Raw Redemption (Crossing the Line #4)(59)

Ailish’s cheeks streaked with color. “Did I forget to mention there’s a microphone in my necklace?”

Henrik arched an eyebrow. “That would have been nice to know.” He lifted the key necklace—their skin shocking upon contact—and brought it to his mouth. “Start looking for my replacement, Derek. You can consider this my notice.”

Wishing like hell they could remain in the closet indefinitely, where his body could block Ailish from danger, Henrik forced himself to wrap up their conversation. If someone entered the room and found them together in the closet, unfortunate questions would be asked. “We don’t have a lot of time to pull this off. I’m not convinced Caine put me in here just to play babysitter. I don’t think he’s ready to have me roam the house just yet.” On reflex, he reached out to cup Ailish’s cheek, but it turned into a fist and dropped before making contact. “Tell me what we’re looking for. Tell me what evidence we’re here risking your life for.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again. “I’ll tell you when the time comes. I can’t risk you cutting me out again.” When Henrik started to launch a protest, she cut him off. “My father has two offices. The one where he brought us, and another in the basement. You need to get me to the basement office.”

Henrik’s head tipped forward. “You’re asking too much of me, Ailish. Do you know what will happen if we’re caught together stealing from your father?” He eased closer. “I’ll protect you with my life, my body, but I won’t be able to get you out safely if I’m—”

“Don’t say it,” she breathed, alarm transforming her features. “Please.”

Hope caused the broken pieces of his heart to stir. “You’re still my girl, aren’t you, Ailish?”

Her lips parted on an almost inaudible sob, but she blinked and stepped away. “You need me in that office because I’m the only one, besides Caine, with the combination to the safe. And everything we need is inside.”





Chapter Sixteen


Ailish stared into the blue depths of the swimming pool, watching her feet glide back and forth as if they were someone else’s legs. Growing up, the swimming pool had been her escape, but now she found that laughable. It was surrounded on all sides by three stories of the prison she’d called home. Towering over her little slice of normalcy, blocking out the sun and casting long shadows. At one time, the ivy climbing the walls had been beautiful to her. Now the strands of green medallions only appeared to be making a break for freedom.

The sound of the gentle ripples created by her feet were drowned out by her father’s men inside the house. Henrik would be with them. Blending in as best he could as a former police officer turned to the criminal lifestyle. She hadn’t spoken to him since the early afternoon confrontation in her closet. After immediately getting down to the sickening business of drafting a veritable murder list for her father, Henrik had left her bedroom to stand guard in the hallway, opening the door to check on her once an hour. Too many hours of her life had been spent in that bedroom, working over her desk, trying to spare as many lives as possible. Because of her numerous attempts to run away since becoming a preteen, a guard had always stood sentry in the hallway. She didn’t want Henrik to take the place of those men. It made her ill.

And whether or not it was rational, it made her mad.

Ailish was inside the walls of her own doing. She’d allowed Sera to bind her, allowed Derek to help her into the trunk. This was her decision. And while having that control put her a great distance from the powerless girl she’d once been inside those walls, the memories were too potent. The male shouting and laughter in the distance built a churning whirlpool of disgust and indignation within her. Every time she heard clinking ice cubes in a glass or the crack of pool balls, she wanted to scream. Maybe if she screamed loud enough, she could crumble the walls out of sheer force of will.

When she sensed someone joining her in the pool area, Ailish didn’t even glance up. She knew that tread, knew that quiet restraint by heart already. Henrik. The whirlpool turning in her stomach moved a little faster, fast enough to drown out the way her pulse ticked up forty notches at having him nearby. A tiny twinkle of guilt tried to wedge itself in the whirlpool’s path, grind it to a halt, but she wouldn’t allow that. She’d been given the option of freedom in that forest. But she’d chosen to come back to Chicago, to fight her father’s evil side by side. That decision had taken so much. The overcoming of fear, a giant leap of trust. He’d squandered that trust, and there would be no running into his arms or forgiveness. The hurt was too fresh.

Ailish slipped off the side of the pool, letting the cool water engulf her. She turned upside down, letting the tips of her toes point toward the sky, and rejoiced in the absolute silence. Air started to run scarce, so she pushed back to the surface, unsurprised to find Henrik standing at the pool’s concrete lip. She registered the worry lines between his eyes, the tautness of his body, as if he were preparing to dive in after her. It made Ailish feel a little desperate. Made her ache. But her newfound stubbornness galvanized and overcompensated, kicking any sympathy for Henrik to the curb and making her want to lash out.

I thought you could be my future, but now you’re just blending with the past, abusing my trust like everyone else. A familiar, helpless feeling was overtaking her, and she met it head-on. The only way she knew how.