Page 38 of Riordan's Revenge

I said nothing.

Instead, my mind shifted to my goal. My dream. The predator I wanted off the streets. It aligned with Cassie’s calling, and suddenly, I wanted to impress her. Explain myself and everything that needed to be said.

Except I’d told no one about this. Not a single soul. And opening my mouth was a risk I shouldn’t take.

Chapter 13

Cassie

Riordan sat up, shifting away from me. “Talk to me about your predator elimination plan. How will you identify them?”

Reluctantly, I gave him some space. “Shade uses a list that the cops give him. Those are people who already committed the worst crimes. I was thinking about throwing my net wider. Get access to the list of predators who live in the community, so aren’t just jail releases like Shade gets his hands on. Maybe offer an anonymous tip-off form where people can report concerns. They can give as much detail as possible with any evidence and I’ll do the rest.”

“What exactly?”

“Investigate them. Provoke them, probably. Take them in and hurt them if I need to. Then if the claim is real, bye-bye baddie.”

He went quiet for another long while. Then his stomach growled.

Shite. I should’ve fed him. I picked up my phone and tapped out a message to Tyler, asking for someone to bring us up something. Assuming all was still secure, we could’ve gone down, but I wasn’t willing to give up the strange pocket of closeness we’d found.

I’d watched him sleep. Got so distracted when he flinched from his nightmare that I’d missed my telenovela, resisting until I let myself curl up against him.

Nothing had ever felt better.

My phone buzzed, and I dragged my gaze back to it.

“Tyler’s going to bring us dinner,” I said.

Riordan exhaled then reached for the remote, handing it to me. “Put on that show you’ve been watching. I fell asleep at a cliffhanger, and it’s been bugging me.”

Heh. I cued up the TV. “Knew ye were watching it as much as I was.”

“I’m a prisoner. We don’t have much to do in jail.”

I cracked up. “Says the guy who locked me in here then tied me up.”

He groaned and adjusted his position on the couch, the lamplight falling over him and softening his hard edges. Darkness had fallen again, but we’d never opened my curtains, it being safer to have no way of anyone seeing in. With only the lamp on behind me, it made for another cosy night.

In any other circumstance, romantic.

The telenovela started with a recap, but I dismissed it. Then I paused. “Did ye miss anything? I can run that again.”

“Alexia is having an affair with a guy in the next town over. Her husband is a pilot for an aid organisation and is away a lot, but is due home. She regrets her cheating and wants to be a family again with their three kids. The cliffhanger was her showing up to tell the lover whose name I didn’t catch that it’sover. She wants him to promise never to reveal what they did for the sake of her marriage.”

“Jeez. Ye really are enjoying it. The lover’s name is Eduardo.”

“That’s it.”

His gaze met mine. Something hot crackled between us. All that cuddling in our sleep and this was what did me in.

My chest constricted, and it took a long minute until I was able to focus on the screen and the montage of sex and dates the two lovers had been on.

In her lover’s doorway, Alexia trembled and rang the bell.

Eduardo answered. “Baby? What are you doing here? You’ve never come to my house before.”

“I needed to do this in person. We said a month and our time is up. It’s over. I’m married, Eduardo. I need you to promise never to contact me again.”

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