Page 7 of Catch Me When I Fall

I was too busy going running through the probability of Hale actually being dead. She couldn’t have gotten far, not with any money to her name. A woman alone like that, in a world like this? Her chances of survival were slim, a princess who willingly walked into the wolf den.

A few minutes later, I heard the music cut off, followed by someone cursing in Spanish. When the door opened, the tech genius’ eyes went to her husband before flicking over to me, her honey-colored eyes widening a bit as she said, “Tell your boy he’ll never crack my codes.”

I held her eyes as Jeremy looked over to me. “If he really wanted to, Mrs. Jones, he would. I told him to back off out of respect for your husband,” I told her. “Can we get on with this?”

Jeremy nodded and looked to Casey. “Honey, Grayson is going to need everything on Carrie,” he told her, his voice soft.

“I’m not unsealing her files, Jer,” she quipped. “I sealed them for her protection.”

A muscle in my cheek jumped at her words. “Protection?” I parroted, jaw tight once more.

Casey looked at me, her eyes pleading behind her glasses. “Tell your boy to stay away from those files. If he somehow manages to breach them—”

My patience was wearing thin now. “If you want me to find her, then I have to know everything, including why she was in rehab to begin with,” I said, cutting her off before I looked to the Oasis leader. “You called me and I’m here. Do not waste my time sending me on a wild fucking goose chase.”

Jeremy’s eyes darkened, his jaw jumping as he slowly pushed away from the wall.

A voice came from behind me. “What do you need?”

Twisting my neck to look over my shoulder, my eyes landed on Agent James Garner.

Here we fucking go.

He was dressed in a black suit and a white shirt sans tie, his hands in his pockets. His dark eyes bounced from his hacker to Jeremy before landing on me. His eyes dropped to my shirt. “You need to put that badge where it is visible, Mr. Grayson,” he said calmly as his eyes met mine.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” I returned, my voice as cold as the complicated history between us, a lifetime of secrets, surging to the surface.

Garner raised his chin slightly but gave nothing away. I was the only one here who could see the frustration hiding behind his perfect little mask.

“You want me to find Carrie Hale or not?” I asked, looking back to Jeremy and Casey. “Give me what I need so I can make that happen. I’m damn good at what I do, everyone here knows that, but even I can’t go into this fucking blind.”

“And I asked what you needed,” Agent Garner repeated, his voice hard this time.

Slowly, I looked back to him before cocking my head to the side. Did the people around him know the truth? Or was he still hiding things from his little “family?”

“Everything you have on Carrie fucking Hale,” I clipped.

The agent nodded as he looked to Casey. “Add more protection to her files. I’ll be giving Mr. Grayson hard copies.”

“Yes, boss man,” Casey responded quietly, clearly realizing the tension simmering between us.

Garner looked back to me. “Come with me.”

Two minutes later, we were on the second level of the field office as he moved around his desk, opening the right-hand drawer after scanning his thumb print. I rounded the front of the desk, not bothering to take a seat, folding my arms over my chest as frustration built. That was another thing I hated about this fucking city—everyone and everything was connected.

It was a fucking nightmare.

Garner pulled out a thick file, and it landed on the desk with a heavy slap as he put his hands back into his pockets, looking at me once more.

“Everything in that file is confidential,” he stated.

“Clearly,” I drawled.

“You need to sign an NDA,” he continued.

“What’s one more?” I returned, my voice void of emotion. Despite the annoyance and tension forming inside me, I was doing my best to keep it in check.

“This is connected to the Bratva,” Garner informed me.

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