Page 142 of Taste of Addiction

“Is Austin a bad guy too?”

“No, that pissant is too loyal to ever switch sides. He’ll learn where the big money is at eventually. Young and stupid.”

“Sounds like you are describing yourself.” I purse my lips, looking at each of the three men. “I honestly don’t think you guys are smart enough to pull off anything profound. I have sat beside Bryce for months and he’s just not—”

“Bitch,” he snarls, charging toward me, only stopping from pummeling me when Paul pulls him back.

“She needs to be coherent,” Paul warns. “Don’t be foolish when we’re moments away from the grand finale.”

My eyes squint at the light coming in from the hallway. When my vision clears I see a man standing in the shadows.

“Good, you boys managed to keep her alive,” Mark snickers. “Thought I would find all three of you with your dicks hanging out with this hot piece of ass.” His eyes trail over me, and it makes me feel nasty.

I hear an audible buzz. All four men check their watches in unison.

“It’s go time, boys,” Mark announces, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles. “Paul, you’re on babysitting duty. Owen and Bryce, come with me.” He turns his attention to me, smiling a megawatt smile. “I’ll see you soon, sweet Angie. Rest up. You’re going to be the main attraction, until the fire at least.” He chuckles like a demented clown and heads out with the other two men in tow.

As soon as the room clears, Paul rushes to my side, kneeling down on the ground before me. “We have no time, Angie. The whole entire place is going to be set on fire as soon as Graham arrives with the team.”

My eyes water with tears. “I can’t believe you’re doing this. I suspected you for months. Your name is Carson Tillman. I know!”

“I’m a good guy, Angie. I promise. I’m going to get you out of here, but we have to be fast.”

“Don’t lie to me,” I cry. I can feel blood dripping down my cheek from being smacked around. “I heard that one before.”

“Owen is a traitor.”

“No kidding,” I bite out. “In more ways than one.”

“I’m not. You can trust me. I’ve been trying to keep you safe all this time, despite how reckless you’ve been with your life.”

“How have you been keeping me safe?”

“I’ve been signaling Nic of your involvement in spying and trying to gather evidence through our mutual ties. He doesn’t know I’m FBI. Tanner has been on to you from the start, and I’ve been carefully trying to get you less involved.”

“Mutual ties?” I whisper.

“Yes.”

“Does anyone know?” I ask. It’s all starting to make sense now. Paul must have squealed on me when I sent Claire to the Hideaway to spy. Somehow the message got back to Nic.

“Nic knows as of today, but only because I had to tell him for his own safety. I didn’t know what Tanner had planned, but when I saw him show up at the safe house, I knew that this was going to end. He was finally making his big move. So, I had to come clean with Nic, who I knew was working undercover. Because of rank, he didn’t know I am FBI.”

“How long have you known about Bryce and Owen?”

“Bryce revealed himself at the Hideaway, but Owen had me fooled all this time. He had to keep a very low profile, I imagine, as to not alert anyone from Graham’s security team of his true nature.”

“Sick bastards. They killed my brother James back in my hometown of Baker City. I think they were brought here to Portland for a specific reason involving me.”

“It’s not out of the realm of possibilities. I’ve been working for two years trying to bring down the kingpin, and I’m moments away from finding out how the entire operation has been running underground, but I cannot let anything happen to you. I’m sorry for hitting you with the gun, but I was buying time. We would have both been killed—including Collins and Graham. Even Austin and Malcolm’s lives were at risk. If I didn’t do something to preserve my cover, it could have been very bad. Can still be.”

“They are tied up. I got a text sent to me,” I whimper, thinking about the image that is burned into my head. “I can’t lose them.” Graham is my life. And Collins has become family to me.

“I know,” he says with a nod, “but we have to be smart about this. Graham and Collins will get loose and be able to track you here with your bracelet. They probably were only restrained long enough to buy Tanner some time to get things set up here.”

I look down at the blinking light. “Take it off me. It’s too dangerous for Graham and Collins to be here. It’s a trap.”

Paul sighs. “There’s probably something built in to it that will set off an alarm. I need everyone to think I’m the bad guy, so I can get you out of here alive.”

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