AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He squeezed my hand. “The threat. There was more than one note sent to you. I’ll see if I can find the messages and give Zali something to look at when she wakes up. If you can work with Flynn to cross reference the dates when you got the threats against the transaction records, we might be able to definitively tie them to the case.”
Flynn stilled. He turned slowly, his gaze bouncing between us. “What case?” His voice was devoid of its usual happiness, that bubbly feistiness that I loved so much. “This isn’t an investigation that the police will take to court, Ez. You realize that don’t you?”
I ached seeing the frown line on Flynn’s forehead and his downturned lips. I wanted my cinnamon bun back, the man who had comforted me the night before when my reality had crashed into me like a ten-tonne wrecking ball. I still couldn’t get my mind around the fact that someone was actually after me. I couldn’t compute that it wasn’t just some sick joke.
“Yeah. I know, Flynn—”
“Do you? Really?” He returned to his perch on the table and closed his hand over our entwined ones. “Whoever did this isn’t going to survive to be prosecuted. Either Zee or Ry is going to end them.”
Flynn sighed heavily, and I could see the weight he was carrying, the internal struggle that he was coming to terms with in the downturn of his shoulders and the dullness in his normally electric eyes.
“You both need to be prepared that whoever is guilty will die. You need to make peace with that happening at Ry’s or Zee’s hands. I know it’s going to be hard—you’re in law enforcement—” He gestured to Ezra with a tilt of his chin, then to me. “—and you’ve built a career, a life, on criminal investigative journalism. I get how important the law and following it is to both of you… but they stole Zee’s family.”
“You’re right,” I answered, a pit forming in my stomach. Logically, I knew he was, but it was an entirely different thing to be faced with the reality of it. Even now, talking about it wouldn’t hold a candle to the real thing. I looked at Ezra, exhaling in a rush when I saw a similar resignation in the tight lines around his eyes.
“It’s even more important that we make 100 percent certain that this is the person responsible,” Ezra stated after a moment. “I won’t risk either one of them having to live with the knowledge that they’d taken the wrong life.”
I swallowed hard. Jesus, how hadn’t he balked at the idea? He’d barely batted an eyelid. How could he be okay with this? They could get hurt. Worse, what if they died? What if someone retaliated and put out a hit on them?
What if the guilt ate them alive? Would they become shadows of themselves? It would kill me to see them struggle, to watch them lose their battle.
Fuck me.
I didn’t have a problem with them ending a person’s life. My feelings for Zali and Ryder wouldn’t change. That didn’t even come into it.
I was frightened that they wouldn’t be able to live with it.
I was terrified that it could destroy them.
Whoever did this to Zee’s mum and brother deserved the shitstorm that karma and my girl would bring down on them. If they suffered because of it, all the better.
But I drew the line at hurting Zali and Ry. If anything happened to them, those bastards would have me to contend with.
And I’d make them wish they were never born.
I ground my teeth together. The determination to defend my kitten and her lion protector welled up inside me with a ferocity that surprised even me. My nod was short and sharp, my muscles vibrating with coiled restraint. We needed to get this done. I needed to figure out who it was. Protecting Zali and Ry from ever having to live with ending a life became my top priority.
Even if I had to do it myself.
“Let’s get this done,” I growled.
Flynn pressed his lips together in a thin line, worry furrowing his brows. “We make certain we have the right person. Then we stand with Zee and Ry. We support them unconditionally.”
I nodded, and Flynn shot me a small smile. “I should keep going,” he said.
He went back to work and Ezra turned to me. “You look like you want to go on a murderous rampage.”
“You have no idea.”
“When the time comes….” Ez paused, seemingly mulling over his words. He took both my hands in his and met my gaze. I could see the same iron-clad determination in them that was thrumming through my veins. He leaned in, his lips brushing my ear as he murmured, “We need to know who it was for sure. I’m trying to stop this, Tris, but I’m so far out of my jurisdiction, and I have so little legally obtained evidence that it’s going to be almost impossible to pull off.” Ezra rested his forehead against mine, his eyelids fluttering closed. He exhaled, the gravity of this situation clearly weighing on him heavily.
“But I can’t stand by and watch them take a life—not when it could irreparably harm Zali or Ry. I’ve seen what it does to a person, and I can’t let them become shells of themselves like my colleagues have.”
“We protect them,” I agreed. It was a promise to do whatever was necessary. And I would, without hesitation.
That meant finding out who did this. We likely had video footage of at least one person connected with them. Getting an identification on them was a decent first step.
I pulled up my building manager’s contacts, then I hit her number and waited for her to answer. After exchanging hurried pleasantries, I cut to the chase. “So, Laura, reason for my call is that I’ve had a few notes left on my door, and I was wondering who delivered them.”
