Page 27

I feel him before I see him.

The hair at the nape of my neck stands at attention, goosebumps pebble across my arms, and indigestion bubbles in my stomach. My heart thrums in my chest, the unknown danger closing in before I can recognize where it’s coming from.

The steady hum of the office chatter becomes frantic, and dread is tangible. I whirl around in my seat the same moment he comes into view from the hallway.

Alexi fucking Babin, in all his devilish glory, stands a few yards away from my desk.

Tailored black slacks, a white button-up with the top one undone, tattoos peeking from the rolled sleeves. His hair is half up, the messy bun allowing more than a few strands to hang loose. That damn smug grin of his is firmly set in place as his hazel eyes scan the sea of desks, pretending he doesn’t know exactly where I sit.

From head to toe, he is exactly what I remember, only now instead of lust, a deep-seated hatred sears my skin.

I jump to my feet, my hand quick to wrap around the pistol attached to my belt.

His gaze flashes to me, and he smiles, shoving both of his hands into his pockets before rocking on the back of his heels like he couldn’t care less that I’m two seconds away from shooting him. “Well, well, well. Been a long time. How ya’ been, Jenny?”

I sneer at him, too mentally drained to deal with his complexes. “What the fuck are you doing here, Babin?”

His expression is like the cat that caught the canary. “Let’s not pretend you haven’t been looking for me. Stalking me, actually.”

“Answer me.”

Alexi’s brows lift. “You know what? You’re not very pleasant. Is there a complaint department around here? I’d like to file a formal one. This treatment I’m receiving needs to be documented.”

Every surrounding agent goes completely still, all of them either too surprised or too scared to say a word. This only fuels his big ass head. “No? Then I guess?—”

“Would you like to speak to the director?” My molars crack with how hard I snap them together. I have had the worst week and him being here feels like yet another undeserving punishment. Still, I need to know what the hell he’s doing here. Why now? Something tingling in the back of my brain is telling me not to blow him off.

“Why yes, I think that would be a grand idea.” He pulls one of his hands from his pocket and makes a show of gesturing to the hall opposite of the one he came in.

Reluctantly, I step in front of him, careful as I allow him to walk behind me toward my uncle’s office. He’s out, like most of the agents, dealing with an influx of cartel activity, but I’m sending a silent prayer that someone in the damn office with some sense has notified him of Alexi’s arrival.

We make it back to my uncle’s office without a disturbance, and I’m quick to shut the door behind him. I walk around to sit in my uncle’s chair while Alexi takes the one across. The one I’ve sat in too many times to count.

His brows immediately furrow. “Can the bureau not afford suitable chairs?”

I bite back my agreement and ask him what’s more imperative at the moment. “Why are you here, Babin?”

His eyes flicker toward me before his lips pull up in one corner. “I figured it was time you and I hash things out like adults. Let the past be the past and all that.”

“And why in the hell would I do that?”

Alexi looks at me as though I’ve grown a second head and vomited on his brand new loafers. “Because why do you want to continue wasting your time chasing your tail? I’m literally untouchable, and the best you’d get out of any judicial system is a slap on my wrist. And even that’s pushing it, considering they know I’m a lot more dangerous than the cartel you have running around. Which—how about handling your pest problem in your own city instead of worrying about me?”

His arrogance makes my childish confession a little more palatable. “Because you’re the worst fucking human I’ve ever met. Don’t sit here and act like you have completely forgotten about locking me out of the mansion butt-ass naked after ghosting me right in my fucking face! ”

It could absolutely be the fatigue caused by tossing and turning every night, or being emotionally drained from everything that’s happened, but the anger unravels faster than I can stop it as I force myself to relive that horrible day. The one where I told him how much I enjoy fucking him and how nice it was to escape to Noxus and forget my shit life for a while.

He stood up, grabbed my clothes, ignored me talking to him, and then had the damn dogs chase me outside. Never in my life had I been more humiliated or degraded.

Alexi’s pupils flare and his jaw unhinges as if he…as if he’s just remembering who I am.

Fucking asshole.

“That’s right! I remember you now.” His arms circle over his stomach as he releases a laugh that has my hand returning to my gun. Body bouncing from the laughter, he slaps his knees dramatically. “That shit was so funny. And you were so fucking pissed.”

He continues laughing for I don’t even know how long before I finally get aggravated, standing as I realize that if I stay any longer, he’s going to have a hole in his chest and I’ll be thrown in jail, settling in.

“Goodbye, Alexi. Send my regards to Elena.” My heart squeezes when I say her name. “You deserve each other.”

He sobers, though the heavy sigh he releases says he still finds himself tickled pink. “That’s why I’m here, actually.”

My eyes narrow. “I swear to God, Alexi, if you tell me something about fucking her, I’ll put a hole in your cock right now.”

Snatching the black band from his hair, he threads his finger through the strands. “No, no. That woman wears one of those metal pairs of panties with a lock. I’m here because she was taken. Kidnapped, I guess. though, I don’t think that’s the right word because she’s not a child.”

My heart plummets. “Elena was abducted?”

He snaps his fingers. “Yeah, that’s it. Abducted. The cartel has her.”

My lips part to say something, but panic invades my airways instead, making it hard to even breathe. Despite the crushed heart she’s left me with, I have never wished ill on her. Never wanted her hurt, especially not like this.

My mind races over a million and one things that could be happening to her, what they could be forcing her to do.

My stomach twists and my esophagus burns with bile.

Still, I try to act as though I’m not bothered by the news. If not to keep me from breaking down in front of this asshole, then at least to hide that he has something I want—her safe return.

The frailness of my words gives me away, though.

“Why should I even care? You hired her to kill me.” My voice breaks at the end of my sentence. Admitting it out loud burns the edges of my heart.

Alexi, now seemingly bored with our conversation, leans back in his chair, his eyes roving over my uncle’s office as if suddenly intrigued by his surroundings. “And yet here you are. Still alive, despite my orders.”

I clear my throat, but it does nothing to dislodge the knot there. “And why is that?”

He shrugs. “No idea. I gave her thirty days to kill you or else I’d off her and then…” He waves his hands around as if the result is obvious. “In the end, she is worth more to me alive than dead, and if she liked you enough, you’d likely leave me be after a while, and might even serve a purpose.”

My heart tumbles. Before she even met me, she knew it would end with either me or her buried six feet under. Yet she didn’t kill me in the dark alleyway after I left The Four that night. She didn’t do it at the observatory, at the park, in my kitchen, in hers, at the movies. There were countless times she could have, yet, in the end, she chose my life over hers.

She was willing to die for me.

Then she killed for me.

And now she’s been abducted for her actions.

If the cartel knows she’s responsible for all the dead members I’ve linked her to…

“How long has she been gone?”

“Give or take ten days.”

My hands slam on the desk, iced panic chilling me to the core. “ Ten days . She could be dead!”

“Maybe. But probably not. We’re going to go get her tonight.”

I round the desk, heart racing, emotions frazzled, with no idea where I’m headed. “I’m coming with you.”

He stops me before I get to the door. “Yeah. I figured. But you can’t go as an agent. It would…complicate things for me. And you have to promise that this little crusade of yours against me stops as well.”

Not bothering to ask what he means or for him to elaborate, I simply nod, Elena and her safety now consuming my every thought. As far as my crusade, well, I guess that can be decided if we get her back alive. I don’t tell him that, though. “Fine. But I want a bat.”

His responding smile is wide. “I got the perfect one.”

* * *

If someone would have told me that one day, I’d be working with the man who made me feel like complete shit, and then wasted two years of my life trying to put him in jail, I would have…well, seeing as I’m me, it may not have surprised me. But right now, as he looks my outfit over to make sure I’m covered from head to toe, I still can’t believe I ended up here.

“Alright. The objective is pretty simple. Get in, kill as many of them as you can, capture the ones that look like they know something, then find the plant lady.”

After addressing the men behind me, Alexi tugs on my mask, yanking it the rest of the way over my face.

I jerk away from his touch. “Getting Elena should be the first thing everyone does.”

A round of chuckles from Babin’s goons surrounds me, but Alexi’s face remains impassive. “You have your little bat. You wanna go get her first, no one here will stop you. But my goal is to end this war once and for all. I have a fiancé waiting for me and I can’t have someone threatening to put her in danger.”

My mouth parts to speak, to verbally display my shock that someone would willingly marry this man, but before I can, a row of drivers pulls up to the front of the estate. We load into the SUVs and head to Georgia, the ride unsurprisingly loud the entire way. My heart lingers in my throat with every mile we drive, and the closer we get, the harder it beats.

I try not to think about what Elena could be enduring right now, try not to linger on everything that’s happened, but it’s where my mind stays. In a perpetual merry-go-round of lows and lowers and at the end, I’m nauseous as fuck, and just want off the ride.

When we make it across the state line, the conversations between the men shifts, going from the game the other night to strategies over when they arrive. Alexi turns around in the passenger seat, his eyes finding mine through the dark. He’s quiet for a long moment, and right as I’m about to tell him to take a picture, he surprises me.

“So, by you coming, and risking your job and even your life, you forgive her, right?”

“No, I–” The words cut off, my mind and heart beginning a war within my chest.

I remind myself that Elena was lying the entire time we were together, and could have at any time decided to kill me in order to save herself. But then I also remember that there were more than enough opportunities for that, and in the end, she chose me in more ways than one.

Alexi’s laugh is telling. “Yeah, you do. Or at least, you will. Just have some make-up sex. It fixes everything.”

Ten minutes later, we arrive at our destination. It’s a remote location, not too far from where the cargo yard is. The buildings are even more dilapidated in this area, the streets corroded with potholes and with lamp posts that don’t shine any more than a standard flashlight. We turn into an alleyway across the street from a rundown, abandoned jailhouse and park.

I remember when it shut down a few years ago, when the rats outnumbered the inmates and the human rights activists petitioned Julio. I guess it would be the perfect spot to hold prisoners, and knowing Elena is being subjected to whatever is down there makes my stomach turn.

We wait until the other vehicles catch up before unloading from the SUVs. The men check their guns, pull down their masks, and divide into equal groups without Alexi having to say a word. And when he does speak, it’s reiterating what he’s already told them, only, at the end, he turns to three men standing off to the side.

“You go with blondie here and make sure she doesn’t kill herself. Last thing I need is for her to die and then have Erica try to kill me. She might actually succeed.”

I refrain from correcting him on Elena’s name and instead do something else. Something that clearly surprises him. I apologize.

“Thank you.”

His brows shoot up before he waves me away. “Call us square.” He turns to the rest of the men. “Let’s go.”

I have to admit, despite the myriad of emotions—trepidation and fear at the forefront—the way the men fall in line behind Alexi is admirable. They move as one unit, walking in perfect rows and turning as if on one cord. They all take a different way inside the building, but me and my three guys stay behind Alexi.

At first, I think it’s rather obvious that this mission is to be done in complete silence, but then this crazy asshole does something that makes me immediately regret not asking more questions in the car.

Two men flank off and stand next to the double front doors while Alexi tucks his hands in his back pockets and draws out two tubes. By the time I realize what’s about to happen, it’s too late, and I know without a shadow of a doubt I’m probably going to die tonight.

Ducking off to the side, I watch as the two goons kick the doors open with all their might, and the rusted steel immediately caves in. When it does, Alexi tosses the flashbang grenades inside, laughing as though he was just told the funniest jokes he’s ever heard in his life.

“Honeyyyyy, I’m hooooooome.” Somehow I can hear him above the cracks of the explosive, and despite not being able to see him over the flashes of white, I can imagine him with his hands spread wide open.

Then all hell breaks loose.

Gun fire spews out, bullets fly and all I can do is stand on the other side of the wall with my hands covering my ears. It feels like eternity ticks by, though I’m sure it can’t be over sixty seconds, before one of the men assigned to stay with me yanks me from my crouched position on the ground.

“We have to go now. There aren’t that many in there, but more will come. We need both of you out by then.” The masked goon lifts his head toward the bat I have secured behind me. “Use the bat or the gun—depending how messy you want it.”

Without waiting for me to get my life together, or better yet, repent for my sins, he turns and jogs inside, the other men close behind him.

My pulse pounds so hard, my veins ache at the same time my head does, but I do as I’m told, Elena’s face serving as motivation.

Luckily, when we enter, most of the cartel members are already dead or incapacitated by the entrance, giving us a clear path to get to the cell blocks. The guy I was just talking to positions himself by the mouth of the hall, gun in his hand. “We’ll have to check each corridor, I’m not sure where?—”

A loud pop echoes around me, threatening to blow my eardrums, while the secondary sound of a bullet flying past my head and into the skull of a guy I didn’t see to my right takes me by surprise.

The goon goes right back to talking as if he didn’t just casually murder a man mid-conversation. “We don’t know where they’re holding her, but my orders are to have you out in five minutes with or without her.”

I consider asking him when the fuck he got that order, but then decide not to waste my time arguing.

Leading the way, I run down the first hall, my head turning right and left so fast that by the time we make it to the end, I damn near pass out from being so dizzy. But I don’t stop. I turn down the next row of cells, my eyes whipping back and forth as I go.

I scream her name, doing my best to ignore Alexi’s laugh echoing down the corridors and the random spray of gunfire I know is lodging into men. I’m unsure which side is winning or losing, I just know the longer there isn’t a sign of Red, my already fragile heart cracks a little more.

Five halls down, which is about half of the small jail, and we come up to a thick metal door. It’s partially closed, with a sign on the outside listing rules about solitary confinement detainees.

“Think she’s down there?” One of the men mutters.

Another answers. “Makes sense they’d hide her.”

I don’t wait for them to speculate further and jerk the door open, rushing inside as quickly as my legs will carry me. Five doors on each side, and I check every one, heart pounding louder in my ears, while my lungs burn from rapidly sucking in breath. I slam a fist against each door, fear of the worst creeping up and gripping me by the spine.

What if I’m too late? What if she’s gone and I’m about to find her body?

What if our last moments are her saying my name and me walking away?

No. No. No.

This isn’t how it’s going to end. I’m going to find her, give her a fucking earful about everything, and she’ll be okay.

We’ll be okay.

Each vacant cell causes my insides to twist tighter and tighter, my muscles shaking from how far I’m pushing them. But I keep going, intuition from the depth of my soul telling me I’m going to find her, and in the last cell, I do.

“Elena!” I jerk the door open, racing to the cell and wrapping my hands around the cold metal bars. Even aware she’s been here for upwards of ten days, nothing could have prepared me for this.

She’s lying on a stained cot, her matted hair covering her face. But I don’t need to see it to know she’s barely hanging on. Her skin looks ashen, her body frail, and when he doesn’t lift her head, I almost imagine the worst.

But then I hear her. It’s so faint, I almost think I imagine it. “Peanut?”

I jump against the bars, relief seeping through me and springing tears into my eyes. “I’m here, Red. I just have to—Can one of you please help me?”

My frantic plea is met when one of the goons appears at my side, his gaze on the lock keeping me from getting to her. “It’s not thick. Step back.”

I do as I’m told, my eyes on Elena, who is trying to maneuver to see me. I want to scream to tell her to stay still, to not use what little energy she has left, but the man takes the butt of his gun and jams it down so hard against the lock snaps, it snaps, allowing me to rush inside.

“You have two minutes. We are going to make sure everything is clear and then we’ll carry her out.”

Without waiting for a response, he turns and exits, leaving me to assess how bad of a shape Elena is in.

Carefully, I brush her hair from her face, and when her dull green irises come into view, I nearly lose it. Eyes sunken, lips cracked, bruises over her cheeks and cuts along her clavicle. The more my eyes search her frame, the more I find, and the more enraged I become.

I’m shaking by the time I’ve concluded she doesn’t have any life threatening injuries, but do my best to hide my anger from her.

“Hey, Red. I’m here. We’re going to take you home.” I brush away her hair, tears burning the rim of my eyes.

“W–e?” Her voice is like crumbling sand. “We?”

I nod, swallowing around the molten lava searing down my throat. “Alexi.”

Even halfway to paradise, she still manages to roll her eyes. “Of course.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re gonna owe him for life, but hey?—”

Three pops ring out in tandem, followed by three heavy thuds.

I suck in a sharp breath before moving my body in front of Elena, tears searing over the rim and onto my cheeks. “I’ll be right back.”

She shakes her head, though the movement is so slow I almost think I’ve imagined it. “ Please .”

I sniff, wiping my face as steps entering echoes in the small space. “I promise I will not let anything happen to you. Just please promise me you’ll hold tight for me. Just wait a little longer, baby.”

Elena’s eyes flutter for a moment before she nods, this time a little stronger.

I muster up enough strength to give her a small smile before standing.

Only, when I turn to see who’s joined us, every part of me slackens, a picture I’d already unknowingly put together coming into focus.

“ Fikes .”