Page 80 of Unexpectedly Wanted
I hadn’t expected that answer. I figured it was for the thrill, or perhaps he’d just gotten caught up in the lifestyle. He did make it seem like if they had you, there was no getting away without hurting someone you care about. Maybe that was it. He didn’t want anything to happen to his grandmother.
“Did they threaten her?” I asked, sounding naïve even to my own ears.
He snorted and then shrugged.
“It wouldn’t matter if they did, I suppose,” he said. “I love my grams, but she don’t remember me most days. Got dementia. It’s pretty bad now. I do it because a guy like me can’t make a life on the kinda jobs I can get. Never even finished high school. Couldn’t get her what she needed makin’ minimum wage.” He snorted like minimum wage was a joke. And it was. No, not a joke, more like a slap in the face. “I gotta take care of her, ya know. Mom bailed on me when I was three and my grams took me in. She raised me and didn’t ever act as if she hated it. The woman was damn old at that point and had already raised six kids by herself. Not one of those selfish fucks is around to help her out now. So, I gotta take care of her, even if she don’t know who I am now. Which is probably good. It’d break her heart knowin’ what I’ve become.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing.
I got back to work and left him to his thoughts.
I wasn’t hungry, but I did try to nibble on the bagel. It was plain and kinda stale, so it felt like every little bite I took sucked all the moisture out of my mouth. Which had me reaching for the bottle of water. I’d asked to use the bathroom once. It had felt like a hassle because Desmond had to follow me to the back and through one of the doors there. The room was dirty, and it smelled so bad it made me gag. Seriously, did these people not know how to clean anything?
“It’s a shame you murder people,” I said after a long while. “You’re actually not that bad of a person.”
He snorted, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shake his head.
“You’re a really odd guy,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But I like me.”
“That’s good,” he said with a laugh. It was more of a huffed-out breath, and I wasn’t sure what I meant. “You should like you. Sounds like there might be someone out there that likes it too.”
I stiffened at his words. Sure, I’d been the one to open the door and asked about love. That had to be a big indicator that I was thinking about someone. But the last thing I wanted them to do was hurt Remy.
“Relax,” he told me. “I ain’t askin’ for a name.”
“Right.” I let out a long breath.
“Besides, you do what Boss wants you to do, and everyone you know is safe.”
“ButI’mnot,” I shot back. And it hit me. Though I knew it before, I hadn’t actually allowed myself to think about it until now. “There’s no out for me. Not like the way I came in, at least.”
My eyes traveled to the dried blood trail that led out the door.
He didn’t tell me I was wrong.
And even if he had, I knew he’d be lying.
I suppose there was some sort of comfort in the fact that I knew he wouldn’t lie to me.
You know, for a bad guy, he was kind of hard to dislike.
“Is he coming back?” I asked. Though the Boss Guy said he’d be back in an hour. It had been over five hours and he hadn’t yet returned. “Who is he anyway?”
Desmond huffed out an annoyed breath.
“You keep working and he won’t come back.” He motioned for me to get back to it.
“He’s FBI?” I pushed.
Desmond stared at me blankly.
“Yeah. He works for the FBI. Pretty high up. He’s been doin’ this longer than I’ve been alive. So if you think you can stop him, think again. This is bigger than you even know.”
Probably true, but what he didn’t know was that I already had an idea of how big it was. I knew what I was up against. And I’d even helped to bring down some of them. Even if I didn’t make it out of here, the team wouldn’t stop. Project Shadow Guardian was made for this, and they were an army. They would only grow and become stronger. I might not be around to see it, but I was certain The Sons of the Holy Fire would go down.
That was the moment I decided to lay it all on the line. Maybe I wasn’t getting out of here, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t help.
