The Single Lady Spy Series Boxset

by Tara Brown

  Servario shoved me into the seat and sat next to me. I watched the city as it was blanketed in the fading light of the fall sun and tried not to throw up. Servario's body pressed against mine made me shiver.

  None of us spoke. Not me, not Servario, and not the guard or driver. The drive was smooth and silent. The driver struck me as an actual professional, not a Steve.

  The people of Rome were oblivious to the bad things going on in their city. They smiled as they walked gracefully along the streets or rode their bikes. They reminded me of a famous photographer’s images I’d once seen in a coffee-table book. People of every shape and size just going about life in a harmonious state of oblivion.

  All the while they walked in the crisp air of fall, I rode to the possible death of myself and the man next to me. The man who owned my body and soul.

  I looked out over the city and smiled. I had come to terms with something and it was a relief to have at least some of it off my chest.

  I loved him. It was final. There was no disputing my feelings for him. My fear of him would never be as large as my love for him. But my love would never be enough to save him from the life he had chosen. Or the one that had chosen him.

  And that was why we would never be together. In his arms, wrapped in sheets and blankets and his body, we admitted it. In a random hotel, in an ancient city where my love would not be the first to perish before it even started, we had admitted it.

  We would never be together.

  Once it was spoken aloud I felt relief from the agony. I was free of him in a way I never wanted. My heart was broken, but it was the cost of everything else. He could never be a stepfather. He could never keep my kids and me safe. He would never leave the job he had of saving the world. He couldn't. The same way I wouldn't be free of this until our mess was cleaned up and the threat to the Burrow was gone.

  The driver stopped in front of what I had to assume was the ruins of Caesar's Curia. Servario got out of the car abruptly, dragging me with him. He didn’t put on a show. His anger and pain were real. He had begged me to run and I had refused. Servario's hatred of me was real. He hated how much he loved me. For him, the thin line between the love and hate was blurred. He could hate me, he could hate the fate we faced. But I only felt love for him.

  As we stormed up to the Curia, I tripped but his hand didn’t relent. He squeezed my arm, dragging me through the ruins and the shadows. I wondered how many people had been dragged through such an ancient area, how many people had lost their lives in that place.

  When I saw him through the doorway, my stomach clenched. When his eyes met mine, James started to laugh. “You are so predictable, Evie. You always were. I knew you would find your way to Rome to help poor Servario. When I saw Luce at the Casino, I never imagined I could get that lucky. You not only come back to Rome, but you bring someone I know.” He laughed at his own brilliance. He was like a showy peacock; he strutted about shaking his head and clucking. His satisfaction with himself was sickening. His eyes landed on me again. “I couldn’t believe when I got the call from the front desk of the hotel that the beautiful girl I was looking for was staying there.” He pointed at Servario. “It's lucky you got Evie here strung out on you so she endangered her friends and came looking for you. I got to pay lovely Luce back for something that I’ve wanted to for a while.”

  I snarled but something happened we hadn’t planned on: Servario struck me, hard.

  My mouth filled with blood as he dropped me to the stone floor and the door behind me closed. The light was dim, creating shadows everywhere around me. I started to panic. Though we had talked about that happening, I was scared.

  James dropped to his knee with the help of his cane. He held my face in his hands, squeezing my cheeks. “You always were so easily led. Easily convinced to quit CI for the sake of our kids. Easily convinced to move to an area we couldn’t afford so I had to take all the overtime I could. So easy to lead about.” His eyes were haunting and his smile was a cruel thin line. He was not the man I’d married. He was so different, altered.

  I smiled through his grip on my face. “What did you expect, James? A decade of your tiny cock? Of course, I would jump at the first chance to be properly fucked.”

  His hold tightened as he shoved my face back. “Back at you, baby.”

  I laughed, spitting blood to the cold floor. I assumed it wasn’t the first time the ancient stone tiles had seen blood spilled upon them.

  He stepped backward, limping and giving Servario a nod. “I never imagined for a second, you were really the cold bastard they always said you were. I always believed there was a small amount of something good in you. The way you freed those girls last year had me worried.”

  Servario sneered. “I like to be that unknown variable. Now you have her, give me what I want.”

  James put his hand in his pocket. When he pulled it out, he handed a phone to Servario. The way Servario grabbed it made me uneasy. He was desperate for it. Whatever the information was on the phone, he wanted it more than anything. He sighed, seeing whatever was on the screen. He put a hand out for James. “I had better not see my name brought into anything else again, my friend. You name me as part of the Burrow again, and I won't be as lenient as I was. You've ruined all sorts of deals for me, cost me millions.”

  James laughed. “You can count on me leaving you alone, Servario.” There was something in his eyes when he said it. As if he was laughing at his own joke again. The flash in his eyes was gone when he realized Servario was leaving with whatever was on that phone. “After you give me my money. You promised.”

  Servario grinned. “What money, James? You mean the money you lost when you reneged on our deal to find the Burrow together?”

  James appeared ready to snap. “I want my money. The deal was her for the—”

  Servario put a hand up, cutting him off. “The original deal was you and I find the Burrow. You use your supposed CI and MI6 contacts and get me the weapons. The deal was never you double-crossing me with that bitch Roxy and selling me down the river to CI when you realized you couldn't produce what you promised all of us. Now you have the audacity to talk about the deal? The deal changed when you let your cock do the decision-making for you. I let you live, that’s the new deal.” He winked at me. “Ask Evie where the money is. I gave it to her as payment for a fun week. She was very obliging. You're lucky I never killed you like I did Roxy.”

  I didn’t know what game we were playing. I didn’t have all the money. Servario had invested it for me. He had it.

  Either way, it didn't matter what Servario was talking about. James was playing at something else. Something Servario wasn’t seeing. “He's betrayed you, Servario. James used Roxy to try to kill you and tried to use you to lure the Master Key. You can't leave me with him.” James darted at me, striking me in the face. I fell back as I heard a crunching sound in my nose. The blood gush was instant. I moaned but pressed my hand against it as I pointed at James. “I saw it in his eyes just there. He has betrayed you again. There’s something he isn’t telling you.”

  James grinned at me. “Face it, Evie. No one cares what you have to say. You'd do anything to save your own skin.”

  Servario's eyes darted between us. “I'm tired of this.” He gave me a subtle lip twitch of a grin. “Go easy on her, James. She is the mother of your children.”

  “She does look pretty, bleeding like that, doesn’t she?” James chuckled.

  Servario ignored him, waving and walking from the massive doors. “Take care, Evie.”

  I wasn’t certain it was part of the plan or if he had just betrayed me. Either his acting was amazing for a straightforward man, or I was a blind woman. We had discussed it, but the feeling of him leaving me was worse than I’d imagined. I did my damnedest not to cry when I thought about it. “James, please don’t hurt me.”

  He yanked me by the hair, almost lifting me into the air. “I just want my money, Evie.”

  “I don’t have it, I swear I don’t
. Servario never gave it to me. He gave me a small amount to buy a house. That’s it.”

  It wasn’t exactly a lie.

  He tossed me back to the ground, kicking me again but in the stomach. I grunted, pressing my face into the hard floor and realizing there was no way Servario was coming back.

  He grabbed my face. “Where is it?”

  “It's in Servario's trust. He has it in trust.”

  His grip on my hair didn’t relent. “You fucking bitch. You're such shit in the sack you couldn’t even use your pussy to get our money from a guy who couldn’t care less about it?”

  “Please!” I sobbed, “Please, stop. I don’t have it. You betrayed him. What did you think would happen?” Weak and sad Evie was such an easy act. I sniffled and blubbered and let him believe he had the upper hand. Even I was convinced of it.

  “You're lying.” He dragged me to my feet, hauling me to the doors. “I was going to head straight to Croatia with you, but maybe Mary can get the truth out of you.”

  His guards opened the doors for him. He dragged me to the parking lot and tossed me into a black car. He climbed in next to me. My blood had started to thicken and coat my face. A guard got into the front seat and the driver pulled away. Two cars followed us. It almost made me excited as I imagined at least one was my real ride.

  James relaxed into the seat. He began to look like old James again. I took my chance to get some answers. I stared down at my feet. “How long did you fuck Luce for?”

  He chuckled. “Caught that one, did ya? Were you in the hotel room when I went to see her? My informant told me she was alone and the man she was with was out. I guess it doesn’t matter. Luce and I worked together for about a month or so. She was new to CI and worked under me in Turkey, in more ways than one.”

  “Did you ever love me?”

  “Please.” He shook his head. “Let's not do this, Evie.”

  I started to cry, ashamed the tears were real. “What about the kids?”

  His eyes hardened. “I have always seen you as part of my cover.” There was no answer to that. We were part of his cover. He never loved any of us.

  “Fair enough. Where are we going?” I stiffened my upper lip.

  “I'm taking you to the place Servario is going. He and I are going to have another little chat about that money before I drop you off with the people who want you. Mary being there might help sway him, and I know he’s on his way to see her.”

  My insides tightened. Servario never told me we were leaving Rome, but the city was far behind us. Was this Servario's plan? Is that why he told James I had the money? I wouldn’t get any answers unless I pressed James, but I had to be nonchalant about it.

  I gave James a confused look as the words “want you” floated about in my mind next to the possibilities. “Okay, but where are we going? Who would want me?”

  He laughed. “Well, you’re supposed to go to someone who wants you, but I’m taking you to see someone else first. Trust me, you won't float the boat of the person we’re seeing first.” He focused back out the window, laughing some more. “Middle-aged women who have been ridden hard already aren’t really their type.”

  My hate for him burned. I wanted to kill him then and there, but I suddenly realized who he was talking about. “Good to know.” He was taking me to MI6.

  He smiled. “Don’t get too excited. It doesn’t mean you won't be used nicely. The first place has a lot of guards who probably aren’t picky about where they put it. But the second place—oh, Evie, let me tell you, you are really going to hate the second place. Servario must hate you. He's asked that you go to a terrible place instead of me killing you mercifully. It’s a gift to your father for murdering his.” He gloated as he continued, “The person we are meeting owns a few places like this. I think you'll fit in nicely.”

  Shit.

  I was going to a brothel owned by someone not good and Servario intended to rescue me from there? Or was this a trap. I was getting confused.

  He smiled and I couldn’t see the man I married. “Don’t look so sad. You'll be making many men happy every day of your life, and the happier you make them, the longer you get to live.”

  I scanned his face for the truth. “Why did you double-cross Servario? Why didn’t you just stay working with him?”

  “I wasn't there to work with him. I was there to find out if he was the Master Key.”

  “I really thought he had shot you. I thought I was rid of you forever.”

  He laughed and I saw the pride all over his face. “Evie, he is a bad man. He always has been. Just before you all arrived and shot me in the knees, he messaged me from Roxy's phone and told me I was to put on some Kevlar and blood bags, and he would try to talk you out of shooting me. He said he’d shoot me in the chest and fly off. He was keeping his contacts in CI in check, hoping to convince you once and for all that you could trust him.”

  “I am an idiot, you're right. How long have you been this double agent? Were you always Servario's employee or CI's? Who did you double-cross?” I asked as if mystified at how he’d been able to pull it all off, trying to sound reverent of him.

  His chest swelled again. “I’ve never been CI's man. I'm surprised your father didn’t figure it out. And as far as Servario was concerned, I was always there for the Burrow. My people sent me there to find it. Mel had come upon some information regarding the Burrow, of course she didn’t know about it. She was working a security detail on a scientist who was making some kind of weapon-control system that was so long range and intelligent that war would be over before it had started. Anyway, one night Mel is drugged and the scientist is found dead. His work is gone. She transports his dead body and it mysteriously goes missing the next day. When she told me the story, she was baffled, but I knew right away. The only thing caught on her surveillance was Servario, like he came and stole the weapon. Of course, CI was desperate for it to be found. Everyone assumed Servario had taken it. To this day, he swears when he got there, everything was already gone. He was just one step behind the Master Key. After that, I made sure I was seeing Roxy, convincing her to run away with me. It was easy—she was so in love with Servario, and he treated her so badly her loyalty had waned.”

  I sat motionless as he gloated. He was such a prideful man, he truly didn’t see how much he was leaking.

  He rubbed his eyes. “Anyway, Roxy told me she’d overheard Servario making inquiries into the Burrow. I told her to record every person he met with. We got lucky about a month later when he met with your father—your long-dead father. CI thought I was their man so they put me on it because I knew your father well. Servario believed I was in with him to find the Burrow, but all along I've been on one team no one knows about.” His eyes gleamed.

  “James.” I frowned. “Are you the Master Key?”

  He chuckled. “Oh, Evie. If I were the Master Key, I wouldn’t care about the paltry sum of money Servario still holds. I would’ve sold the weapons and be living on my very own private island.”

  “That is so evil. How can you think selling the weapons is a good idea?”

  He scoffed. “Everyone either wants to sell the cache or keep it all to themselves. Don’t kid yourself. There are no martyrs in our world.”

  “Why did Servario forgive you betraying him with Roxy?”

  He sneered. “What makes you think he's forgiven me? The only reason I'm alive is I have protection from someone far scarier than Gustavo Servario.”

  “You do?” I swallowed hard. “I don’t even know you, James. I never have, have I?”

  “No.” He put a hand up. “Enough about me. I want to know why Servario cared so much about fucking you. When I left CI, he went on a mission to bargain you into his bed. I’ve never seen him do that before. What's so special about you?”

  “I don't know.” I lied. Clearly James didn't know Servario as well as he thought he did.

  He ran a finger down my arm. “You really are shit in the sack.”

  I gave him a weak sm
ile. “Back at ya, babe.”

  “Servario's a weird guy. I will give him that.”

  "I guess." I glanced out the window. “Maybe he just wanted my father to know he was doing unspeakable things to me. He’s hated my father for a long time.”

  James sighed. “That’s true, he has.”

  We rode the rest of the way along the dark highway in silence, driving for a couple of hours until we were finally in a city again. The car took us down to a harbor and out onto a pier. James motioned at the guard who got out and dragged me along the pier to a massive yacht. A man, closely resembling the supposedly dead Russian mobster Michele Strophsky, came out onto the wooden pier. He gave me a once-over. “Is that who I think that is?”

  My eyes widened as did his fat smile. My father had helped him get out of Russia during the Cold War, saving him from the firing squad. My father convinced the US government to protect him and let him testify against the war criminals. So when he asked, “You mind if I have a go at that, James?” I was stunned.

  James laughed. “You want to be first, do you? Yeah, have at it. She should be on a boat to a brothel right now anyway. You might as well break her in.”

  Michele laughed, exactly the way he did when I used to watch him on surveillance. “I remember her father well. Take her to my cabin, clean her up.” His Russian accent was so thick I could barely catch what he said.

  James gawked past Michele. “Is M here?”

  “She's here and will meet you below. He's here too,” Michele said.

  A new guard dragged me up onto the huge boat and down a hall. I stumbled, but my dragging feet were no match for his brute strength. He tossed me into a room. “Clean up.”

  He slammed the door. I stood staring at the door to the room and waited. There had to be meaning in it. There had to be a reason. My mind circled back through the things Servario and I had discussed. He’d begged me not to love him. The expression in his green eyes had been heartbreaking. Then he leaned me against the shower and whispered things in my ear, “Trust me, Evie, no matter how bad it gets. Trust me.”