Confidential [ON HOLD]

4. Family Ties

"I'm taking these off, but I expect you to be on your best behavior," Benjamin said, finally unlocking C.J's handcuffs—for good this time.

She scoffed, "I'm not a dog, Benjamin," she replied. "Believe it or not, I only find it difficult to maintain my restraint when I'm in your presence."

"I mean it, C.J. My sister is two months along and I don't need your temper stressing her out for anything that I did," he gritted out, glaring at her. "Are we clear, C.J?" he asked, gripping her arm when she didn't say anything.

With a small incline of her head, his grip loosened as he nodded at the two-storey house on the other side of the street. He noticed C.J rubbing the bruises forming on her wrists and briefly thought to apologize. But then he remembered who he was thinking of apologizing to and he shook his head to himself. He might have been sorry the first time he lodged a knife at her shoulder, but that was the last time. He knew that C.J wouldn't be sorry for anything she did to him and neither would she expect an apology from him.

When she caught him eyeing her wrist, she slipped her hands inside the pockets of her jean jacket. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw C.J slightly glance at him, as if wanting to ask something but thinking better of it. "Quick question," she uttered, showing her inability to hold a question and proving that she was still the same C.J that Benjamin knew. "Weren't Cathy Stevens and Maverick Collins going to marry?"

"Yes," he replied.

Her gaze burned into the side of his face. "Then why is he married to your sister?"—her features up scrunched in confusion—"Or is Cathy Stevens your sister?"

He risked a glance at her, finding she was already looking at him. "No, Stevens is not my sister. I only know her because she was my brother-in-law's ex-fiancé—and that is really old news," he told her, his lips pulling into a smirk. "And you would know that if you bothered to talk to people at work."

"After San Diego, Cathy Stevens is rising in ranks; she's making herself a name in the FBI. Collins lost a major ally when they broke it off"—she scoffed—"even if they're still friends, there's going to be some bad blood there—that risks and compromises so many operations. That's exactly why colleagues should stay limited to work—friends at most if the person could be a potential ally."

They were standing on the walk that led to his sister's house and Benjamin couldn't stop himself from stopping and turning to face her. "Are you listening to yourself? Friends, allies, compromise—do you hear yourself, C.J?" he asked. "Talking nicely to someone once in a while won't create bad blood. Try and not think with your fists for once, C.J."

"Well, I talked nicely to you once," she said, scoffing as she narrowed her eye at him. "And then after everything went bad, look at where we are—I was cuffed and kidnapped and dragged all the way to Maryland in the last thirty-two hours alone." She left him standing alone as she moved towards the door. "I wonder what happens next."

He quickly caught up and risked a glance her way. Her jaw was clenched as she glared at the front door as if trying to burn it down. "Well, if you failed to remember, you kicked me. I was not responsible for the downfall of our... of our relationship," he uttered, quickly. When he saw her roll her eyes, he stopped her from walking further as he stepped in front of her. "And you know, generally when people become friends, they don't plan on proposing marriage the next day."

He could tell he was about to be punched. C.J's lips were tipped downwards into a scowl and her eyes narrowed on him like they always did when she was aiming for a target. Her hand came out of her pocket and formed into a fist as it came flying towards his nose. But before Benjamin could even try to block, he twisted his neck to look behind as the door creaked open.