she was going to find out whether the MPD or the DEA wanted her to or not.
As a last-ditch effort that in her gut she knew was going to prove futile, she’d scanned all the financial records on the firm’s database for the name Raul Cortez. Nothing. None of the wire transfers sent to Brazil had gone to the known cartel boss. Relief had washed through her at that knowledge while in the back of her mind the thought that the information could be on Rome’s home computer nagged.
He wasn’t a drug dealer, she told herself. He was just a man. A man with an enigmatic personality that had drawn her in instantly. A man with just the barest hint of sadness in his dark eyes. He had a past, just as she did. His life had been rough, just like hers. That was their connection, the link that had unwittingly drawn them together.
It wasn’t this case. Kalina had to believe that. She had to believe that there was more between her and Rome than a case that was going to fall apart any minute now. Wanted desperately to believe there was more.
Did that make her an idiot? Probably. Did she care? Hell no. She’d waited a lifetime to feel what she did when she was with him. The intensity of their … what? Was it love? He hadn’t said the word and neither had she. Could that be what she was feeling as her mind wrapped around thoughts of him and her body trembled in anticipation of his touch?
Insistent knocking at her door interrupted her thoughts. She looked down at her watch: It was half an hour before she expected Rome. Maybe he was as anxious as she was to get this date started. With one last look in the mirror she smoothed the sides of her hair, toyed with the longer tendrils at the top, and wondered briefly about letting it grow out to a softer, more feminine style.
As she made it through the threshold of her bedroom into the tiny hallway leading to the living room, an uneasy feeling replaced the happy little butterflies that had been mingling in the pit of her stomach a moment ago. Dread and apprehension swamped her with each step she took. The knocking at the door was loud thumping that almost sounded like it would splinter the wood.
It wasn’t Rome.
The feeling she had was different. Whoever was on the other side of the door was bringing a shitload of tension and anger with him. Pausing at the table where her keys and her purse rested, Kalina slid the small drawer open and retrieved her gun, slipping it into the back band of her pants before approaching the door. She thought about asking who it was but figured the odds were slim she’d get the truth. Her gut said whoever this was wasn’t here to wish her a happy evening.
So when she pulled the door open and saw Ferrell standing there she wasn’t as surprised as she probably should have been. He pushed past her, moving quickly into her apartment.
“We need to talk,” he said, moving to the window and looking out before turning to face her.
“Well, hello to you, too,” she snapped, closing the door and turning to face him with all the agitation she was feeling at the way he’d knocked on her door and the fact that he was here at her home at all.
“Where are you with Reynolds? Did you get anything from his place last night?”
Kalina was about to answer him, about to share the information about the Cortez Cartel, when she paused, tilted her head, and stared at Ferrell a little closer. He wore wrinkled khakis and an even more wrinkled white buttondown shirt with huge sweat rings beneath his arms. His forehead was beaded with moisture, his lips still so cracked she thought she could feel their pain.
“What the hell is wrong with you? And how did you know where I was last night?” she asked.
“You!” he yelled pointing a shaking finger in her direction. “You do not question me! I’m your superior! You answer my questions! Now, what did you find out?”
He was out of his damn mind, that’s what he was. As much as Kalina wanted a promotion, she was sick and tired of his verbal abuse. She’d been taught, even if it was by her temporary parents, that to get respect you had to give it. Ferrell hadn’t respected her from day one. And if she had to file a complaint against him she would, but she’d be damned if he was going to come into her home yelling like he’d lost the last bit of mind he had.
“You’ll have my report soon,” she said, keeping her eyes on the man because there was something about him that just wasn’t right. Uneasiness swamped her and even though she stood perfectly still, inside she felt like she was pacing, watching, waiting for the right moment to …
“I want your report now! You tell me what you know about that animal before I…” His voice trailed off as he looked back, out the window again.
Kalina tried to look over his shoulder but all she could see was the crimson coloring of the fading afternoon. She could hear cars going by, but she wasn’t close enough to the window to see if one had stopped outside, or was waiting for him, or what.
“Maybe we should call Wilson,” she suggested, already reaching into her purse for her cell phone. This was the last straw; she had no intention of dealing with Ferrell and his unstable ass anymore. If that meant she was off the case, then so be it.
Kalina would have never given Ferrell credit for being alert enough to move so fast, but as her back slammed against the wall, his fingers gripping her wrist so tight she dropped her cell phone to the floor, she’d had second thoughts.
“You tell me what’s going on right now! You fucked him, I know that much,” he said before doing the most disgusting thing she could ever imagine: He lowered his head, sniffing down her neck, to the rim of her blouse just above her breasts. “Yeah, you fucked that animal. You let him touch you all over so now you stink just like him! Like them!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” The words came from her trembling lips because as Ferrell held her in his tight grasp Kalina battled with flashbacks of a night long ago. A night when she’d been grabbed just like this and thrown to the ground. When her clothes had been ripped from her and her body touched by vicious, vile hands she wished now she could cut off with a blunt-edged knife.
“Don’t you lie to me, bitch! Don’t you dare lie to me!”
His eyes were glazed as more sweat poured from his brow. He smelled awful and he was the one sniffing her. Her stomach roiled and she thought she was going to be sick. But the roiling continued, pushing at her as if begging her to do something, anything.
Ferrell’s hands went to her neck. Instinctively she grabbed at his wrists, hoping to stop him before he could tighten his grip, but it was too late. He’d started choking her, all the while yelling in her face.
Her vision was getting blurry as she tried to lift a knee to his groin. The gun was at her back, she could reach for it, but her hands fought frantically at the hands squeezing the breath from her. He moved and yelled louder, choked her harder. She wanted to claw at him, to smack his hands away from her throat, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t think past wanting to breathe.
But she could see.
And it was familiar eyes that appeared in her line of sight.
It was the eyes of the beast that had been in the alley with her that night.
Rome had been furious when he’d left his house. Angry at himself for blowing up at the three men who were the closest to him, who had stuck by him all his life. He felt trapped in a situation he didn’t know everything about yet and struggled to control. Panic gripped him as he drove through the city. He hadn’t waited to see if Nick or X had followed him but he suspected one or both probably had.
Ezra had gone upstairs the moment he hung up with Rome and only heard voices as if they were simply talking, so he didn’t go in. Instead he stood guard at the end of the hallway waiting until Rome arrived.
Kalina.
Her name was a litany in Rome’s mind.
Who was she? What did she really want from him? And could he really handle the answers to those questions?
A cop. He would have never imagined it, but that was probably because he couldn’t see past the woman. The female who had enamored him from the first night he’d seen her. It wasn’t a mistake, he knew instinctively. Meeting her two years ago wasn’t a mistake and even though he hated to lend credence to it, he feared it was the destiny his mother had spoken of so frequently.
But if Kalina was his destiny, how would he deal with her connection to law enforcement, to the reason she was at his law firm in the first place?
