Page 20 of Tempt My Heart

The officer nodded like he’d expected that response. “Right. Can I see your license and registration?”

“Sure,” Christopher said with a roll of his eyes. “Anything else?” he said, somewhat sarcastically as he reached for the compartment in front of the passenger seat and the cop’s nostrils flared.

“I’d like to take a look inside the vehicle.”

“I’m sure you would.”

Ali tensed as the two men glared at each other before Christopher shut the door with a tight jaw. “It’s not in here.”

“What a coincidence,” the officer sneered before peering in the back seat and walking around to the back of the car, waving for Christopher to pop the trunk.

“Doesn’t he need a warrant for that?” she hissed and Christopher shrugged.

“Not if he thinks he has probable cause that the car is stolen. Honestly, whatever gets us back on the road the quickest.”

It was clear that he thought this was just some kind of ego trip for the cop who had walked to the back of the car, but she had a bad feeling about this. What were the chances that they had been stopped by the police while on their way to confess to David what her ex’s plans were?

“Sir, if you could step out of the vehicle.”

“What?” Christopher’s eyebrows furrowed but he undid his seat belt and got out to check the back, his eyes flying wide. “No. I don’t know how that got there but it isn’t mine.”

Fuck. She’d known something had felt off about this. Ali scrambled out of the car but kept well away from the cop, lest he think she was attempting to intervene.

“Let’s continue this down at the station,” the cop said and the wide surprise of Christopher’s eyes as the cop thrust him against the side of the car and cuffed him made it clear that he was in too much shock to even consider resisting. “There’s enough there for intent to distribute.”

This couldn’t be right. Everything she knew about police procedurals was from the TV but the way he’d grabbed Christopher, had been suspicious from the off-set… it was like he’d beenlookingfor a reason to arrest him. And who had reported the car as stolen anyway? Too many things weren’t adding up.

She peeked around the corner of the trunk and her mouth dropped open. Inside were bags of snowy white powder—lots of them.

“Ali,” Christopher called as the cop tried to cart him off. “My phone,” he said, nodding to the seat, “call Wayde. Tell him what happened.”

“Okay,” she said faintly as the cop secured Christopher in the back seat and then came back in her direction to photograph whatever was in the trunk and call it in.

Nothing about this felt right and Ali bit her lip. Surely this hadn’t been Jared’s doing? She wasn’t even sure how he would know how to get a hold of that much cocaine, but it certainly shed some light on his sudden need for money if this was the stuff he was mixed up in.

“Sorry ma’am, we’re going to be impounding the car and I’d appreciate it if you would come with us to the station.”

Her palms started to sweat and she had to swallow twice before she could speak. “Am I under arrest?”

He considered her, tilting his head to the side as his face stayed blank. “What’s your relationship to the driver?”

“H-He’s my boss,” she said after only a slight moment of hesitation.

The cop nodded, the flat blue of his eyes creeping her out as he gestured her towards the squad car. “You’re not under arrest, but I would appreciate you coming to the station to answer some questions.”

Relief made her eyes swim for a moment before she blinked the moisture away. “Sure.” This was getting out of hand. Reporting the car as stolen and planting drugs inside was too far. There was no way the police could ignore this.

She climbed into the front seat and jumped when the officer’s radio blasted out a confirmation that a team was coming to collect the car. It felt oddly stuffy inside despite the cool air outside and Ali wrinkled her nose when the officer shut the door, making the space feel even more enclosed as he started the engine.

“It’s going to be okay,” Christopher said quietly from the back as they moved off and she nodded, swallowing an inappropriately timed laugh that he was comforting her even though he was the one cuffed. “Call Wayde.”

She did as he asked and left a voicemail explaining where they were going and what had happened. One thing was clear—her boss had been set up.

Her lap vibrated and she glanced down, assuming Christopher’s lawyer was attempting to call them back. Instead, her own screen was lit up with Jared’s name displayed prominently.

“Hello?” she said cautiously and grimaced at the heavy breathing that came through over the line. “What do you want?”

“I want you to hold up your end of the deal. Did you think I wouldn’t be watching? Or that I’m stupid? You should probably be a little more aware of your surroundings before you go gossiping with Freya and Jesse over cocktails.”

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