Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
I swung my gaze to his. This time searching his face for anything to tell me I shouldn’t trust her. Thatcher didn’t let emotions get in the way because he didn’t have any. He was detached, and because of that, he read people better than anyone I knew. If she was lying, he would see it.
“The bomb was in her fucking car,” I bit out. How could she be in on something like this?
“Yeah. And he was making sure she didn’t get in the car. Her keys weren’t in the house. We searched everywhere. He’d taken them already. She was never meant to get in that car. That was all a setup to force your hand.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why didn’t I know about the keys until now?”
He shrugged. “Because I had a hunch.” He glanced over at Oakley, then back at me. “Why choose her car as the one to set a bomb in? It didn’t make sense. When the guys searched for her keys, they were gone.”
There was no accusation when he looked back at Oakley. He wasn’t blaming her, and from where I stood, I could tell he didn’t believe she had any idea Hamilton was mixed up in this shit. The relief that came with that knowledge shouldn’t have been so damn powerful. But it was. And not just because Sarah loved her. I needed Oakley to be innocent.
“What are you getting at?” I asked him when he didn’t say more.
Thatcher nodded his head at Oakley. “She’s Hamilton’s weak link, but he tried to test you and see if she was yours too. You saved her; she’s locked away from him. He can’t get to her, and he now knows she’s important to you. But what he doesn’t know is that we are now aware she’s important to him and he’d have never let her get in that car. Oakley was the only one of those he threatened who was actually safe.”
My stomach turned, and bile burned my throat. All this time, she had been dating someone dangerous. He could have hurt her at any time. I’d not protected her.
“We don’t know this Hamilton guy is who we are looking for.” I fucking needed him not to be our guy. If he was, I was going to live with the horror of what could have happened to her over and over in my head on repeat.
“It sure is looking like we are real damn close. Let her call him. Then, you work your magic with that damn super computer.”
I turned my gaze to Oakley. She was close to having had enough for one day. I wanted Thatcher to fucking leave and let her digest all this. She needed some time to rest, let it all settle. She didn’t need to be forced to make a call like this.
“You don’t have to—”
“Yeah, she fucking does,” Thatcher interrupted me.
I turned then and took a step in his direction. He wasn’t going to force her to do anything.
“I’ll do it, Wilder,” Oakley blurted out. “He’s right. We need to know.”
I swung my gaze back to her as she stood there, looking even paler than when I had told her I was in the Mafia. She wasn’t ready for this mentally.
“You need some time to process,” I told her.
She shook her head. “We don’t have time. Sarah is locked up in your house, miles away, because of this man, and if it is Hamilton or if Hamilton knows who it is, then we need to find out. If it’s him”—she paused, and pain flashed in her eyes—“then I brought him into our lives—Sarah’s life. This is on me.”
No, it wasn’t. This shit was on me. I’d kept my life from her. The truth from her. I hadn’t thought for a second that someone would find her and she’d be used as a target or a weapon. My sudden need to protect her, which had roared to life the moment I thought she was in danger, confused me, but it was there. Taking over. Clouding everything else in the process.
“You ready to back down now, guard dog?” Thatcher drawled and smirked at me as he watched Oakley to see if she was going to do it or not.
She was looking at me, and the trust in her eyes undid me.
“What do I say?” she asked me. Not Thatcher. Her gaze stayed on me.
Thatcher didn’t give a fuck who she was asking. “You tell him you left with a friend. Mention that you had car trouble and you think someone was trying to hurt you. He will question that, but you act like you are trying to protect him from it. Just tell him he needs to stay away from your house for now and you’ll let him know when things are safe again. Then, tell him you miss him or some shit. Anything to make him want to get you back,” he instructed her, and she finally shifted her focus to him as he talked.