Page 53 of Seduced By the Billionaire
He turned as Juliette pushed through the office door. Dressed in her own clothes now, her hair wet.
“No.” He shook his head. “Fuck that.” Her eyes widened, but he amended, “Juliette, I need you alive. I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to you.”
Her eyes hardened. Not anger—guilt. “You wouldn’t be in danger at all if not for me.”
He edged around the desk. “Neither of us is in danger because of the other, and no one has ever been in danger because of you. We’re in danger because a psycho murderer has decided to take his tiny penis bullshit out on us.”
She cocked her head. “Tiny penis bullshit?”
“It’s all narcissistic insecurity.”
“At least you don’t have anything to worry about in that department,” she muttered, but it drew a smile to his lips. “Ronan… let me talk to him.”
“No way. But if you know how to contact him, you need to tell me now.” He was doing this wrong—he could feel it—but she couldn’t actually believe he’d let her visit a man who’d carved her up like a Thanksgiving turkey. And they’d already traced Daniel’s cell—still in Ravenbrook. Jason Mercer’s phone had yielded no contact information. She had no way to speak to him from a distance… so far as he knew.
Juliette crossed her arms. Her gaze was hard as stone. He could practically hear her molars grinding together.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“I know what I’m doing here. I’m a detective.”
“He was the fucking sheriff. So try again.”
The strength in her voice made his chest feel lighter, but he said, “You need to make it out of this alive, and not only because I care about you.” Care about her? It was far more than that. But he pushed on, “You need to testify against him. We can’t let him win.”
“He won’t kill me.”
“He might.”
“He won’t. He doesn’t even have anyone watching me now. This is the cat-and-mouse portion of the game, where he lets me decide whether to run. If he sees me, he’ll gloat, threaten my mother. He’ll tell me what evidence he planted to make me look guilty for Jason’s death. I’m sure he hid something… somewhere.”
“So you expect me to wire you up, let you wander into his orbit, and hope you get a confession? I’m the one he’s after—I’m the one he’ll follow. You just said yourself that this isn’t the part of the game where he goes after you.” His cell buzzed, but he did not take his eyes from hers.
“A wire won’t work. But I can lure him to the motel. It’s quiet, you can get the other customers out of there, and?—”
“I can lure him to the motel, too. And more easily since I’m the one he wants to kill.” The fury in her gaze was making his stomach ache. “I’ve been up for hours, researching, strategizing, making calls. But none of my plans involve letting you get anywhere near that bastard. Do you understand?”
The cell buzzed again, and he glanced at the caller ID. Paddy. “Just give me a second, okay?”
She closed her mouth, but her eyes stayed tight, cheeks flushed with anger. When she nodded, he turned away and snatched his laptop, settling it on the front side of his desk. Daniel might have access to his cell, but he couldn’t get into the encrypted computer.
He felt Juliette stewing at his back, heard her step toward him. He had the fleeting thought that she might wrap her arms around him, show him they were on the same team. But all she did was stand there, her heat against his shoulder as he read Paddy’s message on the laptop’s screen: Flatfoot saw him leaving the club in that stupid-ass jacket. Lost him behind the warehouse complex.
Fuck. He must have a way around those cement walls. A tunnel? Nah. Had he paid someone to use the gates? Paddy had interviewed those working in the complex already, but none of them had said a word. Maybe Daniel had something on them, too.
Hold for now. Wait to see if he goes back inside, he replied back, but Juliette sighed.
“You’re not going to trap him, Ronan,” she said to his back. “He clearly knows your people are watching. He’s probably had an inside track here since I arrived.”
“Then why did you stay?” he asked, reading Paddy’s response: Moving units to the warehouse. We’ll see if we can figure out how he got through. Could still be inside.
“Sometimes things get quiet for weeks, even months. Occasionally, I delude myself into thinking that he’s actually given up.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “That’s no way to live.”
Her jaw tightened. “My mother’s alive. That’s all that ever mattered.”
“This will be over soon, okay?” Ronan turned back to the laptop. “You’ll never have to live like that again. I promise.” He meant every word, but his mind was elsewhere—to make it true, he had to plan. He had to catch this asshole.
