Page 19 of The Sinner’s Touch (Manwhore #2)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Kade massaged the back of his neck as Bailey parked the car.

He was drained, and it was only three in the afternoon.

He despised going to do death notices. It was the hardest part of being a cop.

Special Agent in the FBI he might be, but at heart, he was still a police officer.

Telling someone a member of their family died never got easier.

A lot of cops he knew, including FBI agents, often said it got easier, but for Kade, it never did.

That look of broken, twisted grief stayed with him.

The biting cold hit him as soon as he stepped out of the car.

Damn, but Boston was cold. Unseasonably cold, as Bailey put it.

His grandmother would laugh at all the people bundled up against the frigid air.

Russia was colder, and this would be a warm front to them.

He shook his head at the thought and followed Bailey into the station.

The desk sergeant motioned to them, and he paid no attention until Bailey started cussing and demanded to know why no one had called him.

Kade looked over, in askance, alarmed at the grim expression.

“Angel is here with your brother. That’s all I know.”

Panic rose from Kade’s gut, settling in his throat.

He yanked out his phone to check for messages and discovered that sometime between this morning and now, it died.

God, what if she’d tried to call him? What if something happened?

Had the unsub tried to take her? A million questions ran through his head, driving him mad while they waited for the elevator to take them to the floor where homicide was located.

His eyes found his brother first, talking to one of the officers, holding two Starbucks coffee cups, and he headed straight for him. When Nikoli spotted him, his expression morphed to one of complete fury, and Kade slowed.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Nikoli’s voice went flat, hard, and mean. Kade couldn’t recall ever seeing his brother this pissed.

“Telling a couple their child is dead.” He ran a hand through his hair. “What happened?”

“Your sick fuck sent Angel a package.”

His knees went a little weak. How the hell did he know where she was? “What was in it?”

“A note that said ‘soon, my angel’ along with a curl of red hair.”

“Shit.” This from Bailey, and the brothers turned to see him right behind them. “What time did it arrive at the apartment?”

“Around twelve thirtyish. As soon as she opened it, we called Kade, who never fucking checked his voicemail or his texts.” Nikoli’s glare was hot enough to scorch hell itself. “When we couldn’t reach you, we came here.”

“How many people touched the box?” Bailey asked, pulling out his own phone.

“Not sure, but I can tell you the front desk attendant at the apartment building brought it up to us, and I accepted the package. Angel was the only person to touch it after that. An officer already took it down to forensics.”

“Where the fuck is she?” Kade barked, his panic fueling his anger.

“She’s in the conference room.” Nikoli held up the coffee cup. “I stepped across the street to get her some coffee. She’s pretty shaken up.”

Kade turned and all but ran down the hall, bursting into the room, and only when he saw she was there, safe and whole, did he let out the breath he’d been holding. She was okay.

He didn’t give her a chance to say anything. He strode over, hauled her up, and hugged her tighter than he’d ever done in all their time together. She was safe.

Angel gasped when Kade burst in, his eyes wild with panic. He let out a full body breath when he saw her. She certainly didn’t expect him to hold her like there was no tomorrow. He was shaking with fear. The realization stunned her. He wasn’t just afraid, he was terrified. For her.

It. Made. No. Sense.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt?” He relaxed his grip enough to lean back and study her face. She stared up into those onyx eyes and tried to figure out what he was doing. What kind of game was he playing?

“Answer me, Angel!” He shook her slightly. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she murmured. “I’m fine.”

“Thank fuck.”

“Kade?” Nikoli stood in the doorway, confused and holding her coffee. “What the hell is going on?”

A question Angel had been asking herself since Kade pinned her to the bed.

Nikoli set her coffee on the table and then took a seat. “Explain.”

Kade let her go, and she sank back down in the chair he’d pulled her from. She wanted to know what was going on herself.

“Later.” Kade went from scared and concerned to Mr. FBI Agent within a blink of an eye. His entire demeanor changed, and he became the professional cop she’d only seen once, and it was enough. It was her last image of him, the one that had broken her.

“Angel.” Bailey closed the door behind him and took a seat beside of Nikoli. Kade remained standing. “Can you tell us what happened?”

“There’s not much to tell.” She picked up her coffee and let the heat from it seep into her cold hands. “A package arrived, and I opened it. There was a note and some hair inside. Red hair.”

Red hair. Like hers.

“He took a young woman last night,” Bailey told her quietly.

“With red hair?” The answer was obvious, so she didn’t know why she asked.

His lips tightened. “Yes.”

“He took her because of me.” The realization sank in, and she flinched. That girl was suffering right now because of her.

“We don’t know that.” Kade finally sat. “She could have been planned already. There’s no pattern to who he takes.”

“She has red hair, Kade.” Her voice came out hushed, quiet.

“I know, moye serdtse , but this is not your fault. I can hear those wheels turning in that head of yours.”

Angel ignored Nikoli’s surprised gasp. Of course he would know what those words meant. “I saw him. I put his face out there for everyone to see. He’s sending me fucking letters, Kade. This is my fault.”

“No, it’s not. It’s his fault. His sickness is to blame. You didn’t do anything wrong, Angel. You can’t blame yourself for his fixation.”

“He’s right.” Bailey stopped writing in his little notebook. “If it hadn’t been her, it would have been someone else. Don’t blame yourself for the actions of a depraved man.”

They could both tell her that until they turned blue in the face, but this was on her. He took some poor, innocent girl because she had the same color hair.

“Angel, do you still feel safe in the apartment?” Bailey pulled her from her dark thoughts. “He obviously knows where you are. We can move you again.”

“I’ll put you up in any hotel you want.” Nikoli reached over and took her hand. “Anything you need, Angel Girl, you just tell me, and I’ll do it.”

“How secure is the apartment?” Kade all but snarled, and again, Angel was shocked at the jealousy coming from him. He didn’t like his brother touching her. Nikoli picked up on it too, and withdrew his hand, bemused and slightly fascinated.

“The building has one of the best security systems in the city. It’s why I bought it.

Not to mention my own security in place inside the apartment.

You need a special key to get up to the penthouse in the elevator and to access the stairs leading up.

There’s a security code you need to open the stairwell door along with the key. It’s Fort Knox, man.”

“Then I should be perfectly fine.” She really didn’t want Nikoli spending anything on her. She didn’t want to put him out any more than he already was.

“I think I’m going to take you up on your offer of extra security.

” Angel’s attention snapped back to Kade when he said that.

“Especially when I’m not there. I want someone in the corridor outside the door on the penthouse level, as well as someone inside the lobby and watching all entrances to the building. ”

“Sure thing. I’ll call Viktor and see if he has anyone to spare. If he doesn’t, I’ll still have people ready to go by tonight.”

“Your brother Viktor?” Why would they be calling their brother?

“Yes.” Nikoli nodded. “Viktor is a Marine veteran who now runs his own security company, Kincaid Security Corp. Hardcore security. He hires ex-military. How do you know Viktor’s our brother?”

“Bailey, can you go find the person who took the initial report, as well as who went and examined the scene?”

Bailey looked between the three of them and nodded. He got up and closed the door behind him.

“Now, are you two going to tell me what the fuck is going on here?”

Kade closed his eyes and ran a hand through his already mussed hair before facing his brother. “She’s my wife.”

Nikoli gaped. “What the fuck? Are you messing with me?”

“He’s not.” Angel crossed her arms. “Although I didn’t know we were still married until he showed up at the bar last night.”

“I don’t understand. How can you not know you’re still married?”

Kade looked extremely uncomfortable, and Angel found herself almost feeling sorry for the guy. Explaining to your family a wife you forgot about couldn’t be the easiest thing in the world.

“You remember when I went undercover down in Miami?”

“Yeah, scared the hell out of Mama when she didn’t hear from you for almost two years. For a while there, we all thought you might have been killed.”

“I met Angel while I was undercover. Her brother was my in with the guys I needed to hook up with. We got married, and after the bust went down, we parted ways.”

“So, it wasn’t a real marriage?” Nikoli quirked an eyebrow in question.

“That’s what I thought.” Angel rubbed her arms, her memories trying to swim up and drown her in even more grief. She pushed them down resolutely. She’d kept them buried this long, and she wasn’t going to let them crush her now. Not when she needed to keep up her strength.

“But?”

“But I used my real name while undercover, and I was married under that name. An annulment was out of the question because the marriage was consummated. We’d need a divorce, and what with one assignment after another, it slipped my mind until I saw her.”