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She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and then sat up. Her movements were stiff and Flynn sat to swing out of the way, giving her an easy way to slide off the bed.
Even a decade after the explosion, the effects on her body were still evident. His heart ached for the pains she’d suffered. Having to learn to walk again. Living at a secured level in a hospital for more than a year.
Flynn wanted to give her a normal life. One where she wasn’t looking over her shoulder. One where she didn’t have to be afraid. She’d suffered so much and deserved more than what life had handed her. So much more.
“What if, between the two of us, we can take down the Pavic family? That would eliminate the worry for you. If we can get the leaders in jail, the threat to you would be over. They’d be powerless.”
A shudder ran through her as she eased onto her feet. “We don’t even know if anyone knows I’m alive. We don’t know if there’s a price on my head. This is all precautionary.”
“The government rarely spends a lot of time or money on precautionary.” And they’d spent a whole lot on her. They’d kept her in protective custody, paid for her to recover from the injuries, resettled her more than once.
When her face paled, he regretted his blunt words.
She turned to face him, ignoring the cat’s demands. “Do you think they’re using me as bait? Or is there another reason they kept me alive and hidden? Do you think the Pavic family is keeping me alive for some reason? Do you think they’re involved with this? Are they working together?”
Her voice was shaking along with her body and Flynn moved to wrap her up in his arms. “Sorry, Tessa. I’m just thinking aloud. There’s no way the government would work with Pavic. There’s an open case file on them in the organized crime division. We’ve got no reason to go down the conspiracy route.”
She drew in a few breaths. “Okay. Sorry. I’ve got to stop freaking out. I’ve kept it buried deep for so long. I haven’t even let myself think of names or people. I haven’t allowed my brain to revisit any of it. Now that the seal is broken, all the terror is leaking back out again. I’m sorry.”
He shifted to frame her face with his hands. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. That’s on me. I’ve been working on this case for years and it’s never far from the surface. I want to take them down. It’s the only reason I haven’t moved on.”
Another shudder. “Moved on?”
He smiled. “To here. To Midnight Security with my friends. The opportunity is exciting. There’s so much potential in what they’ve started. I want to be a part of it. But not until I close this case.”
Tessa’s eyes sparkled with tears. “For me.” Then she threw her arms around him. “See. Best man ever.”
“Not hardly.” But that she’d said so more than once warmed his heart and gave him hope for an actual future with her.
Tessa straightened and moved to the bag she’d brought and took another jar out for the cat. It didn’t move away from her when she opened the jar. Then it dove right in and didn’t protest when Tessa ran her hands over the fur.
He wanted those hands running over his body just like that. Shaking his head at his one-track mind, Flynn forced his mind onto the case. He’d go slowly with Tessa, but he wasn’t letting her go. Solving the case and dismantling the Pavic organization would go a long way to moving things in the right direction.
While the cat gobbled the food, Tessa sat on a nearby chair and continued to touch the animal, getting her used to her presence. Similar to the way they gentled abused horses back on the ranch. She was a natural with animals. Zoology had been a good second choice.
He moved to another chair at the table and pulled out the notebook he always carried with him when he traveled. A lot of his information was secured on a cloud in the computer, but he didn’t know enough about computer hacking to be sure it was safe. If anyone stole the data, he’d be screwed. Better to have a paper copy as backup.
Plus, he thought better on paper when he was brainstorming. “You ready to dig into the Pavic family for a while?”
Her face clouded up, but she nodded.
He lifted a pen. “Why don’t you tell me what you know?”
Her laugh held no humor. “It’s a pretty short tale. My mother was Rosa Pavic. She died when I was very young. I don’t have any memories of her and my father trained me early on never to ask about her.”
Jesus. What a hell of a life she’d lived.
“My grandfather is Grigor. I’ve met him a few times. He’s got eyes that look through you. His laugh makes my skin crawl. My mother’s older brother is Karlo. He’s the man who accused me of writing a journal about their family business.”
The one who had set her up, hit her, and left her to be raped. That was the one Flynn wanted to see spend the rest of his life in a cell.
“I don’t even know what types of crimes they’re involved in. My father never allowed me out of my room when other people were in the home.”
“You didn’t look them up after you got into Wit Sec?” He wasn’t sure he’d have been able to stop himself from checking them out.
Her mouth twisted. “I was told that there are ways for people to track me if I so much as searched for my previous name or anyone associated with it. If I’m being honest, those weren’t the names I would have looked for if I’d been brave enough to search.”
The way her eyes were locked on his made him think his name was the one she would have searched.
