Page 4 of Hold Me Before You Go

“What do you mean you know?” Humbly asked, his voice concerned. “You mean to tell me you knew she was in dang—”

“—finish that sentence, I break your jaw,” I threatened with a growl, and his mouth shut. “For your fucking information, my team and I knew she was in danger, as didyou.” The last word came out as a sneer. “You knew about the letters, and you chose not to look into it.”

Humbly jerked back. “You think I wasn’t, Grayson? I was. I was waiting for her to bring them to the station so we could go over them together. She said her neighbor, Mr. Winters—”

“Don’t need a goddamn recap, Humbly,” I clipped, putting her phone in my pocket. “I’m caught up.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “Then do me a fucking favor and catch me up. The more people we have on this, the sooner we get Carrie home.”

“I have to make a call first,” I informed him as I moved past him, heading outside. The storm was here, freezing rain and snow falling from the dark gray skies above. The slap of cold air hit me as I exited the store, crossing the crowded parking lot to get into the truck. Once inside, I cranked the engine and pulled out my phone, dialing Jake.

“Talk to me,” he answered, the sound of a keyboard in the background.

“I need you to run another test on a needle,” I told him, holding up the evidence bag.

He cursed under his breath. “Fuck, was she drugged?”

“Found a syringe at the scene of the crime, so my guess is yeah. Need to run this and confirm it’s Carrie’s blood.”

“I will the second we’re together again,” he promised, which would be no later than tomorrow.

“This syringe is identical to the one Leo Samuels used on Carrie,” I said, my voice low.Fuck, I needed to kill something.I rolled my head, cracking my neck.

“Jesus, what the hell?”

“I also believe it was man who kidnapped her. Monica isn’t strong enough to subdue Carrie, she knows how to fight back.”

“You think..?” he guessed, reading my mind.

“Remember that talk we had last year about you not doing stupid shit anymore?”

“If you’re referring to the stupid shit that could get me and the rest of the boys landed in prison for the next forty years, then yes,” he returned, unbothered.

I was quiet for a moment, looking down the road, studying the small town my woman had come to care for so quickly, trying to picture our lives here. I blinked away the vision of us walking down the sidewalk in the spring, past the shops, her arm wrapped around mine as she laughed, beaming up at me.

“Gray?” he called.

I looked down to my lap, clearing my throat. “You still willing to do that stupid shit, Jake?”

His answer was almost immediate. “Always, Gray. You know that,” he said sincerely. “Tell me what you need and I’ll get it done. You have my word.”

I loved her.Fuck, but I loved her…

“I need you to hack into the FBI mainframe.”

Jake was quiet for a moment. “And what or who am I looking for?”

“Anything related to Carrie, her father, or her dead ex-husband,” I answered.

I half-expected him to deny me. We’d set that boundary for the protection of Red Snake—for all of us. What I was asking him to do wasn’t entirely for a Red Snake job. It was for me—for the woman I loved…

This was crossing a line, and I knew that.

But I also didn’t give a shit.

If he wouldn’t do it, I’d do everything myself.

I braced for his answer, and when he gave it to me, the darkness inside me smiled.

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