Page 169 of The Silent Note

Guilt crosses her expression.

“Your mom won’t be there. Dad wouldn’t want her to overhear his secrets.”

“My mother and I aren’t in a good place, but this isn’t about her.”

“Grey…”

She slips her hand out of mine. “Afteryearsof searching, after years of having doors shut in my face and being told I should just let it go, I’ve finally found a solid piece to the puzzle. I have actual evidence someone else was involved in Sloane’s murder. Even if I don’t know who’s behind The Grateful Project yet, the video proves that Slavno didn’t kill Sloane. He was working for someone else. This alone could blow the case back open.”

“If you know that, then don’t you thinktheyknow that too?” I hiss. “It’s not a coincidence that Sloane’s real killer showed his face when we’re so close to the truth. Dad is calling us out tonight. That means he wants me far away from you.”

“Or he just wants to talk.”

“Last time my father and I had a ‘talk’, he abandoned me in the desert while you almost drove off a cliff.” I grind out the words, still haunted by the memory of her car rolling through the air. “I can’t take the chance again. I can’t let anything happen to you.”

A deep wrinkle appears between her eyebrows. “Zane, you can’t be with meallthe time. That’s not how it works. If someone is determined to hurt me, they’ll find a way. You and I can’t stop what’s coming.”

The door suddenly bursts open. Dutch glowers at me. “Answer the damn phone, Zane. We’ve been trying to call. You coming or what?”

“Gimme a second, Dutch.”

My brother grunts and shuts the door hard.

Brow furrowed in concentration, Grey takes my phone and holds it next to hers. She taps something on both devices and waits a few seconds, typing in information.

“What are you doing?”

“Here.” She hands my phone back to me.

It’s open to a tracking app.

“That day at the park, Cadence told me she and Dutch fought because he wanted to plant a tracker in her. And although that isnevergoing to happen with me,” she gives me a pointed look, “I think this is a better alternative.”

She’s wrong. There are plenty of ways to subvert a phone tracker. For one thing, any kidnapper with common sense can toss her phone in a trash can or hand it over to someone driving in the opposite direction.

But I don’t point that out.

Because this isn’t about a silly tracking app or access to her location.

It’s about trust.

Grey finally trusts me.

Stepping forward, I gather her in my arms, fingers careful on her. Gentle, so I don’t break her. So I don’t break her trust, which is like a fragile diamond. One wrong move and it’ll shatter.

“What are you doing?” Her eyes widen and she looks worriedly at the door. “We can’t do this now. Your brothers are waiting.”

I smirk as she stumbles back into the wall and braces herself.

Pressing two fingers into her jaw, I pull her head down and place a kiss on top of her forehead.

“What did you think I was going to do, Miss Jamieson?” I arch a brow.

She clears her throat and wipes her hands over her skirt. I can’t see the blush steal over her skin, but I can tell she’s flustered.

“Go,” she croaks, shoving me.

I press my hips into hers and wait for her eyes to meet mine. “I don’t care how jacked my wrist is. As soon as I get back, I’m taking the strongest pain killer I have and I’m taking you to bed.”

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