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My hands shook.
I closed my eyes and focussed on breathing. I concentrated on faking a calm façade despite the storm raging inside me.
Ry asked, “Ready?” with his hands on the lock for the plane door.
“Do it,” I instructed, the wobble in my voice evident. I cleared my throat, pulled my shoulders back, and lifted my chin defiantly.
This was not the time for doubt. It wasn’t the time for fear or even the semblance of it. I had a job to do, one that was more important than any other I’d done before. I needed to protect Flynn and Ry. I needed to salvage whatever part of our relationship I could.
I channelled Queen, sinking into her persona.
I pictured myself naked, owning the hangar. All eyes locked on me as I walked across it. Their stares, their desires wrapping around me, spurring me on. They wanted to touch. They wanted to take. They wanted me.
A calm descended over me. My mind cleared. My heart rate slowed. My breathing evened out.
I was ready.
Pausing at the top of the stairs, I looked out over my domain and raised an eyebrow, my lips quirking up in a half smile. All these people were here for me.
Strutting down the stairs, I added an extra swish to my hips. My Manolos clicked on the concrete as I approached the man walking toward me. “Detective Fraser, nice to see you and the welcoming crew. What can I do for you today?” My voice rang out clearly in the hangar, my cocky confidence surprising a couple of the officers, sweet summer children that they were.
“Zali,” he gasped, his voice cracking. He cupped my face in his hands, not even trying to hide the shake in them. His eyes were filled with worry, his normally golden skin pale and his chocolate-brown eyes dull. He looked me over, taking in every inch of my face before flicking his gaze to the men behind me. He was searching for something and sagged with relief when he apparently didn’t find it.
“What’s going on, Ezra?” I asked, looking up at him and trying to read what was happening. His behaviour, his anxiousness, was completely at odds with the welcome party that had been arranged for us.
He leaned in, pressing his lips to mine in a chaste kiss. His moan deep in his chest spurred me on, and I stepped closer, opening to him when he licked at my lip. His arms banded around my body, pulling me against a wall of muscle. Short-circuiting my brain, his tongue touched mine, and he tangled his hand in my hair, keeping me in place as he kissed me with a desperation I’d never imagined from him. Mr Cool, Calm, and Professional was nowhere to be found in that moment.
“Detective,” a woman barked. “That’s enough.” Her voice was short and sharp, and like a whip cracking, it startled Ezra.
My hands curled around the lapels of his jacket. I didn’t let him get far when he pulled away. His eyes were glassy when he blinked them open, regret filling them. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“This.” He snapped a handcuff around my wrist and stepped back, breaking my hold on him. “Zali Rose Stephens, you’re under arrest.”
I stood stock-still, my brain going offline as he shifted to walk around behind me and gently pull my arms back. He locked the cuff around my other wrist, and like coming up from underwater, the scene around me snapped back into focus, the sounds of a scuffle filling my ears.
Shouts sounded. Urgent, angry words. Someone screaming like a wild animal.
Guns were drawn.
“Get down, now!” was yelled.
“Leave her alone,” Flynn screamed.
I spun around, and my world shattered. Flynn was lying facedown on the concrete floor, an officer’s knee pinning his shoulders down as another wrestled a set of cuffs onto his wrists. With his hands bound, he stopped fighting, going lax in their arms.
Tears sprang to my eyes, my heart breaking into a million pieces.
Not my Flynn.
The officer lifted his knee, and he touched Flynn’s shoulder, saying something too low for me to hear. Flynn kicked his foot out, slamming it against the concrete. He roared in frustration.
The commotion in the opposite direction caught my eye. Ryder was between two huge officers. They had him off the ground.
He kicked out.
Tried to break free of their grip.
