“Harrison? Harrison! Are you okay? Has he hurt you—has he—”
“I’m okay.” He didn’t sound it. “Evie, I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” she rushed to tell him. “This isn’t on you. I have the money. I’m going to make the exchange. Everything will be fine.”
Silence.
“Harrison?”
Cole saw the fear flash on her face.
“That was your proof of life,” a robotic voice said.
Evie’s body shuddered.
“He’ll stay alive as long as you—and only you—bring the money to me. That means you leave the boyfriend at home.”
Evie’s gaze locked with Cole’s.
“If we see the boyfriend, your brother will die. I will put a bullet in his brain, and you’ll be all alone, Evie.”
“Don’t hurt him!”
“Then bring me what I’m owed. Five million.” He rattled off an address.
Chase wrote it down quickly and fired off a text, no doubt ordering the other agents to get in position.
“Take your car and come alone, Evie. Only you. I will have eyes on you the minute you leave your building. If you’re not in your vehicle, if you’re not alone—it’s over. If I learn that Cole—or his asshole buddy Chase—are with you, then your brother dies. I’ll consider his death the payment that I’m owed.”
“Don’t—”
He hung up.
Evie’s breath sawed in and out. “You can’t come with me, Cole.”
“Baby…”
“If they see you, he’s dead. He’s my brother. The only family I have!”
Cole cut his stare to Chase. “Give us a minute.”
“I’ll make sure the agents are ready to roll.” He slipped out.
Evie paced to the window. Stared out. “He’s watching. He has people watching me right now. They know about you. They know about Chase.” She spun toward him. “You can’t get in the car with me.”
Sweetheart, there is no fucking way I let you leave without me.
“I’ll go alone.” Her shoulders straightened. “I’ll drive there alone. I’m sure other Wilde agents are already going to be scoping out that address. Tell them to stay back, a safe distance back. They can watch. They can be backup. But don’t let them move in. Tell them to wait until I come out with my brother. After that, everything will be fine.”
He slowly crossed to her. Cole lifted his hand, and his knuckles brushed over her cheek. “Baby…”
She stared at him with eyes that had never been so dark.
“The bastard wants you alone. He wants you alone because he has plans.” Plans that Cole didn’t like, but sure as hell suspected. “You go in alone, and we won’t get your brother back. We won’t get you back.”
“Cole…”
“This shit has been going on for years, Evie. Years. This guy has planned and watched and waited. After all of this time, he’s not just going to let you waltz in there, drop the money, and walk away. You know that. I know that.”
Her lower lip trembled.
“If your brother saw the leader’s face, then the guy is planning to kill Harrison.” She needed to be prepared for this. “You may walk in there—”
“Please don’t,” she begged. “Don’t say that I’ll walk in there and he might be dead.”
He swallowed and didn’t say the words. Hell, hadn’t he feared the same situation, so long ago, with her? When he’d been sent into that old, rundown building, he’d been afraid that Evie was already dead. He’d only had her pictures to see at that point. Her smiling pictures. God, she had the best smile.
As he’d walked through the darkness, a gun gripped in his hand, he’d known that when he finally located her, he might just be finding a body.
He’d been terrified that he’d find her too late. Because just from her picture, something about Evie had pulled at him. When he’d discovered the locked closet, when he’d heard the faint sounds coming from behind the door…
He’d broken that bitch down in order to get to her. Damn near ripped it right off the hinges.
He’d grabbed her. Pulled her into his arms.
She’s alive. She’s safe.
He’d never felt that way on a mission. Never had that earth-shattering, personal connection before. As if…
As if I’d just rescued someone who belonged to me.
Now, he stared at Evie. Saw the paleness of her skin and the darkness of her eyes. The fear she tried to fight.
“You can’t go in alone, sweetheart.”
“I have to.”
Over my dead body. He nodded. “I’ll make sure your car is empty.”
Suspicion flashed on her face. “Cole, no, this is my brother’s life, you can’t—”