She doesn’t need it, but it intensifies the green in her eyes, which I love. We pass through the kitchen, and oddly, Antonio, the chef, isn’t in here.
I nod at the other guys, and we walk to the closet.
Dalton gives me a look, like what the hell are we doing?
“After you,” I reply.
She reaches for the door and opens it, stepping inside. I follow her, knock three times on the other door, and it slides open. Josh, who’s always on the other side, looks between Dalton and me.
I grow annoyed at the looks. I step through, patting him on the shoulder with her hand still in mine. “Good to see you, Josh.”
“Jace, can I speak with you?” he asks.
“Say what you need to.”
He leans in and quietly asks, “Is this approved?”
“It’s not an issue,” I tell him. “Don’t worry about it.” I look over at Dalton as we head to the stairs, her eyes roaming over the room. She looks overwhelmed and still not one hundred percent herself.
“Wanna try your luck?” I ask.
She smiles. “I actually have to use the bathroom. I see there’s one over there. You go on down.”
“I can wait for you,” I say.
“No. Go get us a drink. I’ll find you.”
“Okay,” I say. I start to walk, but she grabs me and presses her lips to mine.
It’s a deep kiss, one that leaves my knees weak.
“Be down in a minute,” she says, giving me a wink before she walks off.
Jesus Christ.
I watch her walk into the bathroom before I head down.
I do need another drink and possibly a bucket of ice water thrown on me.
Once down, I grab us two beers and head to the roulette table and take a seat before lighting a smoke. I’m not even here a few minutes when Bryce and Harrison walk up to the table.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hey, yourself.” Bryce looks around. “Where’s your date?”
I bring my smoke to my lips. “She went to the restroom.” She actually should be back by now.
“Jace, what the fuck were you thinking bringing her in here?” he asks, looking at me like I’m insane. And there he goes again, treating me like I’m a fucking kid.
I look over at Kat. “You’ve got Harrison,” I say, knowing it’ll piss him off.
He lifts his chin, and it’s obvious, I got to him. “You know that’s different,” he says. But I’m not fucking sure how it’s different, and I’m about to argue with him when a loud commotion sounds from upstairs. All three of us turn our heads in the direction of the noise.
I narrow my eyes before I look back at my brother with confusion. I sober up quickly at what’s going down. My heart beats faster, harder.
What the fuck?
Bryce looks toward the bar, and I follow his sight to Simon, who’s now standing up. His face shows the slightest bit of concern. Everyone stops what they’re doing, and my throat dries up. I put my smoke into the beer bottle and stand up from the table as armed men approach the bottom of the steps.
One of them walks straight up to Bryce as people’s hands go in the air. Guns are pointed at the guests, and Bryce looks over at Harrison, whose face is as white as snow.
How did this happen?
“Bryson Grant?” the man asks.
My brother lifts his chin, and I ball my fist at this motherfucker.
“FBI. You’re under arrest for the operation of an illegal gambling business.”
My world caves in.
Where is Dalton?
I search for her around the room. Why hasn’t she come from the bathroom yet? Worry starts to consume me, and when Bryce’s arms are jerked behind him, I feel like breaking things.
“You see Michelle?” I ask Harrison, but she doesn’t hear me. Her hand is over her mouth in shock as tears swim in her eyes.
Holy shit, I can’t believe this is happening. What are we going to do? Where the hell is my girl?
“It’s going to be okay,” Bryce tells her. “Don’t worry, baby.”
He looks at me, and I get it without him saying. I got Harrison, man. No worries. I give him a reassuring nod.
“Don’t worry,” he repeats as they push him up the staircase. I turn back to Harrison, who looks like she’s about to fall apart. The cops shove Bryce forward, and Harrison goes to walk.
But I hold on to her arm, keeping her from going after Bryce. Her jaw tightens, and I feel the shake in her bones.
What do I do?
I pull my phone out of my pocket and search for Dalton’s number. It goes straight to voicemail.
Bryce had a plan for this. I know he’ll be all right. We’ll call Pops, but the fact I can’t find Dalton has my head spinning and my heart constricting.
Shit, Simon, one of Bryce’s right-hand men, is getting handcuffed. Harrison’s head whips back to me. She looks worried. I am, too, but not for Bryce. He’ll be fine. I’m worried about my fucking girl. Why isn’t she answering the goddamn phone? I’ve called her three times now. I put my phone back into my pocket, looking down at Harrison.
“Did Dalton come down from the bathroom?” I ask her, but she looks away from me, staring up, watching as Bryce reaches the top of the stairs.
His all-black suit stands out against the red carpet. My brother is a powerful man. He has all kinds of connections, and I know this is just a little speed bump.
I hope anyway.
The alarm stops and I reassure her. “He’ll get out of this, Harrison.”
She blinks back to me. “How? How will he get out of this?”
“He just will. I know…” I look up, and my spine straightens. Ice crawls down my back, chilling me to the core. Our eyes collide. Hers in utter agony and mine in utter confusion. Dalton stands in a green dress, holding on to the stair railing.
And the hair on my neck stands up.
I look down as the light above her reflects off of something metal around her neck.
Is that a badge?
I shake my head, and then my mouth falls open as realization drops down on me like a cement block. My eyes bounce around as my mind plays catch-up.
Conversations, memories, details about our time together.
The uneasiness, the fight she always had, the struggle behind her eyes.
“I wish I could forget you.”
All the times I tried to get close to her and she stopped it.
This is why?
My heart rips in two like a piñata, pieces scattering inside my chest.
My eyes go back to her, but this time there’s no confusion.
I lift my chin and stare at her. The woman I love more than anything has shredded me.
She looks so hurt.
She should feel what I’m feeling.
That’s a checkmate.
She knew this was never going to go anywhere. This whole time, she knew.
Was any of it real?
God…last night? Was that real for her?
I rub my face and shake my head as tears threaten my vision.
How does one recover from this?
How will I ever get over this? I catch Harrison in my peripheral as she steps forward. She’s realized it, too. Michelle Dalton is not who she said she is.
She’s an undercover FBI agent and she’s just busted my brother, and I helped her.
I grip Harrison’s arm to keep her in place. She looks back at me, trying to jerk out of my hold.
“Don’t,” I say. “This won’t end well for you.”
“She did this, Jace. She did this to us.” She yanks her arm again, getting free from me. “You fucking bitch!” she yells.
Anger and sadness collide in my soul, twisting with rage and helplessness.
I won’t recover from this.
This was the final blow for me.
I’ve lost everything I care about. My boys, my brother is possibly going off to prison, and I’ve lost the one person I thought I could trust more than anyone.
Some of the guests look back at Harrison as they slip out, trying to be unnoticed by the feds. But can’t they see? They’re not here for them.
They’re here for Bryce.
My brother turns around. He looks at Harrison. And there, I see a small hint of pride. His lip lifts a tad. He smirks at her outburst, and I’m so damn jealous of their relationship.
I look away from Bryce to Dalton. Guilt flashes in her greens, but she lifts her chin, like this is what she had to do, and now it’s done.
I guess it’s a game for her, too.
She turns to the man beside her. “Leave them be,” she says. With one last glance at me, she exits the room, and Bryce is urged forward. But I look after Dalton, watching her until she disappears through the door. Everyone tried to stop me from letting her in here.
I didn’t listen to them. I was so sure I’d found my Harrison. My brother was finally happy, I was finally happy, and now it’s over.
I guess that’s how the Grant brothers’ life is always meant to be.
Here’s a little bit of heaven, but don’t get too close.
You won’t keep it.
Harrison grasps on to the stair railing and starts to jog up after them, but I grab her by the waist and haul her down.
“Stop,” she says, gripping my forearms and trying to push them off her.
“No,” I say. I put my chin on her shoulder, trying to get her to listen to me. “You have to stop this.”
“Jace.” She wiggles more.
“Harrison, Bryce won’t be able to deal with his shit if you’re sitting in jail, too.”
She softens and I put her down.
I look down at her. “She didn’t do this,” I say. “I did, and my brother will never forgive me.”
Guilt-stricken and brokenhearted, I run a hand over my head.
We are left alone inside the enormous room. Slot machines and the TVs playing are the only sound.
Everyone else is gone, and it’s never been this empty.
Harrison twists around and lifts a tray that’s filled with unserved drinks. Glass bounces off the plush carpet, liquor spills, and beer bottles roll. She lifts her foot and kicks the tray stand before picking up a beer bottle and tossing it at a slot machine. Glass shatters, and she seems pleased.
I get it.
I need to break things, too, but right now, I feel so fucking broken, I’m not sure what to do.
She lifts a few crystal glasses and throws them, one after another, smashing them into tables before she grabs her head and screams.
I walk to the bar and pick up a bottle. I bring it to my lips, trying to ease the pain inside. Harrison walks over and I offer it to her. She takes it, and I look back toward the stairs, wondering what Dalton will do now?
Will she move on easily from this?
Did it ever mean anything to her?
It had to. I mean, we were… It had to.
Did she know the day we met? God, I think about everything. Every moment I questioned her actions. When I met her dad and she said he calls me Dalton like everyone else.
I was baffled by that, but I ignored it. Is that even her fucking name?
I ignored every goddamn sign she gave me.
She was hesitant about coming in here. Was she having second thoughts about busting Bryce? Harrison says something, but I can’t talk to her right now.
My mind is spinning.
I’m torn between wanting to rip things apart and wanting to crawl into a hole and never come out.
I think about the cabin and when I told her I loved her. She acted like I just spit on her.
Was it because she was feeling guilty? Did it hurt her when I told her I loved her, or was she worried things had gone too far?
She never called me. We went months without talking. Did she decide she’d had enough? Was she done fucking with me?
I’ve got to make sure Bryce gets out of this mess. Show her that she destroyed what we had for nothing.
“We should call Pops,” I say. “He’ll know what to do.”
“Call him then,” Harrison urges, looking down at my pocket where I keep my phone.
I look over at her. “Dalton lied to me. She made me fall for her, and it was all to do this.”
I snatch the bottle from her hand and take a big gulp before tossing it at the wall, smashing it to pieces.
My jaw ticks, and I settle my thoughts.
This isn’t over for her. She can’t just walk away and think she’s never going to have to see me again. My blood turns ice-cold, my veins freeze solid, and my heart gets its shit together. “She won’t get away with this. I don’t give a fuck who she is.”
I look over at Harrison. She smiles at me. She’s just as crazy as Bryce and me.
She fits right in.
Chapter Forty-Four
Harlow
I run to the bathroom and push open the stall door, throwing up into the toilet. I grip the porcelain and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. Coughing, I exhale and rub my face before grabbing some tissue and blowing my nose.
I’ve seen some sad shit in my life. I’ve solved some dark cases, but none of them have affected me this way.
Not one.
How he looked at me like I’d torn him in two. I watched him figure everything out. I watched as he replayed the time we spent together, connecting all the puzzle pieces.
And I saw the resolve in his blues.
He was done.
In that moment, he was done.
I knew that, and so I lifted my chin and acted like I was, too. Like what I just did was just part of my job, but it was so much more than that.
I’d not only torn his world apart; I’d fucked myself in the worst way.
As I walked out of the closet, I got pats on the back from other agents.
“Way to go, Dalton.”
“You got the job done.”
“Took long enough,” some of them joked. I walked beside Bryce.
“You know he’ll never forgive you for this,” he says.
“Keep your fucking mouth shut,” the cop warns.
I look back at the cop, but don’t say anything before my eyes return to Bryce. “Maybe not,” I reply to Bryce. “But I did what I had to.”
“But you didn’t have to,” he says as clear as my soul is black.
“And how do you know that?” I ask as we walk through the club, which is now cleared of people.
“We all get a choice, Michelle.”
“But some of us really don’t.”
“You love him?” he asks me.
I don’t answer.
“You do,” he confirms with a smile. How is he smiling? This man could be going to prison.
“Doesn’t matter,” I say. “Like you said, he’ll never forgive me.” I’ve said this in my mind a thousand times, but speaking it out loud has my soul catching fire.
It burns.
“Yeah,” he agrees. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll get out of this, and you’ll be alone. Jace will move on because Jace is stronger than he seems. You did this for nothing, girl.”
I lean back against the bathroom door, closing my eyes as tears run down my cheeks.
“Dalton,” I hear. I shake my head and sniff before turning and opening the door.
Monroe stands in the doorway. “You all right?” he asks.
“I’m good,” I reply, checking my reflection in the mirror. I don’t look good.
I’m a mess.
He clears his throat. “We should get out of here.”
“Yeah,” I say. I wash my hands and dry them with a towel before walking toward him.
But my heart doesn’t want to be strong right now, and I can’t fake how I really feel. I’m messed up over this. My face cracks, and I choke on a sob.
Monroe wraps his arm around me and embraces me. I grip his shirt and let my heart have its moment.
It’s breaking, and I wish I could die.
“It’s okay,” he says. “You did what
you had to.”
I shake my head as my knees bend, threatening to give out on me, and I’ve never felt this broken.
“Everyone’s gone,” he says. He swoops me up into his arms and my friend carries me out.
__________
I sit on my couch with a blanket over my shoulders. Monroe left a few hours ago. He poured me a glass of wine and told me to call him if I needed anything. I’m grateful for him. I’m embarrassed of my breakdown, but it couldn’t be helped. I stare at the wall, thinking about the last forty-eight hours.
The sweet moments I had with Jace. The way he touched me, setting my skin on fire. I’ve never felt love like that.
I’ll never feel it again.
Why does anyone want to fall in love?
If they ever felt the pain, they’d never do it.
I reach down and grab the pill bottle on the table. Slipping two out, I chase them with my wine before sitting back on the couch.
I’ll never forget him.
I’ll never ever forget him.
He hates me now, and that’s justified.
I hurt him in the worst way, and I understand that.
But I’ll never get over him.
_____________
Loud pounding wakes me up, and I blink my eyes, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. And then my heart remembers. I sit up and rub my forehead as the pain swims in my chest.
God, will this ever go away?
The banging continues, and I realize it’s my door. Shit.
I toss the throw off of me and walk around the couch. On my tiptoes, I look through the peephole.
I sink back down and shut my eyes as I lean my head on the door. Swallowing my heart because it just came up through my throat, I jump when Jace says, “Open the door, Dalton.”
I hang my head, giving it a shake as I look down at the floor. I take a deep breath before unlocking the door and twisting the knob.
As soon as it opens, Jace barges in, almost knocking me down. I gently shut the door and lean against it.
He twists back and glares at me.
My heart tries to beat faster, but it’s hurting, and this is going to be hell. It hangs on a bungee cord, ready to snap.
He turns and looks at the pill bottle and glass of wine on the table before picking them both up and tossing them at the wall.
Give Me Redemption (Give Me Series Book 4) Page 20