Page 113 of Criminally Yours

“It’s not.”

She hmphed. “We’ll make it safe. Give me your taser or some other piece of equipment you probably shouldn’t have. We’re going now, no matter what. I don’t know how everyone will be, but if something has happened, you might need a mental health professional, even one who is a little too invested in the people, like me. If it is a trap, they might be expecting you to leave me here. Can we risk that? Isn’t it safer to be with bodyguards than alone?”

“I can’t lose you.” He squeezed his fists to stop the images testing his restraint. “But I have no objectivity around you. Fine, you’re coming, but when we get close to the house, you’re going under a blanket on the floorof the car.”

Strike broke the speed limit to Bear and Liss’s house. Millie tried contacting them throughout the journey, but nothing connected.

Stike answered the console when Stal called.

“How close are you?” Stal asked.

“We’re five minutes away. You?” Strike grunted.

“Ten minutes. Cam’s still an hour away. I don’t understand what the fuck happened. That house is the safest place outside of mine.” Stal’s voice wobbled. “I can’t have anything happen to my baby girl.”

“Don’t let the worst thoughts in your head,” Millie said softly.

Strike glanced behind the passenger seat to where she sat with a blanket. She appeared calm, whereas he wanted to take a baseball bat to anyone who stood in his way, and he’d start with the guy in the pub. “Get back under the blanket.”

She slunk under the material, leaving a gap so she could breathe.

“Millie tried my parents, but there’s no answer.”

He longed to have Millie’s hand on him now, calming his shaking legs, but it wouldn’t stop the intrusive images, nothing could. It was rare for his job to pose a threat to his parents, but they’d always supported him. Could he put Millie in the same position?

Strike drove down Bear’s driveway. His pulse quickened as he checked for danger.

“We’re arriving now. I’ll leave Millie in the car as I go in. We’ve got this, Stal.”

Stal ended the call.

“Are you happy with the plan, Millie? I can’t be worried about you in the house because I have no fucking clue what I’m going to find in there. I’ll get you when we need you,” he said.

The darkness crept in. It threaded through his veins thefurther he got from control. It was fine when it wasn’t someone close to him, but these were the people he loved the most.

“It might be okay,” she said hesitantly, her voice quivering.

“I have to prepare for the worst.” He parked the car and gave her one last look before jumping out. “Lock all the doors behind me, and don’t come out until I say.”

“I love you,” she whispered, but he caught it.

He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. Of all the times for her to say it. “I love?—”

Her screams were the last thing he remembered before he fell to the ground.

CHAPTER 48

Millie

Afigure stood behind Strike’s tumbling body.

Millie tried to get out the side of the car and escape, but the man reached her as she toppled out. He was dressed in black with a low cap hiding half his face. His thick black beard revealed he wasn’t Hugo.

Liss had taught her a couple of self-defence moves. She screeched as she ran at him, repeating a new mantra.

Kick him in the balls.

She pulled back her foot and swung at his crotch, but he seized her ankle, squeezing it like a vice and jerking so hard she tumbled, landing on her back. She held her cry, not giving him the satisfaction.