“How’d you get this number?”

“It’s pretty amazing what you can do with a little information, Mr. Shaughnessy. Or should I call you Mr. Shavit. That is your real name, correct? Moshe Shavit?”

I was shaking, the emotions rushing through me were so intense. I could barely hold the phone against my ear. I wanted to throw it. I wanted to throw him.

“What do you want, Thomas?”

I’d turned my back on Rachel and Jack, but I could feel Jack coming up behind me, feel his eyes boring through my back and into my soul. And I knew it was all about to come crashing down around me. My secrets. My truths.

My life.

“I want to play a little game with you, Moshe. Can I call you that?”

“What game?”

“I want Stone Security out of town. And I want you to do it.”

“Don’t you think they know that? Don’t you think you sent a big enough message this morning?”

“That was just the beginning of what I have planned. If Jack Stone doesn’t pack up and move on, he’s going to lose more than a building.”

I turned, my eyes flashing to Jack’s. I knew he had an idea of what I was being told. He’d been the one on the other side of this call before. The encouraging nod he offered me helped pull my emotions into control.

“You can go fuck yourself, Thomas. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Somehow, I knew you’d say that. But I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that Rachel’s been feeding me information about you. And that information has been quite helpful. In fact, thanks to her and her use of your story to figure out the code on this very phone I’ve called you on, we know exactly where to find your sister.”

I stiffened. “You touch one hair on her head—”

“What? You don’t want her to end up like your Kala?”

I had no words for that. The image in my head was enough to freeze me right where I stood.

“You do what I ask, and we won’t go anywhere near her. You don’t, and I’ll have my people at her little cottage before the sun sets tomorrow night. You understand?”

His cold voice had turned downright deadly. Desperation rushed through me as I tried to figure out how fast I could have one of my contacts at my sister’s doorstep. But even under the best of circumstances, it would likely not be quick enough.

How did he know she was living in a cottage? Was he guessing? Or did he really have people there, watching her as we spoke?

“What do you want?”

“I want the preacher that you and your friends have been protecting. I want him on the front steps of the church at this time tomorrow afternoon.”

“Why?”

“That’s my business, now, isn’t it? And then I want you, your boss, and all your friends—including the redheaded hellcat with the little sex shop—out of town by this time Friday.”

“What good will that do you? We leave town, we’ll still come back for the trials of your friends.”

“I don’t care about that. What’s done is done for them. This is about the future, about my plans for this town.”

“And what are those?”

“Again, that’s none of your business. All you need to know is that I’m going forward whether you do what I ask or not. The thing is, if you don’t do what I’ve asked, I will make sure your sister experiences the same pain and torture your Kala lived through. Or”—he chuckled harshly—“didn’t live through.”

“You fucking ass!”

“Language, Mr. Shavit. I am a Christian man, remember?”

“You’re an opportunist who will do whatever it takes to get what you want.”

“Aren’t we all? And, hey, you’re welcome for the loan of my woman. She’s pretty great in bed, isn’t she?” There was a slight pause. “I would like her back in one piece, however.”

The line went dead. I wanted to throw it. I wanted to shatter it on the wall above Rachel’s head and watch it shower down over her. I wanted a piece to cut her, to see the mark it would make on her perfect cheek. I wanted to hurt her the way she was destroying me right now.

She’d told him everything I’d told her in confidence. She’d told him when she knew he would use it against me.

She used me.

She knew what I was thinking. I could see it written all over her face. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to hurt her.

“Ten years,” I said to her. “A fucking decade, and you ruin it all in one week!”

I walked out of the room, the phone still in my hand, the device that was my only connection to my past and to my sister’s voice. I held it cradled against my chest, trying to think this through. But my thoughts…I couldn’t get them in order. I couldn’t get Rachel’s face out of my head.

I slammed my fists into the wall and screamed, needing some outlet for the crap that was building in my chest, threatening to blow at any moment. I felt like that bomb back at the warehouse. Any second, I’d obliterate everything around me.

“Patrick.”

I shook my head. “I did this. I brought this onto the company. I’m so fucking sorry!”

“What does he want?”

I glanced at Jack. “The pastor. Fuller.”

Jack half nodded. “I suspected that might be on his list.”

“And us. Gone.”

“Us?”

“Stone Security. He wants you to close up camp, and for all of us to leave town. We have a week.”

Jack laughed, catching me slightly off guard. “He’s bold.”

“I’m surprised he gave us a week,” Crispin said, sticking his head out of the open door of my hotel room. I hadn’t seen him there and was suddenly embarrassed by my outburst.

“What did he say about her?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “That he’s going to want her back when this is all done.”

“Not now?”

I rolled my shoulders. “Maybe he thinks she can still get information out of us.”

“Maybe.”

I turned away as Jack turned his attention to Crispin. “Go see if you can borrow a maid’s uniform. We should get her out of here, move her somewhere safer.”

Crispin walked off. Jack turned back toward the room, but I stopped him.

“Jack, I need to talk to you.”

Jack glanced toward the room, pulling the door closed. He stood there, his expression neutral as he waited for me to speak.

“There are things you don’t know about me.”

I stared down at the floor, my heart heavy. This was not the way I had wanted this to come out. I’d wanted to tell someone about myself, about my past. I had wanted to share my whole story with someone. And maybe that’s why it’d been so easy to tell Rachel. I thought I could trust her, and I was so overburdened that it’d felt good to finally share it all. But now? I felt sick because I knew the truth was coming too late.

“Are you talking about your sister? Ariella? Or the fact that you’re Mossad.”

My head came up so fast that my neck cried out in pain.

Jack chuckled softly. “You’ve worked with us long enough to know what an amazing investigative unit we have. You do realize that our people saw right through your bogus background, right?”

“I didn’t…why didn’t…”

“I’ve known since the day we hired you. I thought you’d be an asset to our team, and I wasn’t wrong.”

“You’ve known all along?”

“Yeah.” Jack walked over to me and slapped me on the shoulder. “And I know why you’re running. I would have done the same thing if someone had done that to Ruth. Or Remy. You’ve got to know that.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he studied me. “I was in the DEA. I have friends in law enforcement in places most people don’t even know exist. I’ll make a call, and we’ll have your sister in a safe house before the end of the day today.” He tilted his head slightly. “I assume that was the threat he made against you.”

“It is.”

“Okay. Call her. Warn her that my people are on the way. And then call your people and let them know what’s happening. I don’t want any trouble when my people do arrive.”

“I will.”

“You’re a part of Stone Security, Patrick. That makes you family. Besides, you saved my life today. I owe you.”

I was humbled by his words. All I could think to say was, “Thank you.”

Jack slapped my shoulder again. “We’re going to move her, and then we’ll get everyone together and brainstorm this. We’ll figure out what our next step should be.”

He was gone before I could respond. I went downstairs, needing the fresh air. It was all happening so fast that my head was spinning. I’d been trained to put my feelings aside, but it was a thing that wasn’t easy to master. I was trained as an assassin, and that I had managed to perfect. But the two together? Not a good mix.

I would never forget what it had felt like to strangle the man who ordered the torture and assault on Kala. I broke into his sanctum and killed each of his men silently as he slept. And then I waited in the dark for him to wake, watched him dream his final dreams. And when he rose, I waited until he’d emptied his bladder and was admiring his face in the mirror. I wanted him to see me, wanted him to know who it was that ended his life. I wanted him to live all of eternity with the knowledge that he died because of what he’d done to my Kala.

I’d never felt bloodlust like that before or since. In fact, I never imagined I’d want to kill ever again. But now? I wanted Briggs Thomas to look in my eyes when he died.

“Ariella,” I said softly when she answered the phone with some hesitation. “I’m sorry, my love.”

“They’ve found you,” she said in her sweet voice, the Hebrew like a salve on my ear.

“No, darling. But I’m afraid they might very soon. I have friends coming to move you, just in case.”

“You have to run, Moshe. Stay safe.”

“No more running. But I’ll be all right. I have good friends here to help me.”

“Do you?” There was such relief in her voice that it caught me by surprise. “I am so happy to hear that, Moshe. You shouldn’t be alone.”

“I’m not.”

And, as I said the words, I realized they were true. I wasn’t alone anymore. I had friends, people who would be willing to put themselves in danger in order to protect me. It was almost overwhelming to realize. It was also deeply comforting.

 

 

I watched from the shadows as they brought Rachel out of the building and put her in a car with one of the operatives from Memphis. He was a good guy, someone I’d worked with in the past. Ben…something. He’d keep her safe.

“You make your calls?” Jack asked, coming over to join me.

“I did.”

“Me too.” He watched Crispin walk over to his car and start it up. “We’re meeting at Alli’s shop. Go take a shower and join us. All right?”

I glanced down at myself, conscious for the first time of what a mess I was. But—unusual for me—I didn’t care.

“I’ll go with you now.”

If Jack was surprised, he didn’t say anything.

The drive was short, but silent. I stared out the window, my thoughts thousands of miles away. Ariella was married now. She had been barely sixteen when everything happened. After our father died, she became engaged to a neighbor boy, the son of a sheep farmer. It was a good match. But then Kala died, and everything turned upside down. I took her away, put her with the family of a wealthy businessman in the big city, a shocking change from the rural village where we’d lived all our lives. There she met a young lawyer who encouraged her to educate herself, something Ariella had always wanted for herself. My mistakes had given her a second chance at her dreams, and she was happy, raising her two babies—a boy and a girl—while working on her Ph.D.

And now, Briggs Thomas, a man she’d never heard of, could destroy all of that. All because I trusted a woman who was not worth the time it had taken to tell her my story.

Anger ripped through me as I realized just exactly how much was at risk here.

I didn’t care about my own life. If he had threatened to call the FBI or Interpol or whichever agency handled this sort of thing, I would have laughed in his face. But to threaten my sister? That was an insult—a fucking travesty—I couldn’t ignore. And he’d known it.

Alli came out of the office when we arrived, moving into Crispin’s arms with an easy grace that was enviable. And then she came to me, concern written in the lines on her face as she took in my smoke-damaged clothes.

“What happened to you boys?”

“It’s a long story.”

She reached up and patted my cheek. “You gotta take care of yourself, Patrick. You know that.”

It was what I’d been telling her since the first conversation we ever had. And clearly she was doing just that. She not only acted like a totally different person, smiling, but not flirting, but her clothing was toned down, her makeup more subtle than it’d been before. She looked…beautiful.

“Marriage agrees with you, Alli.”

“Thank you.”

Quentin was on the stool by the front counter, Matthew sitting on the other side, watching the whole thing from the role of observer, as he was always doing. Tracy was watching us, too, her eyes moving over me more than anyone else, concern also on her face. I could see she had questions, but she didn’t ask.

She was a smart one. Maybe I should have taken her up on all the subtle suggestions she’d made over the last few months.

“We have an issue we need to discuss,” Jack announced as we moved the party to the storeroom, just Stone Security employees invited. “Briggs Thomas, the new leader of the Guardians, has demanded we turn over Pastor Fuller to him by mid-afternoon tomorrow.”

Matthew paled a little, but otherwise had no reaction. Like always, he was sitting away from the rest of us, acting as though he wasn’t a part of our group. Quentin, on the other hand, was right in the center of everything, hanging on Jack’s every word like he was some sort of god. Crispin was sitting on the edge of a box that held massive dildos, just to the right of Jack. His right-hand man.

Fucking asses, all of them. It was my sister whose life was in danger here. None of them had anything to lose in this.

“We hand him over,” I announced.

“No,” Quentin said. “He’s our client. We can’t do that.”

“You don’t know what this man’s capable of. You didn’t see that warehouse blow up!”

Quentin frowned. “It blew up?”

Jack glanced at me. He clearly hadn’t told them what had happened this morning.

“You idiots. We aren’t in the middle of a vacuum. How could you not know?”

“Patrick…”

Crispin got off his box and took a step toward me like that would slow me down. Like I was afraid of him.

“You people don’t get it. It’s us or this weak little pastor. What do we care what the Guardians want him for? At least it buys us time to figure out what to do next.”

“What is this all about?” Quentin asked. “Why now?”

Jack glanced at me, almost as if he was waiting to see if I’d tell them the truth. But my story was my story. I didn’t need to share it with the whole goddamn world just because Briggs Thomas thought he could use it against me.

“Thomas wants us out of town. He’s given us a week.”

That caused a heavy silence to fall over the room.

“We aren’t going, are we?” Quentin asked at the same moment Matthew asked, “All of us?”

“Even you, choir boy,” I informed him.

“Patrick,” Jack warned again.

“But I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“None of us do, Matt,” I said. “That’s the point. He wants to run us out of here so that we won’t interfere in his plans for this loser town. But where are we going? And why would we want to leave, anyway?”

“I’m not going,” Quentin announced. “Not until they give me my father’s ranch back.”

“None of us are going anywhere,” Jack assured them. “But we’ve only got until tomorrow to figure out how to protect Pastor Fuller.”

“Fuck Pastor Fuller!”

Crispin grabbed my shoulders and shoved me backwards. “You need to calm down, Patrick.”

“Why? This isn’t about you, Crispin! It’s not even about them! It’s about me. It’s about my family!”

“What’s he talking about?” Quentin asked.

Crispin pushed me back a few more steps. “Maybe you should go, get some fresh air. Let those of us with clear heads figure this out.”

I took a swing at him because I could. He ducked easily and slammed his fist into my gut.

“Calm down, brother,” he hissed into my ear. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

I could hardly catch my breath. But I knew when I wasn’t wanted, and I could see by the look on Jack’s face, the looks on Matthew’s and Quentin’s faces, that they didn’t know how to handle me right now. I held up my hands and focused on Crispin.

“Sure, brother. I’ll go. But I’m not the one who would have gotten hurt.”

I walked off, ignoring the heavy silence that followed me.

 

 

Uber is a beautiful thing. And so is a bar that serves straight tequila at two in the afternoon.

I sat on a stool and downed shot glass after shot glass, grabbing the bottle from the bartender and sliding a hundred dollar bill into his pocket to keep him silent. Oblivion was a wonderful thing when your teammates decided you were too close to something to be useful.

And with oblivion came an open door to all kinds of forbidden pleasures.

The bar began to fill up after five, all the nine-to-fivers coming to have some drinks before going home to the unhappy spouse and the rugrats. I watched them trickle in, men and women in equal numbers, some with friends or lovers, most alone. A few of them watched me, a few men, but mostly women.

A woman had gotten me into this mess. Maybe a new one would help me forget it.

She was blond and tall, all legs and no ass. She was dancing alone when I first spotted her, but was quickly joined by a liquefied lothario who thought it was okay to put his hands all over her. She pushed him away twice before I got off my stool.

“Let her go, pal. She’s not interested.”

“How would you know?”

“He’s right,” the woman said, once again pushing his hands away. “I’m not interested.”

“Just because he says so. We were good before he came over.”

“Now we’re not.”

I grabbed the guy by the collar of his shirt, jerking him away from her. “Why don’t you go have another drink on me,” I said, shoving a twenty in his shirt pocket. “Or you could always go home to the wife and kids.”

“What makes you think I’m married?”

“You’re wearing a ring, asshole. And you have baby barf on your shoulder.” I flicked it with one nail, the dried mess flaking off over my nail. “Might as well have the kid in a pack on your fucking back.”

The guy looked like a child who’d been chastised. He walked off, his shoulders slumped, and took my place at the bar.

“Thanks,” the woman said.

“No problem.”

She grabbed my arm before I could walk away. “Looks like you’ve had a day. Why don’t you let me attempt to change it up for you? Make things a little brighter?”

I moved into her arms without further discussion. She felt strange there, her body too thin, her curves too narrow. But she was a soft woman, her skin scented with roses and soft as satin. I was good for about ten seconds, my hands properly on the small of her back. But then I began to explore that nonexistent ass and the top of those long thighs.

“You’re fucking hot,” she said against my ear. “Why don’t you have a woman waiting for you at home?”

“Because the only women I want tend to be the kind that don’t stay around for long.”

“That’s too bad. A man like you, you need someone long term. A rock.”

“What the hell do you know about it?”

Her lovely lips parted to offer more helpful information, but I kissed her to shut her up. I wasn’t interested in conversation.

Her mouth was cold, tasted of some sort of sweet frozen drink. But her skin was hot, and she seemed to have no problem with me pressing my hands down the back of her skirt, exploring that missing ass and the lovely folds that opened up into her sex. She pulled my hand around, glancing around the bar as though afraid of what someone would think of her despite the fact that most of these people were blind drunk, and those who weren’t were doing the same damn thing. Or hoping to.

But that was all right. The front offered more access to what I was looking for.

“You know what you want, don’t you, baby?”

“Let’s get out of here.”

She smiled. “Sure. We’ll go anywhere you want.”

What I wanted, though, was to go no farther than her car parked on the side of the building, lost in shadows that would hide us from anyone who wasn’t too curious. I followed her into the backseat, my hands pressing her skirt up around her waist even as our mouths found one another again. Her hands were between our bodies, working on my slacks, her breathing growing heavy against my mouth as I found her sex again, my fingers playing a tune on her sensitive button.

But even as I worked at her, as I tried to lose myself in this act, in this person, my thoughts were jumping all over the place. Rachel telling me she’d never gotten naked in the back of a car. Thomas telling me he knew where my sister was. Knew she lived in a cottage.

Who uses that word in normal conversation?

He knew about Kala. How did he know about Kala?

I’d told Rachel, even used her name, but…why have Rachel pretend she’d been sexually assaulted? Why not just go with the beating he’d given her? Why…or had that been me? Did I jump to conclusions? Or did Rachel tell me she’d been raped?

She told me. She described it.

And her skirt…

He wanted me to jump to that conclusion before she described it to me. But, how did he know that would resonate with me? How did he know I would take her back to my hotel when she asked me not to call the police? How did he know how I would respond to her?

He knew. He knew about Kala before he sent Rachel to me.

But how?

I couldn’t stop the thought process. I had my hand in this woman’s panties, her hand in my pants, her fist wrapped around my length, and I couldn’t stop my thoughts.

What was the matter with me?

If he did know before, how did he know? And why weren’t the Misteret Yisra’el—the Israeli Police—here to arrest me?

I pulled her hands away from me and untangled myself from her.

“I’m sorry. I have to go.”

“Excuse me?”

I reached behind me and unlatched the door even as she tried to slide her hand into my pants again. She scratched my lower belly as she tried to hold on to me, but I was gone before she could get a good hold. I stumbled back and caught myself on another car parked near us. The car’s alarm began going off, screeching in the night air, making the headache I’d been fighting off and on all day come back with a vengeance.

“Drunk ass!” she screamed from the backseat of her car, her skirt pulled up high on her thighs. “Fucking tease is all you are!”

People were coming out of the bar, wondering what all the racket was. A taxi happened to be sitting near the door. I jumped in and threw a couple of bills at him, not even sure how much I’d given him.

“Take me back to town.”

“Someone else called me, buddy.”

“Take the damn money and drive. I’ll pay double whatever comes up on the meter.”

He took off just as my buddy, the married father with the octopus hands, stumbled up to the back door. He slammed his fist against the window, but did little more than leave a smudge.

“Wimp.”

 

 

They had her at Harry Cravits’s house. Crispin told Jack that Alli owned it, that she’d inherited it in his will but hadn’t decided yet what to do with it. To Jack, it seemed like the perfect place to hide a witness. I had to agree that it was pretty brilliant. Hide her right under their noses in a place they’d never think to look. At least, not before tomorrow.

The house was quiet as I approached. I had the taxi drop me off three blocks away, wanting to approach under the cover of darkness. I didn’t want anyone to know I was there until I had the answers I needed.

Rachel and I needed to have a long conversation.

I knew the alarm on the house. Knew the code. I’d installed it.

I checked the back door and found it unlocked. That didn’t surprise me because the lock stuck. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d think it was locked, but it really hadn’t engaged all the way. The guy babysitting Rachel clearly didn’t know that.

I pushed it open and immediately opened the cover to the security system, inputting the code as quickly as I could. No alarms went off. I guessed they hadn’t thought to change anything.

I moved slowly across the linoleum, thankful for good Italian loafers that didn’t squeak when I walked. A quick peek into the living room revealed that Ben was asleep, snoring peacefully on the couch. Not a brilliant idea, but…I supposed if Briggs Thomas came looking for Rachel, he wouldn’t be silent about it.

The hall cut off the kitchen before the entrance to the living room. The carpet dulled my footsteps, allowing me to pick up speed. I glanced in each of the open doorways on the way to the master, finding the two bedrooms devoid of everything but a few boxes, the bathroom clean and smelling of disuse. Harry had been a single man. I supposed he had had no use for the extra rooms.

I was in the room before she even noticed the door closing. She sat up in bed, drawing the sheets up against her chest as she stared at me.

“What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.”

She glanced toward the door and back at me. “I’ve already told them everything.”

“Have you? Did you tell them that Briggs already knew about Kala before you told him?”

She sat up a little straighter, her jaw loose at the hinges. I crossed to her in a few steps, pressing my hand over her mouth before she could scream. The sound pressed against my palm, vibrating, leaving a sensation of numbness behind.

“You really think he can get in here before I can snap your neck?” I asked, my lips close to her ear. “You know all about me. You know what I’m capable of.”

She turned her head, and I let go, not much in the mood to struggle with her. When she looked back at me, her eyes were wide, a little wild.

“You’re drunk!”

“Not as drunk as I wanted to be. And I managed to get in here without waking your bodyguard out there, so I must not be that unsteady.”

“You can’t be here, Patrick. You can’t hurt me now! Jack’ll know, and he’ll—”

“Do you really think I care what Jack might do to me? Your fucking boyfriend threatened to kill my sister.” I moved closer to her, my face so close to hers that our noses touched. “I’d kill you right here and now if I thought it would protect Ariella.”

“I didn’t know he’d do that!”

“What the hell did you think he was going to do with that information?”

Her face reddened. “He already knew!”

I nodded, her words confirming what I’d come to find out. “He already knew about my past? About Ariella and Kala?”

“Everything. He told me about them. Told me to use them to get to you.”

“Why? What did he want?”

“I don’t know!” she cried, her voice rising several octaves. “I wish I did!”

I pressed my hand against her throat, pushed her back against the wall behind the bed. “Keep your voice down.”

Her eyes widened with fear. Real fear.

“I never wanted to do this, Patrick. You know that!”

“Do I? Can I believe anything you told me?”

“You saw what he did to me! You saw the bruises, still see the bruises!” She lifted the oversized t-shirt she was wearing to sleep in, jerking a finger toward the scars. “You’ve seen these! You know what his man did to me!”

“How do I know that’s what really happened?” I tilted my head slightly, staring into her eyes. “How do I know you weren’t in on this with him from the beginning? How do I know those scars weren’t put there by a surgeon’s knife for some other reason? How do I know it wasn’t someone else who beat the shit out of you?”

“I guess you don’t,” she said softly, still holding up her shirt, her breasts hanging free. “But you’ve got to know that sleeping with you was never part of the deal.”

“Maybe you just decided that you couldn’t get to me any other way.”

I grabbed hold of the edge of her shirt and jerked it down. I pulled too hard, and it ripped, the collar splitting free of the body of the shirt. It hung low on her, revealing cleavage that had been hidden before. I couldn’t pull my eyes from it for reasons I didn’t want to explain to myself.

“You want to know the truth?” Her voice was clogged with emotion, with the tears running down her cheeks. “He told me everything about you: your real name, your sister’s name, your Kala’s story. He told me to use it, to gain your trust. He wanted me to get into your office and use your computer, to plant some sort of virus—”

“You did that?”

“You walked in, and I thought you’d caught me! I was so afraid I was going to lose you right then and there.”

“You never had me.”

I pushed her away from me, her head cracking against the wall. She didn’t cry out. Didn’t really react at all except to reach up and touch the spot.

“He had a guy. I’d never seen him before, but I think he was the one who told him about you.”

“Why me?”

“Because he promised this guy that he’d let him have you when it was all over.”

“What?” I turned to look at her, found her staring down at the hands folded in her lap.

“I heard him. He said, ‘Don’t worry. He’s all yours when this is done. I just need those files.’”

“What files?”

“I don’t know!”

She was frustrated. The fear in her eyes had been joined by anger that was pointed in my direction, her eyes shooting arrows at my heart. I crossed my arms and leaned against the side of the bed.

“He planted you in my room using stories of my past to get me to trust you. Then he had you plant a virus on our computers so he could read our files.” I tilted my head slightly, watching her as she listened. “But you did that days ago. Why didn’t he come get you when it was done?”

“I don’t know.”

“How was he supposed to get you out?”

She grunted slightly. “He was going to come get me while you were at work.”

“When?”

“He kept telling me to wait. He kept saying he might need more information from me.”

“Like what?”

She shook her head, still staring at her hands. “He asked all these questions. When did you use the sat phone? What number did you call? How often? Did you ever use your laptop in front of me? Who did you talk to over that? Did you use Messenger or Facebook? Did you do Snapchat or Skype? What cases were you working on? Did you have pictures on your cell phone or your laptop? Had I seen them?”

I frowned. “Did he seem to be looking for something in particular?”

“It was all random. And he asked these questions, one after the other, until I found myself giving him information I hadn’t intended on giving him.”

“Like the number for my sat phone?”

She looked up, confusion in her pretty gray eyes. “What are you talking about? I never figured out the pass code.”

“You had to have. He had the number.”

She shook her head. “I tried those first two days, but it kept locking me out. I was afraid you’d know.”

“I did know.”

“You didn’t say anything.”

I ignored her, turning away. That sat phone had been a gift from my contacts in Mossad. It was the only method I had of contacting them. It was encrypted, filled with security features that were supposed to keep the average person out of it. If Briggs had cracked the security, that meant he had had some inside knowledge.

“This man who told him about me, what did he look like?”

She shrugged. “He was short, about five six, maybe? Dark hair, dark eyes. His skin was darker than yours, kind of olive-colored. He had a scar over his right eye.”

I nodded. I knew exactly who she was talking about.

“Fuck me,” I whispered under my breath, the whole thing beginning to make sense.

“Who is he?”

I laughed, a soft chuckle that lacked all humor. “You were a fucking pawn. You didn’t even see it coming, did you?”

“Patrick?”

“Not you.” I turned to look at her. “Me. I was just a damn pawn in a much bigger game.”

“What do you mean?”

I shook my head. “It’s too complicated to explain.” I went to the bed and touched her jaw with the same fingers that had been on another woman less than an hour ago. “You’re a pawn, too, I’m sure. I’m just not convinced you weren’t a willing pawn.”

Her eyes flashed with anger again. “How many times do I have to tell you?”

“How many times have you lied to me?”

She raised a hand to slap me, but I caught it easily, bending her wrist, not to protect myself but because I could. She cried out in pain, raking the fingernails of her other hand across my cheek. I hadn’t seen that coming. I grabbed that wrist, too, and pushed her against the wall again. Our faces were inches apart, her breathing rough as she stared up at me. And then she caught me by surprise a second time. She kissed me.

“You taste like someone else,” she said, pulling back.

“No one asked you to taste it.”

“I’ve been gone six hours, and you’ve already moved on? And you call me untrustworthy.”

“Welcome to the real world, sweetheart. Everyone is out to hurt everyone else as often and as painfully as possible here.”

“Yeah? You’re pretty good at it.”

“So are you.”

I kissed her, not a passionate kiss, but a kiss filled with all the anger and the hurt and the betrayal I’d felt since she walked into my life. I kissed her so roughly that her head pressed back into the wall, leaving her unable to move, and she was unable to catch her breath. But when I pulled back and she took a great gulp of air, she came after me, drawing my bottom lip between her teeth and biting down.

I reared back, tasting blood.

“What the fuck?”

“I give as good as I get.”

“Yeah? Let’s find out.”

I jerked her body sideways, her wrists still caught in my hands. She cried out, but there was a heat in her eyes that spoke of the excitement she was clearly feeling. I fell on top of her, capturing her hands above her head as I once again stole her lips, giving her a taste of the blood that still lingered on my lower lip.

My free hand moved down her body, yanking up her shirt so that I could grip one breast in my hand, feel the soft flesh and the hard nipple that had the power to make me lose my train of thought in the middle of a normal conversation. Just the thought of her perky tits, the thought of those nipples in my palm, in my mouth…a breast I’d had the audacity to believe would be mine further into the future than this.

She moved her hips against me, dragging her body beneath mine and pressing her center up against my manhood. She knew what she wanted, and she knew how to get it. And she knew me well enough to know exactly how to play me, to make me lose my head and do things I never would have thought myself capable of.

Like ripping her panties from her body, the sound of the material ripping an echo to her moan of pain and pleasure. Like thrusting inside of her so hard that she cried out a second time, the pain more pronounced this time. Like moving hard against her until all I could think of was the next thrust and the next and the next.

She opened her legs, wrapping them around my waist, pulling me tight against her so that I could only move so deep, so hard against her. But that was okay because I’d found a sweet spot that was driving me around the bend. I kissed her again, my blood smeared against her full lips. She returned the kiss until her passion made it impossible for her to do more than gasp.

It was the hottest thing I’d ever done. And the most depraved. I knew I would regret it when it was over, but in the heat of the moment, it was irresistible. She had this power over me, and I couldn’t control it. If it was up to me, I might have kept her chained to my bed for the rest of my life.

I was no better than those men who’d destroyed my Kala.

I got up when it was done, left her lying there naked in the center of the bed. She called for me as I slipped out the door, but I didn’t look back. I’d done enough, hadn’t I?