Page 155 of Cautious Love

My chest twinges at the word spouse. “No, I’m dead serious. Your testimony can be used to put all of them away, and privilege wouldn’t fall under that.”

“I’m not reporting it. That would defeat the purpose of everything I’ve done,” she says.

I jerk back. “What does that mean?”

She sighs. “It means, can we eat dinner? I’m starving and I know you’re probably tired.”

She hops up from the floor and unpacks the food.

We eat and then I’m on my way home, reeling from her confession, regretting leaving her, but I know she wouldn’t let me stay.

And in all this planning and coordination, I never considered that protecting Shiloh should be part of that, not in this way.

I thought the pressure of making sure this bust goes as planned couldn’t get any heavier. It did because all I can thinkabout is whether my wife will be okay, and I can’t clone myself to protect her and make sure the Kensingtons are put down for good.

Chapter 38

Ledger

I’vebeenonpinsand needles all day, and had to force myself to do my job. Leave Will to do his. I have to trust him. There had to be a reason he missed the first check-in today. But my gut tells me it’s something worse.

We’re nearing the end of the day, and Luke isn’t here. Maybe that means he’s talking to Will.

“Ledger?” Daisy calls.

“Yeah?” I call from my desk.

“Noah called off. He’s got the stomach flu,” Daisy says.

I groan.There goes my plan trying to convince Shiloh to stay the night.

“Great, let me get some dinner, and I’ll be back. Can you see if Calder will stay on for an extra hour?” I ask her.

“Yeah, no problem.”

I head out to the diner to grab dinner and can only hope that Shiloh is there. Maybe I can convince her to come back to the station with me. My plan to remind her why she’s worth loving has turned into more of a ‘how do I keep her safe and somehowstay a friend to her’, when all I want to is do beg her to love me back.

Right before I leave, Luke comes rushing into my office. Hat in his hand and hair all over the place.

“Talk,” I command.

I knew this was a bad idea. I should never have agreed to this.

“He missed the second check-in,” Luke says. He collapses into the chair in front of my desk. “I think they have him. They must have called his bluff,” Luke says.

I nod and take a deep breath. “I’ll call Lawrence. We’re moving up the timeline. We’re going in tomorrow.”

Luke nods. The bags under his eyes must have gotten bigger.

“We have no reason to believe they killed him. We need to operate under two assumptions. He couldn’t make contact because it was too risky. Or he’s now their hostage. That being said. We can’t go in guns blazing. We need a new plan. That includes you getting some sleep. I can’t have you so tired that you can’t see straight. Go home, try to sleep, and be back here in a few hours.”

“No, I’m okay. I’ll have a cup of coffee and I can start pulling things together,” Luke says.

“That wasn’t a suggestion. It was an order, Luke. Go home, get some sleep.”

“Yeah, okay,” he mumbles and trudges out of my office.

It’s going to be a long night.