Chapter 579
Chapter 578:
It was a punishing, desperate kiss — tasting of salt and adrenaline. His hands tangled in her damp hair, holding her still as he poured every ounce of his terror and relief into her. Carmen kissed him back with equal ferocity, her nails digging into his shoulders, anchoring herself to the only safe place she had left in the world.
The following morning, the atmosphere in the top-floor boardroom of the Collins Group headquarters was sterile and tense.
Gaston sat at the head of the long mahogany table, listening to a presentation on European asset allocation. But his sharp eyes kept drifting to his left.
Justin sat beside him. The Senator looked immaculate in his tailored suit, but his energy was anything but. His leg bounced steadily beneath the table. His fingers turned a silver Montblanc pen over and over. Every thirty seconds, his eyes cut to the screen of his encrypted phone resting beside him.
When the meeting finally adjourned and the executives filed out, Gaston remained seated. He pushed a cup of black coffee across the table toward his brother without a word.
“You are projecting anxiety across the entire room,” Gaston said flatly. “Is there a problem with Carmen p>
Justin stopped spinning the pen. He picked up the coffee, his jaw tight. “It is just D.C. politics. Sterling is making moves p>
Gaston leaned back in his leather chair and studied his brother’s rigid posture.
“Collins men are many things,” he said quietly, his voice carrying a dark knowing. “But we do not lose our minds over politics. We only lose our minds over our women. If your gut is telling you she is hiding something, Justin, do not ignore it p>
The words landed like a sniper’s bullet.
Justin left the headquarters ten minutes later and climbed into the back of his armored black Cadillac SUV. His head of security, Lee, sat in the driver’s seat.
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Justin pulled out his phone and stared at the blank screen, his heart pounding with a familiar, toxic rhythm. Last night, Carmen had told him the truth. He had held her, promised her his protection, felt the full, agonizing weight of his own guilt. He should trust her. But Conrad Sterling was a ghost who had already stolen seven years of his life, and the thought of Carmen walking toward that man alone — trying to protect Justin by keeping secrets again — was a slow poison spreading through his veins. This wasn’t jealousy. It was the terror of watching her step into a line of fire she didn’t understand.
He fought his own instincts, his thumb hovering over a hidden tracking application he had sworn he would never open again. Then he locked the screen and shoved the phone back into his pocket.
“Lee,” Justin said, his voice tight. “Did you secure Carmen’s detail this morning p>
Lee glanced at the rearview mirror, his expression measured. “Yes, sir. But she dismissed her regular driver. My men reported she took a private car to the Upper East Side. She went to meet with the investigator, Davis, again p>
The poison ignited.
She was going back. After everything — after he had held her and begged her to let him handle it — she was still moving on her own. The fear for her safety curdled instantly into a possessive, blinding rage.