Page 14 of Saint

He cleared his throat. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Did you see any scissors?” She bent over and opened the cabinet under the sink.

“No, but I have something sharper.”

Mia straightened back up and watched him pull his pant leg up to reveal a knife sheathed around his ankle. He slid it out and the silver blade gleamed beneath the light.

“Oh,” she murmured a little breathlessly.

“Turn around,” he said in a low voice. She did as he said and held her breath. “Don’t move.”

Arching her shoulder blades back, Mia stayed still as he held the back of her dress in one hand and sliced through the red material from her neck down to her waist. The dress fell forward and she grabbed it before it could gape open. Turning back around, she met his black eyes and swore she saw a flicker of heated interest.

“Thanks. Never had anyone cut a dress off me before,” she joked.

His nostrils flared and after a grunt of acknowledgment, he bent back down and tucked the knife away. Then he walked out, pulling the door nearly closed.

Mia hurriedly changed then smoothed her messy blonde locks back and checked her appearance in the mirror one last time. She’d wiped the smudges of mascara away and finger-combed her hair, but she still looked like a hot mess. Or, better yet, a woman forced to sleep with one eye open and one wrist cuffed to a bed all night.

Pushing the door open, she saw Nik leaning against the kitchen counter, phone against his ear, and she paused. Why hadn’t he put his shirt back on yet? Didn’t he realize how distracting that body of his was?

Rubbing her temples with her fingertips, she recognized the early morning yearning for caffeine start to force its way intoher mind. She needed coffee. Better yet, she needed answers. And Nik had better give her some or he was going to get an earful.

Chapter Five

Leaning against the counter, Saint bit the bullet and called Braxton while Mia was in the bathroom. After explaining the current situation, he pulled the phone away from his ear as Brax exploded in that controlled way of his.

“Goddammit, Saint!”

He tentatively put the phone up again and heard Brax coolly announce, “Saint kidnapped Chadwick Carlisle’s daughter.”

The silence was deafening.

“The opportunity presented itself and I took it.” Saint had zero regrets. “We use her as leverage to gain intel from Carlisle about who else makes up The Agency. Then we bring every last one of those fuckers down once and for all.”

“We have all ten names,” Braxton stated flatly.

Shock slammed through him. “What?”

“Zane and River just decrypted the last ones.”

“Huh.” Well, that was unexpected.

“Yeah…huh. If you would’ve waited a little longer instead of running off half-cocked, you could’ve avoided a first-degree felony charge.”

“Please.” Saint snorted. “I’d hardly say this is the worst thing I’ve ever done. You do remember what we do for a living, right?”

“That’s not the point. You should be here right now, working with us. Not on your own, doling out justice like some kind of lone wolf vigilante. We’re a fucking team. We work together.”

“Noted,” Saint gritted out. He supposed Brax had a valid point, but what was done was done. He had Mia and they could still use her to their advantage, use her against her father, because Carlisle probably had a shit-ton of intel on The Agency.

Properly chastised, Saint listened while River began reading through all ten players that comprised The Agency. No one surprised him…until the last name.

Graves.

Saint stood up straight, not sure he’d heard right. And from what he was hearing over the line, it sounded like he wasn’t the only one.

“Graves?” Braxton echoed in disbelief.

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