Page 23 of Seduction

The nerve of this fucking asshole. I am so close to wiping him off the face of this earth. The only thing stopping me is knowing it’s part of the reason he’s taunting and baiting me.

He wants me to fuck up and get booted off the case, and I refuse to leave Haliee’s safety to these fucking vultures.

“Tell me, Lukas. What happed at Haliee’s that night?” He narrows his eyes at me, and I narrow mine right back. We’ve been over this line of questioning several times in the past few days and it’s getting old.

My story won’t fucking change.

“I don’t really know. One minute everything was fine, and Brent went outside to check on a noise he heard. Next thing I knew, he was gone, and we couldn’t find him. Eventually, we took Haliee to our house to make sure she was safe, and hoped Brent would contact her when he had the chance. You know, the thing most logical people do when they only trust one another?” I state calmly, and he scoffs like he knows I’m lying.

I’m willing to bet he knows exactly what went down that night. I’d even be willing to go as far as guessing he had a fucking hand in it.

I can’t get past the shit vibes he gives off. I haven’t trusted him from the moment he first laid eyes on Haliee. Something about him was just off, and my gut is never wrong.

“You really expect me to believe you don’t know what happened? My partner says there was a fight in the woods. As you know, he was watching the house instead of the officers,” he points out, and it’s just another reason for me to not trust him.

“I don’t recall a fight, and there’s been no evidence of one. If there were, you wouldn’t still be questioning me as if I were the perpetrator. So again, what fight?” I ask him, taking great pleasure in seeing his jaw tick.

It’s at that moment the chief walks into the room. “Agent Daniels,” he bellows like the scary motherfucker he is, and Daniels winces a little.

“Chief.” He nods to my boss in respect, but any fool can see he isn’t happy about it.

“Why are you questioning my detective again, in my interrogation room, without my knowledge?” He moves to stand beside me where a lawyer normally would, and stares Daniels down.

“Because his story of the events of what happened at the Morgan’s safehouse doesn’t add up with what my man that I had on watch has dictated.” He presses his hands to his tie, fiddling with it and the chief’s eyes narrow in on the movement.

“A man that wasn’t given authority to actually send my officers away. A man not actually listed on the case as an agent,” he states, and it’s news to me. I mean, I knew that other ‘agent’ was bad news, but I wasn’t aware the chief had looked into it.

“I—”

The chief holds up his hands. “Cut the bullshit, Daniels. You’re on a power trip and I won’t let you keep questioning my detective. Especially not alone.” He sits down in the chair beside me, rotating his shoulders to get comfortable.

“This isn’t necessary,” Daniels’ splutters, and I snort.

“I disagree. Cameras are also rolling, just so you’re aware.” The chief waves his hand for Daniels to begin, and the asshole is red in the face with anger.

Let’s dance, fucker.

I finally break free from the intense interrogations and head outside the office. I know Corden is around here somewhere.

Daniels has made sure to bury my name under the mountains of dirt that this shit situation has brought about, and I had to fight tooth and fucking nail to stay on the case. At this point, I’m staying on as much for Haliee as I am to keep an eye on that slippery fuck.

He tried to fight that my relationship with Haliee is compromising my judgement, but the chief backed me up because he knows Haliee is coming in to tell her side of the story tomorrow, and it’s not going to shine a pretty light on Daniels.

Chief knows Haliee’s safety is my priority, and it just so happens it’s also my job.

With a well-padded resume and excellent track record to back me up, Daniels lost the battle, and I’m staying on Haliee’s case by the skin of my fucking teeth...for now at least.

If I could get away with ripping Daniels’ fucking head off and drop kicking that bitch into the nearest meat grinder, my soul would feel so much better, but alas, murder has to wait for another day. The second we have proof of his involvement with Dimitri, his life is over.

Looking around as the cold air hits my face, I see Cord leaning against the car doing something on his phone and I make my way over to him.

“Got pretty intense in there for a bit. I heard him yelling from out here,” Corden says, not even picking his head up.

“Yeah, Daniels was gunning for my position on her case. He lost his appeal though, so I’m still on. They finally let us out for a lunch break, but I chose to call Haliee instead of eating, and now I’m starving. What do you say about grabbing some burgers?” I ask, filling him in slightly about this migraine-inducing day. I

I haven’t told Haliee about him trying to get me off her case yet. I wanted to wait until it was completely settles so she had one less thing to worry about.

Sighing, I continue. “It's also looking like I may need to stay the night and do some paperwork, but I'm trying to get out of it. Haliee needs me home right now." I clench my fists at the idea of her being without me.

---