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Unease rippled through the gunmen. Roy rose to his feet and held up a hand to stay them. “Miss Grosky shot me. Did you record that? Are you recording the weapon she’s aiming at me now?”

“Of course, shewantsto shoot you, you rapist motherfu—”

“When we pulled into the lot,” Tony said, “we logged Miss Grosky defending herself during an attempted kidnapping.”

A shiver ripped down his spine. If that was true, how close had he been to losing her? “This ends now. Charlee is going to holster her gun, and I am going to escort her to my car.” He captured her huge eyes. “Go ahead. They’re covering you.”

The cop at the business end of Tony’s Glock kept his own gun trained on Charlee. “We can’t let you leave, Miss Grosky.”

The pressure in the air was going to pop. Any second, someone was going to pull a trigger.

Tony was the calm in the eye of the storm. “What’s it going to be, Mr. Oxford?”

Roy watched Charlee with an infatuation that consumed his entire demeanor. “Stand down, officers.” When they lowered their guns, he said, “Your turn, Charlee.”

She inhaled through her nose, flicked the safety on, and tucked the gun at the small of her back.

Jay wiped a sweaty hand on his shirt and offered it to her. She grabbed it so quickly a thrill rushed through him. He waited for his shadows to crawl out of their holes and chase her away, but as Nathan joined them and they walked her to the SUV, he only felt her hand. Her essence. His Charlee.

“You want to know how it feels?” Roy’s query tingled over Jay’s shoulder.

His gait faltered. Would Roy call his bluff on the recording? How many guns were pointed at their backs?

He pulled Charlee closer and picked up his pace. Nathan positioned himself behind them.

Roy let out a mirthless laugh. “Imagine losing your fame, your money, your drugs, your band…whatever it is filth like you values.”

Determination powered his strides. His blood pumped with one intent. Get her the fuck out of there. Ten more feet…eight…six…

“Imagine watching the most important thing in your life walk away.” Roy raised his voice. “When I find out what that thing is, you’ll know exactly how it feels.”

Don’t engage him. Keep walking. The backs of his ears burned. His teeth ground. He held his breath until Charlee was safely inside the armored vehicle. Then he turned and looked Roy in the eye. “She’s not a thing, you fucking prick.”

42

She’s not a thing.Jay’s words resonated, loosening the knot coiled in Charlee’s belly. She wanted to crawl into his lap and envelop him with comfort. But the tic in his cheek and his wooden posture suggested he might need more than a handless hug.

Nathan followed Jay in, putting Jay in the middle, and Tony climbed in the front seat. When the last door slammed shut, the knot unclenched.

She met Nathan’s eyes over Jay’s slumped head and saw her relief reflected there. “So you disarmed that Craig in the parking lot, I assume?”

He held the gun on his lap, his eyes glassy and locked on his fingers as clicked the magazine in and out, checked the safety, went back to the magazine. “Had to time it right.” He glanced at her. “I didn’t want to force Roy’s hand.”

“Nothingforceshim to do anything.” Recalling the things Roy had done to her produced a dull ache in her chest, but watching Nathan avert his eyes at the memories sucked the air from her lungs, strangling her.

As Colson merged the SUV into traffic, the gravity of Roy’s threat knocked her in the gut. She turned to look out the rear window. At the center of the standoff between his men and Jay’s remaining bodyguards, Roy stared directly at her as if he could see through the dark tint.

A shiver penetrated deep in her bones. On its heels was the incessant hum for vengeance. Did she just walk away from her only opportunity to kill him?

If she had the penthouse camera footage, she might’ve stood a chance against him in a courtroom. But during Nathan’s undercover sting, he hadn’t been able to crack the firewalls to copy the recordings or pinpoint where they were stored. The photos he’d snapped of her injuries the night he rescued her didn’t incriminate Roy as the abuser. Without proof in court, it would’ve been her word against a powerful billionaire and his infinite team of lawyers.

If Jay’s video cameras captured Roy forcing her into the SUV, maybe they finally had something. Something they could use. She lowered her finger from her mouth, the nail ripped to the quick. What a disgusting habit. “I know you made a verbal agreement back there, but what’s stopping us from using your recordings against him?”

Tony glanced over her shoulder and shared a look with Jay. He lowered his gaze. His fists clenched, flexed, shook, and clenched again.

Charlee felt his silence. Why wouldn’t he look at her? She rubbed her temples as his non-answer ripened to realization. “You were bluffing.”

“Yeah.” He scrubbed a hand over his mouth.