Page 142 of A Forgotten Mistake

“Weirdly, we’re not heading toward the departmentat all,” Gabriel observes.

“What kind of car does he drive?”

“A red four-door Honda.”

“Interesting.”

After driving to Lisa’s neighborhood, I turn onto the road by the park and immediately see the house Lisa was talking about, and right out front is a red four-door car.

“Liam, they have a hostage, so please be careful,” Gabriel says.

“I am extremely careful,” I assure him. “Have you called it in?”

“Doing it right now.”

I park along the road, far enough back they won’t notice me, and watch the house for a moment without seeing any outside activity, but what I do notice is the way the car bounces. The house is set back from the road and isolated. No one’s going to see this car, so whywouldthey drag the hostage into the house?

“Tell Michaels that the hostage is in the car. I’m getting her out, and then we’ll wait for backupif he insists,” I say.

“He said to only proceed if you are positive that the hostage is alone and that you can safely move her back to your vehicle,” Gabriel tells me.

“I will do all of that with finesse.”

Gabriel ends the call and turns to me. “Please be careful. It looks like we have some coverage from the tree line and the car is tucked against the house. I’m going to have you pop the trunk, and I will be at the rear to get her out. Please, please be careful,” he repeats as he grabs me and gives me a quick kiss. “You’ll get much more if you’re super careful.”

“Yeah? I mean… do we really need to save this hostage?” I joke because I kind of want another kiss instead of letting my sweet Gabriel out into danger.

“Yes, yes we do.”

“I have bulletproof vests in the trunk. Michaels started hammering it into my head that I must have them with me at all times because I ‘run into situations without thinking.’ I’m always thinking. I’m just thinking about how slow they are and if I get in there fast enough, I might get to punch someone before they see.” I crawl halfway into the back seat and lay down the seat to get into the trunk. I pull the vests out and pop one on Gabriel. I grab the straps to pull it snug before smiling at him.

“I love you,” I say as I give him one more kiss.

“I’m a little worried you’re saying that because you’re going to be reckless,” he replies as I cinch everything up before grabbing his sides just because I like the feel of him.

“Nope.”

“Alright, as long as you promise. I love you too.”

I beam at him as I pull my vest on without bothering to tighten any of that shit since it takes too much time. Gabriel grabs me by the collar, nearly choking me before adjusting everything so it’s nice and snug.

“Don’t be reckless.”

“I would never be reckless,” I tease. “But I needonemore kiss.” I quickly kiss him and smile at my sweets. “Ready?”

“Ready as I’m going to get,” he says.

We both exit the vehicle with our guns drawn. The two of us slip over onto the property using the decorative trees that line the driveway to get closer to the car. But as we near it, the front door opens and I realize that maybe if I hadn’t wasted a significant amount of time kissing Gabriel and we’d both tightened ourownvests, we might have been able to extract the hostagebeforethey came out. Really… I get so distracted when my cute Gabriel is looking me in the eyes.

My bad.

I aim my gun at Ryan and Abby as I move for cover. “Police! Put your hands up and get on the ground!”

Abby throws herself back as Ryan fires his gun. The bullet dings off the roof of the car as Gabriel pulls his trigger. Ryan cries out as he falls halfway into the house. I can see Abby trying to drag him, but she quickly gives up and disappears into the house as he starts shooting randomly in an attempt to drive us back.

Gabriel moves forward so the car is blocking him from Ryan’s view. “Liam, please, please be careful.”

“I am so careful. I just want to kiss you again. That was a very sexy shot,” I say.

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