Page 99 of Risky Passion

"Great. See you in twenty minutes or so. Love you." I ended the call and handed the phone back, mustering my most grateful smile. "You've been absolute lifesavers. Seriously."

"Yeah, looked like it." Frank's tone dripped skepticism as he turned to his wife. "Come on, Rose."

Rose's kind eyes crinkled as she adjusted her handbag on her shoulder. "Hope your night improves, love.”

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "God, me too. It's been . . ." I gestured at my mud-caked pants and single shoe. "A bit of a night. No fun getting stuck in the mud, I tell you."

Rose nodded toward the table they’d been seated at. "The chips are still warm, and I left my chocolate chip cookie and the shake's barely touched. Vanilla's not really my thing."

My stomach clenched at the sight of food. "Oh, wow, that's incredibly kind of you."

"You look like you need it more than I do, love." She winked, then hurried after Frank with her shoes squeaking on the linoleum.

Through the window, Jaxson's expression had shifted from vigilant to urgent.

Time to move.

I waited until the couple disappeared through the automatic doors, then gathered the food and raced toward the exit. Outside, the night air carried the scent of diesel as I sprinted toward the window where the brothers had been standing, but they were already moving toward the cop car.

My bare foot stung against the gravel as I ran, juggling the precious food in my hands.

As Whitney held the door open for me, Jaxson started the engine. Onyx shuffled aside as I tumbled into the backseat with the milkshake sloshing dangerously. The door had barely clicked shut when Jaxson threw the car into gear, tires spinning against pavement as we slipped away from the service station's harsh lights.

"What happened?" Jaxson asked, eyes flicking between the road and rearview mirror.

I summarized the calls between bites of salty chips, which I shared with them and Onyx, and the food hit my empty stomach like a blessing. As I finished with details of the calls, ending with the address Whisper gave me, I broke the cookie in thirds, passing pieces forward

"Risky Shores?" Whitney's voice carried a note of concern. "That's Alpha Tactical Ops territory."

"It's not their office," I said, though worry gnawed at me as I kept Whisper's mention of 'the team' to myself. No point adding to the tension in the car.

"You told Whisper not to tell anyone, didn’t you?" Jaxson's eyes found mine in the rearview mirror, searching.

"Of course." At least that wasn't a lie. "She told me it was Blade and Viper who were in the warehouse when it collapsed,” I added, desperate to shift focus.

“Fuck. I hope they’re hanging on under that building.”

“Me too. She said they've been trying to get cranes onto the site, but the crumbling wharf is so old it’s making it difficult.”

“They’re probably removing rubble by hand,” Whitney said.

“That will take forever,” I said.

“Yeah. Time they don’t have.” Jaxson's jaw clenched as he pressed the accelerator and the cruiser's engine growled as we merged onto the highway. The speedometer crept past the limit, but thankfully, at four o’clock in the morning, the roads were just about empty.

I leaned back in the chair, and Onyx's warm head settled in my lap again. Questions tumbled through my exhausted mind, each one darker than the last.

“I hope Whisper or Parker don’t tell anyone about those boxes in the trunk.” Whitney’s raspy voice broke the silence. “B wanted to burn those files and that skeleton. If she finds out we have them, she’ll come for all of us.”

Jaxson and I had already figured that out.

Yet the weight of this threat settled over us like a storm cloud.

But I was certain we were right. B had probably killed Cooper tokeep her secrets buried. The evidence we carried could bring her world crashing down. And she would kill anyone who got in her way.

B didn't leave loose ends alive.

Revenge was her motivation.

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