Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 66480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“You will?”
"Look, I care about her," I said quietly. "I never expected to connect with her the way I did. So, I feel more than I should."
"You think she'll listen to anything you have to say now?" Dario shook his head. "You fucked her, lied to her, and got caught. In what universe does that conversation end well?"
The brutal assessment hit home. Wren's face flashed in my mind—the hurt, the betrayal, the disgust. No explanation would erase that pain. But something in me refused to accept that things ended this way.
Dario stared at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, unexpectedly, his shoulders dropped, the rigid anger deflating from his posture. He rolled his head, working out the kinks. "Fuck,” he muttered. “The heart wants what it wants," he said with a sigh, the words surprisingly gentle. "Even when it wants the most inconvenient, dangerous Goddamned thing possible." A rueful smile touched his lips. "Believe me, I understand that better than most."
He returned to the table, straightening his already perfect cuffs with a practiced motion. "Let's refocus on what matters now, Rocky."
"The trafficking pipeline."
"Exactly." Dario tapped the dossier. "If your intel checks out, and I have no reason to doubt it does, we can move on this quickly. The shipment Saturday provides perfect timing." He looked up at me. "You said this shipment runs larger than their usual operation?"
"Much larger. They expanded their network over the past three months. New routes, more girls." My stomach turned at the memory of overheard conversations, the casual cruelty with which the Copperheads discussed human lives. "Vex mentioned at least thirty girls coming in with this shipment."
"Christ." Dario rubbed his jaw. "We’ve waited long enough." He pulled out his phone, typed a quick message. "We’re going to be set up and ready for Saturday. This ends."
"I still need to attend tomorrow's meeting at The Pit," I said. "If I miss it, they'll get suspicious."
Dario nodded. "Go to the meeting. You report everything directly to me or Tori."
"And Wren?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.
Dario’s expression softened marginally. "Once this ends. We can sort out the mess with Bound in Blood." He leaned forward. "I'll help with the Wren problem. I hadn’t wanted to involve Bound in Blood in this because I know how some of those guys get about trafficked women. It would be like throwing a match onto a funeral pyre. They’ll burn the whole city to the ground and I can’t have that.” He pulled out his phone. “I’ll take care of this, Rocky. Those girls come first though."
"Agreed." Wren was safe. The others weren’t.
"In the meantime, stay away from her." Dario fixed me with a penetrating stare. "Distractions in a situation like this will get you killed. One slip, one moment of divided attention, and you're dead. And those girls might be too."
"I understand."
"Do you?" Dario asked quietly. "Because the look on your face tells me otherwise."
I paused, halfway to the door. "I'll do what needs to be done," I promised. "I always have."
Dario grinned and nodded. "I’ll take care of your girl. I owe you that and more. I’ll explain things to Jack but I’m leaving Ghost to you."
“Fantastic,” I growled.
As I walked out of the conference room and back toward the elevator, conflicting emotions warred within me. Knowing how badly I'd hurt Wren left a deep ache inside my chest. Her face haunted me with every step.
The elevator doors closed and I descended back toward the gritty reality of my undercover life, caught between two worlds and belonging fully to neither. I'd complete this task. I'd help bring down the Copperheads and their vile operation. But after that... after that, I needed to find a way back to Wren, to make her understand that while my approach might have begun as deception, what grew between us still lived as something real. The only question that remained? Would she ever give me the chance to explain?
Chapter Eleven
Wren
The rusty swing set creaked with every push of the little girl's legs, a rhythmic soundtrack to my clusterfuck of thoughts. I tapped my boot against the concrete beneath the park bench, fingers drumming against my thigh in time with the restless energy coursing through my veins. Three days since I'd caught Rocky in his lie. Three days of replaying every touch, every kiss, every fucking word he'd said to me, trying to pinpoint the exact moment I should have known he played me. My brain kept returning to one stupid, infuriating fact. Despite everything, I still couldn't get the lying bastard out of my head.
The afternoon sun shone down on the little neighborhood park nestled at the edge of Bound in Blood territory. The weather was still cool but kids laughed and squealed as they chased each other around equipment that I knew had been funded by Bound in Blood. They just didn’t like to advertise that shit. Parents sat in clusters, nursing coffee and pretending their spawn didn't drive them to the brink of insanity from time to time.