Chapter 17
The warehouse stretched out before me like a cavern, all concrete and shadows and the smell of rust and abandonment.
I chose this place deliberately—it reminded me of the alley where Dex shot me, where I thought I was going to die alone and be forgotten.
But this time, I wasn’t running. This time, I was walking straight into the mouth of the beast.
“Radio check,” Agent Morrison’s voice whispered through the nearly invisible earpiece hidden beneath my hair. “We have eyes on you, Willa. Remember, we need him to confess to the security breaches and the threats against Cross Security’s clients. Get him talking.”
I touched the small recording device hidden beneath my sweater, feeling the bulk of the Kevlar vest that made me feel both protected and trapped.
FBI agents were positioned throughout the building like invisible guardians, Kieran was monitoring from a van two blocks away, and every entrance was covered. This should have been foolproof.
But as I walked deeper into the warehouse, my footsteps echoing off the concrete, I felt the familiar tightening in my chest that came with proximity to danger. To him.
“Hello, beautiful.”
His voice drifted from the shadows ahead of me, and I had to force myself to keep walking, to not turn around and run. He stepped into the pool of light cast by a single flickering bulb, and my breath caught.
Dex looked different. Leaner, more dangerous, his expensive clothes replaced by dark jeans and a black hoodie that made him look less like the charming artist I married and more like the predator he always was underneath.
But his eyes were the same—pale green and cold, studying me like I was something he owned.
“I was starting to think you weren’t coming,” he said, his hands in his pockets, posture casual despite the gravity of what we were doing. “Thought maybe your boyfriend convinced you to be brave.”
“I’m here,” I said, proud that my voice came out steady. “Now delete the client files. All of them.”
He laughed, the sound echoing off the warehouse walls. “Giving orders, I see. That’s new.”
“I’m not the same person I was when I left.”
“No?” He started walking toward me, slow and predatory. “Because you look the same to me. Scared. Trying to be brave but failing. Still, that little girl who needs someone else to save her.”
Each word was designed to cut, to reduce me back to the terrified woman who cowered in our apartment while he raged. But I spent weeks learning to stand up straight in Kieran’s world, learning that I was worth more than just survival.
“The files, Dex. Delete them, and I’ll listen to whatever you want to say.”
“Oh, we’re going to talk about so much more than files.
” He stopped just outside arm’s reach, close enough that I could smell his cologne—the same expensive scent that used to make me feel safe and now made my skin crawl.
“We’re going to talk about your boyfriend.
About how he’s been playing hero with my wife. ”
“Ex-wife. We’re already in the middle of a divorce.”
“Was it? Because I never signed any papers. Did you think a piece of paper could end what we have?”
My heart started beating faster. “The papers were served. You were supposed to—”
“I was supposed to do a lot of things. Like letting you go. Like accepting that some other man could take what belonged to me.” His voice was getting harder, more dangerous. “But I’ve never been good at accepting defeat.”
Through my earpiece, Agent Morrison’s voice: “Keep him talking.”
I forced myself to focus on the mission, on getting the evidence we needed. “How did you get into Kieran’s system?”
“Does it matter? Money talks, Willa. Resentment talks even louder.” He smiled, and it was the same charming expression that once made me feel chosen. Now it just made me feel sick. “Amazing how many people harbor grudges against successful men like your precious Kieran.”
“Who was it?”
“Someone who understood that golden boys need to be brought down a peg. Someone who knew exactly how to hurt him where it mattered most.” His smile widened. “His company. His reputation. His precious merger was going to make him one of the most powerful men in the security industry.”
“Sarah Kim,” I said, the pieces began clicking into place with horrible clarity.
“Very good. She was passed over for promotion one too many times. Turns out loyalty doesn’t pay the bills when your boss is too busy playing white knight to notice the people who actually built his empire.”
I felt sick thinking about the betrayal, about how Kieran would take the news that someone he trusted sold him out. But I pushed the thought away, focusing on what we needed.
“And the threats against the clients? The federal judges, the CEOs?”
“Insurance,” he said casually, like we were discussing the weather. “To make sure you’d come. To make sure you’d understand the stakes.”
“You’re talking about innocent people’s lives.”
“I’m talking about leverage. About making sure you remembered what happens when people cross me.”
That was when I saw it—the slight bulge under his hoodie, the way his right hand kept drifting toward his hip. He was armed. Of course, he was armed. This had never been about talking.
“You’re not here to negotiate,” I said, taking a step backward.
“No, I’m not.” He reached behind his back and pulled out the gun—the same silver pistol he used to shoot me in that alley. The sight of it triggered every survival instinct I developed, every memory of pain and terror, and the belief that I was going to die. “I’m here to collect what’s mine.”
“The FBI is here. This building is surrounded.”
“I know. That’s why we were leaving through the service tunnels.” He gestured toward a dark opening in the far wall that I hadn’t noticed before. “Did you really think I met you here without an exit strategy? I planned this for months, Willa. Every detail, every contingency.”
Through my earpiece: “Willa, we see the weapon. Get down. We’re moving in.”
But before I could react, before I could drop to the floor or run for cover, Dex lunged forward and grabbed me, the gun pressed against my temple as he pulled me back against his chest.
“I wouldn’t,” he called out to the shadows, somehow knowing exactly where the agents were positioned, “unless you want to redecorate this place with her brains.”
The warehouse erupted in controlled chaos, FBI agents emerging from their hiding spots with weapons drawn, red laser sights dancing across Dex’s chest and arms, but never settling because I was in the way.
“Let her go,” Agent Morrison shouted from somewhere behind a concrete pillar. “This is over, Hartwell.”
“This is over when I say it’s over.” Dex’s arm tightened around my waist, and I could feel his heart beating against my back, fast and erratic. “Did you really think you could trap me? Did you think I was that stupid?”
“You’re surrounded,” another agent called out. “There’s nowhere to run.”
“There’s always somewhere to run if you’re willing to pay the price.” The gun pressed harder against my temple, and I could smell his sweat, his desperation. “The question is whether your precious Willa is worth that price to them.”
I tried to stay calm, to think through my options, but being pressed against him brought back every memory of helplessness I fought so hard to overcome.
The way he used to pin me against walls during arguments, the way he held me too tight when he was angry, the way his strength was always a weapon.
“You know what’s funny?” he whispered in my ear, his voice conversational despite the chaos around us. “He still hasn’t chosen you. Not really.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your knight in shining armor. Even now, even after everything, he’s not here. He’s sitting safely in a van somewhere, letting other people risk their lives to save his precious girlfriend.”
“He’s not—”
“I was there when he didn’t choose you the first time, Willa.” His words were like acid, burning through all the careful confidence I built up. “You forgot about that?”
The memory hit me like a physical blow. The morning after that kiss, I lay in bed staring at my phone, waiting for him to call.
The days turned into weeks of hoping, of making excuses for why he didn’t reach out.
The parade of sophisticated women who followed, each one a reminder that I was never enough for someone like Kieran Cross.
“Come on, we’ve been happily married,” Dex continued, his voice getting softer, more poisonous. “I was the one who saw your value when he couldn’t. I was the one who chose you first, who fought for you, who was willing to do anything to keep you.”
“By hitting me. By controlling me. By trying to kill me.”
“By loving you!” His voice exploded against my ear, making me wince. “Do you think your precious Kieran would have fought for you the way I did? Do you think he would have moved heaven and earth to get you back?”
“He saved my life.”
“He saved his guilt. There’s a difference.” The gun shifted against my temple as he gestured with his free hand. “But where is he now, Willa? When you’re in real danger, when you really need him, where is your hero?”
That was when I heard Kieran’s voice, close enough to make my heart stop.
“I’m right here.”
I turned my head as much as I could and saw him standing at the edge of the light—no vest, no weapon, no backup visible. Just him in an expensive suit, walking into a situation that could get him killed.
“Kieran, no,” I breathed.
“Let her go,” he said to Dex, his voice calm and steady and completely focused. “Your fight is with me, not her.”
Dex laughed, the sound vibrating through his chest. “Finally decided to join the party? I was starting to think you really were going to hide behind the FBI.”
“What do you want?” Kieran took another step closer, his hands visible and empty. “Money? Information? I’ll transfer everything to you right now.”