“I went outside. Looked up and down the sidewalk. I saw our food sitting by the curb, and when I went to get it, I was hit hard on the back of the head.”
“Oh my god! Are you okay?” Cassie did her own assessment then, noticing for the first time the drops of fresh blood that had soaked into the collar of his white t-shirt. “Archer, you’re bleeding!”
She tried to reach for him, to check the severity of his injury. But once again, the gentlest of hands halted the well-intended movement.
“I’m fine. Son of a bitch must’ve been hiding around the corner.” Another tight clench of his jaw. “There was a chunk of concrete with blood on it lying near me when I came to, and I knew that’s what he’d used to knock me out.” Regret and fear filled his gaze. “I knew he was in here. With you.”
“I’m okay.” At least she was pretty sure that was the truth.
“I didn’t know how long I’d been out,” Archer continued. “I got here as fast as I could, but I didn’t…” His voice broke and he cleared it before finishing. “I didn’t think I would get to you in time.”
“But you did,” Cassie reminded him. “Archer, you saved mylife.”
For the next several seconds, his stare remained fixed with hers. Though she tried like hell, she couldn’t get a read on what he was thinking. And when he finally did speak again, it was to someone else, altogether.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialed a number and putting it to his ear. When they answered, Archer’s deep voice filled the air around her as he spoke to the person on the other end of the call.
“It’s Nash. I need you come to Cassie’s law firm. And bring your cuffs and a fucking ambulance.” There was a slight pause before he responded with, “Because Cassie was just attackedhere in her office, that’s why!” Another pause stretched between his words before he hissed out a low, “Yes, I’m fucking sure.” Archer’s handsome face twisted with seething rage as he told the other person, “Because I just walked in and found Edward Yates trying to strangle her to death with a goddamn rope!”
His voice boomed off the walls, the anger there enough to pull her focus away from Eddie’s unconscious form. Glancing up, she expected to find him staring down at the man he’d nearly killed. Only he wasn’t looking at Eddie.
He’s looking at me.
“I’ll keep his ass secured.” Those brown eyes burned into hers. “You just get yours here. And bring your best people. There can’t be any fuck-ups on this.” Not waiting for the other person to respond, Archer ended the call and pulled her back into his trembling arms.
“That was Detective Knox. The medics are on his way. It’s going to be okay. You’re safe, now.”
But as Cassie stood in the warmth and protection of Archer’s arms, she wondered if anyone was ever truly safe.
14
I wantto fucking end him.
Archer looked away from his side of the interrogation room’s two-way mirror to steal another indiscernible glance in Cassie’s direction. She’d been checked out by the medics on scene and then again by a doctor in the E.R. across town.
That last one had been upon his insistence.
After throwing a handful of staples in his scalp, the doc there had also wanted to run all kinds of tests on him to make sure there was no fracture or internal bleeding. But Archer had nixed that plan right in the bud.
He’d suffered far worse during his time as a SEAL and had come out the other side just fine. He was fine. But Cassie…
I almost lost her.
Archer didn’t care what she said. What happened to her today was on hundred percent on him. He knew better than to let his guard down like that. He was a trained operative, for fuck’s sake.
But he had let his guard down because she’d also been right. There was no way they could’ve known Yates was the manbehind it all. That fact still hadn’t been proven in a court of law, but he’d literally caught the prick in the act of attempted murder.
Fancy lawyer or not, no way the asshole would walk on those charges.
He’ll die before I ever let that happen.
The thought probably should’ve given him pause. Archer had killed, but he wasn’t akiller.
Every life he and his team had taken was the life of someone intent on doing them or someone else harm. Evil beings whose sole existence hinged on their reign of terror.
As a SEAL, it had been their jobs to put that reign to an end. But to kill someone out of pure anger or revenge…
There had only been two times in his life he’d felt that kind of uncontrollable rage. One was today when he’d burst into Cassie’s office. Seeing a masked man there, on top of her…stranglingher…