AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He clenches his jaw and hesitates before coming to sit next to me.
“I was so scared, Grant. I thought I lost you,” I whisper as I grab his free hand. “Are you okay?” I start to cry again. I didn’t think I had it in me to cry again so soon.
“I’m fine, just a flesh wound.” His voice is withdrawn and sullen. “I let you down again. I let you get hurt again. How can I ever ask you to forgive me when I didn’t protect you?”
“He didn’t even give you a chance, he walked in and shot you like the coward he is. I was in your lap. You didn’t have time to protect me.”
“I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted.” He shakes his head and looks out the window. “If I would have had my head in the game, I would have been quicker. The fact of the matter is you are hurt, again, at his hands, and it’s my fucking fault. You should walk away from me. I’m not worthy of you.”
“You’re right.” I nod and stand in front of him. “I am hurt.” I lower myself, so we’re eye to eye. “But so are you. I’m the reason you were shot.”
“No—” he starts to disagree.
“Yeah, using your logic, it’s my fault that you were shot. Convince me otherwise.”
“It’s different.”
“Why?”
“I was there to protect you.”
“Are we in a relationship?”
“Yes.”
“Do we love each other?”
“Yes.”
“So we protect each other. That’s how it works in an equal partnership. We’re both responsible for the well-being of the other.”
“Yes.”
“So the only person responsible for that gunshot wound and my injuries is Tripp Daniels.”
“Yes.” He looks at me with so much love in his eyes it leaves me breathless. “I love you so much, Liv.” He does a double take when he catches a glimpse of my chest and the bruise there. “Jesus fucking Christ. I’m going to make his death as slow as fucking possible.”
“I’m on board with that plan of action.” I really am. He showed no humanity, no remorse. And then there’s all those women he had in that warehouse. He deserves a horrible death.
28
OLIVIA
It’s beena few weeks since the ordeal at the gala. The women were taken into protective custody by the FBI, and Lake went out to help in California as well. He was gone for about a week as they went through all the intel he had gathered on Tripp and his associates and added it to what was previously known. The corruption that Tripp was part of in LA went to the state legislature. The fallout from the bust of his trafficking ring will be ongoing for years.
As for Tripp, he’s been held by Lake’s mercenaries since the night they found me. I don’t know what kind of things they’ve been doing to him, and I don’t care. They could peel his skin from his body, and I wouldn’t bat an eyelash.
“Are you sure you want to be here for this?” Sawyer asks before we go down into the interrogation room that they’ve been keeping Tripp inside for the past few weeks. “He says a lot of really vile shit.”
“I’m sure. There’s nothing he can say to hurt me now.” I look at all four of my guys, so they know I’m serious. “I want to be here for this.”
“Okay.” Lake opens the door and leads us down the two flights of metal stairs.
The air is damp and smells of mildew. Puddles of water from condensation form on the uneven floor. Lake pushes open a steel door, and we follow him into the large room.
Tripp has his wrists shackled together and suspended above him from a rafter. His toes just barely touch the ground as he sways. He’s still wearing the same clothes from the night of the gala, and he smells like blood and urine. His blonde beard has grown in, and there’s fleck of dried vomit stuck inside.
“Oh, my lovely wife has come to see me. Getting tired of being spit roasted by them yet?”
