Lahat ng Kabanata ng Aegis Group: Kabanata 141 - Kabanata 150

ZAIN LEANED FORWARD, URGING Max's SUV faster. The red and white lights cleared the road ahead of them, but they were still twenty minutes out."Yes, this is Detective Bowman-I need two units to go to this address. We believe a hostage situation is underway." Max had conducted this same conversation three times, working his way through to someone who could assist.The address the phone line Andrea had called from was in another department's jurisdiction. This was where it got sticky, and when being a private contractor was most convenient. Zain didn't have to care about who had jurisdiction or not when he was out to protect someone. All he wanted was for the bad guys to get what was coming to them-and the client to get extracted safely.Only this time he wanted blood.Kevin Lee was a dead man; he just didn't know it yet."For fuck's sake." Max jammed the radio into the dash holder and got both hands on the wheel. "Units are en route. They should be there in ten minutes."It

KEVIN SHIFTED IN THE chair.Everything hurt. That one-armed asshole had landed way more blows than Kevin thought possible. His jaw was swollen, he was pretty sure he'd bit a chunk out of his tongue, and then there were his ribs. They still hurt from their bathroom brawl. But Kevin couldn't complain too much. Yeah, things weren't going how he wanted them to, but they were still on track. He could spin this to go Speckles' way.And the bonus?No manslaughter charges. Yet.Speckles would have to pull his weight and find out where the files were and get rid of them or they were both fucked.Kevin, on the other hand, could deal with pretty much any other sentence with good behavior.Two officers entered the room, neither speaking to him. Detective Bowman had spoken to Kevin at the cabin, but there were no cameras. Nothing to document his confession, so he'd held his tongue until now.Saving it for the audience.Bowman sank into the chair across from Kevin, a thick folder in

ZAIN PARKED THE FIAT in one of the service entry parking spaces. That Crystal's parents had need of a service entry was weird enough. That the spaces were almost full was even stranger.The main house was a four-story, modern construction made to look old and stately, yet with all the latest conveniences. The two-story cottage down the walk where Crystal lived was larger than most family homes and yet next to where her parents called home, it looked small and modest in comparison.Andrea was here. Behind eight-foot fences. With a security guard on watch. And a police unit on patrol. She was here and she was safe. She didn't need him, but he needed her.He was halfway to the house when his phone rang.It was nearing four in the morning. What the hell?He glanced at the screen, expecting it to be Max-instead it was Gavin. With the time difference, it was close to six for the kid and he was not an early riser. So what was the emergency?"Yeah?" Zain said, answering the phone.

Andrea loved him.The thought resonated inside of her, the scary reality of it immobilizing her for a moment.She loved him.When the hell had that happened?Andrea wanted to run, wanted to hide under the bed or in a closet, but that would mean not being near Zain. And she couldn't see that as an option. Either she had to stop loving him or get over this new need for him. She didn't like those choices.He pulled her up against his chest, swooping down for a hot kiss, his tongue thrusting into her mouth. He tugged her hoodie off, taking her tank top with it. Since she and Crystal had vastly different bra sizes and Andrea's was pretty much disgusting, she hadn't bothered to put one on after her shower. She fought the urge to cover herself and kept her arms down by her sides."What's wrong?" Zain asked. "Do you want me to stop?"She had no doubt he would stop-and then she'd die. Or want to die.Andrea shook her head. She couldn't speak without fear of what would come out o

ANDREA SNIPPED TAGS OFF the new jeans and stepped into them. There were serious perks that came with having a loaded friend. At some point, while they slept through most of the day, one of Crystal's family employees had been dispatched to get her something to wear. Probably because Crystal's parents were appalled by anyone in sweatpants. Judging by the near perfect fit, Andrea could only assume that someone in the Great House had her sizes on file. Not surprising, since she'd done a fair amount of laundry here, and it seemed like any time she voiced a preference someone remembered it."Andrea," Crystal bellowed from somewhere below, "food's here!"Andrea slid her feet into fuzzy slippers and checked her phone. Zain had woken up first, showered and was gone before she'd managed to get both eyes open.No messages.What was he up to?Where'd he gone?And why did it hurt so much to not have him near her?She packed up her emotional mess and headed downstairs, collecting a tra