I watched as Bryce was led to the room Laney was kept. I wanted to be with her, but it was right that he was the one to comfort her now. He wanted to kill me when he walked in and saw me standing with the officers. I couldn’t blame him for that. I’d want to kill me, too.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath when I heard Laney’s reaction to seeing Bryce. Her cries were those of relief and elation that she was with the man she loved again. It solidified the fact I’d done the right thing in making sure they remained together. It didn’t make me happy about it, but her happiness was more important.

“Brody, are you ready?”

I turned to Ryan. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

He walked over and checked out the equipment on the table. “You know what you have to do. I need him to say just a few magic words to you tonight. If you do that, we’ll talk about what’s going to happen to you. If he doesn’t say the magic words, it all falls to you.”

“I understand. Don’t fuck up.”

“When can we go?”

I turned to Bryce and Laney in the hallway with his arm around her. She was so close to him and wrapped so tightly around his waist that they looked almost as one. I had to look away.

Ryan walked over to them. “You can’t leave yet. You both will be here until late this evening at least, and then you’ll be moved to the police station when it’s over for more questioning.”

Laney’s voice sounded so raw and small. I’d never heard her like that. “When what’s over?”

“We have to get your father off the streets before he knows you’re free. It’s for your safety.”

Bryce tightened his arms around her. “You think her father would try to hurt her?”

“Anything is possible.” Ryan walked back over to me. “He’s never been this close to losing it all before, so he’s going to be very unpredictable. I need you to keep that in mind tonight. If anything gives you an uneasy feeling, you need to let us know.”

“Wait, what are you doing?” Laney sounded stronger, but still not the Laney I knew.

I turned and looked at her. “I’m saving you.”

“Saving her?” Bryce let go and headed my way, but the cops between us stopped him. “It’s a little too late for that, asshole.”

Laney pulled on his arm. “Stop. I want to know what’s going on.”

He turned to her and furrowed his brow. “You care about this asshole? He took you!”

“I know.” She cupped his face and looked into his eyes, pleading with him to calm down. “I know, and I’m sure he’ll regret that decision every day he spends in prison for it, but, baby, please, understand I’m right here with you right now because of him.”

He shook his head and closed his eyes. “No, I can’t understand that. He took you from me. He took us from us. I hope he rots in prison.”

“He didn’t take us from us. We are still right here and still together.” She cupped his face again and pulled it down to hers. “I love you so much.” She kissed him. “Please just trust me.”

She hugged him and looked at me. I wasn’t sure what kind of look that was. Was it pity? Did she wish should could hug me, too? I couldn’t figure it out, so I looked away.

Ryan cleared his throat and explained what was going to happen. “Brody is going to go in for the drop-off. He’s going to pick up the rest of the money your father owes him for your safe delivery. Detective Ramirez here will be sitting in the back seat pretending to be you.” He motioned to the only female officer in the room.

“No.” Laney let go of Bryce and took a step toward Ryan. “I want to go.”

“Like hell you will.” Bryce pulled her back to him, but she fought him. “I just got you back. You are not going to your father’s.”

“No one tells me what to do anymore. No one. I have to face my father. I have to find out why he did this.”

“There is no good reason, Lane. Are you really going to try to forgive your father for this?”

“Not at all. I want to let him go. I need this resolved tonight. I need to put it behind me, so I can start my life with you.” She grabbed his hands and pulled them to her chest. “I can’t do that if he’s free. I can’t do that if he’s still out there trying to tear us apart. Please understand.”

“Who will protect you from him?” Bryce looked at me. “I assume you’ll be the only two in the car.”

“We’ll be there, Bryce.” Ryan spoke even though Bryce was challenging me to respond with the glare he gave me. “I think Joshua Mosley will be more inclined to talk with Laney there than with just Brody. This could be a way to get him out of your life for good.”

“But they have to go alone.” He held her face and pleaded with her to stay. “I don’t trust him. He could make a run for it and take you again.”

“They’ll both be wired.” Ryan signaled for me to open my shirt. I showed the wire taped to my chest and buttoned my shirt again.

“Just a wire? They get no other protection?” Bryce was beside himself at the thought of Laney going. I felt the same, but couldn’t voice my concerns.

“Bryce, we’ve considered all the angles, but adding anything else to Brody will alert Joshua Mosley that it’s a set-up. If he sees a bulletproof vest on someone who thinks they’re invincible, he won’t talk.”

Laney looked at me. “I’m not wearing one, either.”

Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know that I can allow you to do that. You’ll wear a jacket over it to hide it as much as possible, but you can’t let him hug you. He’ll know you’re wearing one the second he touches you”

“He won’t touch her.” Everyone looked at me when I finally spoke, but Bryce glared at me.

Bryce pulled Laney down the hall to talk it over, and Ryan took the opportunity to get another wire ready for Laney.

I didn’t want her going. “Ryan, there’s no reason she needs to be there. I can get what you need without her. Mosley runs his cocky mouth any time he’s given the opportunity. I don’t need Laney to help me.”

“Look,” he spoke as he motioned for the person to continue getting the wire ready for Laney, “I know you’ve got a soft spot for her, but do not miss this opportunity to get all the information we need. He will confess more to her because he’ll think he’s won. Laney will always be my first choice to go, but only if she’s up to it. She’s been through a lot, but I think that only gives her more determination to see this through.

“She’s been controlled by him her whole life, and even though she was controlled by you for a little while, she still had a taste of that freedom without him or his bullshit. She wants to be free with Bryce. This is her way to do it.”

I leaned in close so only he could hear me. “If anything happens to her, I will kill you.”

He turned and placed his hand on my shoulder. I expected anger at my threat, but that wasn’t what I received. “We’ll protect her as much as we can, but she’ll already be with the person who can protect her best.”

Laney came back determined to go. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

* * *

Bryce tried to convince everyone to allow him to hide in the back seat, but Ryan was having none of it. He wanted nothing to risk the chance of getting Joshua Mosley off the streets for good.

I understood his problem. He’d just been reunited with the love of his life and he didn’t want to be separated again, but the police wouldn’t let anything happen to her. I looked over to her in the passenger seat. I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

“I was wondering how long it was going to take you to acknowledge I was sitting next to you.” She looked at me. “Normally I’m in the back.”

“Your presence is too strong to ignore no matter where you sit.” I looked back to the road. “I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me again now that you’re free.”

“I’m nervous.” She looked back out the window. “He’s my dad. I’m helping them put my father away.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t have a better father. You deserve a better father.” I reached for her hand, but pulled mine back before I touched her. It wasn’t my job to console her anymore. She took me by surprise when she held my hand and brought it to her lap.

“I do understand you were trying to protect me. I agree we’d have a different ending to this if he offered someone else the job, but why did you let it go on for so long?”

I had nothing but the truth for that answer, and regardless of how she felt about me, I wanted her to know how I felt about her. “I fell in love with you.”

Her laugh gave away her nervousness to my admission. “You can’t love me. You don’t even know me.”

“Aside from the obvious beauty everyone can see when they look at you, I do know the true Laney Mosley. I know she’s kind and softhearted when she cares for someone. I know she’s determined and stubborn when she’s faced with a roadblock no matter how high. I know she doesn’t give up when the odds are stacked against her, but instead, she makes the best out of the shitty situation.

“I know she’s nothing like her father, but even through the hell he’s put her through, she remains loyal and broken-hearted at the thought of sending him to prison no matter how much he deserves to be there. I know if Bryce wasn’t in your life, you could love me, too.”

She looked at me, but didn’t say anything. I glanced her way a couple of times, but didn’t maintain eye contact. I couldn’t. Her eyes were glassy as if she had unshed tears. I wasn’t the type of man to cry, but I couldn’t see her hurting.

“That’s why you asked me to kiss you like I kiss Bryce.”

It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway. “I know you don’t love me, but I wanted to feel that kind of love just once.”

“You’ve never been in love?”

“Never had a reason to be. My life has been fucked up for so long I never cared to even attempt love. I never believed in it before. Fucking was all I ever looked for in a relationship, and most of those weren’t repeat performances.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” I squeezed her hand. “You can’t kiss someone like that if you don’t love them. I understand. Just consider it wishful thinking on my part. Besides, I don’t know that I would’ve let you go if you had been able to kiss me like that.” I looked at her and smiled.

I swallowed as I looked back to the road. What I was about to say was the hardest thing I’d ever have to say, but I meant every word. “I’m grateful to know my chest was even capable of feeling how full it is for you, but I know the only way to honor that feeling is to make you happy. As much as I wish it were me, it’s Bryce who gives you that feeling in your chest. He’s a lucky man.”

She continued to hold my hand, but looked out her window. I would’ve liked to have thought she felt an ounce for me what I felt for her, but I didn’t think she had much room left in her heart after she gave it to Bryce. It was how it should’ve been. It was how it would be in the future. I had to make sure of it.

She let go of my hand and took off her jacket. I reached and turned the air up. “Are you getting too warm in the jacket?”

“No.” She took off her shirt and proceeded to take the bullet proof vest off she had underneath.

“What are you doing?” I started to pull over, but she grabbed the wheel and kept the car on the road.

“Don’t.” She looked behind us. “You’ll draw attention to us.” She was careful to unfasten it and pull it over her head without disturbing the wire she wore.

“You need to put that back on or I will draw more than just attention to us.”

She threw it into the back seat and grabbed her shirt.

“Laney, if you don’t put that vest back on, I will pull over and put it on you after I spank your ass again.”

She looked at me, balled the jacket up in her hands, and tossed that over her shoulder into the back seat, too. “If you aren’t wearing one, I’m not wearing one. You know I’m too small to pull that off. He’ll know and we won’t get shit. I need this to be done, Brody. I need to get back to my life.”

She grabbed my arm and pulled my hand back into her lap as she clung to it. “I know you say you love me, and if that’s true, I am so sorry that what I’m saying hurts you, but I need my life back. I need Bryce.” She looked down as she laced her fingers with mine. “I need my freedom. Not just from your home, but for my life. I can’t have that if my father is still able to control it.”

I drove slower once I reached the street where I was meeting her father. I told him I refused to meet him at his office where he had the upper hand, but I didn’t care where we met. The police couldn’t gain access to his office to take him down, so they suggested an abandoned building at one of the businesses Mosley bankrupted. He’d be cocky seeing the empty space again, and hopefully that would distract him.

I pulled up and parked on the opposite end of the building to where Marco had parked. I knew he’d be there. Mosley didn’t go anywhere without him. It was fine with me. It meant he’d be taken down, too.

I wasn’t sure if Mosley was watching out the window, so I couldn’t act as if I cared. I pulled her hand to my lap and startled her. “Are you ready?” I took a deep breath when she nodded. The Brody she first met was about to come back for what had to be the best performance of his life. I hoped she didn’t hate me too much.