I studied that black and white photo, horrified by what I saw. My father and the man that Mia had said was her father were standing next to each other, surrounded by a bunch of SEALs. Surely this picture had to have been doctored.

Maybe Joaquín had put her up to this.

But upon closer examination, I was pretty sure that the photo was real, not that I wouldn’t send it away to a lab to know for sure. And then I noticed something else. A date stamped on the back of the photo. 

Twenty-two years ago.

My sister had still been alive and well and living with my parents and me. Before she was kidnapped. Before my life had fallen apart.

But now, I realized something else. Though Mia may have taken this job with ulterior motives, like freeing her brother or finding classified information and selling it to the cartel, I now needed her more than she needed me.

She could hold the link to finding my missing sister. 

I clasped my hands and aligned my mind. Time to get into character. “Let’s start over, Mia. Since we are forced to work together, let’s try to make the best of it. How’s Joaquin?”

Mia was so immature that she rolled her eyes. “Good.”

Great. She clearly was not buying what I was selling. I had to try harder. “Good? That’s all you are going to say? Listen, Mia, if you are going to be my partner, you are going to have to attempt to be honest with me. I know that must be hard for you—you know, not lying.”

Dammit, I couldn't go two minutes without being a bitch to this girl. What could I say? This piece of work brought out the worst in me. 

“Well, I mean he is good, considering he is a prisoner at San Quentin. His case is closed, so frankly, his well-being is none of your business. You don’t care about Joaquín. Why does it matter how he is doing?”

I shook my head. I had tried to be friendly. Clearly, it wasn’t working.

Friendliness isn’t your strong suit, Ash. Snarky fits you better.

New approach.

“Fine, you are right. I don’t give a fuck how he is. I hope he hangs himself from a bed sheet and saves the taxpayers’ money. What I meant was, has he given you any more tips about his involvement in the cartel?”

She glared at me. “Are you serious? Have you ever visited a prison, Ash? Inmates don’t just talk freely to their visitors about their crimes.” 

Right. She had me there. I knew that. He wouldn’t be able to tell her anything. SEALs would rather die than tell the truth. And even though I knew that, I had still slept with one. 

And honestly, I couldn’t wait to fuck Mitch again.

“I know that, Mia. But I don’t know, maybe he speaks to you in a special code or something. Some type of telepathy.”

She bit her lip. “I’m trying here, Ash. I really am. But I really dislike you.”

Hey, at least she was honest.

Well, at least we both felt the same way about each other. “Do you still believe he is innocent?”

This time, she glanced down at her feet, and her face fell. I was excellent at reading people.

“No,” she said in a soft tone.

Liar, and not even a good one. I thought she was an actress. This crazy-ass bitch honestly thought her brother was innocent. 

I was now almost certain she’d taken this job to free him. Wow, would she ever learn? What did Grant possibly see in her? Poor guy was trapped for the next fifteen years because they shared a three-year-old son. If Grant had any sense at all, he would divorce her, file for custody, and take Julián away from her. 

But Grant was a SEAL. He couldn’t exactly leave his job. Being a SEAL was like being in the mafia. It was impossible to quit the Teams. But both groups were crooked as all hell. There was a saying in the teams. If you don’t get caught, then it ain’t illegal.

But I was going to catch them.

How could agent Meeks possibly put me in this situation? Working with a psycho. How had she passed her psych evaluation?

I dropped the Joaquín questions for now. Mia paced around the room. “So, are we going to work on a case or just fight?”

“I think today we are supposed to bond or something. Maybe you could fall, and you could see if I catch you.”

She laughed. “Ha. I’m pretty sure you would drop me. Come on, girl. I liked you once when you were Autumn. You were the only nice person when I was Ksenya. I’m really a nice, normal person, I swear. Can’t you give me a chance?”

I exhaled. I had to try. “I was only nice to you because I was undercover. But I can see we have some common ground. Clearly, we are attracted to the same kind of men.”

“For real. Though I got the better one. But tell me, how is Mitch in bed? I bet he’s a serious dirty talker.”

Damn, she wasn’t shy. She was talking about her husband’s best friend. And I had pictures of her and Mitch kissing. Pictures I showed Grant. But that fool still married her.

Well, I might as well have some fun.

“He’s incredible in bed. A fucking beast. Tore me up and ate my pussy like he was starving, and I was his own personal buffet. Dirty as all hell. You really missed out. You should’ve fucked him when you had a chance.”

She exhaled. “Don’t get me wrong. Mitch is fucking beautiful. But I can’t imagine sleeping with another man. I’ve only ever slept with Grant. I love him. He’s it for me. Always has been.”

I winced. I was such a bitch. I didn’t know that Mia had only been with Grant. And she had been raped. By her own brother, nonetheless. And she still spoke to him. Harbored some delusion that he was innocent. She was clearly seriously fucked up and not qualified to be an agent. Even so, I needed to cut her some slack and seriously try to be nice.

I took another deep breath. “So, back to this picture. Tell me about your father. Did you know he used to live down here?”

She shook her head. “No, not at all. I’m super shocked. And I don’t have a clue about my biological mother’s identity. So he must’ve been with her when this picture was taken. Based on the timestamp and other pictures I have of me as a baby, shortly after this picture was taken, my father took me and moved to San Francisco. Then he met Joaquín’s mom, and they got married. This is all news to me, because up until I did the DNA test on Julián, I didn’t know that Joaquín and I aren’t related. So, your guess is as good as mine.”

Wait, what?!

My vision blurred, and heat rose to my chest.

I stared at the picture closely, studying every detail of Mia’s father. 

I closed my eyes, grasping for memories that had long vanished. 

And then I remembered something. 

The gardener.

I studied the picture again. Was the gardener Mia’s father? He had thick black hair, long eyelashes, and almond-shaped eyes.

Just like Mia.

And just like her little boy.

When my father had deployed, that same gardener had taken care of the yard. He had even brought me candy. 

And it wasn’t just any candy. It was Mexican candy. To this day, I still craved de la Rosa Marzipan Peanut candy. I loved the way that crumbly, grainy candy melted in my mouth.

But that wasn’t all. Sometimes, he would talk to my mom.

And other times, he would spend the night.

Oh, my God. 

Years later, right before my father had left, I remember he had yelled at my mom. 

“She’s not even my daughter!” My mother would weep, and my father would run off and not come home for days.

And then one day, he left and never came back.

Where was my father now? I had tried to find him and had never been able to. I knew Mia’s father was dead.

Holy shit.

A horrifying thought passed through my head.

What if Mia was my long-lost sister?

I gazed into her hazel eyes. I had naturally blonde hair and blue eyes, and Mia had dark hair and hazel eyes. We looked nothing alike.

But appearances could be deceiving. Especially because she had gone through extensive plastic surgery.

I was twenty-six, and Mia was now twenty-three. And I had been a little over three when my sister was taken.

It was possible. 

I remembered holding my baby sister, kissing her forehead, counting her toes. Her hair had been light brown, but her hair could’ve darkened. Had her dad kidnapped her because she was his kid, not my dad’s? And had my mom known all along that he could’ve been a suspect in the kidnapping?

I had read the files. There had been no mention of a lover. She would’ve been raked over the coals by the base gossip queens if it had been discovered that she had had an affair. Had my mom chosen pride over finding her baby?

I looked back at Mia, who was now biting her lip. Why was she so nervous? Did she know she was my sister? Had she brought me this picture as a way to get me to trust her? So, I would grow close to her, and then she could use me to feed information to the cartel?

Or was she truly clueless?

No. She couldn’t be clueless. I had to remember who I was dealing with. A cold, calculating bitch. A woman who had literally destroyed her body to trick her ex into believing she was a Ukrainian stripper.

What kind of con was she trying to pull now?

What were the chances that I would be reunited with my sister years later? And granted, this was insane. This was so unlikely and ridiculously coincidental that I was stupid to even think about it. 

Except I didn’t believe in coincidences.

But I would leave no stone unturned in the search for my sister.

Even if she was the bitch standing in front of me.