A shiver shook her body. “No.”
He looked back toward the street. The van was gone, and, like a freaking amateur, Cole hadn’t gotten the vehicle’s license plate number. “Do not move, understand?”
Other people were gawking. Voices were rising and falling.
He yanked out his phone. Dialed his partner. When James Smith answered, Cole snapped, “We had an abduction attempt.”
“Already? Didn’t you just get into town? Man, good thing you were there.”
His gaze slid back to Evangeline. He hadn’t done jack. “She fought him off herself.”
She’d wrapped her arms around her body. Leopold was crowding in close to her. Cole pressed his lips together, tried to take a moment, but… “Shit,” he snapped at Leopold. “Can you give her some air? Stop closing in on her!”
Leopold sniffed.
“Black van,” Cole fired into his phone. “One guy in the back, wearing a ski mask. He’s the one who tried to grab her. Driver never left the vehicle. Didn’t get the tag number.” He rattled off the restaurant’s address. “See if our team can access street cams and figure out where the hell that van is going.”
“On it,” James assured him instantly. “And you’ll be on her?” A deliberately mild question.
Cole’s eyes narrowed. “Do not fuck with me right now.”
“What are you talking about?” James was all innocence. “I simply meant you’d be staying with our target, that’s all.”
Bullshit. That was not all, not by a long shot. “I’ll be staying with her.” There was no way that he’d back off now. First order of business? Get her the hell off that street. He shoved the phone into his pocket and reached for her hand.
“Shouldn’t we be calling the police?” Leopold asked. “That feels like the thing to do. That jerk was trying to grab Evie’s purse!”
What? Cole squinted at Leopold. “That guy was trying to grab Evie. He didn’t give a shit about her bag. He wanted to take her.”
Leopold gulped. His face blanched. “That’s why you have a bodyguard.” His voice dropped. “Eves, you’re in danger!”
“She is.” Cole pulled her closer to him. “And that’s why I’m getting her out of here.” Too many people were around them. Too many unknowns. “We’ll handle the police, don’t worry.”
“But—”
A white SUV braked near the corner. He recognized the ride and the driver who hopped out and hurried toward them. Chase Durant’s weapon was in the holster under his arm. “James said you needed transport.”
Cole nodded.
Chase opened the back door. “Your carriage awaits.”
Cole urged Evangeline forward.
She dug in her heels. Her head turned, and she peered anxiously up at Cole. “Someone…that guy in the mask tried to abduct me?”
“Yes.”
“Harrison was right.” A tear leaked from the corner of her eye. “They’re coming after me again.”
That tear wrecked something inside of Cole. No, no, it made him want to wreck the bastards who’d hurt her.
I’m one of those bastards.
“They will not get you,” he swore. “I will stay by your side. My team will catch them.”
“But they didn’t last time. The men who took me got away. They’ve been out there the whole time.”
Chase coughed. “Uh, Cole, you coming?”
He didn’t look at his buddy. “Things are different this time.” He wanted her to fully understand this next part. “I’m different. I will not let you down. I just need you to trust me.”
But…
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
A knife right to his heart. That was what her words felt like. Not unexpected, but it still hurt like a mother. “Then how about you at least just get in the SUV? Let me take you someplace safe.”
She nodded. “Take me to Harrison.”
Was Harrison her safe place? I want to be her safe place. He didn’t say that, though, because he wasn’t a complete idiot. “Fine.”
She headed for the SUV. Stopped to look back at Leopold. “I’ll call you.”
“You’d better,” he told her.
Cole slanted a glare his way. Leopold was gonna be a problem.
Evangeline jumped into the back of the SUV. Cole put his hands on the vehicle’s door frame and ducked his head to follow her.
“You okay?” Chase asked softly. “I swear, man, you kinda look like you lost your best friend.”
He immediately schooled his expression. “Not even close.” He slid in beside her. His leg brushed against hers. She scooted over to the side, putting more distance between them even as Chase hurried back to the driver’s side.
No, he hadn’t lost his best friend. He’d lost something even more important.
Her.
I lost her two years ago. And I don’t think I will ever get her back.
The SUV shot forward.
***
“He tried to kidnap me.” Evie stared straight ahead as the SUV swept into the parking garage of her brother’s building. She was far too conscious of Cole sitting beside her. The man seemed to take up way too much space. He was big and looming and, dammit, warm. Warmth seeped from him and surrounded her, heating her chilled skin. “Some jerk tried to grab me right off the street.”
“We weren’t followed to that restaurant.”
Her stare whipped toward Cole. In the darkness of the parking garage, it was hard to make out his features. “How can you be so certain?”
“Because I was looking for tails. There weren’t any.”
“Like you couldn’t have missed them,” she muttered. Someone was awfully confident.
From the front seat, there was the sound of a throat clearing. “That’s like Wilde 101, ma’am,” the driver announced. “If you can’t see a tail, you don’t deserve to be lead on a case.”
Her head was spinning. “What is Wilde?” Though the name was ringing a vague bell in her mind, she was just too dazed to fully piece things together. Almost kidnapped. Right off the street.
“It’s our security agency.” The driver was certainly being helpful. “Didn’t Cole tell you about it?”
She strained to see Cole’s features in the dark. “No, he didn’t tell me about the agency.” She licked her lips. Adrenaline coursed through her body. It was practically pulsing from her pores. “He did mention a team, though. I’m guessing you’re on that team?”
“Chase Durant, at your service. I’m normally more of a shadow lurker on a case like this one, but when James called and said you needed fast transport, I got you out of there ASAP.”
“James? He’s another, uh, team member?”
“James Smith,” Chase supplied. “Though I don’t know how much you’ll be seeing him, either. But he’ll always be close.”
“He a shadow, too?” Evie asked.
“More like a ghost.” Humor trickled through Chase’s words.
Humor that she didn’t get. Evie frowned. “Did I miss a joke?”