Chapter 18 #3
Oh, the US marshal had tried to butt into the elevator. Sure, he had. Quite adamantly. Logan had just kicked his ass out. He had no doubt, though, that Sebastian would tail them. In fact, he was counting on the backup.
Even if, as he’d said, he didn’t trust the guy.
But at Charlotte’s words—and the guilt in her voice—all of his attention immediately centered on her.
“I was sure it would be me. I basically waved myself like a red flag in front of our suspects. Even did that damn, stupid bet in your back room game.” She shook her head.
“If the perp we’re after had already abducted Harper, why still drug me?
That doesn’t make any sense. Everything we’ve got on this jerk says that he takes one victim at a time.
Why would he potentially come after us both?
” Then, more determined, “I should have been the target. Me. Not Harper. She’s… she’s a civilian. She—”
The elevator stopped.
Charlotte blinked. Then she hauled her gaze off the floor and looked over at him.
“Hi, sweetheart.” The elevator had stopped because he’d stopped it. His hand fell away from the control panel. “Let’s talk about how you need to stop making yourself a target for serial killers. Let’s permanently take that item off our to-do-list, shall we?”
“I did everything I could to attract his attention.” Guilt still whispered in her words.
“Even showed how strong I could be in a fight when I went against Ares after your private game. I knew the kind of woman this perp liked to use as prey, so I wanted him to know that I was the victim he’d want next. His attention should have been on me.”
Sebastian whistled. “Repeat after me, baby. I will not make myself prey for a serial killer ever again.”
“I had to seem like the perfect prey.”
She did not repeat those ever-so-important words back to him.
“I had to do it so I could catch him.” Her brows dipped low. “Logan, you can’t stop the elevator.”
He could. He had.
“We have to hurry. Jezebel gave me orders that we have to—”
“Fuck anything but you.”
“What? Uh, no, no, she did not give me orders to, ahem, fuck anything.”
He heaved out a breath and realized that he’d fisted his hands. “Let’s back up a bit. Why the hell do you want him taking you?”
“The plan is that he takes me, and my backup follows when I’m abducted. We have him dead to rights. We catch him. We lock him away. He doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
Logan had a different plan. Not one that involved locking the guy up, but more about him being dead, permanently.
“If Harper was taken, it’s on me. I-I wasn’t ready for the attack at Ares’s place.
I tried to be careful there. I watched what I drank, and I thought the champagne was safe because it was opened right in front of me.
I can’t be drugged when I’m taken. I can’t afford weakness, not with this perp.
That’s why I fought so hard to reach you. ”
Like he’d ever forget carrying her limp body in his arms. That nightmare would be on replay in his mind for the rest of his life.
“I have to be able to fight back,” she said, raising that stubborn chin of hers. Her golden eyes gleamed. “The goal was for me to get him, for Jamar and Jezebel to follow when I’m taken. For us to stop him.”
Slowly, Logan shook his head. It was admirable the way she kept wanting to do the right thing and bring in the perp alive. But… “I told you already, you’re wrong about all that. Jezebel doesn’t want him tossed in a cell. She wants me to kill him.”
“I…” Charlotte looked down at her hands.
Hands she was twisting in front of her. Then her shoulders squared.
“I didn’t take this mission believing that I would end up killing a man.
I follow the law.” Her chin lifted. Her gaze slowly found his once more.
“I follow the law,” she repeated. “I’m on this case because I want to lock him up.
My goal is to stop him from hurting anyone else. To get justice.”
Right. He got it. He understood her and her upright sense of right and wrong. But did she understand him? Because his version of justice was different.
He drugged you. He wants to hurt you. He’s already tortured and murdered other women. You will not be next, my love. In no world will you be his prey.
I follow my own law…I make my own rules
So that meant…
He’s dead.
She reached around him and pushed the buttons on the elevator panel.
They didn’t move.
“Logan, dammit, whatever you did, undo it.”
Fine. He would. But first… “I am keeping you safe. Whatever has to be done, you will be protected. Understand that.”
“I’m a trained CIA operative. I know how to protect myself.”
“I’m sure Jezebel’s niece thought the same thing.” Even the strongest person could be caught unaware. He’d certainly never expected to fall so hard for the beautiful woman right in front of him, but Charlotte had brought him to his knees in record time. “We all need extra protection sometimes.”
I am keeping you safe. I am killing him.
His hand raised. He started the elevator once more.
As the elevator descended…
“He shouldn’t have taken her.” The guilt in Charlotte’s voice was unmistakable. A guilt that wouldn’t seem to let her go. “Whatever I have to do, I need to get Harper back. Alive.”
And whatever Logan had to do, in order to protect Charlotte…
I will do it.
The elevator opened. They’d reached the lobby of his hotel. He took Charlotte’s arm. Led her through the crowd. Aware with every step that he might be leading the woman he loved to danger.
They exited the hotel. Barney waited, with the rear door of the limo open.
“Sir.” Barney frowned at him. “Where are we headed?”
Logan rattled off the name of Pierre’s hotel. Jezebel wanted him to stop Pierre from boarding a flight to Paris, so Logan would stop the other man.
Just how would he do that? Simple. He’d get Pierre to attack him. Or, maybe, even better…
Logan turned his head and saw Sebastian Shay burst out of the hotel.
Maybe he’d convince Pierre that he needed to attack a US marshal.
Logan waved to Sebastian. “Sorry, but the limo is full.” Charlotte had already slid inside. “Why don’t you try grabbing a taxi? If you’re fast, you can follow right behind us.”
“Logan, stop!” Sebastian thundered.
Nah.
He slid into the limo.