Page 73 of Bravo

“This is as far as I could get. I was afraid to try too many different things just in case I locked it for good. You see that in the movies sometimes,” she adds quickly.

“I’ll get it open.”

“Can I talk to you outside a minute?” Jaxson asks.

I look at Kennedy, who has already gone back to sit beside Bravo. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replies with a soft smile. “I’ve got my best boy here.” She pets Bravo’s head again, and he raises it to rest it in her lap.

“All right, call out if you need anything.” I step out onto the dark walkway between rooms, and Jaxson comes to stand beside me.

“Whatever this is, it’s big,” Jaxson says. “I asked a buddy of mine at the FBI if he knew anything about Senator Brown, and he locked down really quick on the phone. He called me later from a new cell phone and told me that the man has been under investigation off and on for over a decade, but nothing could ever stick. Apparently, he has a lot of friends in high places, and any time anything is brought up, it disappears just as quickly.”

“I assumed it was big when he managed to murder multiple U.S. Marshals, two civilians, and a witness, and it never made the news.”

“He’s going to bury anyone who comes anywhere near this. You need to be careful.”

“I’m working on it.” My gaze rests back on the door where Kennedy is. I can see her sitting there, petting Bravo, looking absolutely gorgeous and completely broken all at the same time.

How I long to be the man who puts her back together.

“She seems to be holding up,” Jaxson says.

“She’s strong.”

He starts to respond but stops when Elijah opens the door and peers out. “You both are going to want to get in here.”

CHAPTER 25

KENNEDY

“I’m sorry, I’ve hadwhatchained around my neck for two years?”

“They’re shipping logs. Though for what, I’m not quite sure. Everything is written in code, and without the key, it’s useless.”

“Useless?” I choke on the word. It’s vile. Poison. How can it be useless when so many have died for it?

“Not useless,” Elijah corrects. “We just need the key in order to decode it.”

“What key? I don’t have a key.”

“It’s not a key like you’d unlock a door,” Bradyn explains. “It’s a document that decodes the order in which the letters are arranged.” I continue staring back at him as though he’s speaking a foreign language. “Olivia didn’t give you any hints as to what it could be? Did she say anything to you that sounded strange? Like she was trying to give you hints?”

“No. Nothing.” Another blow. Another hit to my already worn soul. Why me? Why can’t I be the normal girl? The one who gets to graduate college, fall in love, get married, and have a nauseating happily ever after like the ones you see in Hallmark movies?

“We’ll figure it out,” Bradyn says.

“See, you keep saying that, but every time I turn around, we’re hitting another wall.” The panic is setting in, and it’s all I can do to remain breathing.Useless?This thing was supposed to be the key to everything.

It was supposed to set me free.

“There are no clues to what they’re shipping?” Jaxson questions.

“No,” Elijah replies. “They covered their tracks well. If they’re killing for it, though?—”

“It’s bad.” Bradyn crosses his arms. “Likely drugs, people, guns—maybe all three. But the other problem with this is that, since it’s two years old, they could’ve changed the entire operation.”

“So it really is useless.” I shake my head. Why didn’t she give me more to go off of? Or at least tell me there was an expiration date.

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