Chapter 42
Forty-Two
NORTH
The last traffic camera to pick up Aria’s rental was in Little Tokyo.
We’d arrived half an hour ago and had been driving around, searching for the car registered in Caitlyn’s name. No luck so far. But my gut … my gut told me to keep looking.
“Let’s do another circle,” I said from the back seat.
Suddenly, Walker’s phone rang. “Ironside,” he answered immediately, and I leaned in to listen.
“And we’re just learning this now? Fuck.
Got it.” He hung up and turned to Jack, one of Wesley’s guys.
He drove while Walker sat up front in the passenger seat.
“Caitlyn Branch is really called Daniella Smith. There’s a storage unit under her name in Little Tokyo.
” He glanced down at his phone. “Take the next left.”
Jack floored it as my pulse raced.
Perhaps part of me thought it was a long shot, wishful thinking, that we might be days trying to find where Caitlyn—Daniella—had taken Aria. Yet as I sat forward, hands braced on Walker’s and Jack’s seats, searching the street ahead, I couldn’t fucking believe what I saw in the distance.
“That’s her!” I’d know her anywhere. “Is she—”
“Holding a gun.” Walker unbuckled his seat belt and whipped out his own gun. “And so is Caitlyn. Sit back!” He barked at me as he wound down his window. “Jack.”
Jack, to my shock, slowed as we approached, but before any of us could do anything, Caitlyn’s body jerked, the gun falling from her hands as she flew off her feet and hit the dirt.
Aria had shot her.
It seemed to happen in slow motion.
Until Jack hit the brakes and Walker jumped out with the rest of the security team and surrounded Caitlyn.
“Aria.” Relief made me almost unable to move, my limbs so heavy with it. But then she turned to squint at the SUV, as if looking for me.
I jumped out of the vehicle, my heart threatening to bang out of my chest as Aria’s face crumpled at the sight of me. The gun fell from her hand, clattering to the ground, and she swayed like she might pass out.
Then I had her in my arms, my embrace probably too tight, but she clung to me, hands pulling desperately at my shirt. “I’ve got you, gorgeous. I’ve got you.”
Her sobs shuddered through my body, and I tried to take it all, tears wetting my eyes as I pressed a hard kiss to her head. “I’ve got you,” I whispered over and over again, maybe to reassure me even more than to reassure her. “I won’t let you go. I’m here.”
The sound of sirens grew louder, approaching from a distance. But I kept my back to Caitlyn and Wesley’s men.
“Did I kill her?” she whispered, trembling so hard I feared she might shatter completely.
I glanced over my shoulder and met Walker’s gaze.
“She’s alive. Shoulder wound,” he reassured.
“No. She’ll live.”
Aria sagged in my arms but seemed to plead, “She was going to kill me. I had to.”
“I know. Hush.” I held her tighter. “You’re so brave. I’m so proud of you. And I’ve got you now. I’m here,” I repeated thickly. “Always here.”