safe and happy life together. I just have to deal with a few pressing issues first.
Priority number one: put Anton in a cell and throw away the fucking key.
