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I t was close to dinner time when Levi headed out of his room along with Sara.

Voices from the living room filtered to Levi, and instinctively, he stepped in front of Sara.

He didn’t suspect anything wrong, but he wasn’t going to take a chance where Sara was concerned.

At the end of the hallway, just before the living room, Levi stopped.

King and Rowan were talking to two men.

Catching ahold of Sara’s hand, Levi walked out of the hallway and into the living room with her.

All four men glanced in their direction.

“These are DEA agents Mike Stolts and Vince Carson,” King said.

Sara stepped up and stood at his side. She smiled at the two plain-clothed officers. They had badges hanging from chains around their necks.

“Hi,” Stolts said with a smile at them both.

Sara reached out and shook the man’s offered hand.

Levi did not.

“You’re Sara Jones?” Stolts asked.

“I am.”

“Do you remember an employee by the name of Brenda?”

Levi glared at Stolts, and the man’s hand was still wrapped around Sara’s hand. Stolts dropped Sara’s hand and took a hasty step back.

“I didn’t meet her, but I’ve seen her name on some of the old receipts,” Sara said with a nod.

“She was killed,” Stolts said.

“I heard about that from Mandy.” Sara nodded, and Levi planted a hand low on her back.

“Let’s have a seat,” King suggested.

They all took seats in the living room.

King seemed fine with Stolts asking the questions, so Levi stayed quiet.

Stolts cleared his throat. “Brenda died from a hit-and-run. It’s an unsolved case.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“She was undercover DEA.”

Sara’s eyes went wide. She shot a quick glance at him and then back to Stolts.

Levi clenched his teeth. The last thing he wanted was for these assholes to scare Sara and he turned to her.

“You can pull out,” he said.

Sara eyed him for a few moments and then shook her head.

“No.”

“We suspect that Brenda had evidence on Kevin Wilson and Chester Miller working for Edward Stewart,” Stolts said.

“I heard that Stewart is a drug crime lord,” Sara said with a nod, leaning forward a bit as she spoke.

“That’s right. Whatever evidence Brenda had, we believe she was killed for it.”

“What evidence do you suspect?” Sara asked.

“I don’t know. A video, could be a flash drive or photos, a copy of the secret ledgers,” Stolts admitted with a downward slant to his mouth.

“Was her locker cleared out?” Sara frowned.

“Locker?”

Sara nodded at Stolts. “Yeah, we all have personal lockers.”

Stolts shot his partner Carson a questioning look, and Carson walked out of the living room and into the entryway, speaking over the phone.

It was a tense few moments before Stolts explained. “Carson is calling Brenda’s parents.”

Levi stood and headed into the kitchen and returned with a juice for Sara and a coffee for himself. The rest of them were on their own.

The kitchen had been empty, so either West had gone for food or they were eating out.

Carson walked back into the room, tucking his phone into his pocket.

“Her parents were never given anything other than flowers from the Velvet Lounge,” Carson said.

Stolts turned to Sara. “Did Brenda have a locker?”

“If she worked there, she must have.” Sara took a sip of the apple juice.

“They probably cleared it out already. This happened months ago,” Stolts sighed.

“Maybe not. We don’t have our names on the lockers, and I’ve seen a couple with locks. I could check,” Sara offered.

“No, it’s too risky,” Levi said flatly.

Sara rolled her eyes.

“Kevin is not going to hurt me.”

“You don’t know that,” Levi said with a shake of his head, his lips pressed tightly. “We don’t even know who sent those assholes to snatch you.”

At his reminder, her eyes widened. “Then perhaps we need to catch the guy,” Sara said with a stubborn tilt to her chin.

Levi was beginning to know that look.

“We haven’t located him yet,” King said.

“When you do, I’d like to sit in on the interview,” Stolts said, shooting a look to King.

“Absolutely not,” King said, and Stolts frowned.

“Why?” The cop didn’t sound happy at all.

“Aries doesn’t answer to the law, you know that.”

“I do know. So, I won’t be surprised by your methods,” Stolts pointed out.

“No,” King repeated flatly.

Levi got where King was coming from. When they did recapture the perp, there could very well be other Aries operatives at the warehouse. Operatives who didn’t want their faces seen—like Aiden and Slade, who always flew under the radar.

Not to mention the fact that the more people on site meant an increased chance that the location could be compromised.

“All right, but call us the minute you know anything,” Stolts said, but Levi could tell the cop didn’t like being left out.

“I will,” King said.

“Don’t forget, I have the team on standby. We can breach the Velvet Lounge at any time.” Stolts stood and skirted around the low coffee table.

“And I’ll check Brenda’s locker when I get into work Monday,” Sara said, standing up at the same time.

“No—” Levi began and jumped up, but his words were cut off.

Sara pressed four fingers against his mouth to keep him from further speaking.

His eyes met hers.

“You can come with me, but I’m going.” Resolve brightened her green eyes. “After all, you are my bodyguard.”

Levi couldn’t argue with that.