Page 85 of Abandoned Oaths

He shook his head, and I watched her reply.

“She said he enjoys the chase. She can’t let him think he caught her already.”

Shit. She was cruel, but I was more than a little relieved to have her back with us where she belonged.

“Derek is down the street. He’ll be there in a few minutes,” Javier explained as he texted back.

She went back and gathered her clothing in Dias’ bedroom, staring at him for a second before turning and going to an empty room to dress. By the time she stepped outside with her shoes and purse in her hands, Derek was waiting in front of the gates.

She didn’t bother disengaging the alarm system. Good. It would be suspicious if Millie could do that.

As she climbed into the backseat, Dias jumped from the bed. He looked to his side, noticed her absence, and ran to the front door, naked. He typed in a code, clear enough for me to jot it down on the notepad on the desk. Then he went back to his bedroom.

I changed cameras so we could see his phone as he picked it up and pulled up his security feeds. He watched her leave and get into her car before sending her a text.

Javier tensed next to me as we waited to see if she’d reply.

Minutes passed before Dias’ shoulders sagged. All she said was she had a good time but had to go.

A tease.

He thought he had her, but she slipped away.

I assumed he was mad until he tilted his head up with a wide smile and dropped back onto his bed.

He was hooked.

She was the one in control, and he had no idea.

Sometimes being on the surveillance side was a thousand times worse than being out on a mission. The guys got called out to help another team with a delivery from Puerto Rico and with Derek gone, she couldn’t go anywhere. He was her known bodyguard, and we didn’t want to mess that up.

We were making progress with Dias. He texted Emilia several times in the four days since their date. She was going to suggest another date until my phone lit up.

“Javi?” I answered.

“We were attacked.” His voice was tight with something I recognized. Pain.

Shit! Could we have just one week of peace without a major incident fucking things up? “Where are you?”

“I can see land. I don’t know how far.”

“I’ll trace you.” I switched to the second monitor and pulled up the program that ran all our tracking devices and let out a breath when I located him. “Got it.”

I grabbed Emilia’s phone, giving her mine so she could talk to Javier, and called Rod. The second he answered I updated him. “We need another crew to get them.”

“Fuck,” he grunted, “I’ll work on it.”

I held out my hand, and she hesitated before handing back my phone. “Rod’s working on it. I’m not sure how quickly he can get a team on a boat. How are you guys?”

A cry sounded, and I recognized it as Cruz.

“We’re alive.”

Fine.

My phone pinged with a message. “Rod has a team thirty minutes out.”

Javier relayed the message.

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