Page 11 of Hold Me Before You Go

Hayes slowly rose from his seat, his hands braced on the back of his chair, his eyes on the phone I’d just dropped onto the table. The team sounded off, and I dove in.

“We need to talk to Gelling.”

“Carrie’s father? I thought Hayes was there, making contact,” Ash said.

“Hayes is here with me. He was unable to make contact with Gelling, who refused to see him,” I told them. “We got footage on the building in New Jersey.”

“I’m sending the images to you, Jake. See what you can pull,” Hayes added, typing something out on his laptop.

“Done,” Jake said.

“The only person Gelling will see is Agent Garner, but we don’t need to bring anyone from St. Louis in on this. It will lead back to the Mafia, and we don’t need that,” Hayes explained, shooting me a look.

I gave him a single nod. He had been right after all.

“You can send me. I’ll see if I can get in,” Dominic offered.

“Oh, you’ll be going in,” I told him, my blood humming again. “And we’ll be coming in after you.” Silence stretched out over the line as Hayes gawked at me.

“Are you saying…” Ash trailed off, not wanting to say the words.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Fuck it,” Ash replied. “I’m down.”

“Should be easy enough,” Dominic mused.

I looked at Hayes, waiting for his approval. He looked to the ceiling and blew out a breath. “Whatever it takes.”

“Whatever it takes,” I repeated.

“I’d like to take this time to remind everyone here that breaking into a federal prison is illegal,” Jake said calmly.

“Says the bastard who hacked into the UK government’s server when he was studying abroad,” Ash deadpanned.

“I thought we weren’t talking about that ever again,” Jake shot back.

In the background, I could hear Dominic’s chuckle.

“This is for Carrie,” I barked, cutting them off.

Silence followed.

“We know that, Gray,” Dominic assured.

“We’re going to find her,” Ash vowed.

“Whatever it takes,” Jake added.

Hayes and I looked at each other once more.

Whatever it fucking takes.

A soft meow echoed through Carrie’s house as I pushed the door open. The meows got louder and louder as I heard the light padding of paws come down the wooden stairs. A second later, I saw a flash of orange darting to me.

As the cat rubbed his body against my legs, I muttered, “Hey, Tic-Tac.”

I stepped further inside, the smell of berries lingering in the air, reminding me of her. My eyes scanned the simple sectionalin her living room, a spot where I’d planned on making love to her tonight. My jaw tightened as I attempted to swallow the lump in my throat, burning me.

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