Page 151 of Love Me Reckless

I need to find Shel and get him to confess. Repay what he stole, and if he can’t, I’ll repay it myself. But first, I need to get to Kirilee and keep her safe.

But the unease buzzing under my skin has gotten louder since I dropped Sheldon at the bus station. It’s a warning. I try to ignore it, but it’s like a hammer to my skull.

As long as Kirilee is in my life, Sheldon will keep coming back for more. He’ll be like one of those lab rats pushing the lever for a treat. Anytime he’s hard up or in trouble, he’ll think of sweet Kirilee and how he can use her to get what he wants.

The realization of what I have to do to protect her engulfs me like a wall of fire.

I have to let her go.

I won’t risk Kirilee being caught in anything like this again. I love her too much.

Fuck!

“Reed checks out,” Agent Fisher says into his cell phone, his serious eyes fixed on his computer screen. “It’s not him.”

The monitors on the screen zoom back into focus. In the middle one, a truck comes into view. I stare. It’smytruck. Kirilee’s behind the wheel.

With Sheldon sitting next to her.

I stand up, my eyes never leaving the screen.

“Hey. Where do you think you’re going?” Agent Fisher asks.

I grab my phone from his desk. “We’re done here, yeah?”

Agent Fisher scowls. He gives the TV monitor a suspicious glance, but Kirilee and my truck are gone.

I can almost see him weighing his options—continue to grill me, which would only waste time, or get back to work. “For now.”

“If you need me, send your henchmen.” I stare him down, willing him to let me go.

Agent Fisher sits back. “Fine. I’ll call you an escort.”

“I can show myself out.” I spin away and head for the door. I brace for Agent Fisher to call out or make some demand, but he’s no doubt under tremendous pressure to track down the culprit, and he now knows it’s not me.

To my relief, I slip into the hallway undeterred. As soon as I’m clear of the lodge, I break into a run.

First, I try calling Kirilee, but it goes straight to voicemail.

Shit.

I call Zach as I follow the lit path to the maintenance yard.

“Hey, what’s going on? What did Stu want?”

“Shel’s got Kirilee,” I say, cutting him off.

“What?”

“I saw it on the TV monitors in the security hub. She drove into the ranch with him in the passenger seat.”

“We put him on a bus two hours ago.”

“He’s here now. He tried to hack Kirilee’s identity today. He stole from her, but there’s a lot of security on her account and it got flagged. I think he’s trying another angle.”

“Shit. This is my fault. I let her leave. Said she wanted to get some of her things from Birch’s house. I guess he’s out of town. We all offered to go with her, but I got the feeling she wanted to be alone.”

I grimace. This isn’t Zach’s fault. “You couldn’t have known. Like you said, we both saw Sheldon get on that bus.”

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