Page 61 of Capture
As soon as he was gone, I turned to Mikky, “What’s going on?” I suspected something was up.
“I’m not sure if she’s there,” he said flatly.
“Annika?” I needed clarification because where else would she be?
“Yeah, I left the door open,” he said, sounding depressed, as if he regretted the decision.
“Intentionally?” I rationalized as my heart sank.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I gave her freedom back. I couldn’t keep her locked up in there anymore. It was wrong, and she didn’t deserve it. So…I gave her the choice.” Mikky swallowed and folded his arms across his chest. “She probably won’t be there when Gunner goes up to see her.”
“Have you seen her come down?” I asked, glancing up the stairs as Gunner was trotting down wearing a black blazer over a white button shirt, hair combed back, and looking a lot more presentable.
Mikky shook his head. “But I thought if she wanted to stay,” he took a moment where he seemed emotional, which wasn’t like him, but quickly composed himself, “she’d come to my office and boss me around, begging for a job, like she’d been doing for thelast few days.” Again, he took a second to sort his shit out, so Gunner couldn’t see his disappointment. “When maybe she was playing us again.”
I nodded as Gunner approached. “I guess there is only one way to find out.”
29
Ikept my cool around Gunner as the three of us walked through the private lounges, opened the secret door, and then climbed the stairs. I didn’t know what we would find when we arrived, and despite being disappointed that she had left, I knew I had done the right thing.
Set her free. If she comes back, then she’s yours. If she doesn’t, she never was.
Gunner was at the front of us, eager to see her, and going by the cloud of cologne trailing behind him, he slathered quite a bit on. I avoided Ronan’s stabbing glare when we approached her door to find that it was closed. Gunner will have to learn to move onwithout her. Weallwill have to learn to move on without her. Maybe she’ll turn up again in a year to say hello, but I doubt Gunner would be open to allowing her back into his heart again.
“Have you got a key?’ Gunner asked, and I patted my pocket, finding the key, then handed it to him.
“Try the handle first,” I told him.
Confusion washed across his face as he looked at me, then to Ronan, and knew something was awry. Without a word, he turned the handle, finding it was unlocked. He paused and asked, “Why is it unlocked?”
I had no words to give that would make him better, so I turned away as he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“About bloody time,” a scolding voice came from the room, and a smile stretched across Ronan’s face as I dropped my head down into my hands, almost in tears.
I had convinced myself that she must’ve gone. I convinced myself that was the only explanation. We could give her everything, but only if she wanted it.
The three of us piled inside to find our girl sitting on the bed, knees bent, arms wrapped around her knees, bag packed on the floor, as she was ready to go somewhere. Looking glorious.
She lunged at Gunner and flung her arms around his neck as the two of them jumped up and down together in happiness, then she fussed over him as he lapped it up like a puppy dog.
“Bro, are you falling for her?” Ronan asked me quietly, while Annika giggled in glee at having Gunner back.
“No,” I snapped.
He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Sure, you ain’t. Big hard man.”
“I was so worried something happened to you,” Annika crowed, running her hands through his hair.
Then a shadow cast over his face as he stepped back from her and looked to Ronan and me. “I know who killed Dad,” he said,and the room fell silent, seeming to be swept up into another dimension.
Before I sliced through the silence, I asked, “Who?”
He turned to Annika, “Do you remember that cop who approached you that day. She said she knew your father. Do you remember her?”
Annika frowned, baffled. “Yes, but she was Judith, Gunner.”
“I know,” he replied. “It was she who was blackmailing my dad. I overheard him on the phone one day, so I called the number, and it was the same voice. It was the same person.”
