Page 86 of Ride Hard
“Pull over,” Chaser demanded, startlingme.
“What? Why? You can’t drive with thatleg.”
“Sloane.Stop.”
Sighing, I slowed the car and eased off the highway. Stopping, I turned off the engine and stared out the front window, listening to the sound of a truck whooshingpast.
Whatever he was going to say, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it. After everything we’d been through on that train… Actually, I didn’t want toknow.
“I need to explain,” hesaid.
Screwing my eyes shut, I held onto the wheel and said a silent prayer. I was already broken. I didn’t need an explanation why he acted the way he did. He would only dump salt into the openwound.
“Seven yearsago—”
“No,” Isnapped.
“No?”
I could feel Chaser’s gaze burning into the side of myface.
“I worked with them,” he said. “I knew them as The Hollow Men. They were a deep coverassignment.”
My mouth fell open, and I turned to stare at him. Deep cover? Did thatmean…
“I was a cop,” he said, confirming mysuspicions.
“Was?”
“Once upon a time,” hesaid.
“But notanymore?”
“Not for a long time.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “In a past life, I started on the beat in LA. It bored the fuck out of me chasing drug dealing little shits across the city, so I set my sights on the FBI. I wanted to crack the hard stuff. The mafia, the international crime syndicates, the serialkillers.”
A truck flew past us, shaking thecar.
“The Hollow Men were my second assignment and my first deep cover. I was to gather evidence and information. Gain their trust and get into the inner circle. Eventually, we would dismantle their whole operation and put away the ringleaders for good.” His jaw tensed, and he looked tired. “We weren’t long married then. Madison and me. That was her name. She didn’t want me to go, but the job was everything to me. Deep cover… It meant leaving her for fuck knew howlong.”
I was supposed to say something reassuring, but I didn’t have it in me. I was frozen. Completely numb. She had a pretty name to match her pretty face. He’d said it with such…love.
“I got too deep, and I couldn’t protect her anymore,” he went on. “They suspected I was a plant and took her to flush me out. You know what happenednext.”
“They flushed…” Imuttered.
“I was on the run…” His voice wavered. “I wanted to get her back before it was toolate.”
“So you went toFortitude.”
“They were the only people willing to help. I was betrayed and hung out to dry by the FBI. The system failed me, so I had no choice but to go underground. Your father saw the worth in my loyalty, no matter how he gained it. I knew his enemy inside and out. With my intel, he could pick them off and take over their operation. He helped me get her back, but it was too late. They’d already murdered her, but I’d made a deal. Didn’t matter if she was dead or alive, Fortitude had held up their end, and I was… What did you call it? Enslaved and branded?” He snorted and wiped at his eyes. “This is my repayment. Everything I stood for isgone.”
Oh, God. Of all the scenarios I’d played in my mind, this was not one of them. He’d been good once upon a time. On the side of the law, dedicated to protecting people. Until they’d let him down. Until the bad guys murdered his wife. I couldn’t blame him for what he’d done afterward. His life had been brutally torn fromhim.
“You were right,” he murmured. “I’m a criminal and a murderer.Your father’s littlebitch.”
“You were trying to get justice,” I said. “You did what you thought needed to bedone.”
“I didn’t expect you,Sloane.”
