Redeem My Heart by Kennedy Layne Read Free Book Online

didn’t trust her own department supervisor. It could be a reliable co-worker, but that was highly doubtful as well considering they would both have had to come up with a plausible explanation for their leave of absence during the same period. Fallon had a legitimate excuse, courtesy of Gavin Crest. Ryland wasn’t surprised in the least to find the man himself waiting for them inside the entryway.
    “I recall a promise made by you, if I’m not mistaken.” Ryland carefully set his belongings in the hallway, wanting his hands free should he need to reach for his carry weapon. Crest’s parting words regarding what would happen the next time they met resonated through Ryland’s mind. The former Marine had already proven that he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot in any given situation. The scar on Ryland’s upper thigh was proof of that. “You’re a man of your word, but I didn’t expect you to sink to a level where it was an uneven match.”
    “Don’t give me a motive to go through with it.” Crest eyed Ryland over the rim of a white ceramic mug. He’d shed his suit jacket and currently had the cuffs of his starched dress shirt rolled back. His weapon sat securely in the shoulder holster and Ryland allowed a bit of tension to release from his posture. Crest’s line of vision drifted to his left and a small smile formed on his mouth. “I don’t think it’s me you need to be worried about at the moment.”
    Jax Christensen sat stiffly on the couch, his irate stare letting Ryland know just how well he was liked. Wasn’t this just a grand reunion of brothers in arms? The blond haired male still held a grudge over the contract on his wife’s life. Ryland wasn’t responsible for initiating the directive, although he had absolutely planned to carry it out. The general contractor on that project had been eliminated, so there technically shouldn’t be any hard feelings over a voided agreement. It was more than apparent that Jax disagreed.
    “Drop it. Both of you,” Fallon ordered, walking past Ryland and into the parlor off the grand foyer. She all but ignored the collection of men, including the odd one out who was currently on his phone. Whoever he was, he didn’t quite fit into the CSA mold with his patch-covered leather vest biker appearance, the bold tattoo on his neck, and the two-inch scar that marred his jawline. Were those chaps he was wearing? “Neither one of you would be here and willing to see this through if you thought E.D.A. didn’t exist.”
    “Don’t tell me that Fallon has convinced you that Neoni was working under the guise of some ultra-classified program that went sideways?”
    Ryland didn’t wait for Crest to respond as he walked farther into the room. He surveyed his surroundings, liking what he was seeing. The inside of the house was as affluent as the outside, with a slant toward the comfortable side. The furniture was early American Colonial, while the ancient hardwood floors were twenty-inch wide oak planks covered with Venetian woven rugs. From the obvious cost that had been placed into the period furnishings, it was more than apparent that Fallon’s grandmother had done the décor with original pieces circa 1730.
    “E.D.A. did exist,” Crest stated matter-of-factly, walking through the parlor and past the heavyweight champion. Ryland still wasn’t sure what the man’s function was supposed to be, but it didn’t matter. Fallon thought that they could all work together, but that just wasn’t the case. Crest led the way into a drawing room where the large center table was set up as a desk with multiple laptops and a portable printer. There was a file in front of an empty seat, but Ryland wasn’t in a hurry to view the contents. Crest always did his research and if he said the E.D.A. was authentic…it had been at some point in time. He also used past tense, so it wasn’t an issue any longer, just as Fallon had said previously. “It was a covert program created during the