Page 92 of Unexpected Redemption

This time, my vision catches on what she’s waving slightly in front of me. “I see it,” I rasp out in a shaky whisper.

“Good. Watch the pen and breathe with me. In for four. Out for four.”

She continues counting in a comforting pattern, and I attempt to breathe as instructed. No clue how long we do this. But I keep my vision trained on that pen like it’s the only thing tethering me to sanity.

My mind keeps tugging me in different directions. Painful ones. Dark ones.

In the space behind the pen, I sense movement. I let it go, focusing on my breathing and the pen.

Vaguely, as off in the distance, her voice comes through slightly muffled. “Tomer, come to Lettie’s desk.” There’s a clicking sound like the telephone receiver slamming on the cradle.

Awareness creeps through my panic, making my heart rate spike again.Shit. She just called him to come here.

“Don’t let him see it,” I shriek out, reaching out for her hands and grabbing them tightly. “Don’t show him. It’ll hurt him too much. Don’t make him watch another one. He’ll run off to kill Viktor.”

“Sometimes bad men deserve to die,” Mia grits out.

“No.Please. Don’t let Viktor take Tomer’s happiness from him. Mia, please.”

Footsteps come thumping down the hall. Tears cloud my vision.

I squeeze her hands tighter, desperately begging. “Please, Mia.Please.”

Right before Tomer comes barging into my workspace, she acquiesces. “Fine. I won’t tell him.”

Tears spring forth, raining relief and terror down my cheeks.

A sob shakes my chest a second before Tomer enters my line of sight and wraps me in his arms.

And I cry.

Chapter 19

Unfuck this shit

TOMER

Although I’m supposed to be comforting her, the feel of her silky skin does wonders to ease my trepidation. Spooned behind Lettie in our bed in the bunk room, I run my palm over the outside of her arm.

Up and down. Up and down. Same as I’ve been doing for at least ten minutes. I’ll do it for the rest of the day if that’s what she needs.

My sweet sugar bear.

She’s been doing so damn good. What went wrong?

With the sound of her steady breathing as the soundtrack, I rewind the day’s events, attempting to decode what might have triggered her. Perhaps it was too much to sit in the lair with us when we discussed the case. As grateful and proud of her as I am for helping solve the mystery of the box, I’d never sacrifice her mental health for a clue. Once she’s up to it, I’ll talk to her about that.

If need be, I’ll speak to Boss about keeping her more removed from anything regarding Lenkov. It’ll be challenging since that’sthe majority of what our work is focused on these days. But there are other things he could assign her.

Then again... maybe she needs a few days off. Since she started working for him, she hit the ground running. Consideringthe anxiety attack happened at her desk, perhaps something in her duties brought it on.

All things I can discuss with her later.

For now, I’ll simply hold her, offering my meager solace and letting her ease my fears in return.

Her tears stopped a few minutes ago, but a sniffle escapes her every couple of seconds. An occasional hitch of her chest shakes her frame.

She cried so damn much. Thank goodness Mia was there when it happened. Eventually, someone would have wandered by and helped Lettie. But still.

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