“You’ve gone back there,” Cole rightly surmised. “I don’t get it. For months you’ve done nothing but try to convince us that Sloane’s clean. Now you wanna put her out of commission when we can use her? She has access to things you don’t.”

“We’re not using Sloane for anything. I want her out of there.”

“You’re thinking with your dick, brother.”

How wrong Cole was. I was thinking with my heart. I was thinking that if Sloane got hurt or worse, turned up like her friend, I would lose my fucking mind and burn that mansion to the ground. I’d maim and kill and not think twice.

Unable to explain what I was feeling without giving away I’d fallen for a woman who I barely knew, I did the only thing I could do. I flipped my teammate the middle finger and started toward my bedroom. But I stopped in the hallway and turned back.

“Do me a favor. The next time Sloane’s over, put on a fucking shirt.”

My demand said it all, gave away what I was trying to hide, yet I couldn’t find it in me to care.

“Jealous?” Cole smirked.

“Red with it,” I admitted.

“Not green?” Cole quipped.

“Green would imply I’m envious,” I corrected.

After the initial shock of seeing Cole come back shirtless from his run, Sloane had settled in and ignored Cole’s state of undress. She hadn’t stared at his chest or given him lingering looks. She’d seemed more concerned about Wilson’s grumpy disposition. The man in the suit had her on edge. Yet I couldn’t stop the jealousy and possessiveness from gnawing at my insides. It was all I could do to keep myself in check when I watched her work. I knew what she saw. Every night. Every room she entered. Sex in all forms that sex could be had. I didn’t need my brother, my teammate, my friend adding to my growing frustration.

I parked my car and scanned the lot. It was earlier than when I normally showed up yet there were already twice as many cars.

Fuck.

I shot off a text to Wilson informing him of the situation and added as many license plates as I could see from the safety of my BMW. When I got back his reply, I deleted the text and shoved the phone under the front seat and grabbed my work phone. If shit went down and my car was searched all they’d find was a burner phone with no calls, no texts. If someone looked through my work phone, they’d find plenty. Fake calls and texts to fake colleagues courtesy of Shep. I shoved the phone into the inside pocket of my suit jacket and exited the car.

There would be a great many benefits to this assignment being over. The top of the list would be taking down another scumbag. The side effect to that but equally important would be to save innocent women from horrible fates. Another plus would be getting Sloane the answers she wanted—however, I feared they were not going to be the ones we wanted. And if by some miracle after close to seven months of being held against her will, used the way I knew sex trafficked victims were used, if Elise was still alive, she would not now or ever be the same woman Sloane knew.