The warehouse was quiet when they pulled in, trailed by an SUV with two armed guards inside. Night had fallen, casting shadows in corners he’d rather have seen into. Too many places to hide. A couple of cars were parked in the lot, not much movement in the warehouse or around it. Lights were switched on behind the blinds—some on timers, some on because they needed to be. Mint had called ahead so Steve knew they were coming. He’d given his assistant the rest of the day off—or at least, Mint figured that was the case since Steve answered the phone himself.
Emma cracked her door before he even got around to it. She didn’t look at him. She hadn’t spoken one word to him the whole flight there.
The two armed guards got out of the vehicle behind them. Men Steve could call when he needed help. Not hired guns, just friends he would now owe a favor. For Mint. Men he knew couldn’t be bought.
Mint nodded to both of them, and they all headed for the door where he punched in the code and let them inside.
“Kitchen’s down there.” He motioned to the hall. “Last door on the right.”
The two men passed them and headed right for it.
Emma stood with her spine completely straight. So straight she was going to strain something soon enough.
“Malone.” Steve strode toward them from the other direction. He angled right for Emma, hand held out. A warm smile for her. “Ms. Burroughs. I’m glad to see you made it here safely.”
“Um…thanks.” She glanced between them. “Steve, right?”
“Steve Preston.” He was the consummate politician, all smiles and warmth. But Mint had seen that switch he made to lethal businessman. And he didn’t mean a boardroom deal. Steve’s dealings had more to do with his aim with the Sig he kept under his jacket. “Let’s get some coffee, shall we?”
Emma nodded. “That would be great.”
It was like Mint didn’t even exist. They walked in front of him. Steve glanced over his shoulder toward Mint and frowned. Mint shrugged. Only Emma knew what was going on in her head. Apparently, the fact he’d shot the guy following them—a man who’d been a party to Craig and Drew’s deaths—had been the last straw. Was she done with him now?
If Mint had left the guy alive, then he would’ve reported back to his boss. Mint had taken the phone off his body to see what Double Down could get from it. If Craig and Drew hadn’t been killed, Mint would have had them question him. See if they could get information from him about who the blackmailer was. If the blackmailer hadn’t covered all his tracks, they could have got something.
But now his teammates were dead. Mint couldn’t gamble on the fact the blackmailer might have messed up. It had been far simpler to eliminate the threat to Emma. The blackmailer had taken from Double Down, so Double Down had taken from him. Mint didn’t figure whoever it was would be all that cut up about hired mercenaries dying, but he had to know that Double Down was serious about this.
Deadly serious.
They filled mugs of coffee, and Steve walked Emma to the conference room. When they settled on chairs, Mint said, “Got an update on Perkins?”
“Doctors are looking at her. Walker stuck with her, though he called in his people on the RV bombing and the man you left on the highway. If there’s anything to find, the FBI will find it. Walker has promised he’ll keep me posted.” Steve shrugged. “I’m hoping there will be at least something that will lead us to a possible identity for our blackmailer. But I’m by no means holding my breath.”
Mint set his cup down. “Good.”
“Can I…” Emma paused. “When is the senator’s memorial?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
The man had been killed four weeks ago. Was this a sign from God that she was here at the right time? Sadler had been buried. This was a small service for friends and family to remember him.
He said, “We’re sending team members to be there, just in case something happens we need to know about. But other than having a presence there, we’re going to leave it alone. Bradley and Rachel have agreed it’s for the best that they steer clear, even though he’s their uncle.”
Emma nodded, though it didn’t look like she agreed. It seemed her emotions were close to the surface. He could see she wanted to argue. But instead, she just sat back, looking spent. Like she had no energy and needed sleep. Which was pretty much exactly how he felt.
“What I’m concerned with is how this fundraiser relates to everything that’s happened.” Steve paused. “We have two days to figure out what the blackmailer considers to be so important he would get people he wanted in there.”
Mint said, “The requisition requests were about the caterers.” When Emma nodded, he went on. “Can you tell us more about that?”
“Okay.” She didn’t sound sure, but at least she made eye contact with him. If only for a brief second. “The vendor that I signed off on was a last minute bid. I don’t know enough about caterers to know if this was a good decision or not. He wanted me to sign off, approve the choice, without even talking to the senator. Then the aide who had put it all through and set up the catering for the fundraiser was going to let the senator know about the decision.” She frowned for a second. “I honestly don’t think the senator cared who was hired for it. I think the whole fundraiser thing wasn’t much more than a strategic move to convince people he was altruistic. He needed a feel-good.”
Steve nodded. “Rachel and Bradley had a few things to say about their uncle and not much of it was good.”
Emma winced. “He was always nice enough to me, I guess. Just like he had more important things on his mind. Even so, this fundraiser is a good thing. It will benefit the children’s wing of the local hospital. What’s not good about that?”
“Could be a front,” Mint said before he realized it had been out loud. “The catering company could be a friend of a friend, someone doing a favor for someone else by getting them the job. Then again, it could also be something else entirely.”
A ploy to discredit the senator. But he was dead now, so what would that do?
A way for someone else to take the credit for the senator’s work.
A terrorist attack.
Unless they figured it out and, if needed, put a stop to it, Mint didn’t know how they would get the answers they wanted. And yet, that wasn’t his primary focus. As much as he was all in on this operation, what was foremost in his mind was having the chance to talk to Emma without the stress of everything happening hanging over their heads. He wanted…a lot of things. Most of which he wasn’t going to consider, given the fact she would barely even look at him.
Would life really put her right in front of him, close enough to reach out and touch, and then snatch her out of reach again? He didn’t like that idea one bit.
Steve, or Bradley, would tell him to pray. That if God didn’t want him to have this—to have Emma in his life after all this was done—then Mint wasn’t going to get the chance. Even though he’d been in the military, and he was under Steve’s authority now, Mint had never really submitted to anything. Not willing to relinquish the power over his life.
He’d fought way too long, and too hard, to get the freedom and independence he enjoyed now. Was he willing to give that up if it got him Emma’s smile, pointed in his direction again?
Emma was racking her brain, trying to think up what the blackmailer wanted with the fundraiser. At the same time, she was considering the fact the senator’s funeral was hours from now. Could she even go when people probably still considered her a suspect in his murder? Aaron was dead, but who knew if that information—and the fact he’d killed the man—had been disseminated?
“Emma?”
She blinked up at Steve. “Yes?”
Two chairs down from hers, Mint didn’t move. She’d shut him out, and she knew that. Just as she knew there was no reality where she’d have done differently. He’d protected her, but it had cost both of them. Yes, he’d done the right thing. But Emma hadn’t been able to handle it on top of everything else.
She wanted to be strong. But maybe she needed to face the fact she wasn’t.
And she was too tired to muster the energy to talk to him about any of it.
Steve smiled like she was his little sister who he was determined to make sure was all right. It was sweet, but the reality was she didn’t know any of these people. They might be perfectly good-natured. And if she had the luxury of being wrong because they weren’t, then she might be able to risk it. But she didn’t have that luxury. Not now.
Which made her wonder if she ever had. Her activities and friends had both been curated by her mother. Her apartment. Her clothes. Had she made a single decision about her life that her mom didn’t have a hand in? One. Getting that paternity test done.
And that had led to a man’s death.
Steve said, “We’ll find you a room where you can crash. Get you a shower and some fresh clothes.” He checked his watch. “I’m expecting—”
The door flew open, and a young woman about Emma’s same age filled the doorway. A handsome man stood right behind her, a frustrated look on his face.
“—Alexis anytime now.”
This was Alexis? That meant right behind her was Bradley, brother to Rachel Harris the senator. Senator Francis Sadler had been their uncle.
That made them her cousins.
Right here, in front of her, was her cousin and his wife.
Emma stood. “Uh…”
The woman surged at her. That was the only way she could describe the rush, the flying braids. “Emma Burroughs. It’s so nice to meet you.”
Was it? Emma figured she wasn’t lying. No one could fake that much excitement. She just didn’t know what the reason for it was. Alexis went on, “We’re so glad you’re safe, aren’t we, Bradley?”
He smiled and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Emma let go as soon as he let her. His handshake was firm, but not one of those manly handshakes that felt like they’d broken every bone in your hand. That was good, at least.
“You can’t believe how relieved we are. Mint said you were good but, seeing for ourselves, we can really believe that everything’s going to be all right for you now. You’re safe.”
Emma nodded. “Right.” She was pretty sure the exact opposite was on her face. This woman was a little premature, considering this was far from over. They didn’t even know who the blackmailer was. Yet.
Steve said, “Alexis, maybe you could show Emma where she can sleep. Get her settled.”
The woman beamed. “Of course.” She wound her arm in Emma’s and they were off. Emma glanced back before they turned the corner. Mint, Steve and Bradley stood in a huddle. Mint looked over at her. As if he’d sensed her attention on him.
He gave her a sad smile.
Emma’s heart lurched as they headed down the hall. Alexis chattered away, as comfortable with Emma as she might be with an old, dear friend. This woman was completely happy. Her life was exactly as she wanted it to be, like she was living the dream.
Emma figured she might be the same way if it happened to her. She’d come out of her shell. Like someone who was completely sure, down to their soul, that they were absolutely loved.
“You look exhausted.”
Emma nodded. “I really am.” It wasn’t feigned. And she figured it wasn’t too rude to state the obvious. This woman, by all accounts, knew what she was feeling. She’d been through the ringer.
Alexis stared for long enough that Emma said, “What is it?”
“Just…” She paused and bit her lip. “Don’t break his heart.”
“Excuse me?”
“Mint. Please don’t break his heart.” Before Emma could give voice to her objection, Alexis continued, “I know he looks all tough and everything, but he’s really sweet.”
Sweet?
“He saved my life.”
Emma just stared at the woman.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed a soft side under that tough guy exterior. You know that’s a front, right?”
“Mint is…” Emma wasn’t going to say that. “You know what? That’s between Mint and I, I think.”
She was so tired she didn’t have much of a filter right now, but she actually sounded like her mom. She winced, remembering everything her mom had said about Alexis after the news broke publicly—when Alexis had claimed a raunchy video was her, when in reality it was Senator Rachel Harris in the video.
She wasn’t about to put Alexis in the same light her mother had. Or Rachel—the woman who had been drugged and victimized.
None of that had to do with the fact Rachel was Emma’s cousin, either. It was just common decency to see that someone had been pulled into a situation they couldn’t control and were trying to make the best of it.
Emma slumped onto the bed. Great. Sounding like her mom just made her a judgmental jerk. But she didn’t want to think about her mom, because that would make her even more of a judgmental jerk. It was a slippery slope, made worse by the fact she was beyond exhausted.
Alexis’s eyes filled with warmth.
“Sorry,” Emma said, mostly meaning it. “You were trying to help your friend, and I didn’t take it the right way.”
Alexis shook her head. “You’re right.”
She was?
“It is between you and Mint.” Alexis clapped, smiling like everything was perfectly fine. She pointed at a door on the other side of the room. “That’s the bathroom. It’s a jack-and-jill with the room next door, so lock both sides if you’re going to take a shower, okay?”
Still being nice. Which made Emma feel more miserable, even though Alexis didn’t seem to think anything was wrong. She nodded. “Thank you.”
Alexis excused herself.
Emma flopped back on the bed. She didn’t mean to fall asleep, but woke up hours later with the sun a low glow through the curtained window. Someone had taken off her shoes and covered her with a blanket.
She pushed it aside, not willing to think about who’d done that. She hadn’t even locked the door before she gave in to the fatigue and crashed.
Emma selected a pair of pants and a nice blouse from the clothes folded neatly on a chair, underwear between the layers, and found all the usual supplies laid out in the bathroom. Even a toothbrush, still in its packet.
She felt a million times better when she was dressed, with her hair dried. Looking fresher than she’d felt in days.
She slipped on a pair of ballet flats from under the chair, then poked her head out into the hall and found no one. Not even a sound. Was everyone still asleep? She didn’t really know what time it was. Her wanderings brought her to the kitchen, where she snagged a granola bar. When she turned around, she realized Mint was on the couch in the corner.
His chest rose and fell and even in sleep he looked…lethal.
There wasn’t a better way to describe him. He wasn’t a soft man. He was a warrior, a protector. Just being in the same room as him made her feel safer. Alexis might think there was a soft core in him and maybe that was true, but Emma liked the hardness of his exterior. It made him strong. And it made her wish that she could be like that, too.
Between them on the coffee table was a handful of change and a couple of bills. A phone. Car keys. Like he’d deposited the contents of his pockets there, pulled off his glasses and crashed.
Part of her wanted to stay. Wait for him to wake up so they could talk. The other part wanted her to run out the door. Escape. Flee. Get out of this place, just so they didn’t have to keep bleeding money and resources just to keep her safe. So that Double Down didn’t continue to get dragged into her business. Then they’d be able to focus on figuring this whole mess out, and finally uncover the blackmailer’s identity.
With the added bonus that she wouldn’t have to get into hard stuff with Mint. She didn’t want to be a chicken, but it was easier than actually having to do the grunt work of figuring out their conflict. How did married people even do it, when it was so much easier to just walk away and not have to do the hard stuff?
Before she considered what she’d done, Emma had his car keys in her hand, and she was stepping outside.
She hit the unlock button on his keys. The beep made her jump. Why were they made to be so loud? She climbed in and started the car, getting settled. Refusing to think about what she was doing. Where she was going. The repercussions.
She just drove.