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He pressed his lips together, unwilling to apologize but also willing to let things go. The uncomfortable silence settled back around them. In less than an hour, they would be back in Philadelphia. What would he do then? His original plan had been to set up a fake meet with Luis and try to trap the man, but if the police knew that Liv’s mom was dead, it was likely that the drug dealer would also know soon.
Liv was alone at the safe house, thinking he had abandoned her. The longer he stayed away, the less likely she would be to forgive him. Even if she never did, he needed to tell her how he felt. Let her know that she was more than a distraction to him. When she had thrown those words at him, he hadn’t known how to respond.
The idea that she could even think those horrible thoughts after everything they’d shared had only fueled the anger that the news about his mother started. Did she think so little of him, or was it a reflection of how little she valued herself? Liv was a treasure that he didn’t deserve, but she didn’t see herself that way.
“Turn around.” Sean said the words before the thought was fully formed.
“What?” Dante’s smile said he knew exactly what Sean was asking him to do.
“I need to get back to Liv.” He looked at Hassick. If the man protested, he would have to put off going back.
To his surprise, the Hassick shrugged. “I didn’t have any plans for tonight except to go over your woman’s files. I can start that on my phone.”
Dante chuckled and pulled a very illegal U-turn at the first break in the concrete divider. Luckily, there wasn’t much traffic to object to the move.
“Send me some files and I’ll help you go through them.” Sean offered both because it was a way to distract himself on the long drive and because he wanted to know what was in the files.
A half hour later, Sean shook his head in amazement. He hadn’t given the original files more than a cursory look. Depending more on the summaries that their specialists had compiled. Liv was a meticulous note keeper with a knack for making connections that would probably escape the average person. Every observation was backed up by either video or electronic evidence that said she was either a really talented hacker or she knew one.
“Anything good?” Dante asked.
“Liv was right to be worried. So far, she’s connected at least two councilmen and five police officers to the Soto Cartel, and I’ve only read a small portion of what she sent.” Sean was amazed by the amount of work this all must have taken.
“I’ve got a congressman, several doctors, and a police sergeant. If this information checks out, her name can’t be linked as the source. She doesn’t need these kinds of enemies.” Hassick sounded as concerned as he felt.
It was all well and good to rejoice over crooked officials being brought to justice, but people with power would not take kindly to losing it. Especially if they didn’t end up in jail. The fact that she’d kept this information to herself for so long said clearly that Liv understood that. Even if Hassick promised to keep her anonymous, there could always be a leak. Handing over the information was a huge risk on her part. Hopefully, the risk would be worth it.
“She’s already lost her sister and mother to this asshole. She better not lose her life to a leak in the DEA.” Sean hoped Hassick understood how serious he was.
Dante’s cell rang, and he looked over at Sean. “Let’s hope Marcus has some good news for us.”
They needed it right now. He already had the impossible task of gaining back Liv’s trust. If he had to bring any more bad news to her, it might take weeks before the beautiful woman even talked to him again. Dante pressed the accept button.
“What do you have for us?” Sean asked as soon as the beeps sounded, connecting the call.
Marcus’ sigh was too loud over the car’s system. “Nigel pressed the panic button at the safe house and now no one is answering their comms.”
Chapter14
Liv
With hundreds of cable channels and two streaming services available to her, Liv still couldn’t find a single thing to watch that would take her mind off the anger and hurt churning in her chest. The hour of crying hadn’t done anything except leave her with sore eyes and a headache. She’d finally decided to re-watch the John Wick trilogy, but not even his badass moves and vigilante justice distracted her from the depression that had settled around her shoulders like an iron cloak.
The person who said ’Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.’ was an idiot. She could testify that, in fact, it was easier to not know what you were missing. Her whole life she’d stayed focused, surviving day to day. Had she been happy? No. But she hadn’t had this gaping, raw wound.
Now that she knew what it felt like to love someone with a desperate hunger, it was almost impossible to face the future without it. How could she have fooled herself into believing that he would feel even an echo of what she did?
No.
She chastised herself for falling back into the dark hole that was her self doubt. What they’d experienced hadn’t been completely one sided. He had felt something for her; it just wasn’t enough. People had told her over the years that her tendency to put other people’s needs before her own was commendable. But it was also a flaw when taken to the extremes she tended to follow.
Standing up for herself earlier had been difficult, but she was proud of herself. Maybe next time she would find someone who could return her level of devotion. The thought of opening her heart to someone, not Sean, made her stomach turn. Ok, she wasn’t ready to move on yet.
She should be planning what she would say when he returned. No matter what the self doubt inside her said, she knew he would come back. Would he expect her to pick up where they had left off? His anger at her shutting him out had been real. But not enough motivation for him to stay and tell her what was going on.
He needed to understand that she wasn’t the child she had once been. That she was capable of being in charge of her own life and that meant knowing about both the good and the bad. Ignorance was only bliss for fools and babies. Sean should respect her as a person. If he didn’t, then they would only end up fighting over and over until all positive emotions between them were crushed beneath the negative.
The gunfire in the movie got louder and broke her out of her thoughts. She looked at the screen and was confused when she saw there wasn’t a fight going on. The sound echoed again, and it took a minute for her to realize the noise was coming from outside. A red light strobed in the corner of the room and her heart jumped.
