Passion(White Collared Part 4)(3)
Despite Logan’s insistence that he drive her to the station, she chose to go with Nick and meet Logan there. She could sense he had questions. Questions she didn’t want to have to answer.
They spent the next few hours being grilled by the police, both separately and together. She told them almost everything—from the phone calls and hacking to both attempts on her life—leaving out only her undercover work at Benediction. Her head pounded from exhaustion, and even after drinking a whole carafe of bitter coffee, her eyes began to droop. She hadn’t gotten enough sleep this past week, and it had finally caught up to her.
In the afternoon, the police confirmed through the parking structure’s video surveillance that Joseph had borrowed the company-owned BMW on the day she’d been run off the road. It was the same car that had whisked Jaxon away from the police station after his interrogation. Officer Standish informed them that the detectives had found additional evidence in a storage locker registered to Miles Joseph. When they’d raided the space, they’d found blue rope, two pairs of women’s panties, and a video tape. While they’d have to do DNA testing to match the panties with the victims, the video tape clearly depicted Joseph smothering Stephanie to death while having sex with her.
Her eyes burned as she thought about Martha Webber. Hopefully, she’d find peace now that her daughter’s murder had been solved.
She stood in the lobby, waiting for Nick to give her a ride home. The door to the back hallway opened and Nick walked through with Logan.
“You shouldn’t have told her over the phone,” Nick said. “It was reckless. I’m tempted to have Reaver fire your ass.”
She quickly jumped to Logan’s defense. “Nick, he didn’t do anything wrong. He was only doing his job, the same as me. He tried to convince me not to go by myself.”
Logan looked grim. “Mr. Trenton, you do whatever you feel necessary. I deserve it after allowing a girl like Kate to enter a battlefield without protection.”
She threw up her hands. “What is it with you alpha men? They grow you on trees around here?”
Logan’s expression softened as he faced her. “When it comes to a woman he cares about, any decent man—alpha or not—would walk through the nine circles of hell to protect her.”
Wow. Whoever won this man’s heart was going to be one lucky girl.
She hugged him and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. “You’re a good man, Logan.”
He squared his shoulders. “I haven’t always been, but I hope someday to earn that label.”
She smiled at him. “Take it from me. You already have.”
They had started toward the exit when Jaxon came through the back, his eyes bloodshot and his hair as wild as the day they’d met. Logan nodded and departed through the front door, leaving her with Jaxon and Nick.
Jaxon’s face was set in stone. “Are you both okay?”
She tried to gauge how he was feeling, but he looked so damned tired, she couldn’t get a read on him.
Nick gave Jaxon a manly half-hug with a smack on the back. “Yeah, man. It’s over. Miles Joseph killed Alyssa.”
Jaxon raked his fingers through his hair. “Why? Why would he kill her?”
His question took her aback. Why had Joseph killed Alyssa? Would they ever learn the truth?
“I don’t know, but at least you can reclaim your life,” Nick said.
Jaxon nodded, carefully avoiding her gaze. “Thank you. For everything.”
She set her hand on his forearm. “Jaxon? Can I speak with you for a moment?”
Nick’s gaze ping-ponged between her and Jaxon. “I’ll get the car and wait for you outside.”
Jaxon’s lips pressed together in a grim line.
She inhaled sharply, fighting off the dread snaking around her chest and squeezing her heart. “What happens now?”
He frowned, his face pinched as if he were in physical pain. “Now?”
“You know, with us.”
The hurt in his eyes nearly knocked her off her feet. “There is no us. You broke up with me, remember?”
She blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. It was one thing to show vulnerability in the bedroom, but here, in the police station, she had to keep her composure. “I’m so sorry I didn’t trust you. Could you forgive me?”
He pulled her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “There’s nothing to forgive. The whole time I was demanding honesty from you, I was lying myself. If anyone needs to apologize, it’s me.”
She relaxed into him, the rhythm of his heartbeat under her cheek soothing her. “Don’t get me wrong. It hurts to know you kept Bethany Gold a secret from me and that you lied about your alibi. Now that Alyssa’s killer is dead, there’s nothing keeping us from being together. We can do this for real.” For the first time since she’d left his house, she allowed herself to hope they could make it. “I belong to you, Jax,” she said, intentionally using that name.