Page 52 of Every Broken Piece
“Do you want to stop?” Gabe’s lips are drawn down and deep lines are carved between his brows.
“I... I don’t know what else I can tell you,” I say to Detective Hardwick. “I’ve never seen him before.”
“Maybe lurking around?” she asks. “At the grocery store? A restaurant you might have been to recently?”
He’s been stalking me? Watching me?
Of course he’s been watching me. How else would he know to find me at the Rusty Spur?
Detective Hardwick bends to pick up the photo and puts it back in her bag. “He had you in his sights the entire time you were at the bar,” she says. “He followed you down that hall. It’s my belief you were targeted. Do you have any idea why?”
I know exactly why.
But I shake my head, my eyes glued to the bag the photo disappeared into. “No. I don’t know why. Probably just bad luck on my part.”
Chapter twenty-nine
Gabe
She’s lying.
Her gaze jumps around. She’s curled into herself. She won’t look at me. There’s also more going on than simply lying. She’s hiding something. She’d been adorably belligerent before Hardwick arrived, then something changed. I could almost see her withdrawing, rolling her shoulders forward to protect herself.
“If you remember anything, will you call me, Tess?” Hardwick’s concerned gaze settles on me but there’s nothing I can do to help her. Tess clearly doesn’t want to talk to her, and I have a feeling based on what I know of her past that it’s not Hardwick herself but what she represents.
“Of course,” Tess says.
She won’t. I can see it in the wild panic of those caramel-colored eyes. I can feel it in her body vibrating with the need to bolt.
The detective stands and I stand too, disentangling my fingers from Tess’s. She tucks her hands between her thighs and rocksforward. I don’t want to leave her alone, but I need to speak to Hardwick privately.
“I’ll walk you out,” I say to the detective.
I lean down to cup the back of Tess’s head and press a kiss to her forehead because I need the comfort of her touch almost as much as she does. This woman has worked her way under my skin, and I’m determined to learn all her secrets so I can erase the shadows in her eyes.
“I’ll be right back,” I whisper to her.
She doesn’t acknowledge me, so I follow the detective out of the room. It’s not until we’re in the elevator that she turns to me with a raised brow.
“She’s lying, you know.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
I shrug. “She’s scared.”
“And she hates cops.”
“Yeah, I got that feeling too.”
“For being her fiancé, you don’t know much about her.”
I don’t rise to her bait, and I don’t worry about that little white lie when we have more pressing matters to discuss.
“I looked you up, Mr. Strong. Big-time corporate executive. Billionaire. Some say you’re a genius at turning businesses around. Everything you touch turns to gold.”
I huff out a breath. I hate those damn articles. “I’ve had some failures along the way.”
