Jett
I about cracked and admitted everything yesterday when Charlie made the comment about where the money is. For a brief moment, I thought I was about to solve everything. If I got my hands on the money, I could pull Jimmy in for conspiring to get his hands on it again. I’ve got enough evidence to prove he stole it in the first place. I’d been so caught up in that moment, excited this might actually be over and she and I could be together in peace, but then her face fell and I knew I’d said the wrong thing.
Now … now I’ve definitely said the wrong thing—the right thing to be honest with Charlie, but definitely, definitely the wrong thing for my job and our safety.
Captain is going to be furious. The whole fucking team actually. I just broke the number one rule. Blowing cover in the middle of an assignment. My reason? I let emotions get the best of me in yet another case. The difference? I won’t fail this time. It’s no longer an option. I’d rather die than watch the woman I love be killed in front of me.
Although, if she would blink or say a word right now, that’d make me feel a lot better.
“Charlie?”
“Wha, wha cop …?”
I move to grab her hand, but she slaps mine away.
“What do you mean you’re a cop?” she asks.
“I’m undercover,” I say.
Her gaze snaps to mine and her eyes narrow. “Go on.”
“I can’t exactly tell you—”
“If this is true, I’m pretty sure not telling me anything is a moot point now that you just dropped that bomb on me.”
I flinch. She has a point.
“Fine,” I say and it’s clipped. I don’t want it to be, but she doesn’t get to be the only one who’s mad here. She kept stuff from me too.
“I was in the middle of an assignment to bring in Clint when Jimmy escaped. Once I got wind of it, I put some things together. I took advantage of the situation and made the choice to bring in two guys at once. Clint will be easy, but Jimmy?”
Charlie’s eyes never leave mine, but she also doesn’t say anything.
I go on. “I could just bring Jimmy in, but the money has been missing more than five years. Finding it would mean advancement, and I …”
“Advancement. So you’re here because you want a better job and not because you want to protect me?”
“I’m here for both. I wasn’t supposed to meet you. You weren’t supposed to be a part of this.”
“I didn’t exactly have a choice, Jett.”
“I know.”
“You lied to me,” she says. “About everything. This whole thing between us was just a job to you, wasn’t it?”
“I lied to protect you and technically, I didn’t even know who you were until yesterday. So, no, you weren’t just a job to me and you still aren’t even though you’ve been a part of this the whole time and never once thought to mention, hey someone wants to kill me, but I’ll still date you.”
“It wasn’t like that,” she says, and for the first time since I admitted who I am, her features soften. “I … you felt safe and I liked having something not shitty in my life, okay? I’m sorry.”
This time when I move for her, she doesn’t jerk away.
“I’m sorry, too, but that doesn’t change the fact Jimmy will kill us both if we don’t give him something.”
“Ugh,” she groans. “Why can’t we just have a simple relationship that isn’t all threats, cops, lies, and love money?”
“Love money?”
“Yeah, love money. If my sister really did take it, someone made her do it, and she only took it because her love for Sam meant she’d do anything to protect him. Love money.”
I smile. “Makes sense, but if that’s the case, where would she have put this so-called love money?”
The moment Charlie licks her lips and looks away, I know she isn’t telling me something.
“What is it?”
“Well, I might know.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know where it is,” The moment she told me that earlier, I couldn’t not smile. She’s innocent, and I want to keep it that way.
“I don’t. It’s just that, as Jimmy and Clint made it clear they wouldn’t leave me alone till they have it, I started to think. Sam and I have only moved twice since Kenzie was killed. I would have found it by now, but there is one place …”
She turns and heads down the hall and into Sam’s room, with me right on her heels.
I follow her gaze. A giant teddy bear that probably sits tall enough to reach my mid-thigh is stuffed under a desk.
“You think it’s in there?” I ask.
“Where else would it be?”
I speed walk to the kitchen, grab a pair of scissors, and pass her as I head for the bear.
“Do it neatly, if you can,” she says quickly. “Sam doesn’t know anything, and if I can sew up the bear so he doesn’t notice, that’d be great.”
A man will kill her if he doesn’t get this money and all she can think about is making sure her nephew doesn’t notice his bear was torn open.
I flip the stuffed animal over and start at his neck, cutting down the back. When I’ve cut the length of him, I start to pull out the insides.
Shit.
Nothing but stuffing. Damn it.
“Wow. I thought for sure that’s where it was,” Charlie says from the doorway.
“It’s okay. We have time to figure this out.”
“I still think we should just lure Jimmy out of hiding.”
I nod, but if we do that, the case will still be left unsolved. I glance up to her. Maybe it’s time I accept my reality. I might not be able to solve the case and keep her safe at the same time. Jimmy will be furious when he accepts that she doesn’t have the money, and if I don’t take him in before then, he’ll kill us both.
“I’ll figure something out,” I tell her.
I have to let this go and tell Captain everything, but I just … what if I can still do both?
“I’ll help.”
“No. You’re too far in. Let me and my team take it from here.”
“But—”
“Please, Charlie. I want to keep you safe and I can’t do that if you’re trying to do something behind his back. If it ends badly, that’s it. He’ll kill you. You know I’m right.”
Her bottom lip drops as if she wants to say more, but she clamps it shut and nods.
“Thank you,” I say and kiss her forehead.
“Is there anything else I should know?”
I keep my focus on the scissors in my hand. If someone killed my sister, threatened me and my family, and then someone told them to sit back and do nothing, I wouldn’t listen.
“Nope, that’s everything,” I say and leave the room.
Turns out my sister was right. This is what I do best. I lie.