Page 63 of Protecting Bianca

“My God, I love you,” he said.

I closed my eyes, and my heart exploded in my chest. Struggling, I turned in his arms to face him. “I love you, too.”

15

Jager

I learned two things tonight.

One:She loved me.

This beautiful, smart, incredible womanlovedme.

Two:She never got my note.

She hadn’t rejected me all those years ago.

I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my chest, and I could breathe. The thought that I’d lost her because of some stupid decision I’d made from some misplaced loyalty had weighed on me for years, and I hadn’t known how to lift it.

Yet this slip of a woman took the burden off my chest and carried it all by herself.

She was magnificent.

My first reaction was to break River’s neck. I couldn’t believe he would do something like that to me. But then I remembered his words: “You were too reckless. She needed someone safe.”

He’d done it to protect her, even if it hurt me. I could forgive him for that.

I also recognized that I wasn’t ready for a mature relationship at that time. My life had no direction, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. The more I thought of it, the more I realized that River was right, even if his actions were wrong.

I gently caressed her cheek as she slept. She was even lovelier when she was sleeping. Trailing my finger down her shoulder, I smiled when bumps rose on her skin.

The air in the room felt warm as I looked down at her sleeping face. I could stare at her all night, but I knew I couldn’t keep my hands off her, so it was best to leave and allow her some rest.

Grabbing a pair of gray sweatpants from my closet, I pulled them on. Not bothering with a shirt, I walked over to my dining room and turned on my laptop.

My first instinct was to check my chats for a message from SnowWhite87. But I had that princess sleeping in my bed. Smirking, I hoped to wake her with a kiss in a few hours.

I meant what I’d said. Fate brought us together; I was sure of it. Our souls found each other even before we did. From the first moment I met Bianca, my heart raced simply at the thought of her. I knew she was off limits because she was River’s sister, so I stayed away. We were friends, and she listened whenever I needed someone to talk to. I tried to be there for her and even taught her to drive when she turned seventeen. It wasn’t until a year later that I couldn’t hold back any longer and I asked her out.

It was the best date ever. We laughed and ate pizza. Later, we talked on the phone until the sun came up. I thought we would never be separated.

But we were.

And I would not let that happen again.

Which brought me back to reality and my assignment. Needing to get back to work, I opened a browsing page.

How did one look up a pig registry?

After a quick search, I discovered there were a couple of pig registries in America and one specific to New York. There wasn’t any detailed information about particular pigs online, but I wasn’t expecting to find any. I needed to know the names ofthe companies registering the animals so I could hack into their systems. I tried the national registry first.

It only took about ten minutes to get through their online security measures before I easily opened their files. Grabbing my notes, I checked the name of Tagert’s brother’s farm. It was called Dashwood Farms. Several litters were recorded under this company name, so I had to go through them all to find the particular tag I was looking for. The photo Khan had sent me was grainy. I needed a different program to clear it up.

I worked quickly, but it still took some time to clarify the image and then once I had the tag number, reference it back to all the litters registered.

At least two hours had passed when I finally found it. A perfect match. The numbers on the mutilated pig’s ear tag belonged to Dashwood Farms. “Got you,” I whispered as I wrote an email to Khan. I sent him the edited photo along with the registration of the pig. Now, he just needed a search warrant to find this all legally. But now we knew. Tagert had to be involved. I didn’t believe in coincidences.

A creak sounded behind me, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Soft footfalls padded through my living room and my shoulders relaxed.

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