“I’m not doing that.”

“Declan, you have to leave. I can’t take the chance of you getting caught up in something dangerous.”

He stood there motionless.

“Please, man.” My voice was pleading and I think he got what I was saying. My conscience couldn’t handle it if he got marked or worse if he got killed in the crossfire.

He said nothing.

I took that as an okay and turned around and started running. The hotel wasn’t far, and it would be faster to get there on foot than heading all the way back to my vehicle anyway.

It was almost dawn by now and the early morning sky was just erupting. To everyone else I looked like I was out for a run, not on a mission to confront Tommy Flannigan and—and what? That was the question, wasn’t it? Do I sell my soul to the devil and kill the motherfucker? I decided not to go there in my mind right now. One step at a time—first I had to find him.

It was the longest fucking ten minutes of my life, but finally the Seaport Hotel was in sight. I strode through the lobby like I belonged there, hit the up arrow at the bank of elevators, and casually stepped into one when the doors opened. Beneath my calm exterior I was screaming, because my time of reckoning had finally come.

I stabbed the button for the fifth floor and the elevator seemed to crawl up to it. In the hallway, it felt a little surreal. I glanced down and was shocked to see my white knuckles and the ropes of muscle straining against the backs of my hands. I shook off any doubt. I had no choice but to do this. I’d use my fists. If I beat him to a pulp and he didn’t recover, I couldn’t be charged with premeditated murder. The law was flashing through my mind. Murder in the first degree. Voluntary manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter. It didn’t matter; all would come with a prison term.

If I killed this motherfucker tonight I was going to be without Elle in my life. If I didn’t, if I turned around right now, I was going to have to let her go.

It was a lose-lose situation all the way around. But the come and get me if you dare note Tommy had sent me was sent for a reason, and I was going to find out what that reason was.

My strides were long. Room 500, 502, 504, 506, 508, and finally 510. Focused on the gold numbers, I reached my destination in less than three seconds.

Without even thinking about it, I lifted my leg and kicked the door in, throwing the entire weight of my body into it. Luckily, this hotel was old and so were the doors.

Barreling into the room, I was shocked when I saw him. I had to remind myself that this time I wasn’t going to be held down by three men while he wielded his knife at me.

Yes, it had been a very long time since we were face-to-face, and there he was, looking the same. Like time had never passed. His eyes met mine with a dare, a come-and-get-me, and then he scampered from the bed to the floor in less than a heartbeat. On his feet, he stumbled backwards. “It’s been a long time,” he snickered.

I clenched my teeth and drew in a breath to calm the fury surging through my veins. “Not long enough.”

“You got my note?”

My blood started to pump so fast that I could hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears. “I did. But you already know that. Why else would I be here?”

That grin was back. “A friendly chat between old friends.”

“Fuck you,” I spat.

He shook his head. “Not one to let bygones be bygones?”

Ignoring the shit spewing from his mouth, I rushed forward and slammed my fist into his face. “What do you want from me?”

He bounced off the wall and I grabbed his shoulders before he slumped to the ground. Kneeing him in the gut, hitting him hard enough to lift his feet off the floor, I then let him tumble down. “We need to talk,” he managed.

With his face on the floor, I placed my foot on his back and pressed.

He yelped like a dog.

“Talk!” I barked out.

“Let me turn around.”

Easing my foot away, I stepped back but kept my gun pointed.

Slowly, he turned over and wiped the blood from his mouth.

“I’m waiting,” I sneered.

Instead of talking, he lunged for the gun that was sticking out from under the mattress.

Motherfucker.

“Freeze!” someone shouted.

“Hands up, now!” someone else yelled.

My eyes darted to the door. Agent Blanchet was standing in the doorway with a swarm of agents surrounding her.

No effing way.

She walked over to me. “I want you out of here.”

I stared at her.

“Now, McPherson. Don’t make me take you in and then process paperwork to get you out, because that will really piss me off.”

Tommy never made it to his gun, but his laughter made my ears ring. He was off the floor in cuffs in two seconds flat. Surrounded by five agents, there was nothing I could do to get to him.

“Now,” Agent Blanchet repeated and started shoving me out of the room.

I wanted to deck her but knew that would get me nowhere. With slow strides, I headed for the door.

“Hey!” Tommy hissed.

I turned around.

“Don’t think that girl of yours is any safer with me behind bars. If you were a good boy and followed the rules, there wouldn’t be an issue. Would there? So for her sake, you will stay away from her now because you know I have eyes, and hands, and a few hundred dicks, everywhere.”

“You motherfucking piece of shit,” I growled and lunged for him.

“Get him out of here.” Blanchet’s voice was loud as she pointed toward Tommy.

Hands were holding me back and a weird rush of fear washed through me as I watched Tommy being dragged out of the room.

It was like time stood still and I couldn’t move.

I had no idea how much time passed or when whoever was holding onto me had released their grip but when I blinked, I realized the room was quiet. I looked around.

Agent Blanchet was the only one in the room and she was staring at the doorway. “You can come in,” she said.

As if everything were happening in slow motion, I glanced toward the direction of her voice.

In the doorway was Declan. “Sorry, man, I had to follow you. I wasn’t letting you go it alone.” He pointed to Blanchet. “Turns out, she’d been following us and she nabbed me in the lobby before I could make it to you. She forced me to tell her what room you were in.”

Fuck, I knew she’d been on me. I should have been even more careful.

“Good thing he fessed up quickly.” Her voice was like cold steel.

My eyes darted to hers, and they were swimming with that same cold steel.

“Listen, McPherson, you’re walking a very thin line. My patience is wearing down.”

I scrubbed my hand down my face. “What the fuck more do you want from me?”

She glared at me like I should fucking know.

And I did know. I just hoped to fuck she didn’t know. Know what I’d done—that I’d committed a felony.

Finally, she spoke. “You should have called me when you found out where Tommy was. I don’t want to have to put a tail on you every fucking time I suspect you know more than you’re telling me.”

I stared at her blankly because thank God, she didn’t know that I’d relocated the drugs.

“Next time you pull something like this, I’m going to haul your ass in.” She pointed to herself. “I’m the law, not you. Do you understand me?”

I nodded but tuned everything else out.

This whole thing had just gotten so much worse.

Even behind bars, Tommy wasn’t going to leave Elle alone. As if I hadn’t already known it, he’d told me so himself. And now there was nothing I could do about it.

Elle and I had just forged some kind of commitment and I was going to be forced to break it.

What had happened tonight?

So much.

Way too much.

It was hard to believe that just hours ago I’d crossed the line an attorney should never cross. I’d tampered with evidence. In truth, I’d committed a felony by relocating a shitload of cocaine that had since been confiscated, and people in connection to it arrested.