Witness in the Dark (Love Under Fire #1)(75)

Garrett just shook his head. He was standing in front of Sam’s window.

“Well, thanks a lot,” Angel said. “Now I get to play fairy-freakin’-godmother.”

“Don’t be like that. Sam’s tough. She won’t give you any trouble.”

She’d adapted easily to her circumstances. She’d rarely complained, even when she had a right to. It was as if she always expected her life to be difficult, and just accepted it.

Angel snickered. “At least she won’t give me the kind of trouble she gave you.”

Garrett’s anger flared. “It wasn’t like that.”

“You’re lucky she kept you from being put behind a desk. That’s what happened when Donovan got caught diddling his asset.”

“We weren’t—”

“Whatever. I need to get on the road,” Angel interrupted.

“Call me when you’re situated.”

“You’re not going to spend your free time checking up on me, are you?” She raised a brow.

“No.” He stepped back from the car, looking at the woman in the backseat.

“Right.” Angel opened the driver’s door.

Garrett put his hand on the glass where Sam was sitting. She looked up into his eyes as Angel started the car. Before they pulled away, he mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”

He watched until the car was out of sight.

She didn’t look back.

Not once.

Garrett had always known this day would come—the day he’d have to turn her over to another team. The team that would work with the prosecution to prepare her for the case.

He’d expected it to be months from now. He’d thought he had time to plan a grand goodbye scene they would both remember forever.

But she hated him now. So, this had not been that scene. Their goodbye had been cold and empty. He’d never wanted that.

When he gathered himself, he pulled out his phone.

“Thorne.”

“I dropped her off at the site.”

“Everything went okay?”

Garrett swallowed before lying. “Yeah, it was fine.”

“It was for the best, McKendrick.”

Garrett couldn’t agree, so he kept his mouth shut.

“You did a great job keeping her safe. Take a few weeks off.”

“Sir, about what happened…” Garrett wasn’t sure why he would bring it up when his boss hadn’t. Maybe he just needed to talk. True, her father was probably not the best choice, but he was available. And Thorne had always been the father figure for their team.

“She told me she pursued you,” Thorne said. “I don’t have the right to play overprotective father. She’s a grown woman. I’m just glad she’s away from that Lance asshole, and if you helped her through that, then we’re good. Enjoy your time off.”

“Thank you, sir,” Garrett managed before his boss hung up. Their talk hadn’t made him feel any better.

It was just like Sam to put all the blame on herself and tell her father she had pursued him. But he’d wanted her, too. Like crazy. If he was honest, he’d wanted her far longer than she’d even known him.

When he’d been assigned princess duty, he always enjoyed seeing her smiling with her friends and listening to their conversations. When she walked alone in Paris, he envisioned walking up beside her, twining his fingers with hers, and saying something witty in French to make her smile.

He tried to keep a distance this time, too, but he’d failed.

Somehow, he’d have to find a way to move on without her, once and for all.





Chapter Sixty


“Do you want some dinner?” Angel asked Sam after they’d been on the road for a few hours.

“Sure.” She wondered where they were headed, but didn’t bother asking.

“What would you like?”

“Whatever.” Sam shrugged, not really having a preference.

“Sushi?” Angel suggested.

“That’s fine.”

The woman chuckled. “Boy, you really aren’t going to be a problem, are you?”

“I try my best. Have you ever had princess duty before?”

Angel cleared her throat. “Garrett told you we call it that?” Sam nodded, and the beautiful woman with the platinum blonde hair seemed surprised. “I haven’t covered you before. Your father normally uses Garrett, Dane, or Justin. But with Garrett off the job, and Dane with a gunshot wound to the leg—” She glanced over at Sam with an ironic smile.

Sam wasn’t going to apologize for shooting Dane. He’d made himself a target by threatening her.

“Anyway. No one ever complained that you were a diva, or anything. Mostly it was just boring.”

“I miss being boring.” Sam frowned at her reflection in the window.

“I bet. I sure hope these next three months stay boring.”

“Three months?”

“Yeah. Congressman Howe goes to trial in three months.”

Part of Sam was elated with the news. Her life on the run would be over in three months. But another part was terrified. Facing Ashton Howe in a courtroom was bad enough, but then she had to start over in a new town with a new identity.