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We’ve made it this far, and if I’m not careful, I’ll do more harm than good. I’ll implicate myself while I’m not thinking. Eventually, I nod at her before jerking my chin to the desk, giving her a starting point to search.
As the two first responders help me back down the hall, I hear her crow of excitement and the low murmur of praise from her boss as they find the tapes. It’s all the evidence they’ll need to be able to put Stefan and Ermilo away for a long, long time, but there’s nothing but a hollowed-out space where triumph should be. This is exactly what I wanted, and I guarantee Lacey will be moved up for this crowning achievement. All that good stuff.
There’s no remorse, at least, for what I've done, and there is only a minimal amount of worry for myself. It’s done.
Done. Over.
It’s almost too much for me to believe, and when the first responders set me down on a straight-backed chair to address my wound, I can hardly breathe. I clench my teeth together to keep any small noise of protest to myself while the two work. Clinical, steadfast, proficient.
It’s over, and I should feel something, shouldn’t I? Especially with my house filled to the brim with FBI agents and Lacey searching for every last secret kept by the Zicari Syndicate.
CHAPTER13
Lacey
The house slowly starts to empty, with Wes lingering the longest. He’s such a mother hen. Even with exhaustion pressing down on me and the night outside dark and inching toward Santa’s sleigh ride, I don’t need him worrying his head off.
“Go home,” I tell him with a playful grin. “There’s nothing else for you to do here.”
He claps me on the side of the arm and squeezes. “I’m proud of you, you know.”
I roll my eyes. “For what? Doing my job?” I sigh, trying to expel whatever is left of my fear. “Come on, give me a little more credit than that. I always had this handled.”Mental fingers crossed behind my back.
“For actually being here when it’s your least favorite holiday.” Wes shrugs. “For pulling this off. For forming the most unlikely alliance I’ve ever seen and having it be the thing that saves us.”
I follow the trajectory of his gaze to where Marco stands at the door, watching several police vehicles take the lazy turn out of his driveway. He’s been seen by the EMTs and patched up to the best of their abilities. Rest, they assured us, would be the key. Rest and no strenuous activities.
Good thing we got most of our exercise out of the way earlier.
“You know, he’s actually a really good guy,” I say, dropping my voice a little lower to make sure Marco and his fantastic hearing doesn’t actually catch a whiff of me praising him. Not that he doesn’t deserve it, because he does; it just feels like the kind of conversation the two of us need to have alone.
Wes stares at Marco’s back for a moment longer before turning back to me. “I’ll have to take your word for it. I’ll hold off on arresting him for as long as possible, but it’s coming, Lacey.”
For me, he did this. For me, he’ll push off the arrest as long as possible. Gratitude is a living beast inside of me.
“Well, I know you wouldn’t leave me alone with him if you thought otherwise.”
Wes has always watched over me without any sort of sexual attraction or physical chemistry. It made us great partners, the ability to get close to each other without the complications. The trust is there, right where it needs to be.
“Go home,” I urge again. “I’ll follow right after you.”
“You don’t need a ride?” he asks.
“I’ll find my own. It’s not like we’re out in the boonies. There are always driving services running at this hour.”
He refuses to budge. “You’re sure?”
“Go.”
I swat him on the shoulder with no force at all, and Wes casts a final smile at me, a final assessing glance at Marco, before he adjusts the set of his coat. His gun is where he can access it easily, but he doesn’t reach for it as he makes its way out past Marco.
The sudden silence is strange; a welcome relief, in a way, but also stifling and heavy.
It’s time for me to go too.
The arrangement, the strange and complicated agreement we made with each other to see this thing through to the end, has come to a close.
It happened faster than I would have thought, like the pieces fell into place, a neatly knocked over line of cards leading to the entire house, and now there is nothing but a pile on the floor. The job is done, and if Wes is to be believed, the higher ups will no doubt promote us both for this takedown, one with minimal casualties.
