“Open your eyes,” Dax said in a strained whisper. Angel had closed them, waiting for the shot that would end everything. She opened them and realized that he had lowered the gun and his blue eyes were filled with tears. “I can’t fucking do it.”

“Dax…”

“Don’t! This doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive you, or that I’m not going to have someone else do it. Fuck, Angel! Fuck you for messing me up like this!”

“Dax, please listen just for a few more seconds and then you can do whatever you think you have to do. Do you have my phone with you?” He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, but he nodded. “Will you show it to me? Can I see the message and the picture from Dan?”

“Why?”

“Because after all of these months I think I just realized something horrible. But I need to see it, to be sure.”

Dax sat the gun down and involuntarily Angel took a shaky breath. He reached down into his pocket and brought out the burner phone she’d used to contact her team and her family. Kyle changed it every week. She’d only had this particular one for four days. There was no way Dan could have gotten that number unless he’d gotten it from one of her family members or someone on her team. Or, God forbid, he was one of them himself. She was shaking all over, inside and out. If she weren’t all tied and taped up, she’d be curled up in a ball on the floor, she was sure. Dax scrolled through the phone messages and then pressed on one of them and held it up in front of her face. Her eyes were watery and the message was blurry. It was from an unknown number and it said:

“Hey, gorgeous, this is Dan. This shit is almost over. I can’t wait to fuck you on a private beach somewhere while that fucker Marshall rots in prison. It was so good seeing you this afternoon. I can still taste you on my lips. See you soon, my love.” Angel felt bile rise to the back of her throat as she picked the message apart. Micah always started his texts with “Hey, gorgeous” and ended them with “See you soon, my love.” Gagging on her own stomach acid she said:

“Now the picture, please.”

Dax looked almost as sick as she felt as he pulled up another message. This time he stared at it for a long time before finally putting it up in front of her. She lost her battle with the vomit and as she did, Dax jumped back and looked completely shocked. “What the fuck?”

She didn’t have anything in her stomach, so it was mostly bile and what little liquid she had left in her. She couldn’t use her hands to wipe it away and it was burning her nostrils. Dax was still just staring at her like she’d lost her mind. She asked, “Can I have a tissue, or something?” He looked around them and finally stuck his hand in his back pocket and pulled out a bandana. He started to hand it to her and realized her hands were tied. Muttering “Fuck” under his breath, he took it and wiped the vomit, snot, and tears off her face. At first it was rough and purposeful, but then his touch turned softer and when he wiped across her lips, it was almost sensual. “Thank you. I’m sorry.” He didn’t say anything. He tossed the handkerchief down to the ground and waited for her to talk. “That’s my fiancé…my ex-fiancé. His name is Micah Ivanov. He’s a detective and I’ve known him since I was a teenager. I don’t know him as Dan. But God…” Her stomach rolled again and she paused. “It makes sense. He’s been setting us all up, all along. He’s sick. He’s been pulling everyone’s strings like some kind of bizarre puppet master. He wants you to kill me…oh, fuck! Does he know where you took me, Dax? He does know! He was in the surveillance van. You have to get out of here!”

Dax was looking at her then as if she’d grown another head. “Surveillance van? What the fuck are you talking about? This is Dan…he sent the photo from the same number he sent the text…he fucking admitted it when I called and confronted him! He said he’s been fucking you all along…”

“Dax, he expected you to kill me and then he was going to kill you and be the hero cop, the wounded fiancé, the good guy. If he’s not here already, he will be. This was just another set-up.”

Dax opened his mouth but the sound of footsteps stopped him from speaking. Dax grabbed for his gun and spun around just as Micah appeared in Angel’s vision. He was wearing full flak gear, including a helmet, and his face was hard to see, but Angel knew it was him. “Dax Marshall, I am with the gang task force and you are under arrest. Throw down your weapon and keep your hands where I can see them.”

“Dax! Don’t put your gun down. He’ll kill us both. It’s him! This is the man you know as Dan. I know him as Micah. He’s a cop, Dax. Obviously, a dirty one.”

“Now, baby, is that any way to talk about your fiancé? I’m just here to wrap this case up, arrest Mr. Marshall, and save my girl so that we can get on with our happy life together. Now, the weapon, Mr. Marshall. Or I will shoot it out of your hand and just hope it doesn’t ricochet off that pretty girl you have tied up there. That’s kind of kinky, by the way. I might use that position…”

“Dax! Don’t put your gun down. He’ll kill us both.”

“Oh no, baby. I’m not going to kill you. At least not today. You and I have a lot of time to make up for first, because while you were fucking this piece-of-shit biker, I’ve been stuck with my own hand and a string of not-so-attractive call girls. Long story short, I’m horny as hell and you’re going to help me with that.”

Dax was looking at the armor Micah was wearing, no doubt trying to figure out where he might even feel a shot. Angel saw that and whispered, “Under the arm that’s holding the gun.” Without so much as a nod or a blink, Dax pulled the trigger of the .44 Mag. Micah’s gun went off as he went down, blowing a hole in the ceiling above him and raining roof down on top of him as he fell. When it stopped, there was nothing but silence in the warehouse again. Dax had his back to Angel and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. She wondered if he was going to turn that gun on her now and just finish it. She waited, and after several long minutes she saw him lay the gun back down and turn to face her.

“I don’t even know what just happened here. Fuck. Did I just kill Dan, or your fiancé the cop, or both?”

“I’m pretty sure he was both,” she said in a shaky voice as silent tears continued to stream down her face.

“What now?”

Angel almost laughed. It seemed like such a simple, silly question to ask in the midst of all of this craziness. But somehow it brought her some relief. It meant that he didn’t plan on killing her, at least not right then. “I’m not sure. I guess that depends on you.”

“I want this shit to be over with.”

She looked at Micah again and said, “I’m guessing that at least it’s headed in that direction. Now that we have Dan, the police and FBI can start putting the pieces together.”

“The police,” he said with a sigh. “If I untie you are you going to try and arrest me?”

She did chuckle at that. “No, Dax. First, I’m not a cop anymore. I did quit today. If I live through the next few months, I think I’d like to go back to school to be an attorney.” She couldn’t believe she was talking to him so casually, as her voice still shook and her body still ached all over. But it beat the hell out of the gun in her face.

“An attorney, huh? You going to defend bad guys?” Dax moved closer to her and lifted her feet. He looked at her face as he began unwinding the tape from her ankles.

“Good guys that made bad decisions, or were falsely accused.”

“Interesting choice,” he said. “Mind if I ask why?” He sat her legs down gently and reached for the tape headdress that was holding her to the crate behind her. He ripped it off and she squealed, but damn, did it feel good to move her neck.

“I still believe in the system and in right and wrong. I am just not as firm in my belief any longer that everything is black or white. I’m going to take a new approach and try to see the gray areas.”

“Like not busting a guy for shooting a guy that hurts kids?”

“Yeah, well…I’m not condoning vigilantism. I mean, look at him.” She motioned her head toward where Micah still lay. “I’m pretty sure that most of what he did was about getting even with your father for his father’s death.”

Dax nodded. “Sick son of a bitch.”

“Yeah, that about sums it up.”