Cardinal Rose: Reverse-Harem Series (The Cardinal Series Book 5) by Mia Smantz

Author:Mia Smantz [Smantz, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Once we stepped into the witness protection area living quarters, the sense of being transported to another world hit me. The higher-ups at Delta wanted the subbasement level to resemble a prison, and they’d done an outstanding job. The nonexistent transition between apartment and concrete halls induced shock, requiring a second to adjust to the bright, homey space.

Before I acclimated, someone grabbed me from the side. I didn’t have to look to distinguish that it was CJ. Lemons and bergamot permeated the air around him.

“Hey! Where are you taking her?” Brock demanded. He didn’t sound so happy about having our time interrupted once more.

“I found something on my computer,” CJ called without slowing.

“You don’t have access to the internet down here. That’s part of the protocol. No contact with the outside world.”

Yeah, that had been quite the shocker when Karl informed us. I was waiting to hear back from Andrea. Secondly, Rollins, or whoever owned the number on that business card, was expecting me to reach out to them, and third, I had no way to log onto the dark web and survey any chatter about criminal movement. It felt like being blindfolded. Whereas the guys could still go upstairs, I’d been confined down below for the time being due to their fear that Petrova might know Delta’s location from keeping close tabs on his daughter—something we’d discovered he’d been doing with alarming accuracy—and if Petrova knew, then Ivanov might also have Delta’s location.

So, as added precaution, they kept me sequestered away. If Ivanov never spotted me here, he had no true reason to attack. At least, that was the guys’ working theories.

“I just got down here like three seconds ago—found it while I was in my office upstairs.” CJ’s response was curt, and he didn’t waste any time shutting us into one of the other four bedrooms.

I realized that assuming he was mad over what’d happened in the predawn hours this morning could be wrong. Maybe he peeked in on Corbin’s room yesterday and got upset about what we’d done together.

Could this be the first reality check that the relationship they claimed to want would not work for them? His twin had rolled with the punches just fine, and he’d assured me the others had as well, but I couldn’t shake the nagging sense that I got way more out of the relationship than the guys did.

CJ flopped on the bed, staring at his hands in his lap.

My heart clenched. Taking some time to procrastinate in my blissful denial as long as possible, I took in the room. It mirrored my own. None of the unique style and character that suffused their rooms could be seen in these bland, uniform designs. I missed CJ’s bat cave bedroom and Aleks’s bunker of a room ready for a Russian winter in the middle of balmy Norfolk.

Without their personal touches, I had no idea of CJ’s roommate.

CJ let out a second sigh before looking up. “Look, I don’t have a psychology degree like Emerson to guide you to answering my question.

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