“You ungrateful little bitch,” she spat. “After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me?”
The next few seconds happened in slow motion, but Icouldn’t have stopped it if I wanted to. Maeve lunged. Sloane countered with a right hook to the left side of her jaw. It was spectacular, until I realized my girl didn’t have a clue how to throw a punch. We were gonna have to make a trip to the emergency room before we went home.
“Ow. Crap. Son of a biscuit, that hurts.” Sloane hopped from foot to foot, cradling her hand to her chest.
“Let me see.” I carefully examined her thumb. It was already turning varying shades of light purple. She’d tucked it in. Rookie mistake. “You’re gonna need an X-ray.”
“She assaulted me. Arrest her.”
“You struggled and I had to slam you to the ground. Isn’t that what you saw, Special Agent Mitchell?”
“Sure was, Detective Black.”
“You’re all corrupt,” Maeve continued complaining loudly.
Sloane slumped against me. She was done. Between the kidnapping and the shitshow with her mom, adrenaline dump was hitting her hard. I recognized the signs. Bending down, I scooped her into my arms, bridal style, and hauled ass out of there, muttering words of praise the entire way. I was so damn proud of her. She stood steady where some would have cowered. Our children were lucky to have a mom with her strength and grit.
There was a slight chill in the air when we exited the house of horrors. My team was huddled together on the front lawn, likely debriefing after the events of the day. Thankfully, someone thought to drive my SUV down from our staging area. Not that I wouldn’t have carried her the whole way. I would’ve. But this was quicker.
Lanie broke away, trailing us up the sidewalk. “Is she okay, Duncan?”
“She’ll be fine.”
“What do you need?” she asked, reaching out to open the passenger’s side door.
“Can you grab an ice pack from the kit in the back?”
“You’re hurt, Sloane?”
“Just my pride.”
“And her thumb,” I countered.
“It’s not bad anymore,” she muttered as I eased her onto the leather seats.
“Humor me.”
“Here you go.” Lanie squeezed the white pouch, releasing the ammonium nitrate into the water to create the instant cooling effect.
“It’s not going to feel the greatest, but it’ll help with the swelling and bruising.” She winced when I laid it across her thumb. “Sorry. Hold it on until we get to the hospital.”
“I’m not ungrateful, you know.”
“Sunshine.” I leaned in, kissing her lightly on the lips. “She was lashing out. Her words were meant to deliver maximum damage.”
“Well, it worked.”
“I wish I could say you’d never have to see her again but, unfortunately, there’ll be a trial unless she pleads guilty. After today’s performance, I don’t see that happening.”
“No. She doesn’t think she did anything wrong.”
“Let’s focus on something more important.”
“Like what?”
“Like where you want to go on our first family date.”
All the dates in the world would never make up for the years I missed, but the huge grin on her face was a start. I shut the door and jogged around to the driver’s side. Peering over the hood, I found all four of my agents waiting on the curb. No words were needed. They’d stay and wrapeverything up, including the dreaded paperwork. I owed them each a nice steak dinner once our hectic schedule settled down. Unfortunately, we still had the investigation into the car accident to solve.