Page 17 of Hidden Ties

“Listen”—she appreciated the sentiment, but—“I damn sure don’t think I want to spend the rest of my life here.”

“There are worse things,” he warned gravely.

Valerie swallowed hard at seeing the fear return to the big man’s eyes.

“I thought I was free to go, though?”

“You are. For now, anyway,” he explained. “But you might not be able to return even if they did convict you.”

“I see,” she whispered, taking a deep, calming breath, knowing exactly what he meant.

“I can say you tried to fight me; get you on assault of an officer if you’re lucky.”

“I’m not smart enough to let you do something like that, remember?” Valerie laughed, using his own words against him.Knowing there just might be some truth to them, she tried her best to put on a brave face as she pulled her arm out of his grasp. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

As she walked away from the defeated officer, she felt the need to let him know one thing. “I really could have done it, you know.”

He simply shook his head, still certain she hadn’t. “You do this for as long as I have, you get pretty good at spotting them.” When she didn’t seem to follow, he continued, “Criminals.”

She chuckled, offended. Almost. “I’ll have you know I’ve stolen something before.”

His eyes narrowed on her before they relaxed, clearly still not believing her. “Hope to see you around, Monroe.”

“Yeah, me, too,” she mumbled sadly, remembering his words. What he really meant to say was …

You might not be ableto return,alive.

She left the precinct to the warm sun shining down on her face and felt like a new woman. All she needed was a shower, a fresh set of sweats, her computer, and some Twizzlers, then all her problems would melt away.

Temporarily, of course.

She couldn’t fathom how or why Lucca Caruso would pay her two-million-dollar bail, considering he didn’t even know her and her lawyer had called her a flight risk, but she did know in her heart that he had, and that fucking terrified her. Again, that was a problem for another day. Today, she just needed to feel freedom once again.

On her way down the steps of the building, her smile slowly started to fade as she caught the old Coupe de Ville pulling up.

She knew the owner of the navy Cadillac before he exited the car, and if the windows weren’t so tinted, she could have sworn he had put on his glasses before getting out.

To put it simply, Valerie stood in complete shock ’cause she could not believethe audacityof the man coming around to the other side of the car.

Lazily, he leaned against the car and folded his arms across his chest. “Hello, Valerie.”

His nonchalant, fucking I’m-too-cool-for-you and I’m-so-much-better-than-you attitude sent her into a spiral when she was already teetering on a dangerous ledge.

“The hell are you doing here?” she screamed at him but didn’t wait for him to answer. “Come to gloat? To see how I look after my weekend from hell?” She added in a higher screech, “Or have you come to give another statement? Well, here’s one for you: go fuck yourself, Salvatore Lastra!”

Sal swallowed hard, squaring his jaw before it softened. “Okay, I might’ve deserved that.”

“You think?” Her sardonic tone was followed by her simply walking away as she cursed him under her breath. “You motherfucking asshol—”

“Hey!” Sal had to quickly catch up. “Where are you going?”

“The bus stop,” she answered him like he was an idiot before she continued her cursing. It was therapeutic. “Youdumbassmotherfucking asshole.”

His voice had come out a bit strangled, and she didn’t miss his best try at attempting to sound like a friendly neighbor that was complete bullshit. “I thought I could take you home.”

“I’d rather the bus run me over twenty-seven times before I’d ever take a ride from you.”

“Goddamn.” Even Sal was taken aback by that, standing frozen in place for a moment. Then he said, “Fine, then. I was just going to offer you a peace offering by buying you lunc—”