Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“What about Elliot?” Piper whispers.
“We have to wait until they’re gone,” I say, my vision blurring with pain. “I can’t let anything happen to you. God, Piper. I’m so sorry. But if I’d dropped the gun…”
“Hush.” She squeezes her arms tightly around me. “I understand.”
“It was all to keep you safe. Everything I do, everything I’m going to do, it’s for you, Piper.”
“Your hand…”
“I would’ve given all my limbs to save you. A broken hand is nothing.”
Soon, I hear the men leaving and a door slamming. Then everything is eerily quiet.
“Okay,” I say. “Cover your ears. I need to shoot the chain to my second shackle. Then we’ll get Elliot.”
CHAPTER 24
PIPER
“Icouldn’t let anything happen to you,” Logan moans as Elliot drives through the city toward his apartment. Logan and I sit in the back seat, Elliot is in the driver’s seat. He looks at me suspiciously in the rear-view mirror. Logan’s voice is delirious with pain as he clutches his hand to his chest. “I’ll never let anybody hurt you, Piper. Never.”
“It’s okay,” I whisper, smoothing my hand up and down his arm, comforting him as best as I can as adrenaline and delayed terror pump through my body.
I know Elliot must’ve guessed by now, but he hasn’t said anything.
“What are we going to do?” I whisper.
“We’ll go to Logan’s apartment, then we’ll contact the FBI. That’s the only course of action we’ve got left.”
“Elliot, I’m sorry, man,” Logan says.
“We don’t need to talk about this now.”
“I’m sorry for the lies,” Logan continues, his tone faltering with the shock of everything that’s happened. “But I can’t say that I regret it. That’s the crazy thing. Piper means too much to me.”
Elliot grinds his teeth. “Just focus on not passing out from the pain.”
Logan sinks against me, resting his good hand on my knee. He still has the shackle and chain attached to his hand. He shot the chain free, but we couldn’t get the shackle loose.
“She’s the best person I’ve ever known in all my life,” he groans, his arm trembling, speaking through gritted teeth. “She’s the love of my life—”
“Logan,” Elliot interrupts. “You just saved our lives. Don’t say shit that makes me hate you.”
Elliot’s comment brings a steely silence into the car. I wrap both my hands around Logan’s uninjured one, doing my best not to burst into tears.
“We can’t comment on police corruption,” FBI agent Jason Waller says roughly two hours later, looking across Logan’s glass coffee table at us. “But I can assure you that now you’re working with the FBI, we will do our utmost to ensure that Sal Mangano is brought to justice for this offense.”
“What are the next steps?” I ask, feeling strangely numb from the experience.
“My colleagues are currently canvassing the area and accessing security footage to verify your claims,” Jason says. “Once that’s done, we’ll launch an investigation into the matter. In the meantime, we’ll provide you with security, proper security this time, security you can trust.”
Logan lets out a heavy sigh, his eyes steely, hard. His arm is in a sling and a bandage. I sit between him and Elliot, and that feels symbolic, as if I’m a wedge that will drive their years-long friendship apart.
“When they had me in that basement, it sounded like Sal was doing this alone, without the say-so of the Family. You may be able to get somebody to flip on him.”
“Thank you, Mr. Wolfe. We’ll bear that in mind.”
“If I can do anything else, let me know,” Logan snarls. “That sick bastard tried to order his men to kill my best friend and… and Piper.” He was going to say, ‘and my woman,’ or ‘my girlfriend,’ or something like that. I just know it. But he stopped himself. “If you want to turn a blind eye while I execute the prick myself, I’m fine with that, too.”
Agent Waller shakes his head. “This is in our hands, Mr. Wolfe. In the meantime, I suggest you spend the night here. We’ll be able to take more decisive action tomorrow. Do you mind if I use your office to liaise with my team?”
“Go ahead,” Logan says, moving to stand.
“Please,” Agent Waller says tightly, the lines in his face creasing. “You’ve been through enough, Mr. Wolfe. There’s no need for an escort. Sit. Relax. Assuming your statement is true, you took the best possible course of action available to you. You did an incredibly brave thing.”
I want to take Logan’s hand again. But somewhere between the mayhem and the shock of the car ride, then the call to the FBI and the paramedics, and giving our statements, I realized what we just did.
We told Elliot, not with words, but with our actions. We rubbed it in his face.
Soon, it’s just the three of us in Logan’s large living room, the setting sunlight orange through the tall windows.