AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What! Tell me you’re not serious.”
“I am.”
“Gia, you are so darn lucky I don’t have any plans today. It’s going to take me at least two hours to go through my assortment and pack them into the car. Then I have to drive there, do your hair and makeup, and—”
“All I need is a dress.”
Vickie laughed. “So you believe. I need to know more about the event so I can pick the right one.”
“I don’t know anything about it.”
“Who are you? Because my friend is so . . . predictable,” Vickie questioned teasingly.
“He didn’t tell me any more than—”
“He? You’ve been holding out on me. If you want that dress you better start spilling it.”
Gia couldn’t believe she let that slip. But the clock was ticking. “I can tell you all about it when you’re here. So you’re thinking three hours at the most?”
“Are you kidding me? It might be worth a ticket. I’ll be there in less than two. And trust me, I’m not leaving until I hear about everything.”
Vickie ended the call, and Gia put the phone in her purse as she got onto the bus. Sadly, Vickie was much more excited about her going out tonight than she was. And whatever you think it will be is more exciting than what it probably will be.
Roger normally sent a check for these functions. He got that they needed to raise funds. But for most of the people there, it was about status and looking as though they gave a shit. It pissed him off that they believed money fixed everything.
He wasn’t so ignorant to believe it wasn’t needed. The families of the fallen DEA agents needed the support. But they also needed the fucking cover-up and drugs to stop. Some of the people donating were also suspected of being connected to the drug cartels. Playing nice with them at this event wasn’t easy. But eventually, everyone would be taken down.
Part of him wanted to go back to the agency. It was where he belonged. Even now, knowing he was going to be close to some of the active agents, the flashbacks tortured him. He didn’t care who the hell told him it wasn’t his fault, it still felt like it had been. They never should’ve entered that house. Not without knowing who was inside. But it was all about making the bust. The meth lab needed to be shut down. They had the warrant. What no one knew, or expected, was children were being held in the basement.
He replayed it over and over again. The agents shouted for the suspects to put their hands up. Instead one pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and killed one of the agents. Then all hell broke loose. One of the assailants leaped through a window, still armed. Roger exited the building after him. As he tackled him to the rough asphalt, the sound of the house exploding rumbled through him and shards of glass and wood flew all around. He rolled over, not letting go of his prisoner, to see the house engulfed in flames.
One of agents stumbled out of the door and collapsed on the steps. Roger rushed over and pulled him away from the burning house. He patted out the flames on his uniform and performed CPR until the ambulance arrived. Even as they took the agent away, Roger knew it was too late.
He was the only survivor on the team. But they were more than fellow agents. They had been family, and they trusted each other to have their backs. Over the years, Roger replayed that horrible day over and over again. What had they missed? They had raided more places than he could count, and things had never gone so bad.
As agents, they knew the risks. Drug dealers, guards, and cookers paid the price for the choices they made. But the children had been innocent in all of this. The oldest one had been seven. They never had a chance to live their lives, to make their own mistakes.
And we should’ve known they were there.
They had been watching that house for months, not days. People came and went all hours of the day and night. They were all adults.
No one had been able to determine how long those kids had been in there, but they were eventually identified as children of the assholes running that meth lab.
Roger had been put on administrative leave after that. They thought he needed time to heal. If he lived to be a hundred and fifty, it’d feel just as raw as it had that day.
That’s why he was still sitting in the limo in front of Gia’s apartment building. It was bad enough he was going to this event, why the hell was he going to subject her to it?
He could tell her it was so she could meet and mingle with the Henderson family in a neutral environment, but that wasn’t true. It wasn’t as though pulling out a résumé and handing it to one of them would ever be a wise thing to do. If anything, she’d look . . . desperate.
That’s not how Roger viewed Gia. She wasn’t attending this with him for some damn job. Not the way she challenged him every chance she got. So why did she agree? Sure as hell wasn’t my charm.
But now he was curious. She wasn’t as simple to read as he’d first thought. And it looked like there was only one way to learn why, and that was by going with her. Roger opened the limo door and climbed the stairs to her second floor apartment. He knocked once and the door opened immediately.
He had eyes and already knew she was a beautiful woman, but he wasn’t expecting her to be . . . gorgeous. Roger had suggested red, but this emerald green gown hugged every curve and accented her eyes. Before he could tell her how she looked, Gia snapped at him.
“I was about to give up and change.”
“That would’ve been a shame, because you look lovely.”
