Chapter 436
The others drag the stranger upright and tie him roughly to a chair while trying to wake him. Once they have him up, Noah takes my hand and starts pulling me toward the door.
I resist instantly. “Wait—I want to hear what he says p>
“You’ll know what he says, but you’re not staying in there to witness what my men are about to do to make him talk.” He replies firmly without breaking his stride.
Something about the calm certainty in his voice makes a chill run through me.
I let him pull me outside and the second we’re far enough from the others, Noah turns toward me and all traces of relief vanish from his face and he now looks really furious. The kind of furious where you want to strangle someone.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he demands.
I blink at him. “I was trying to get answers p>
“By sneaking into a murder house alone?” His voice rises with disbelief. “Sierra, that was fucking reckless, not to mention stupid p>
“Don’t call me stupid!” I snap, crossing my arms. “I knew all of you would try to stop me, so I did what I had to and followed my gut p>
“Well, your gut could have gotten fucking killed,” Noah shoots back.
“I’m fine p>
“You don’t get it, do you?” he growls. “You could have been seriously hurt, Sierra. If anything had gone wrong, you could have died p>
Noah drags a frustrated hand through his hair before looking back at me again, his chest rising and falling heavily.
“Do you have any idea what went through my head when you called me?” he asks harshly. “I thought I was about to walk in here and find you hurt p>
I open my mouth to argue again, but he cuts me off before I can.
“Honestly, I feel like bending you over my knee for the crap you just pulled p>
I stare at him in complete disbelief. “You cannot be serious right now p>
“Oh, I’m very serious.” He answers, glaring at me.
Despite everything, irritation flares inside me. “Well, if I hadn’t taken the risk, then I wouldn’t have captured him p>
Noah looks like he wants to argue but can’t fully deny it.
“That doesn’t make what you did okay p>
“It got results p>
“That’s not the fucking point p>
We continue arguing back and forth for another minute until Noah finally exhales heavily and rubs his face in frustration.
His expression softens slightly and he reaches for my hand again, his thumb brushing gently across my knuckles.
“I don’t want to control you, that’s not what this is.” His gaze locks onto mine. “But I also don’t want anything happening to you p>
Something in his voice makes my chest tighten. I stare at him, words completely failing. I should say something, anything, but the look in his eyes, the fear still lingering in them, the love I don’t want to acknowledge, stops me.
“I’m just… I’m really fucking happy that you’re safe because I honestly don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you again.” He exhales slowly.
The raw honesty in his voice steals every response from me, so I just stand there mute, unsure what to even say. Before I can figure it out, one of his men steps outside.
Noah immediately turns toward him. “Did he talk p>
The man nods once. “Yeah p>
“What did he say?” I ask quickly even as my stomach tightens.
The man’s expression darkens slightly. “All he knows is that he was hired to take you out p>
A chill immediately runs down my spine.
“Did he say who hired him?” Noah asks sharply.
The man shakes his head. “The request came anonymously through the organization he works for… But he said whoever it was paid serious money to have her killed p>