Page 15 of Redemption

“I know.” Her voice is quiet. “It was a gas leak. An accident.”

I stare at her. She and Jay must think I’m stupid. “Gas, even a gas leak, doesn’t explode without an ignition source.”

Her jaw tightens.

“You realize what that means, right? Your old job was in ammunitions, so you get where I’m going with this, don’t you?”

“Don’t patronize me. You don’t get to be an asshole to me because you’re scared and angry, okay?” She leans across the table, and we’re so close we could kiss if we weren’t both so fired up.

Our gazes are locked. Flint and steel spark off each other. Screw it. I’d rather kiss her than yell. We haven’t been this close in so long. I cup her face and drag her onto the surface. She meets my lips in a fusion of anger and frustration mixed with passion that makes my bones ache with longing. As though we’ve been apart minutes instead of months. She sinks into me.

I’m not so unaware I can’t hear the guard stomping over. I lessen the kiss before it can get any more heated or risk my next visitation. A slipup is fine in low security, right?

Her breathing is heavy when we break away and sink back into our chairs across the table. The guard is trying to stare me down, but I’m going to ignore him. I like the view in front of me much better.

“Was that kiss an apology?”

Mostly that kiss prevented me from saying something I’d regret. “Sure.” I smirk. “Even though I’m not really sorry.”

Her gaze softens. “We are taking security more seriously now. Okay? I promise. We’ve set more people in place, good-quality people.”

When she arrived, I planned on trying to tell her about the FBI, that they’re aware of what she’s up to. Put a stop to her escape plans. But the truth is I can never protect her from in here. She’s in danger from something or someone whether I’m in here or I’m out there. I might have thought I had a choice, but I don’t. I’m always going to choose her and her safety above anything else.

I take her in, cataloging everything about her I love, and the ache across my chest flares. I’m no good to her in here. Doesn’t matter how much security she’s got out there—no one is ever going to protect her like I will.

“Okay,” I agree. She smiles, and my heart squeezes at the way she perks up at the agreement. She doesn’t understand I’m not giving into her but to something else.

While she tells me about Jay’s girls and Lucas, I appear engaged, but inside for the first time ever, I’m counting the minutes until visitation is done. When the bell rings to signal the end of our visit, I hug her longer than I should, my fingers grazing her spine under her layers of clothing.

“I love you, Carys.” My voice is gruff in her ear. “You understand I’ll do anything to keep you safe?”

“I know,” she whispers back. “I love you too. It’ll be okay.”

It’s not right now, but it will be.

On the way to my cell, I tell the guard I want a meeting with the warden.

In less than twenty-four hours, I’m sitting across the warden’s desk again, Zahir rocking in Jeffrey’s chair while the warden stands uneasily behind him by the large windows. We’re in a standoff, but I’m not dropping my figurative weapon first.

“It’s a good deal, Finn.” Zahir tents his fingers and leans back farther.

“The only arrangement I’m accepting is one that lets me live in Cape Verde without spending even a single day in lockup when this job is done.”

“You’re serving twelve consecutive life terms. Reducing your sentence to three years in total is more than fair. I’ve also agreed to minimum security.”

“Not where I’m sitting. You want me to ingratiate myself to the organization that at least had a hand in framing Carys, put my life on the line, and snitch on whatever dealings they have going on. My skin is in the game, so I’m telling you what it’ll take to make it happen.”

“Look.” He sighs. “There’s only so much I can do. Do we want you? Yeah, we do. We’ve got intel indicating you’re our best bet for an in, and if our crew intercepts the jailbreak, it’s a huge bump to their street cred for the PLA. Saying that, I cannot pretend you didn’t commit a shit ton of heinous crimes.”

“Those days are over.” I wave a dismissive hand. “I’m a family man now.”

“Not too much of a family man, I hope,” Zahir scoffs. “Otherwise, you’re no good to us.”

“I’ll get the job done, but my price is my price.” I rise and nod to the warden to call the guard. He holds his radio to his lips.

“I didn’t want to do this, but you’re not leaving me a choice.” Zahir sits forward and braces his elbows on the wooden desk. “I’ve been ignoring the elephant in the room because I believed you called me here to fall in line.”

I smirk. Shows what he knows. I don’t fall in line, and when I have to, I don’t go down quietly. “You thought I was going to make it easy on you?”

---