All Chapters of Off-Limits Puck: Daddy's Best Friend is my Ruin: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

MELANIEImmediately leaving Gavin’s office, I rushed to my car, my thumb scrolling my phone, hovering on the contact of the only person who could tell me what the hell was going on.His line rang till it went into voicemail.“Shit.” I got into the car, slammed the door, and dialed again, gripping the steering wheel tightly. This time, he picked up, and his voice came through. “To what do I owe this surprising call?”“Where is Eva?” I demanded him, my voice cold. All the fear I usually felt around him went out the window in that instant.Silvio chuckled softly. “Hello to you too, Melanie. You sound like you’re in quite the mood this morning.”My knuckles turned white as I gripped my phone. “I need to know if you have Eva,” I choked out, then forced myself to add, “Please.”Screaming at him wouldn’t get her back. I had to play this smart.“That doesn’t sound very nice, Mel,” he said, clearly entertained. “It seems you think I… kidnapped your friend.”“You threatened me yesterday. What e

GAVINI wore a path into the floor of my office, five steps to the window, five back to the desk, like an animal that was caged and didn't have anywhere else to go. What the hell was I thinking?My phone sat on my table like a live grenade. I snatched it up for the hundredth time, checking for any message, anything at all to calm me down, but the screen remained blank. The silence was torture.The room suddenly felt too hot, my shirt clinging to my back as my chest tightened.Damn it. I slammed my palm against the wood, a dull ache forming in my hand. Why did I send her? What was I really thinking? What if something happened to her in there? The thought of Melanie being anywhere near Silvio Rossi made my stomach twist violently. I had put her in danger for this mission, and the guilt was eating me alive.My phone suddenly vibrated against the desk, startling me. I grabbed it fast. “Yes, Joe. What’s the update?” My voice came out rough and impatient."I trailed Melanie to a private l

MELANIE I stared at my phone until the screen went completely black. For a moment, I was speechless. I just sat there in the driver’s seat, blinking at my own faint reflection in the glass.Did he really just hang up on me?I sat in my car for like ten minutes, staring blindly at the dark windows of my house without really seeing them. Gavin’s sudden evasiveness and the way he had avoided my questions left me uneasy. It worried the hell out of me. It felt like he was hiding something big, and no matter how hard I tried, the pieces refused to fit together.I let out a shaky breath; my body suddenly felt heavy and tired after everything that had happened. Seriously, Gavin needed to pay me for the detective work today. It had drained every last drop of energy from my body. I forced the car door open and stepped out into the afternoon sun. My thoughts immediately drifted to Eva.Silvio was holding all the cards right now, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t hurt her, though I couldn’t be su

GAVINI sat alone in my office at the Federal Intelligence Unit, staring at the picture on my phone like it was a ghost from hell. My hands just wouldn’t stop shaking.Logan.But how? I had watched my little brother die in my arms ten years ago. The memory came rushing back, clear and painful.It was his fifteenth birthday. He had begged me for weeks to take him skiing. I finally said yes. We were supposed to leave straight from home, but I got a sudden call from work. I had just started as a junior agent, desperate to prove my worth to the Bureau. I told Logan to ride along with me, promising we would celebrate right after I finished at the field office.That was the single most catastrophic mistake of my life. We walked straight into an ambush.The gun battle erupted without warning, and Logan was caught in the crossfire. I watched the bullet tear through his chest. I held him as blood poured out, soaking my hands, his eyes wide with fear as he gasped my name, and tears spilled fr

MELANIEMy heart felt like it was going to come out of my chest. The humid afternoon air hit my face like a brick wall, but I didn't stop, completely blocking out the sound of Eva’s voice shouting my name as she chased me down the driveway. I threw myself into the driver’s seat, slammed the door shut, and jammed the keys into the ignition with shaking hands.Screw her. Screw all of them. I was fine before all of this. I would be fine now.I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned pale. The tires screeched as I sped away. The road blurred past until I finally pulled into the gravel parking lot at Riverbend Park.I hadn’t planned to come here. Going home meant facing my father and Cassandra, and that was the last thing I needed. Gavin’s place felt like walking into a landmine. So my hands had brought me here on their own, to the same patch of grass where my heart had been broken once before.I walked slowly down the dusty path and sank onto one of the old swings. The chains