She nodded stiffly, staring straight ahead. “Yep. Loud and clear.”
“I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’re just doing your job,” she said, her voice hollow and empty. “We had sex, but it’s over and now you have to do what you told me you’d do all along. Turn me in.”
He wanted to take her dark shades off her face and make her look at him. Wanted to see her damned eyes as she rejected him—because that’s what she was doing. She was killing everything they had going on between them. There would be no recovering from this. No happily ever after—not once they were finished.
“But I want to help you. So damn bad,” he admitted, still white-knuckling the wheel. “I can’t do this to you. Don’t make me.”
She finally moved, turning her head toward him. “Your job was to get me to help, or to send me to jail. Since I didn’t help, that leaves one option. Get it over with, and stop worrying about me. I’m no longer yours to worry about.”
The hell she wasn’t.
He turned onto the road, and the rest of the ride passed in silence. What more was there to say, really? As he led her through the lobby, she clung to his hand. It killed him that she was going to hate him when this was all said and done.
He walked to Cooper’s door, raised his fist, and knocked.
“Come in,” Cooper called out.
Jake took a deep breath, glanced at Tara, and opened the door. They walked inside, and Cooper focused on their joined hands. “We’re here.”
“I see that.” Cooper leaned back in his chair, his brown hair perfectly in place. “What’s up?”
Jake flexed his fingers on Tara. “I have news.”
“I figured. What’s it gonna be?”
“She can’t help us with the code.” He gripped Tara tighter when she tried to pull free. “No matter what we do or say.”
“I suspected this might happen.” Cooper sighed and set his pen down, his gaze still locked on Tara. “I did my research on you. A woman so set in her values isn’t going to bend for someone who goes against her own beliefs, now is she?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do it. No matter the consequences,” Tara said, her voice trembling on the last word. If not for that, she could have been discussing the weather for all the concern she showed. “Send me to jail. Give me to Soltese. I don’t care.”
His boss stared at Tara, his expression completely unreadable. Jake couldn’t tell if he was plotting to arrest her or looking at her with admiration. Maybe both. “There will be consequences. There’s nothing I can do about it. I promised, and as a business owner, I have to follow through…no matter how much I don’t want to.”
“Yes. Of course.” Tara nodded. “I understand.”
Cooper pushed back from his desk and stood. “I’ll take you in myself and let them know how much you cooperated with us—”
“No,” Jake said. “You didn’t let me finish.”
Both Cooper and Tara turned to Jake in surprise.
“Yeah?” his boss asked.
He stepped closer to the desk, knowing it was now or never. It was the only way to save her. “You’re not taking her anywhere because she’s innocent.”
The other man raised a brow. “What?”
“You heard me.” He pulled Tara behind him. She must’ve been in shock, because she let him. “Arrest me. I’m the one who stole the vase.”
Tara gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Coming clean.” Jake took his ID out of his pocket and threw it on the desk, followed by his office keys. “She’s innocent. I blackmailed her into taking the fall for me, because I didn’t want to go to jail. Hell, she doesn’t even know a damn thing about codes. That’s why she can’t help us—because she’s clueless.”
Tara gasped. “He’s lying. He’s so obviously lying.”
“I’m not. You know I used to be a thief too, just like you know I’m telling the truth.” Jake locked gazes with his boss, refusing to look at Tara. It might break his resolve to do what had to be done. “I’ve been trying to control this situation the whole time. I planted Tara’s name in your lap because I didn’t want to get caught. I knew with a little blackmail and a few kisses, she’d be putty in my hands. She was.”
“What?” Tara stiffened behind him, tore free of his hold, and came to his side. “No. No. He’s lying to protect me. Don’t believe him. He had nothing to do with this.”
Jake’s chest tightened, making it hard to breathe. This was it. The moment when he ruined everything they had, simply because he couldn’t send her to jail. Wouldn’t. “It’s not a lie and you know it, man. How do you think she could have ever gotten the code from me? She’s good, but she’s not that good. This was all me. An inside job.”