Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Another pause and the loud squeak of a chair as though he was sitting up or leaning back. “Sienna—”
“You went to a fundraising event for the man who tried to cover up a sex crime? For the man who had my head on a platter and probably still does?”
“Sienna, I know how you feel. Listen, I didn’t want to go, okay, but my firm all but insisted.”
All but.
“Did you even push back, Brandon?”
“Yeah, of course. But there were a lot of big players there, and it was important we do some networking. Listen . . . Sienna, the polls are saying it’s likely the mayor’s going to win his reelection campaign, okay?” Her heart dropped before he went on. “That fact doesn’t make me happy, and I don’t like the politics involved in my job any more than you do, but the fact is, if I want to make partner at some point, I have to play the game.”
Play the game.
The game. The one where innocent children often lost.
The very thing she’d been unwilling to do. Did that make them incompatible in the end?
She felt as though she were standing on a chasm, one foot on either side of the widening split. And a distant voice she couldn’t quite identify was telling her she needed to choose one or the other because she couldn’t choose both.
A head pang made her wince. “Listen, Brandon, I think maybe . . . we need to consider my move a little break from . . . us.”
“Sienna, babe, you’re making way too much of a business dinner I was forced to go to.”
Were you forced to go with your buxom coworker? Were you forced to allow her to sit close enough to touch you? But she wasn’t going to bring that up. She’d kissed another man.
She hadn’t meant to exactly. And she’d pulled away. But . . . no excuses. She’d never been one for excuses. Gavin had kissed her, but she’d kissed him back. And yes, she’d pulled away, but not before she’d allowed herself to get lost in his taste, the feel of his body against hers, the sweet and terrifying familiarity of the flame that had once again flickered to life inside her.
Point being, this was not all on Brandon.
But she suddenly realized that the question she’d asked herself earlier about Brandon had a clear answer. The worst part of the betrayal she felt didn’t come from him potentially being on a date. It came from his mere presence at that particular dinner, his unwillingness to make a stand. For her. For justice. For what was right.
“I think you’ll realize this is for the best, Brandon.” She got out of her car, lugging her briefcase over her shoulder. It felt like it weighed ten tons.
“Sienna, you sound . . . tired . . . off. Let’s talk about this later, okay?”
“I am tired, but I mean what I say,” she said, dragging herself to her door. “But yes, we can talk about it all later.” Maybe there was more to say. It didn’t really feel like it to her in that moment, but she was admittedly not exactly firing on all four mental cylinders.
“All right.” She heard a female voice, his secretary perhaps. “I’m needed in a meeting, but I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Sienna . . . take care.”
Take care. “Goodbye, Brandon.”
She flipped her lock behind her and went to the kitchen, tossed her things on the table, which she’d ordered online and which had just arrived the day before, and removed the case file.
She should be going to bed, she knew that, but Brandon’s reasoning for the call—Because I wanted you to know I was thinking about you—was basically bullshit. He’d been “needed” in a meeting two minutes into their conversation. And he hadn’t apologized for going to the dinner. He’d justified his actions. Like the chief of police. Like the mayor. All for future employment ladder climbing. She couldn’t sleep now, despite the banging in her head. Maybe because of the banging in my head. Instead, she made herself a cup of tea—deciding she’d had her fill of coffee—opened the case file on the counter, and tried once more to work out this damn puzzle.
What was relevant? What had the killer given them that they had missed? What will he give us next?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Gavin held his finger on the doorbell for the third time, hearing the distant buzz from within. “Come on,” he muttered, another flutter of worry heightening his impatience. He’d called Sienna several times, and when she hadn’t called him back, he’d phoned her at the station and been put through to her partner, Kat, who told him she’d gone home earlier that day.
He didn’t want to be a pest . . . exactly. But he also knew that she was basically alone in this city and had been called out by a killer still on the loose. Someone should be checking on her. She’s a detective trained in the use of firearms and—presumably—fighting techniques, Decker, so don’t lie to yourself and pretend she needs protection.