Chapter 14 · My Husband's Seal

"Take your hand off my wife."

Carson's voice cut across the command hall before Deputy Vale's fingers could close around my arm.

Vale stopped.

So did everyone else.

His grip stayed on me for one ugly second. Then he looked past my shoulder at Carson and smiled.

"Your wife? That's not what her file says."

"Your file is forged," I snapped.

"Cute." Vale tugged me forward. "It still doesn't change the warrant."

Carson crossed the hall in three hard strides. His black coat snapped behind him. The silver command seal at his throat caught the lamplight.

He looked exactly like the man who'd arrested me.

The man who'd signed my brother's detention order.

He also looked like the only person in the city who could stop Vale from taking me.

That was the part I hated most.

"Let her go," Carson said.

Vale's smile thinned. "Chief, wanna explain why you brought a known saboteur into the broadcast chamber?"

"She's my contracted wife."

The room exploded into whispers.

A clerk dropped a stack of slate cards. Someone near the doors laughed.