STEAM & SMOKE | 18+

CHAPTER | 4 |

PRESENT DAY

"MALIA," Duke called from my living room. I entered, zipping my dress.

"You okay?"

My boyfriend grinned at me, holding roses. "Guess who got the promotion."

"Wow!" I clapped, excited for him. "Congratulations!"

He pulled me into a hug. "I couldn't do it without you. If you weren't going to work, we could have spent time together."

I gave him a quick kiss. "You know I want to but I can't. I have reports to write up and cases to close but after we can celebrate after."

"My girlfriend the investigator," he chuckled. "Go to work. We can go out in the evening."

I picked up my coat and left, leaving him in my apartment. Hailing a taxi, I made my way to the tall glass building where I worked. After the mission with Ghost, I applied for a position in New York where I would be able to work for the FBI but at the same time solve crimes that didn't involve tattooed assassins. There were only rare times that I had to be undercover.

I pushed open my office door and ignored the frown on Harry's face as I passed him in the hallway. He also became an investigator but preferred to work in the field. I sunk into my chair and turned on my computer.

"Time to work," I said, trying to invoke enthusiasm. Twenty reports later, someone knocked on my door and Harry walked in.

"I didn't say come in," I complained, folding my arms.

"Too bad," he shot back. "They're asking for you in the interrogation room."

"Why?"

He threw his hands up annoyed. "How should I know?"

Barging past him, I went to the elevator with him following me. We arrived to the thirteenth floor where the director was waiting for us.

"Malia, we need your help," he said tiredly. "He's refusing to answer unless you're there."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused. Without answering, he ushered me into the room where almost a dozen people stood watching the muscular man in handcuffs on the other side of the glass.

Ghost.

He looked the same - larger than life and somehow even more handsome. His eyes met mine through the glass and he smirked.

"He can't actually see me right," I whispered. On his side, the glass was a mirror. It wasn't possible.

"Malia is here," the director spoke into the microphone.

"Bring her in," Ghost replied, pointing towards the seat in front of him. "She can ask me any of your questions."

"What's going on?" I demanded, my heart pounding in my chest. Fear, lust and desire all ran through my body at the same time.

"He was caught around the place of Tim Kroft's murder," Harry explained, reading from the file in the table. Tim Kroft was a massive drug dealer who had been avoiding the law for many years. "He handed himself in as a witness."