Page 28 of Some Saviors Can Break You

With a smile she couldn’t quite wipe off her face despite the carnage around her, she put her phone away, turned to her partner, and forced herself to focus. She wasn't used to distractions in her personal life getting in the way of her work, and she was going to have to be careful not to let it interfere with things because her job was important, people were counting on her.

“That Eli?” Jake asked with a knowing smile as he nodded at her pocket where she’d put her phone.

“Why do you ask questions when you already know the answer?”

“Because it annoys you,” he grinned. “Eli told me someone was watching your apartment yesterday.”

“He shouldn’t have done that.” This thing that was developing between them—whatever it was—was never going to work if he tried to go all alpha on her and undermine her with her colleagues. She was a cop, trained in self-defense, a perfect shot, and she didn't take unnecessary risks, she could certainly take care of herself.

“He was worried about you.”

“You say that like its cute,” she complained.

“I like seeing someone worry about you. You tell me if anything else happens, no excuses.” He gave her hisI’m seriouslook, and she rolled her eyes but nodded. If someone really was stalking her, she wouldn’t be stupid enough not to take it seriously and call in help if she needed it.

“The killer left something behind this time, something I don’t think he meant for us to see,” she informed her partner, walking over to an evidence bag and picking it up.

“What is it?” Jake asked.

“The answer to how he gets into their apartments. He pretends to be a construction worker here to tell them that the electricity is going to be turned off. This form says that they’re signing their admission that they were informed and Jana Friedrick’s signature is on it. Once he hands them the clipboard, they’re distracted, he uses that to overpower them.”

“What went wrong here this morning? This is an explosion of anger, something happened to disrupt his usual plans.”

“Come here.” Florence walked to a puddle of blood close to the door. “See this, I think this one is his. I think she had something sharp in her hand when he grabbed her, and she was able to get away from him. At least temporarily.”

“What makes you think this is his and not Jana’s?”

“Because it’s so small and there’s no mess around it. The others all look like he threw her somewhere, and she crashed into a table, or a chair, or the pile of magazines, but this one isjust here on its own. If thisishis blood—and CSU will test it and see if it belongs to the victim—then we finally have something concrete on him. We could get a hit in the system, we could have this guy in custody today maybe, or at least within in the next couple of days. He messed up this morning, got cocky, and thought that he was never going to get caught, and because of that arrogance, we finally got what we needed to nail him to the wall.”

7:26 P.M.

“We’re not offering that much,” Eli said into the phone. One of the things he hated the most about running a business of this size was that he couldn’t personally be in control of everything that happened.

Lennox Real Estate had offices around the world, and owned and managed rental properties, hotels, office buildings, apartment blocks, besides buying and selling land, and sometimes flipping houses or even hotels. The properties were spread over twenty countries, and since he was only one man, there was no way he could personally oversee everything.

When it came to his company he could be ruthless.

A business had one purpose; to make money for the business owner.

His father’s touch was a little lighter than his. As he was in his personal life, he was a charmer, and he was always looking to charm and talk his way into the best deal possible, but when that didn't work, he was always ready to do whatever it took to close a deal.

Right now, he was past the charming stage and well into the playing hardball phase.

“They said they won't take anything under three million,” Don from his Toronto office told him.

“Our offer is two point five million, and that’s final,” he said firmly, what he was offering was a fair price considering the state of the hotel he was looking to buy, and the amount of work that would have to be put into it before he could sell it.

“And if they turn it down?”

“Then, we’ll simply wait for them to go under and buy it for even less.” The hotel was going under, as far as he knew, the couple who owned it were close to filing for bankruptcy, not only was his offer fair, but it also saved the couple from having to take drastic measures. If they wanted to wait him out hoping to get what they wanted they would be sorely disappointed, and they’d be the ones hurting, not him. There was plenty of real estate in the world, he wasn't going to miss owning one hotel in one city if he missed out on it.

“I’ll talk with them again in the morning.”

“I’ll be waiting for your call,” he said before disconnecting. Dropping his head into his hand, he stifled a yawn. It had been a long day, and because he’d had almost back to back meetings, he hadn't been able to squeeze in time to see Florence. It had only been twenty-four hours since he’d dropped her off at her apartment and left her with a kiss, but he felt like he was having withdrawals. Every time he touched her, kissed her, it was like a fix, but he wanted more, it wasn't enough, and he was starting to think he could never get enough of her.

“Long day?”

Eli looked up to find Elliot standing in the doorway. “I thought you went home already, don’t you have Bessie this week?”

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