Chapter 5: A Final Warning

“You could help, you know,” he shouted back to her. He was beyond annoyed, not to mention he needed to get back to the warehouse to meet Germaine. He felt around helplessly, cursing his bad luck. Today was supposed to be an easy day. It wasn’t supposed to be the day he ran into his ex. This was never supposed to happen. He was always supposed to stay dead.

After he met Angela, he decided that law wasn’t his forte, but he became very interested in criminology. After they graduated, he joined the police academy and was recruited immediately. It didn’t hurt that his girlfriend’s father was the police chief. Still, he stood on his own merits. He was very good at what he did.

A few months into his position, he was tapped to be part of a special force to take down the notorious gangster and drug lord Germain Fuentes. Angela’s father was about to resign to run for mayor, and he wanted the b*stard caught before he left.

The team got so close to nailing him. Then the head of the taskforce had a heart attack. It was tragic, but no one thought anything was amiss. Two weeks later, though, another cop was killed in a botched robbery. These things happened, so no one suspected a connection. Until Daniel’s brakes were cut, these all seemed like isolated incidents.

Once that happened, it was clear Germaine was targeting officers on the taskforce. If only Daniel’s life had been in danger, he would’ve happily accepted his fate.

He shook his head, refusing to think about that as the sun bore down onto his back. He couldn’t change the past. He couldn’t even change the last hour. But he’d be d*mned if he let Angela get caught in the crossfire. Not after everything he’d done to protect her. Finally, a glint of silver caught his eye, and he pocketed the keys.

He walked back to the car, purposely not acknowledging her. He didn’t have it in him to fight. He just pulled the driver’s door open and started the engine. She could get in or not, but he wasn’t going to wait around to find out. He slammed the door, walking away from her.

“If you didn’t want to be with me, you didn’t have to fake your death,” she shouted at him. “You could’ve just broken up with me like a normal person.”

He knew she was just saying whatever she could to stop him from leaving. At least, he hoped she was, and that she didn’t truly believe that. Everything he’d done in the last three years had been to protect her. He’d sacrificed his entire life so that she could be safe. He couldn’t walk away with her thinking anything negative about his character. So much for avoiding a fight.

He turned on his heel, stalking back towards her in anger and desperation. “Do you understand where you are right now? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? If anyone else had walked into that warehouse, you would be dead right now. I’d probably be digging a shallow grave for you out here instead of looking for you d*mn keys!”

She stared at him evenly, but he knew her well enough to know that she was trying to calm herself down. She’d always been good at hiding her emotions from everyone apart from him. He noticed the way her fingers twitched against her leg, how she breathed shallowly. She was nervous at the very least.

He came close to her, cupping her face in his hands. “He’ll kill you if you stay,” he whispered softly, his mouth just inches from hers. She pushed him away.

“I’ll kill you if you if you make me leave,” she responded, finally putting her anger on full display. He just laughed in her face.

“Who should I be more afraid of? My angry ex or my boss who has a literal body count?”

She glared at him. “You should be afraid of the journalist who could blow your cover with one story,” she warned. “I’m sure Germaine would be thrilled to hear about the decorated ex-cop on his payroll.”

“What do you want me to say?” He screamed in frustration. “Either way, I’m leaving this job in a body bag. Could you live with my blood being on your hands?” He was genuinely curious.

“As far as I’m concerned, you died three years ago in a car crash,” she answered coldly.

Her twitches betrayed her, though. The vein throbbing on her forehead was a clear sign that she was holding in her tears. He wanted to hold her, but there was nothing he could do or say to make it better.

He couldn’t resist, though. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. Reluctantly, her arms wound around his shoulders. He breathed heavily, holding back his own sobs.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he whispered into her ear.

She was so caught up in the embrace, she didn’t realize that he was pulling her off the car. She’d barely registered being moved at all when he gently put her down inside of her car. He even fastened her seatbelt. The whole experience had her so dazed, she wasn’t sure how she would get back home. He slid a card into her pocket, though she wouldn’t find it until much later.

When he was sure she wasn’t going to follow him, he turned and ran back to the warehouse, just in time to meet Germaine.