Chapter 24
Dante
We knew nothing about the woman they not only invited to stay on the ranch but practically rolled out a red carpet for. She had been drawn into our lives, invited to become intimate with us. A fucking FBI agent. Into the lives of those who included a killer and the men who protected him.
What the fuck were they thinking?
I saw the appeal. Fuck, I got it. She was beautiful.
She was unique. I wanted her just as bad as they did.
But, unlike them, I was going to find out more.
Honestly, I was surprised that Gage was not only allowing her to get close to them but seemed to be the one who invited her.
It was far beyond what I would have expected from him.
If she told me she was a witch, I would have believed her without hesitation, because it was the only explanation that made sense.
How else could she charm a man who was uncharmable?
I turned on my computer, the one that I used to hack into systems that didn’t need to know they were being hacked into. Sometimes, research needed a delicate touch and a hidden identity that couldn’t be traced. If it could even be detected.
I had learned computer hacking when I was a kid, barely a teenage punk who thought he was tough shit. I wasn’t very good at it at first. I hacked into the wrong person’s database and nearly got myself killed. I was lucky that man saw potential in me instead of a waste of air.
He took me under his wing and taught me everything he knew.
I would never be as good as he was; hell, he was a goddamn ghost behind a computer screen, working for names that people were wise to not even whisper in the dark.
But I was good enough to get by. Definitely good enough to hack into an FBI database undetected.
I smiled when I found Parker’s information.
It was no wonder she chose to only go by her last name.
“Hello, Cherish,” I drawled as I sat back, staring at her Bureau identification picture.
Her beautiful face sat on my screen. Though she wasn’t smiling, it didn’t take away from the lovely lines of her features.
Her different colored eyes peered at me.
One a light sky blue, like a bright, cloudless spring day.
The other was a green so light, it could almost be described as aqua, reminding me of moss you’d see clinging to a tree deep in the forest. Without thinking, I clicked print, sending the photo to my printer.
Her record, short though it was, was already impressive. She’d been first in her class, showing high potential early on. It seemed she had a natural talent for reading people, often correctly profiling older solved cases that the class was studying well ahead of her peers.
I frowned when I saw that it hadn’t been a coincidence that she’d ended up on the team she was currently with.
As a new agent, they didn’t often get a choice on where they were assigned.
Based on her scores and potential, it wasn’t completely surprising that she would have been noticed, but it seemed she’d been specifically requested before she had even graduated.
I switched from the FBI’s systems, backing out and carefully erasing any traces that I had been poking around.
Instead, I focused on her life before she’d applied to the Bureau.
Again, her grades were stellar. She was obviously focused on her education, which made me wonder whether she ever allowed herself time to be a young adult.
Going back further, I frowned again. She’d had a sister.
Clicking the keys, I switched my search.
Mariposa looked almost identical to Cherish.
Beautiful, but there were differences. While Cherish had a strength about her that radiated through the eyes that had seen pain and learned to live through it, Mariposa was soft.
There was a delicate loveliness that seemed to glow from every photo I found. Mariposa was always surrounded by friends. She was always laughing, full of hope and joy. She’d been in college when she’d been kidnapped.
Mariposa Parker had been missing for a week before her body was found.
She was dressed in white and at first glance, looked like an angel.
But reading the report made my stomach twist in disgust. During the seven days she was missing, she’d been brutally raped repeatedly.
Marks on her wrists and ankles showed she’d been restrained by ropes.
She’d also been tortured so badly there wasn’t an inch of flesh under the dress that hadn’t been sliced to ribbons.
The killer who had done the same to several other women before her then vanished without a trace, leaving Mariposa as his final victim.
This is what Cherish Parker had decided to dedicate her life to avenge. My mind drifted to what she’d shown me. The scars on her thighs.
It became a way to let the pain out. When I cut myself, I felt something other than just numb. One time, I cut too deep and couldn’t stop the bleeding.
I sucked in a breath. I wondered if she knew what her sister had gone through, if her choice of self harm had anything to do with her sister’s torture.
My parents were in their own bubble of darkness and forgot I existed.
My fists clenched in my lap. They lost a daughter, and that was horrible. I couldn’t imagine the pain a parent would feel. But they left the one daughter who was alive, living with the pain and loneliness of losing a loved one. They should have been there for her. They should have grieved together.
“Fucking idiots,” I growled. I glanced over to the printer where I could see Cherish’s picture resting there, her resilience clear to see even from feet away. My mind was made up. “You don’t have to fight alone anymore, Cherish.”
I walked up the steps to the police station, my leg twinging in pain where the nub sat inside the prosthetic sleeve. Ignoring it, I walked to the door, pulled it open, and strode straight up to the desk. I could have called Ry and told him I was coming, but I wanted to see Cherish alone.
I approached the desk and nodded to the sergeant on duty. “Hello. I’m here to see Special Agent Parker.”
He blinked at me, his eyes taking in my appearance, and I did my best not to snarl at him.
Just go get my fucking woman. I’m not a sideshow freak to be gawked at, fucker.
I didn’t go into town often because of this exact reason.
Everywhere I went, people stared. I understood why children did it.
Curiosity was in their nature, but adults should fucking know better.
There must have been something in my expression I failed to hide because his back straightened, and his expression went hard. “What business do you have with the FBI?” he questioned like he had the damn right. I was debating on how to answer without my fists when I heard her soft voice behind me.
“Dante?”
I turned around, the tightness in my chest immediately loosening at seeing her face. I gave her a smirk. “Hey, Parker. I thought you could use a break. Have lunch with me?”
She looked at her phone, clutched in her hand, then blinked back up at the time.
“Wow, I didn’t realize it was past noon already.
” She looked up at me with a smile. “I’d love to,” then she paused, looking next to her at the man who was trying to look like he wasn’t furious as he did a half-hearted attempt at holding back a glare as he eyed me.
“SSA Walker, I know you ordered lunch for the team to be brought in, but do you mind if I skip it?”
“Who is this man?” he demanded instead of answering. I took a step forward at his tone. Before I could say a word, demanding he show her some fucking respect, she answered instead.
“He’s a friend of mine.” She was choosing not to react to his obvious display of aggression. There were signs written in his body language and tone as he leaned towards her, signs of ownership. This fucker was daring to claim Cherish right in front of me.
I glanced back at her to see how she responded to his claim.
Was she playing us? Did she already have a man that she was in a relationship with?
I thought of how she had been cherry-picked straight from the academy to join his team.
I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d known him before becoming an agent.
That could be how she managed to get on a field assignment so soon after joining.
I raised an eyebrow as her expression stayed calm and carefully blank. I snorted. Fucking figures. Women were all alike, using men to their advantage. It was all about what they could gain from one man while using another to step on to get ahead.
“Never mind,” I huffed out, a half laugh escaping that couldn’t conceal my contempt. What a fucking joke to think that Parker was any different. I walked past the two of them, ignoring the surprised hurt that flickered over her face.
“Dante, wait,” she called out as I hit the door with extra force, letting myself back out into the sunshine. I didn’t bother looking back. The doors closed behind me as I heard her start to say something to the prick, blocking her words. Whatever.
I limped down the stairs and moved quickly back to my truck. I’d thought I could take Cherish to lunch, just the two of us, but I was glad I’d found her true colors before I’d sunk deeper into her web of deceit and lies.
I heard footsteps racing to catch up to me, then Cherish was beside me, keeping pace easily with my long strides. “What’s wrong, Dante?” she asked, her tone full of confusion.
“Nothing,” I replied, my voice more gruff than I’d like, not wanting to show her that she affected me at all. I never wanted to show another woman that she could ever have any effect on me again. “Go back to your lover. Wouldn’t want to hurt your future FBI career by pissing off your sugar daddy.”