Savage Queen (The Dark Elite #3) - Eva Ashwood Page 0,40

in my ears and screaming “nuh-uh.” But I don’t know what else to say.

Because if he’s telling the truth, then I truly can’t trust anyone.

Agent Brady’s expression softens a little, an expression almost like pity crossing his features. I hate it. It’s like he feels sorry for me for getting duped, and it makes my stomach churn, bile rising into my throat.

“Grace, I know it’s hard to hear,” he says quietly. “But this is why I need your help. What these men are doing is unconscionable. They need to be stopped. And you’re in a position to possibly help me do that—to save innocent lives. To help me take down their operation.”

“No. You’re wrong.” Without even realizing it, I’m shaking my head.

I’m not stupid.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the men I’m falling in love with are dangerous and ruthless. Violence and crime are part of their world, part of my world now.

But there are lines I know even Hale wouldn’t cross. I know each of my men well enough to know that despite their willingness to break the law, to do what needs to be done to strengthen their syndicate, they have a certain sense of honor. They may not live by the same moral code as everyone else, but they do have a moral code. They would never get involved in selling other people.

Would they?

I hate those two little words even as they creep through my head. I haven’t been back in Chicago long. The men and I haven’t been back in each other’s lives all that long, but so much has happened so fast that it feels like we’ve made up for the six years we were apart.

I know them.

Don’t I?

Fuck.

As if sensing the chaos whirling in my head, Agent Brady quickly outlines what they know about the operation. It’s women, mostly—young women, sometimes barely even teenagers, snatched off the street or brought in from other cities. He doesn’t have enough to take down the operation, he tells me, or he wouldn’t need me. But there are enough details that he does know to make me feel queasy all over again.

Why would he make this up? Why would he lie about this?

“You could help me, Grace,” he finishes. “If you want to. You’re in a position to see things. Hear things. You could help us put a stop to this.”

My throat is so dry that I can barely speak. I want to tell him to fuck off, but something keeps me from speaking the words.

If he’s telling the truth…

“I’ll consider it,” I tell Agent Brady. “I’m not promising anything.”

“Good.” He nods sharply. He seems relieved that he’s gotten this far, as if he didn’t think he would get anywhere with me. He takes something out of his pocket and hands it to me. “Here, take this. Use it if you need it. My number is the only one programmed into it. When you make your choice, let me know.”

He puts the burner phone in my hand. The second it touches my skin, I want to shove it away. It’s an older cell phone, nearly identical to the one I stole from that woman while the men were transporting me across the country—the one I lost when I was trying to escape last time. It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Still, I take it, shoving it into the waistband of my jeans where it can’t be seen under my sweater. I already feel like a traitor, and I hate it.

Agent Brady gives me one more assessing look, as if he’s trying to determine what the odds are that I’ll actually prove to be a useful contact. Then he nods and holds the door open to let me step out of the back room.

I practically run away from the employees only area, but I slow my steps as I approach the main part of the store. I can feel the stressed out look on my face, and I work to relax the pinched knot between my brows and the stiff set of my lips.

Lucas finds me first, stepping up behind me as I pretend to study two different types of pasta on the shelf.

“Hey. There you are.”

He kisses the back of my neck, wrapping his arms around me. I lean back into his touch, closing my eyes for a second to help keep my shit together. There’s worry in his voice, and I know it’s because he lost sight of me for a few minutes. Even in