Page 76 of Shadow Operative

“What?” Nia’s words sounded breathless.

Austin frowned apologetically again. “I’m sorry. But no one else was with you two, Nia. It was just you and Rob.”

Nia felt her head spinning and dropped onto the couch. “How is that even possible?”

Gage slowly lowered himself onto the cushion beside her. “I don’t know.”

She squeezed the skin between her eyes, beginning to feel a headache pulse there. “So Rob and I left the restaurant alone and happy. Then you saw us walking into Rob’s apartment building, and we still looked happy. And we were alone—not under duress. No one else calling the shots.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense. No matter which angle I look at it from, I can’t make sense of it.”

“The situation is confusing.”

She glanced behind her and saw Austin disappearinginto one of the bedrooms. He must have sensed she needed some privacy to talk to Gage.

“I’m sorry, Nia,” Gage murmured. “But we’ll keep trying to find answers. I promise you that.”

She glanced up, hoping to convey her gratitude in her gaze. “Thank you. I appreciate that. But part of me is afraid of what I might find out.”

“What do you mean?” Gage’s eyes narrowed as he studied her face.

“I mean, what if I had some type of mental break? What if I did hurt Rob? And what if I can’t remember any of that?”

“If that’s true then who’s sending you the threats? Who’s shooting at you?”

“Someone who needs something from me.” She glanced up at him, needing to reach him. “If you notice, these guys have never actually tried to kill me. They’ve followed me. Fired bullets that missed—maybe on purpose. But they’ve never tried to kill me. They had more than one chance, including when I was inside Rob’s apartment.” She shook her head. “Maybe that doesn’t make any sense.”

Gage squeezed her arm. “No, I know what you’re saying.”

He could see her dilemma, couldn’t he?

He could see where she might be guilty.

She and Gage had just started to bond. Would this change things?

chapter

thirty-six

Gage didn’t wantto acknowledge that what Nia had said made sense.

But it did.

Those men who had followed them . . . they could have simply wanted to grab her.

Scenarios played out in his head as he tried to make sense of the situation.

If someone had killed Rob and left Nia there . . . why hadn’t they killed her? They wanted her alive for a reason. Was that because they wanted someone to blame Rob’s death on?

Possibly.

But if that was the case, wouldn’t they have sent the photos to the police instead of taunting her with them?

It seemed as if that was the case.

So maybe someone had left Nia alive in order to use those images to manipulate her into getting information on Rob.

Maybe there was more to it than that, even. Maybe this person wanted to manipulate Nia into doing something.

But what would that be? Nia was smart. Really smart. And she had a successful company. She most likely even had a great deal of money.

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