Page 34 of Protected By Him

Harvey hesitated, then did as he was told. I tried to catch his eye as he slipped the zip ties around my wrists, but he refused to look at me. When he was finished, he dug through my purse for my car keys. I saw the moment he realized what the papers in my bag were. He froze in his search and finally looked up to meet my gaze. He stared at me for a moment, then quietly pulled my keys from my bag, but left the evidence logs where they were. He offered the keys to Holston without a word.

“You’re driving,” Holston told him. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t try anything stupid on the way there.” He turned to me, then asked, “Where are we going?”

“I’ll tell you once we’re in the car,” I said.

Holston gestured for me to lead the way, and with one last look at Emily, I made my way out of the office.

The ride in the elevator to the lobby was tense and silent. Holston stood at my back and Harvey to my right. I stared straight ahead at the shiny doors, thinking about Leo, Ella, and Brandon, wondering if I’d ever see them again. I wished I could check my phone to see if the call was still connected, but there was no way I could chance it.

After exiting the elevator, Holston made Harvey check the sidewalk for onlookers before pushing me out the doors and into Brandon’s car. Once we were seated, Holston and I in the back seat and Harvey behind the wheel, Holston turned to me.

“Alright, you got what you wanted. Where to?”

“My apartment,” I said.

Chapter Seventeen

Laura

Itwasn’talongride, as I only lived a few blocks away. I focused on giving Harvey careful directions to avoid thinking about the man with the gun beside me and what he might do when he discovered I’d lied. Faster than I was ready, we arrived and carefully made our way into my building. Holston had Harvey walk close in front of me so no one would see my bound hands.

I tried to drag out the walk up the two flights of stairs as much as possible, but we reached my apartment in only a couple minutes. I told Harvey which key to use, and he opened the door. Walking inside felt like entering a different world. The building super had come in and tried to clean up as much as she good, which I idly thought was very sweet of her. But the tossed furniture and torn pillows remained. Broken knick-knacks and books had been haphazardly replaced on shelves. I’d lived in this apartment for a little over a year, yet after only a few days, it no longer felt like home. Leo’s house, with its cozy, overstuffed furniture, huge kitchen island, and Ella’s toys and books spread everywhere, was home.

Holston kicked the door closed behind him, then whirled on me. “Where is it?” he demanded.

“I’ll need to look around,” I hedged. “As you can see, the place was ransacked. I hid the accounting reports in a book, but I have no idea where that book is now.”

He smirked at me. “I know. I’m the one who did this.” He gestured around the apartment smugly, and my stomach revolted at the reminder that, only hours ago, I’d sat across from this man and believed every lie he’d told me. How had my usually trustworthy instincts been so wrong?

“What about the evidence logs?” he asked. “I just gave you those, you couldn’t have hidden them here.”

Deciding it was best to give him something, I nodded toward my bag. He opened it, then looked up at Harvey with a deadly glare.

Harvey jumped in before he could say anything. “I think we need to call Grey before this goes any further. He needs to be brought in on this.”

“Whose idea do you think this was? He knows,” Holston replied. Then to me, he said, “Get looking. You have ten minutes before I decide you’re no longer worth the trouble.”

My breathing picked up, and I fought off the feeling of panic. I began to wander around the apartment, looking for anything I might be able to use as a weapon. I edged my way into the kitchen, thinking there must be something in there I could use, if only I could catch him by surprise. I had just wrapped my hands around the handle of a large frying pan that Leo’s mother had given me for Christmas the year before, but I’d yet to use, when the front door to the apartment burst open.

I had a clear view of the entry way over the breakfast counter, but Holston stood between me and the door. I screamed at the sight of Leo coming through the door. Holston spun around at the commotion and raised the gun. Panicked and with no other option, I raised my bound hands over my head and threw the frying pan at him, hitting him in the back with enough force to cause him to stumble. Leo seized on the opportunity and tackled him to the floor.

He grabbed Holston’s right arm and slammed it to the floor once, twice, until he lost his grip on the gun. With his other arm, Leo reared back and punched Holston in the face. There was a sickening crunch at the contact, but Leo didn’t let up, he continued to punch him over and over again, until I rushed out of the kitchen and called his name.

At the sound of my voice, Leo froze, then launched himself away from a now unconscious Holston and wrapped his arms around me. Sobs wracked my body as I clung to him, but the relief was short lived. Leo suddenly tensed, and when I pulled back to look at him, he was staring at something over my shoulder. I turned and saw Harvey pointing Holston’s lost gun at us.

Leo maneuvered me behind him in one swift movement, then raised his hands in a calming gesture. “Easy, man,” he said, “you don’t want to do this. You’re in deep enough as it is, don’t make it worse.”

Harvey’s hold on the gun wavered. He looked from me, to Leo, and back again before speaking in a choked voice, almost as if he was talking to himself. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this. It was supposed to be easy. Shave a little off the top of some drug and weapons seizures and sell it to the Cahill family. No one even noticed any of it missing.”

“The Cahill family?” I asked, recalling that Holston had mentioned the same name earlier.

“The Irish mob here in Boston,” Harvey clarified, still holding the gun, though lower now. “Wilkins and Holston have worked with them for years, stealing drugs and guns seized during raids and selling them to the Cahills.”

“But how did you get involved?” I was equal parts curious and hoping to keep him distracted. The more Harvey talked, the lower he held the gun.

“Wilkins and I knew each other when we were in school. I wouldn’t say we were ever friends, but he sold me tips and insider information on stories over the years. About a year ago, I told him I couldn’t pay him for information anymore, I couldn’t afford it. He told me about his little side business and offered to cut me in if I helped him set up some shell companies to launder the money the Cahills paid him. I agreed.”

“What about the fraudulent charges on your corporate card? Was that part of the money laundering?” I asked.

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