Page 22 of Love Undercover
“We lie low. There are too many unknowns right now.” He turned back to her, his gaze weighty. “I need to identify why you’re on everyone’s radar.”
Her stomach clenched. The men in her house, Chase’s presence, even the questioning by the FBI the day before meant it was all tied back to her prior relationship with Greg putting her at risk. But she knew nothing, had nothing.
“Why was I onyourradar?”
A heavy beat passed. “Your connection to Greg Calloway.”
A flash of anger sparked inside of her, and she stood to pace away from him. “And we’re back to this, again. I don’t understand. We broke up. He’s a jerk, and I want nothing to do with him. How much clearer can I be?”
He hadn’t broken her heart, but he’d been a toxic leech on her life. One she wished she could scrub from her memory.
Chase straightened to his full height, and she was reminded how large of a man he was. It was no wonder he was believable as a criminal. She fought to keep from shrinking back.
“You saw him.” His voice was a low rumble that vibrated through her. “Talked to him yesterday. Right before he disappeared on all of us.”
His entire argument hung on the thread of a chance encounter?
She released a mirthless laugh at the absurdity. “You mean when Iran into himat the coffee shop?”
His expression didn’t change.
“I told the other FBI agents that was nothing. I haven’t talked to him in months. It was just random,” she insisted. “I don’t know how or why or where he’s gone.”
A steadily rising panic built in her chest when Chase’s expression remained dubious. Especially when the fact that she’d run into Greg at her “hippy coffee place” really solidified in her mind. He’d turned his nose up at it on more than oneoccasion, had even given her flak for it. Had Greg been there on purpose? To specifically run into her? Her heart thundered. What had he done?
“He’s been making visits to your apartment,” Chase said, his tone clinical.
His words took a second to slide home. But then they finally sailed past her mental acrobatics about his appearance at the coffee shop.
“He what?”When? How? Why?Hadn’t she gotten her key back from him?
Chase tipped his head ever so slightly at her tone. “I tracked him there at least half a dozen times in the last couple of weeks. And if I did, so did Zimmerman’s other guys.”
Her stomach wound tight, twisting like someone wringing out a wet washcloth as she thought about not only Greg going inside her apartment without her knowledge but also those other men.
And Chase.
She looked at him watching her, his expression inscrutable. “Do you think I’m working with Greg?”
He was so still as to be a statue, but she saw his chest expand with breath, reminding her that he was flesh and blood. “I don’t now.”
The relief she felt at his answer surprised her. It shouldn’t matter what he thought.
“Not after watching him sneak into your place over and over when you weren’t there.” His head shake was almost imperceptible. “But he dragged you into his mess, and that puts you in danger, whether you know something or not.”
She straightened her spine, though her knees felt weak from the fear his words inspired. “So you kidnapped me.”
His expression pinched. “As a ruse.”
“Tomato, tomahto,” she shot back, failing at infusing humor but not quite managing censure either. It was too difficult to commit to either when she wasn’t sure she believed him yet.
He sighed, apparently accepting that. Maybe he thought he’d done as much as he could for the moment and planned to wait her out. Or prove it some other way.
And maybe the whole thing was a ploy, and she was falling for it. Which meant she was an idiot. Her eyes flashed away from him, and she wanted to hide her discomfort.
Distance was what she needed. She pushed out of her seat. “I, uh, need to go freshen up.”
He waited a beat before nodding, taking the plate from her before she could bring it to the sink herself. It wasn’t clear whether he sensed her uncertainty or not, but she had always been an easy read.
