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That’s a punch to the gut. I didn’t love her. Who can properly love someone after knowing them two months? But maybe I was in love with the idea of her, the freedom she possessed.
“You came here, looking for her?”
“I came here to destroy your family. Your father. I know he had something to do with her disappearance, but I can’t pin down the whole story.” The venom behind her words matches the spitfire I met in the beginning.
“He did,” I say with a nod.
“You knew? And didn’t do anything about it?”
The flame burning in her eyes has my nostrils flaring. She doesn’t know how damn hard I tried to follow the trail, but it went cold every time.
“Bertrand and his partners know how to cover their asses. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t try. I’ve been searching for answers since she was taken, and I’m about to unearth a whole shitstorm of information if I can get my hands on it. That’s why I need you.”
“I was only trying to find information, but the opportunity to end him was too good to pass up,” Wryn murmurs, and the room falls silent.
I can see the pain on her face, probably mirrored on mine.
“You would’ve failed in the end anyway. There’s nothing of importance in his office. I’ve searched.”
She nods, accepting my statement, and glances off.
“I’m so tired. I want to know what happened to her. Fate has a funny way of working out, doesn’t it?” she says. “I know she’s still alive—I feel it in my bones. I can’t fathom the thought that she’s not still out there. And I won’t stop looking for her.”
“Good. Because things are about to get a lot uglier around here.”
“Uglier than your face right now?” she asks.
I raise one eyebrow, my face barking in pain. I turn and look in the mirror and see that where Wryn struck me is swelling nicely, turning a dark shade of pink.
“Worse,” I say solemnly, not able to joke about what I know is coming. “I don’t know that everyone will make it out alive.”
That sobers her, the smile melting from her face, and she climbs to her feet. “I’ll help you, Connor. Anything for Rubes.”
“Just get ready for tomorrow. It’s all a game, and we have to play it right.”
I stand up, only a foot away from her. I sense the pull my body has to hers, and I move a bit closer. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing right now. She doesn’t move, but her chest rises and falls in a labored way, as if she’s fighting her own thoughts about me.
I reach out, running one finger down her cheek. She stands frozen. Her skin is soft, and I watch my hand curl, sneaking past her ear and around the back of her head, almost as if it were a separate entity from me. I don’t remember telling it to do that.
I pull her closer. Her lips part on a gasp. My thumb rests on her neck, where her pulse is pounding wildly.
My eyes flit between her wide ones.
I dip, and she rises slightly.
Our lips are so close. I’m about to taste her.
Then, she pulls back, shaking her head. I release her, and she takes a shuddering breath.
“Okay, I’ll, uh, be ready,” she says quickly, backing toward the door.
With one last look, she walks out, and I turn back toward the bag, wraps flying open as I pummel it with all the strength I have left. I’m tired of thinking.
12
CONNOR
“What happened to you?” Geo asks as I stalk back to the basement.
