On Her Master's Secret Service, Masters and Mercenaries, Book 4

by Lexi Blake

  Don’t push him this way, Alex. Keep this private. If you go to the press, I think he’ll lash out and he’ll strike at you.

  He could still see her eyes pleading with him to change his plans, but he’d known what he was doing. He’d known he could take Evans down.

  But Evans hadn’t come for him. Oh, no. That would have been too easy.

  “I don’t think he’s coming after Eve. I have no evidence that he would. It’s been almost six years since he had any contact with her, and we all know damn well that he likes to play with his prey.” Ian stood up, turning on the lights and flooding the room. “There’s also the fact that they’ve divorced. That had to give Evans an enormous amount of pleasure, and I’m sure he knows that it happened. I’m sure he kept track of you after he fled the States. But when you left the FBI, you very likely went off his radar. A man like Evans would no longer consider Alex to be a real threat. And he wouldn’t care about Eve at all at this point.”

  Alex couldn’t take that chance.

  “I want her kept out of this. It’s why I didn’t contact Li. Li is close to Eve. He would tell her,” Alex admitted. He wasn’t bringing Eve into this. The less she knew the better off they all would be. He couldn’t take her back into that hellhole. He couldn’t.

  And he also couldn’t allow anyone else to handle this.

  “Why do you think he’s surfaced?” Jake asked.

  “I received an e-mail from a woman named Kristen six weeks ago. According to the e-mail, she’s an investigative reporter and she’s been tracking Evans since his jailbreak. I’m supposed to meet her later this morning. It’s a public venue. Right out in the open.” The woman in the e-mail had insisted on it. He’d been told flatly that if she saw someone other than him, she would walk away. He couldn’t let that happen. “I need someone to have eyes on Eve while I make contact. I can’t take the chance that this is his way of getting at her.”

  “I’ll keep eyes on Eve, and Jake and Adam can handle your backup,” Ian stated.

  This was precisely why he hadn’t wanted to have this little session. “I can’t. If she sees anyone but me, she’ll run. That e-mail was very plain. She will deal with me and only me. I don’t know what she looks like. I have no idea. I have to talk to this woman, Ian. I can’t let her slip past me. The meet up is totally public. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “She won’t know we’re there,” Jake promised. “Believe it or not, we’ve done this a time or two.”

  “You two handle close cover. I’m the shadow. I’m the expert.” He was damn fine at blending into the shadows. It was a complete reversal of the first ten years of his career. He’d been the FBI’s golden boy, a shining star. The last five years he’d made a goal of never sticking out, always being the behind-the-scenes guy. He’d become a ghost, excellent at watching and waiting in the wings and almost never acting.

  “I think I’m fairly decent at distance coverage,” Ian said with a frown. He’d been a long-term CIA operative. He knew distance cover. “Jake and Adam can handle Eve and I’ll back you up.”

  There was only one problem with that.

  “No. You’re too conspicuous. I can’t risk it.”

  “Could we clear the room, guys?” Ian crossed his arms over his massive chest and started to pace.

  The guys were out in a flash, Adam giving him the evil eye. Yeah, he was on Team Eve for sure.

  Ian stopped in front of the window, pulling the blinds open and staring out at the early morning light. The city was starting to wake up, pinks and purples on the edge of the horizon. There were tall buildings framing the distance, the city a massive landscape in front of him, like a watercolor painting, so beautiful and slightly unreal.

  He remembered one perfect day. Hawaii. He and Eve had gone to Kauai on their honeymoon, and they hadn’t slept at all one night. He’d taken her out to the beach and made love to her in the waves, and they had sat there and watched the sky come alive—nature’s great show. He could remember the way she felt in his arms, her back to his chest as they watched the sunrise. The whole world had been alive then, full of promise. They had been young. So fucking young. Strong.

  Neither of them had known how broken they could be, how easy it was to take a life and snap it like a twig until nothing remained but meaningless pieces.

  “What are you doing, Alex?” Ian asked, not bothering to turn around.

  That should be plain. “I’m trying to catch a killer.”

  Ian’s shoulders slumped forward as though that was the last thing he’d wanted to hear. “You’re trying to correct a mistake, but you’re making the same one again.”

  Frustration welled. Fuck, yeah, he was trying to correct a mistake. It had been the mistake of a lifetime. Of course he wanted to correct it. “I’m not going to let him get close to her again, man. You can’t think I would ever let that happen, but you, of all people, should know damn well that I can’t just let this go.”

  How was he supposed to sit around knowing Evans was out there? He’d spent the last several years of his life following leads down every damn rabbit hole he could. He’d wasted countless hours talking to people who said they’d seen him, spending money on witnesses who led to nowhere. This could be the same thing all over again, but he had to keep trying. He would stop trying when he was fucking dead.

  “That’s not the mistake you’re making.” Ian finally turned around, leaning back against the window and looking like he hadn’t slept in days. He’d been this way ever since they’d gotten back from London, as though just being in that city again had aged him, forcing him to remember the wife he’d lost.

  “Going after Evans is the mistake? You think I can’t take him down? My mistake the first time was pure arrogance, Ian. Trust me. I was humbled. I’m not looking for glory this time.” He’d been trying to make a life for himself and Eve and fucking everything up because he didn’t believe he could be wrong. He’d been on a fast track, but now he knew how fast the worm turned.

  “No, this time you’re looking for revenge.”

  Yes. He wanted revenge. He felt his jaw tighten, his vision focus in. “For Eve.”

  Ian’s eyes narrowed. “Really? Are you sure about that?”

  He was sure, and he fucking well deserved revenge. Evans had torn them apart. “How can you say that? You’ve known me for twenty-five freaking years. How can you question me like this? You don’t have to help me. I’ll take a leave of absence. Maybe that’ll make it easier on everyone.”

  It would be for the best anyway. He’d only let Ian know because they were family. They had a deal, him and Ian. They’d had it since they were kids growing up in the same low-rent trailer park with exactly two ways out—prison or the US military. Ian had stayed in the Army and Alex had gotten out the minute they would pay for his college. The friendship had survived years and distance.

  The deal was simple. They didn’t go off half-cocked until the other knew what kind of shit was going down. Ian would watch out for Eve. Hell, if anything happened, Ian would watch out for her for the rest of her life. They had that deal, too. Ian watched Eve and Alex took care of Sean and now Grace and Carys. God, Sean had a kid.

  How was he almost forty and single, with no prospect of a family on the horizon?

  A ghostly image on the wall answered the question. The lights were on, but he could still see Michael Evans grinning at the camera.

  He couldn’t fix his problems with Eve. He’d ruined her life. He’d been directly responsible for all that pain. Days. She’d spent days with that monster, and Alex would spend a lifetime trying to make it up to her.

  Ian’s voice broke through his thoughts. “I wasn’t talking about going after Evans. I was talking about leaving Eve out of it.”

  Alex felt his eyes go wide. “You can’t possibly expect that I would bring Eve into this. You of all people should know how dangerous it is to have your wife involved in a case.”

  He wanted to take the words back the instant he said them. Ian
didn’t move an inch. There was nothing in his stance that let Alex know he’d hit him hard except his skin paled. They never talked about the woman Ian had married and lost five years before.

  “Charlotte has nothing to do with this. And she was always involved in that particular case. Hell, I was her case, and she did a spectacular fucking job. I laugh a little at the irony since her job was to fuck me. Charlotte married me knowing exactly how dangerous the job was, and she got burned. Eve, on the other hand, was perfectly innocent. If anyone deserves revenge, it’s Eve, and you want to take that from her now, too.”

  Alex placed his hands on the conference table, palms down, just trying to hold on. “How can you say that? I was her husband. It was my job to protect her.”

  “And you couldn’t possibly have known that the man you were tracking would come after your wife.” Logic. Ian loved to come after him with logic, but Alex knew the truth.

  He should have fucking known. He should have read Eve’s damn case study, but he’d been so sure that he was right, that he couldn’t possibly be wrong. “Yeah, well, if I’d paid any attention to Eve’s profile, I would have. She knew. But I was far too smart. I thought I had the fucker down.”

  “And you didn’t,” Ian agreed. “And Eve paid the price and she continues to pay it every single day because neither one of you can let go for a second.”

  “If putting Michael Evans back where he belongs gives her a minute of peace, I’m going to do it. I’m her husband. I have to do this for her.”

  Ian shook his head, his eyes grim. “You’re not her husband anymore, Alex.”

  “Fine, then I’m her Dom.”

  “Are you? You don’t act like it.”

  Alex felt his back get tight, like a dog that just figured out he was about to get kicked. “Wow. Do you have something to say to me? Don’t fucking pussyfoot around, brother. You want to call my rights into question? You want to take a look at my contract?”

  He hated the fact that all he had left with Eve was a cold contract between them, one they’d renewed every year for five years now. Ian knew damn well what was in that contract because he was the one Eve had turned to when she’d asked for it. A contract that delineated everything he was allowed to do, everything he couldn’t do, everything that sat between them. A contract that allowed sex but not love, discipline but no compassion.

  Life without the possibility of parole.

  “That contract is everything that’s wrong between you and yet you just keep signing it, man.”

  Because if he didn’t, he was pretty sure Eve would drift away from him, perhaps even find another Dom. He couldn’t handle it. Just fucking couldn’t. He would very likely sign that contract for the rest of his life because no matter how angry he got, how alone he felt, he couldn’t live without her. “She needs to scene. It’s the only way she can cry. Do you think I haven’t been over this with her? Do you think she hasn’t been to therapy?”

  His wife—ex-wife—was a brilliant psychologist. She’d done her time on a couch.

  Guilt plagued him. He hadn’t taken the same time. Before the divorce, he’d cut out on counseling sessions, skipped on her dinners, spent nights away from home, and all in the name of catching Michael Evans.

  “I know she’s been, but it hasn’t helped. Oh, Eve looks fine on the outside, but she hasn’t gotten back to her old self. She laughs, but it never reaches her eyes. She’ll let people hug her, but she doesn’t hug back. God, Alex, I remember when Eve was the touchiest, feeliest sub I’d ever met.”

  “He raped her. He abused her. She can’t go back,” Alex said. “We can’t go back.”

  “Then Evans wins. He did his job, and you should just hang it the fuck up. Why bother hunting the man down? You’re already dead. You just forgot to tell us to bury the fucking body, man.”

  He thought seriously about putting his hands around his best friend’s throat, but he backed off. Ian couldn’t understand. None of them could. He should have done what he’d thought was best in the first place and just handled it on his own. “Whatever. I’m going to get ready to meet the contact.”

  “You’re not going without backup. Take Jake and Adam and that’s an order.”

  But Ian had forgotten one tiny truth. “You’re not my boss. You’re not my CO, and if you want me to walk, this is the way to get it done.”

  He started for the door. There wasn’t anything left to say.

  “Alex, please take Jake and Adam.”

  Fuck. Ian almost never asked politely. “I can’t. If she spooks easily, I’ll lose the chance.”

  “All right. Don’t you dare go in unarmed.”

  Like he would do that. “I’m good.”

  “Alex?”

  When the fuck had Ian gotten so chatty? “Yeah?”

  “She needs you. She needs you to be her Dom more than she needs someone to avenge her. She needs you to take the reins because she can’t let go of this on her own. She needs her husband.”

  But he wasn’t her husband anymore. He was her part-time lover and full-time therapy session. He wondered if she even saw him now or if all she saw was how he’d failed her time and time again. Alex let the door close behind him.

  Revenge was all he had left.

  * * * *

  Eve stopped at the front desk. Grace wasn’t around, but there was a massive bouquet of flowers taking up most of the space. Gorgeous calla lilies.

  Eve whistled a little. Those must have cost a fortune. What the hell had Sean done?

  And then she saw there was a card attached.

  Ian Taggart

  She rolled her eyes. Some sub was trying to get in good with the Master. Whoever it was, they were barking up the wrong tree. Flowers wouldn’t impress Ian. No. If you wanted to impress Ian Taggart, you better have a six-pack in your hand or a shiny new gun.

  Those poor subs at Sanctum didn’t really have a chance with Ian. He needed a woman who could physically put him on his ass. She was pretty sure that was the only way to bring down the man. A woman who could outthink him, out manipulate him, outplay him. That was the only way to nab Big Tag.

  “Eve, I thought you were going to breakfast with Liam.” Alex stood in the doorway of the conference room. His eyes widened on her, and he shifted the stack of folders from one hand to another.

  And immediately Eve was suspicious. “I had some reports to file and some personality profiles to complete. Ian’s looking to hire some office personnel. Li is coming to pick me up in about twenty minutes.”

  Alex nodded. “That’s good. Traffic is rough right now.”

  Traffic was always miserable, but even if it had been light, she knew Alex would rather someone drove her. Not because she wasn’t a good driver, but Alex preferred that someone watch over her.

  It just couldn’t be him.

  Because she was stubborn and couldn’t find a way out of the corner she’d put them both in.

  He stood there staring at her. When he looked at her like that, like she was the only woman in the whole world, she wanted to walk into his arms and pretend like the last six years hadn’t happened.

  “Was there a meeting I didn’t know about?” She tried to catch a glimpse of the name on his folders, but they were blank.

  He moved them, sliding them under his arm. “I wanted to go over a few things with Ian. Just bouncing around some ideas I have on an open job.”

  Work. They could talk about work. Sometimes she suspected they both came up with the thinnest of reasons to ask each other for advice. At least she knew she did. It was an excuse to be in the same room with him.

  Do you need an excuse? You said you needed time. He gave you time. How long can this go on?

  “Do you want to run it by me?”

  He shook his head. “No. I think I can handle this one. What the hell did Sean do?”

  He stepped up and looked at the flowers.

  “They’re not for Grace,” she said.

  “Phoebe? Phoebe is dating someone? Phoebe barely
talks. I can’t imagine her dating someone.”

  Phoebe Graham was the accounting girl. She typically hid in her office. She was terrified every time she found herself in a room with Ian or Alex. Sometimes Eve thought the only reason Phoebe had taken the job was because Ian had told her she was hired and she was afraid of not showing up for work. “Nope.”

  Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Someone’s sending you flowers?”

  Well, she was the only other woman in the office. It was a decent bet. “No. They’re for Ian.”

  Alex laughed a little, his shoulders relaxing. “Should have sent him a six-pack.” He walked over and his free hand briefly touched the blooms. “They remind me of our wedding. We had white flowers, too.”

  They had been all over the church. She’d stood at the end of the aisle and looked up. Alex and Ian and Sean had been giant predators dropped into a dainty white garden. She’d been so proud, so fascinated with her groom.

  God, she still was.

  Alex McKay was still the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. And lately, it was so much easier to forget all the reasons she had for keeping her emotional distance from him.

  Unfortunately, she remembered another incident where she’d received white flowers. “I don’t like them now. They remind me of my hospital room.”

  He’d filled her hospital room with white flowers, giving her gifts, but turning away from her.

  “Eve,” Alex began. He cleared his throat. “I’ll make sure Ian gets them, though he’ll probably just throw them out.”

  He picked up the vase and card, juggling them with his file folders.

  “Do you want me to take the folders?”

  He backed up. “No. I’m fine. You have a good time with Liam. Speak of the devil. Hey, man, how’s it going?”

  She turned and sure enough, Liam O’Donnell was walking up behind her. He nodded Alex’s way. “Morning. Evie, are you ready to go?”

  She nodded as she watched Alex struggle with everything he was carrying, but she didn’t offer to help again. He would just say no. He would rather drop everything than admit he needed help. She sighed and turned to Liam.