Page 6 of Catch Me When I Fall

“It never is,” I deadpanned, shaking his.

After the introductions were finished, we took a seat at the nearby round table. Cain was still watching me, but the tension in his shoulders had disappeared by the time he and Nikki joined us, Gwen moving to sit behind her husband as well. I didn’t bother focusing on them, keeping my eyes on Jeremy’s. He was the one who called me here.

“I’m here,” I began, lifting my chin. “Give it to me.”

A file sat on the table, and Jeremy took a quick look inside before tossing it to me. It landed with a quiet splat in front of me. Immediately, I got to business, scanning over the first page.

Bracing myself, I turned the page to find a full picture of the woman. As I drank in her bright blue eyes and her blonde curls, darkness stirred inside of me.

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Last night, after Jake worked his magic, he found one solitary picture of Carrie on the Internet. It was from when she was a small child, laughing in her father’s arms. We found nothing else on her; all information about Carrie Hale had been locked up and sealed tight by the FBI.

That complicated things.

Jake was damn good, but not as good as the FBI hacker who sealed her records. Conveniently enough, Jeremy Jones was married to said hacker; Jake recognized her signature in the code almost instantly.

I peeled my eyes from the picture, burying the feeling arising in my chest, looking back across the table to Jeremy. “You’re wife is good,” I began, and everyone at the table seemed to stiffen. “While my tech man and I appreciate the beauty of Casey’s work, before I can move forward, I’m going to need all records unsealed.”

Silence followed, even the sounds of cars being worked on ceasing to exist for a few moments. All eyes were on me, but I kept my gaze on Jeremy. I expected push back, but I got just the opposite.

“Done.”

My brows rose just a fraction. “Just like that?”

He nodded.

“Carrie’s family,” Dontell murmured, his voice thick with sadness. “After everything she’s been through, we’re all she has left.”

His words struck me, threatening to seep into my chest and into the organ inside it.

Blinking, I bit down on my jaw as my defenses shot back up. “I understand that, Dontell,” I told him, trying and failing to sound sincere. The girl was nothing more than a case—a mark. Her…family shouldn’t have this effect on me, and I shouldn’t allow them to.

Looking back to Jeremy, I watched as he rose from his seat. “Come on,” he ordered, walking around the table.

Without looking at the rest of the table, I followed him out of Oasis into the bright morning, the sunlight glistening off the Arch just a few miles from us. He walked ahead of me, heading to his beast of a Challenger parked by the building. He clicked the locks, heading to the driver’s side. “Get in.”

I stopped in front of the car. “Where are we going?”

He looked at me over his shoulder. “To see my wife.”

Chapter 2

Grayson

The St. Louis FBI field office was just how I’d imagined it to be.

Young, restless agents were running around like the world was ending, the more seasoned agents sipping coffee quietly as they shifted through case files. It was madhouse, yet there was a certain order to all the chaos. I was comfortable here.

As the elevator closed, Jeremy looked at me over his shoulder, jerking his chin to the right.

“Her office is this way,” he told me as he moved.

I followed him silently, the visitor’s badge remaining in my hand as we made our way past the bullpen and into a brightly lit hallway with navy blue carpet. My eyes scanned the names on the closed office doors until Jeremy slowed in front of one labeled Casey Gomez-Jones, rock music blaring from inside. He didn’t bother knocking on the door; instead, he pulled out his phone. I watched his thumbs move over the screen for a moment before he pocketed the device and leaned against the wall by the door, folding his arms over his chest, eyes to the floor. “She’ll be just a second,” he muttered. “Judging by the Nickelback blaring, she’s in the zone.”

I didn’t respond.

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