Page 117 of Reset

“It’s only me who makes you violent, huh?” With a shake of his head, he stood and took her stinging hand in his before looking at Callum. “I’m taking Sarah back to the hotel.”

Callum nodded. “Cops can talk to you just as easily there as here.”

Ryan strode from the room, taking Sarah with him, as Garnier started to rant about how she was suing for assault.

The rest of the day was a blur of official activity. Sarah had to tell her story to several different police officers as the investigation covered multiple jurisdictions, some international. By the time evening came around, she was tired of repeating herself. More than that, she was tired of hearing herself talk about an ordeal she’d rather forget.

The Parisian police contingent, headed by an associate of Lake’s, gratefully accepted Benson Security’s offer to help with their investigation. Which meant Elle and David were holed up at cop central, digging through all of the digital records taken from Garnier’s office. So far, they’d found evidence of eight couples who’d lost their lives after being randomly chosen by a madwoman to take part in her sick experiment. They suspected there would be more names added to their list in the coming days.

It turned out that the couples were chosen from a blog called Love in the City. Normally, the blogger was based in Paris. But sometimes, he took jobs in other cities. He’d taken one in London to help promote a pop-up roller disco that Ryan and Sarah had spontaneously attended. The video he shot of them caught the eye of their abductor. It was only because Ryan had been shot that they hadn’t ended up in the catacombs a year earlier. Instead, she’d bided her time and picked them up when it suited her.

Why the woman hadn’t just forgotten about them, only she knew. And unless she started talking, it would stay that way. As soon as the professor had stopped worrying about her data, she’d asked for a lawyer and hadn’t said anything else since.

Sarah wasn’t sure what was worse—being the random victim of senseless violence, or having come to an evil person’s attention because she’d fallen in love. And, she had fallen in love. Possibly that very first night she’d met Ryan in person. Or even weeks earlier, during their first silly, intimate, wonderful conversation.

The sad thing was, even though he’d unintentionally hurt her when he disappeared, and even though she definitely knew better, she was still in love with him.

She just couldn’t have him.

“Hey, you okay?” The object of her musings plopped down beside her on the sitting room sofa. A bag of chips in his hand. “Hungry?” He angled the bag toward her.

“No, thanks.” She rested her hand on his knee, allowing herself this time with him before it all ended. Storing each memory for the day when she’d feel strong enough to take them out and revel in having known him.

He covered her hand with his. “The police didn’t upset you, did they?”

She shook her head. “I’m exhausted. How are things going with you?”

“Good. We’ve got oxygen tanks coming in for the pool we swam through. Better safe than sorry. Either way, we have to go back through the water to get to the original cavern. Once there, we’ll dismantle the gate and see where that tunnel leads, but it should be an easier route out, don’t you think?”

Honestly, Sarah didn’t want to think about it at all. “Yes, I think you’re right.”

Memories of sending the rats in after the bodies flashed through her mind, and she cringed. If she had to choose all over again, would she still have done that? Sadly, she would. Especially if it meant saving Ryan—even if it was from a few rats.

“You realize I’m only showing these guys the way, right? Once they’re in there, it’s all on them.”

“I know.” But she also knew that he was too good at his job, loved it too much, to resist the temptation of staying underground to help with the investigation.

“Ryan,” Callum snapped from the dining room. “Get your arse in here. We’re no’ finished yet.”

“Gotta go.” He pressed a quick kiss to her lips before hurrying from the room.

Once he was out of sight, she made her way through the crowded suite to Rachel’s room.

“Come in,” Rachel called after Sarah had knocked.

The room was much like the one she’d been sharing with Ryan, only with a tad more gilt. Rachel sat at a delicate desk in front of the windows, looking out over the Eiffel Tower. A laptop was open in front of her, and her phone was in her hand. Harvard sat on the sofa, drinking coffee while reading a report Elle had sent him. Sarah knew it was a report on the bodies because the photos were hard to miss, even from a few feet away.

Harvard’s smile was welcoming, while Rachel looked slightly bored.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Sarah said to the woman who scared her a little. “I want to go home and wondered if you could arrange that for me. I don’t have a passport or any access to my money, but I can sort that out when I’m home. It’s just getting there…you seem like the kind of person who’d know how to do that and could make it happen. Will you help me?”

Honestly, she expected Rachel to tell her to get lost. From what she’d seen of the woman, she didn’t exactly play well with others.

The brunette swept her long silken hair over her shoulder as she considered Rachel. She arched a perfectly plucked brow. “Ryan?”

“It’s finished,” Sarah said, although it hadn’t really started, had it? A few stolen days, under extreme circumstances, did not a relationship make. “I need to go home.”

The woman considered her for what felt like endless seconds before she stood. “We’ll leave now.”