Page 119 of Possession

“Yeah, your wife,” Micah mutters. “I’m not leaving. You’re stepping into the real world for the first time in two years, and your mind is on your mom. I’ve got your back.”

Special Agent Micah Emmett is rough around the edges compared to Brax. His arms are covered in sleeves of intricate tattoos, though I haven’t been close enough to him to make out what they are. He looks like he hasn’t shaved in days and doesn’t care that he’s overdo for a haircut. If I were comparing these two to football players, Brax would be the tall, lithe quarterback and Micah would be the brick wall who doesn’t allow anyone to lay a finger on him. He’s the kind of man you give a wide berth to while passing on the street, but still take a second look because his kind of scary is still hot.

Menacingly hot, but hot all the same.

If I could pick one man in this van who looks like they’d work undercover, it would not be the one who’s lied to me since the moment we met. Micah looks like the men my father would hire to do his dirty work. Brax looks like he works on Wall Street.

Which he apparently did.

My mind reels with the new developments.

But what really gets me is the anxiety rolling off him. I feel it where our bodies are pressed to one another. It’s etched in his face and pouring off his taut muscles.

“This is us.” Micah brings the van to an abrupt halt, and Brax wraps his arm around me to keep me from flying off the narrow bench seat we’re sharing. “Tim is inside those doors and will take you to the ICU. I’ll park and meet you there. You’d better hurry so you can see your sisters before they’re forced out. I couldn’t swing it to get that many people approved for the night.”

When Micah throws it in park, Brax doesn’t let me go. Instead, he brings his other hand to my face and forces me to look into his eyes through the dark van. “Baby, I’m sorry. I knew this day would come, but I had no idea it would look like this.”

“Carson was right,” Micah interrupts our moment. Brax’s gaze drags over my face before he exhales, and we both turn to Micah who’s shifted in his seat and is staring at us. “I lost a bet, you know. I had money on the fact you could focus and keep your eye on the prize. The moment we found out you demanded to be the one to marry her to keep her from Nic, Carson said you were a goner, but he’s like Jason Bourne thrown into a sappy Hallmark movie who will stop in the middle of a car chase for a martini and cupcakes. The man is whacked.”

“Only his kind of whacked would agree to this kind of operation. I’m just lucky our cases crossed when they did.” Brax digs into his pocket and pulls out a one-hundred-dollar bill. “Landyn hasn’t eaten. Pick up some dinner on your way in.”

Micah frowns at the money. “I’ll bring you food, but I’m not touching Marino drug money.”

Brax turns back to me and must have only one thing on his mind—his family. “You ready?”

No. No, I’m not at all ready to meet his sisters or visit his mother who just had open-heart surgery.

But I tip my head and shrug.

“Let’s go, chica. We’ll talk more later.”

I don’t think I have the energy for more talking.

He claims my hand and reaches for the door.

It strangely feels familiar, yet all new.

* * *

Brax

I couldn’t not touchher for another moment.

All I want to do is lock her away in our hotel room where cartel members aren’t lurking and we aren’t being surveilled twenty-four-seven. I want to focus on her and only her. I want to beg her to be mine—now and after and forever.

Lucky for me, I have the ultimate reason to force her to stay. I plan to use that to my advantage. Until I take down every Marino, Decker, Jackal, and her fucking father for selling her, she won’t leave my sight.

But when this is done, it’ll be up to her. That will be the true test on how bad I fucked this up.

I just need her to keep my secret. I can’t think about what I’ll have to do if she doesn’t. I don’t have the luxury of time to worry about that right now.

Tim Coleman was about as happy to see Landyn as Micah was, but he didn’t throw a fit or ask mewhat the fuckten million times. He only asked me once and then rolled his eyes.

Micah eats, sleeps, and shits the job. He was actually jealous of my case with the CIA. He offered to take my spot when he found out my mom begged me not to go, but there was no way I was going to allow anyone to do this but me.

Tim is chill for the most part. He’s been around long enough that nothing surprises him. It was my decision to bring Landyn back after they kidnapped her. If telling her the truth is the only way for me to keep her safe from worse shit than what Nic did to her, then I’ll take that chance every day for the rest of my life.

The stench hits me hard. The scent of life and death masked by antiseptic and hand sanitizer hangs in the air so thick, I could cut through it with a rusty scalpel. It’s quiet but not. The eerie background music is set by beeps and tones from machines coming from rows of ICU rooms while nurses and doctors and visitors talk and discuss and plan.

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