Unlocked (Ida x female reader)

Chapter 24

"Can this chat start with what happened to your neck?" He asks, joining me on the couch.

I pull my ruined chain and locket out of my pocket. "As you can guess, it wasn't exactly a friendly visit." My neck feels bare without the metal touching my skin. I haven't taken it off since Mitch died and seeing it in my hand brings forth unwanted emotions that I'll have to deal with later. I put the jewelry on the coffee table, looking at it out of the corner of my eye.

"Did your friend do this to you?"

"No. It was Fergus. He knows that I helped with the phone."

"He hurt you." His hands curl into fists in his lap and his face twists with anger.

"There's more and in the name of being honest and keeping your trust, I'm going to tell you everything." I reach over and pull his hand into my lap, fiddling with it so I have something to do with my hands.

He's quiet and I wait until some of his anger fizzles and his hands relax before I go on.

"They asked me to do a job." Tenya stiffens further, which based on his already stiff posture, seems impossible.

"And what did you say to that?"

"I technically didn't answer. I said I would see them tomorrow, but didn't agree to anything." I explain and he leans back against the couch.

"What is the job."

"Do you know anything about a shipping container with jewels?"

"I do. My agency has been hired to provide extra security for the yard as long as the receptacle is there."

"Fergus wants to rob it."

"I need to call Tensei." He stands, but I keep his hand firmly in mine.

"He has Chris." I say softly, pleading him not to run off right now. "Fergus will hurt him if I don't show. I don't want to help, I promise. I meant it when I said I put that life behind me, but I can't let Chris get caught in the cross fire of my choices."

"I understand your want to help and I love you for it, but you can not get involved any further. You will get caught and you will be arrested."

"Tenya"

"Tell me the rest" he's back to the cold hero I originally met and I start to think it was a mistake to tell him.

I smother that feeling and recount everything else that happened. When I get to the part about Fergus hurting me, he starts shaking with anger and stands to pace to expel some of that energy.

"I need to go to work. The team needs to know" he says, taking off in the direction of our bedroom.

"Tenya!" I call, chasing after him, much slower than my speedy man "wait. Just talk to me really quick."

"I have to tell them. I will not sit on this. Do not ask me to" he replies from our walk in closet as he changes into his under clothes to pull his hero costume over it.

"I'm not asking you to, but will you just slow down?" I grab his arm and he pauses in the middle of pulling his torso piece on. "Martac, my friend, is going to be there."

"Then you need to warn him away."

"he won't listen. They have the love of his life" I plead "is there a way you can spare him?"

Tenya searches my face, eyes full of anguish and torn between his moral code and wanting to give me anything I ask for.  "I can not. If he is there, he will be arrested."

"What if I was in Chris' position? Would you do what Martac is doing?"

"I would do anything to keep you safe and face the consequences for those actions." He answers without hesitation "but fortunately, you are out of harms way and I have a job to do."