Page 34 of Fitch

“So Bruno wouldn’t kill him for being gay,” Nolan said quietly. “But maybe he would kill him for being a witness.”

Witness?

What the hell?

I scooped up the photos and folder, adrenaline rising. “Witness to what?”

Nolan’s eyes met mine, wide and scared. “That’s what we need to find out.”

Nolan drove far too fast,fingers strumming, borderline panicking. There was no trying to reason with him, no talking him down.

I tried to reason that this case was bigger than what they had together and what was at stake. I tried to remind him about priorities, and he looked me dead in the eye and told me Benji was his priority.

Not the case.

Not his job.

Not everything we’d worked for, the police had worked for, the whole legal team, none of it.

The only thing that mattered to Nolan was Benji.

And as much as that angered me, frustrated and downright pissed me off, it also made me understand.

What he felt for Benji was real.

The way he collected that boy in an embrace of relief and love was real.

So was the fear that washed over Benji.

In front of me wasn’t a twenty-year-old man, but a twelve-year-old boy, the boy in the photograph, who was scared, resigned, and defeated.

It broke my heart to see.

But I had to remain steadfast. For the sake of this case. To see justice served, and to see the terrible Bruno Barbieri behind bars for the rest of his miserable life.

So I pushed. Pushed for answers, for the truth.

I pushed Benji. I pushed Nolan, and he chose sides.

He chose Benji.

He pointed to the photo on the table. The one of the twelve-year-old boy crying alone at his mother’s funeral and told me in no uncertain terms that was who he chose.

Then he pointed his finger at me, unbridled rage in his eyes.

“I will not let you or anyone else hurt him, do you under-fucking-stand?”

Nolan left me standing there while he followed Benji out of the room, and I understood.

He would protect his boy no matter the cost.

Part of me was livid, frustrated, and wanted to shake some reason into Nolan.

The other part of me understood.

Benji was upset and Nolan wanted to comfort and protect him. I didn’t want to be the arsehole. I didn’t want to hurt either of them, but I also didn’t want to see Bruno fucking Barbieri walk free because our legal team fumbled the ball.

So I did the only thing I could think of doing.

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