Page 103 of Things We Hide from the Light

“Back at you, baby. Now talk.”

I could all but see the steam whistling out of her ears. “You already know my company insures things for wealthy clients. When insured assets are stolen, we run parallel investigations with law enforcement. One of our clients lives in a DC suburb. His car was stolen a few days before you were shot. I was assigned the case and started digging.”

“A car. You’re hunting down an attempted murderer over a fucking car.”

“You’d be doing the same thing as a cop.”

“I’d be doing it to protect and serve. You’re doing it to save your company an insurance payout and to earn a bonus.”

“I guess we can’t all be heroes, can we?” There was fire beneath all the ice she was throwing at me.

“What makes you think Hugo took the car?”

“Process of elimination. There was a spike of grand theft auto cases within a ten-mile radius of Hugo’s warehouse. Six other cars were stolen the same day, two from the same neighborhood as my client’s. All those cars, or at least pieces of them, were found in Hugo’s warehouse after he got away.”

“So you show up to a hostage situation unarmed with a civilian to find a fucking car?” She’d arrived on scene with Sloane. I could still see her walking in the door in slow motion. She came straight to me. And the second she’d put her hands on me, IknewI wanted to keep them there.

Wasn’t that a fucking kick in the goddamn teeth?

It was official. My instincts were gone. I couldn’t see through a leggy temptress with secrets in her eyes.

“First of all, I didn’t know Duncan Dumbass Hugo was into kidnapping in addition to running chop shops. But I’ve been in high-stakes situations with and without law enforcement. And if I hadn’t gotten in Sloane’s car, she would have driven there herself and probably put herself in danger.”

“You didn’t just come here and coincidentally end up in the middle of Hugo’s crime spree.”

“The thefts happened less than an hour from here. The plan was to swing through town and see my old friend on my way. I was going to stay in town long enough to catch up, and then everything went to hell the next day when they took Naomi and Way.”

“Why should I believe that?” I asked.

“I don’t care what you believe,” she snapped.

“Yeah, I got that too, sweetheart. You get all your sources to tell you things the way you did with me?” I asked.

“Subtlety doesn’t become you, Chief.”

I leaned forward. “I trusted you, Lina.”

She crossed her arms defiantly. “You’re acting like a scorned lover when the only thing we are is…”

“What? What are we, Angelina? You want to say neighbors? Acquaintances?” I slapped the file down on the table in a display of temper. “You know my darkest fucking secret. You let me tell you.”

She threw her arms up in the air. “You think anyone besides my family knows about my history? You weren’t the only one opening yourself up, Nash.”

“Then you’re either a cold piece of work or at the very least that made us friends.”

“Made?”

“I told you I don’t tolerate liars. Anything that we had or could have had is gone now.”

Her jaw ticked.

“You deliberately lied to me,” I said.

“I didn’t lie. I omitted part of the truth.”

“You used me being vulnerable against me.”

“Oh please,” she snapped. “I was walkingyourdog when I found you on the floor. I didn’t give you a panic attack.”