Page 28 of Exposed

King

I crossmy arms and glare at Cruz and Emmett. “You think I should do what?”

“Look at her,” Emmett says. “She’s nervous as hell. We’re going to go in there and ask her all the questions we already know the answers to, but we can’t tell her we know, otherwise she might blab to her brother that the feds are onto him. Something has her running scared. She was about to skip town.”

I glance through the one-way mirror and watch her fidget in her chair. Her foot bounces a million miles an hour and eyes shift around the bland room from time to time while she shakes her head. It’s like she’s reprimanding herself for taking my call in the first place.

Or Daniel Armstrong’s call.

“Just figure out what she knows about her brother, and I’ll take it from there,” I say. “There was no love lost between her andDex. Something gave her cold feet. She’s a ticking time bomb. Who knows what she’ll do next.”

“We know what she’s going to do next,” Brax counters. “She’s skipping town and moving back to Virginia. We watched her make three trips to and from her car throwing shit in it left and right. And she’s not packing the way a woman normally packs. I’ve moved with Landyn twice already. I know this. Goldie Carter is running from something.”

“You’re screwed and so is your case,” Micah states. “Good luck carrying on with your shitty undercover act without her on your arm. Dex Carter has a finger on the pulse of Miami. If he wants to know where she is, he’ll know.”

I look back at Goldie. “Shit.”

“No, your choices are shit,” Brax corrects me. “Your bullshit will be exposed, and you know it.”

I look at Brax. “I might not be Rico Suave like you, but no one is exposing me.”

Brax narrows his eyes. “Rico Suave? What the fuck? You’re so old.”

“Let’s get this done.” Micah claps his hands once, and the sound bounces around the empty room. “Grandpa over here needs to eat dinner by four.”

They’re less than ten years younger than me, but they’ve made a game of giving me shit about my age. I point back and forth between the two assholes in front of me. “Get in there and find out what you can. Figure out why she’s leaving. If I have to intervene, I will. The last thing I want to do is ask her to help me. She told me she’s a rule follower, and she’s more nervous than a whore in church. She’ll be more of a liability than an asset.”

“She doesn’t fit the mold, that’s for sure,” Brax says.

Micah’s grin stretches across his mug as he makes another jab at me. “She seemed to fit King’s mold last night at The Pink.”

I frown. “You guys are worse than Trippy and her friends athappy hour. Get in there and interrogate her, but go easy. She was freaked out last night and wouldn’t let me take her home.”

“That didn’t stop you from following her.” Brax slaps me on the shoulder before he heads for the door. “I knew you were a creeper like the rest of us.”

They’re gone before I have the chance to refute. I never work undercover, so I fucking never have to worry about putting someone in a shitty position like I did to Goldie.

Guilt and I don’t play. Everything I do is deliberate, so there’s no reason for me to ever experience that emotion.

But guilt plagued me last night.

And when she refused my help to get her home safely, that beast might as well have eaten me from the inside out.

I sat outside her apartment longer than I care to admit. Not that I would admit that shit to anyone. Lake thought I was working, while Brax and Micah weeded out Dex’s cell number.

I turn to focus on the woman who’s about to skip town and turn up the volume. Brax and Micah enter the room and sit at the table. Their backs are to me, so I have a front row seat to the Marigold show.

“How long is this going to take?” Goldie asks. “I’m behind schedule as it is and was going to get on the road today.”

“Sorry about the delay,” Brax says. “We were gathering some paperwork.”

“We understand it’s Sunday, so let’s get to it,” Micah starts. “Tell us about your relationship with Dex Carter.”

Goldie’s answer comes quickly. “I don’t have a relationship with Dex.”

“But he’s your brother,” Brax adds.

She shakes her head. “Half. And I’ve never had any relationship with him until I moved to Miami last year. We have nothing in common.”

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