“A sting operation. The only way to make Arthur stop is to make him think he’s getting what he wants. He’s an arrogant son of a bitch. If he thinks he’s won, he’s more likely to get careless enough to make a mistake. So I decided to play to that arrogance. I talked to Hadley and Rebecca. We set them up as deliberate targets, trying to get him to go after their accounts, their information, to do the same thing to them. I had to meet with him to plant both of them as potential targets. To make it seem like I was desperate to keep him from going after them. Because that’s exactly what we want him to do.”
The idea of deliberately baiting Arthur to go after people they cared about had her chest seizing. “Why would you want him to do that? And who is ‘we’?”
“Remember, I told you my buddy Cash used to be Army Intelligence?”
“Yeah. You said he’s in cybersecurity now.”
“He is. He’s also a consultant for the FBI, among other alphabet soup agencies. I put him in touch with Special Agent Marquez. He’s got a mechanism in place—don’t ask me what, I don’t understand all the ins and outs of that hacker shit—so when Arthur goes after either them, we get access to his system, and the FBI can get everything they need to prove that he’s been behind all of this shit from the beginning. So he can get sent back to prison. You just happened to show up in the middle of the whole damned thing, and I couldn’t break character to come after you until he was gone.”
He’d edged closer through the whole explanation until he was standing close enough she could feel the heat of him.
“You said you couldn’t live like this anymore. Neither could I. This is probably more of a Hail Mary than a miracle, but it’s what we’ve got. And I’m so sorry that you heard that. I’m so damned sorry that, for even a single moment, you thought that was the truth. I love you, and I’d never, ever deliberately hurt you like that.”
Cayla stared up at him, her mind spinning through everything he’d just said. He’d given her the impossible. A rational explanation. One that meant their marriage wasn’t a lie. And he’d given her something even bigger than that.
“You love me?” It was everything she’d hoped for but hadn’t let herself truly believe was possible.
His brows drew together. “Have I done that shitty a job of showing you?”
She barked out something halfway between a cry and a laugh. “No. No, you haven’t.” Because everything he’d done, every action he’d taken, had been a silent declaration she hadn’t been ready to trust. But after all this, how could she ever do anything else?
Holt framed her face between his broad palms. “Then let me be perfectly clear. I love you. I am in love with you. I am in love with our daughter. And I don’t want to let either of you go. Ever.”
Relief and joy were a tangle inside the heart that was suddenly beating again. She flowed into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I love you, too.”
“Thank Christ.”
Holt’s mouth found hers, and his kiss tasted of relief and desperation. Cayla held on, pressing closer, even as his arms banded tight enough to squeeze her breath. She didn’t care, so long as he never, ever let her go again.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured.
“I thought you didn’t want me anymore. That I’d driven you away with my lack of faith. Of trust. I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
Holt combed the hair back from her face. “You have nothing to apologize for. We’ve both got issues and sore spots. Those are challenging enough in a normal relationship under the best of circumstances. These past weeks haven’t been the best of circumstances. The important thing is that he didn’t break us. No matter what else he pulls, no matter how powerful he seems to be, he can’t do that. We won’t let him.”
Cayla tightened her hold as she looked up into those beloved blue eyes. “No. We won’t let him do that.”
Someone cleared their throat. “I mean, this is touching and all, but am I the only one who wants to know if it worked?”
“Denver!” Misty hissed.
“Sorry, but they’re not exactly quiet, and I’m invested now.”
Cayla dropped her head to Holt’s chest with a watery laugh before pulling back just far enough to look up at him. “Did it work? Or did I screw everything up? Was it all for nothing?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. We’ll just have to see what happens. Unfortunately, it’s probably going to be another waiting game.”
She was so very tired of waiting.
The phone in his back pocket began to ring.
Keeping one arm around her, Holt fished it out. “It’s Cash.”
“Put it on speaker,” Cayla urged.
“Hey. You’re on speaker. Tell me you’ve got something.”
“Bet your ass I do.” Cayla had no idea what Cash looked like, but even she could hear the smug grin in his voice. “The bastard didn’t wait twenty minutes before going after Hadley. I’ve got a back door into his entire system and access to everything he has. He’s officially locked down. Can’t hurt anybody else. I’ll be transferring all the information to the FBI in short order.”
“Really? Does that mean it’s over?” She hardly dared to believe it.
“This son of a bitch is going back to prison real soon.”
“And he wasn’t able to actually touch Hadley’s information?” Holt confirmed.
“What do you take me for? I promised she’d be safe. She’s safe.”
A woman’s voice came over the line. “Don’t insult the man, Holt.”
He tensed. “Why is my sister there with you?”
“Like I was going to sit out on a sting? This is the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in ages. Our boy, Cash, is a computer genius.”
“Why, thank you, madam.”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” Hadley told him. “I have way too many stories about you from when we were kids to see you as anything other than a mere mortal.”
“I’ve got plenty more on you.”