by Lisa Cardiff
I barely checked the urge to roll my eyes. His compliments were meaningless. “I’ve been working on alternatives to recover the information Knox Black lifted from Lang’s private computer.”
He chewed on the end of his pen, his eyes never leaving mine. “Have you come up with anything?”
I rubbed my hand down my neck. “I have some ideas, but nothing definitive at this point.”
“Now that Knox has the information, we’re on borrowed time. We need to destroy it before he realizes what he has. Otherwise this whole thing will explode in my face.”
I nodded. “I’m working on it. Give me a couple more days.”
“We don’t have a couple of days. My client isn’t going to like this.” He tossed his pen on top of the desk. “Hell, I don’t like this.”
“I know, but unless I shot Knox in front of Representative Lang, it couldn’t be avoided.” My shoulders sagged in defeat, but I quickly rolled them back again. I couldn’t show any weakness around Miles. He was like a shark smelling blood. “Besides, none of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t waylaid me on the way to the party,” I said, trying to turn the tables.
When I walked out my front door last night to leave for Lang’s house, Miles was waiting for me. He wanted to give me a ride to the party to talk about us. Like so many times over the last month, we exchanged barbs, and I ended up being late.
He leaned back in his chair and propped his hands behind his head. “You knew Knox Black getting to the computer first was a possibility. It shouldn’t have mattered. We had a backup plan. Why didn’t you stick to it?”
Stalling, I picked up the snow globe on his desk and shook it. Apparently, he bought it for his fourteen-year-old daughter last Christmas, but she didn’t want it. Somehow, it found a permanent home on his desk, collecting dust. Part of me wanted to look him in the eye and come clean about everything, and apologize for being distracted by a stupid, meaningless kiss, but I knew a confession would only prolong this interrogation. I didn’t want to spend any more time in Miles’s company than absolutely necessary. He knew how to manipulate me and make me want stupid things—like him.
“I managed to get the thumb drive from Knox Black, but then Lang walked in the office. Knox diverted my attention and stole the thumb drive from me.”
He stood up, closed the distance between us, and chucked me under the chin with two fingers. “And you just let him take it? That doesn’t sound like you. What am I missing here?”
My pulse racing, I smacked his hand away from my face. “Nothing. Your plan was flawed. I needed to upload the virus before Knox Black got to the computer. There were too many people at the party. I couldn’t do anything to stop him, and he knew it. He didn’t take me seriously.”
He pursed his lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I pushed away from the desk and smoothed the folds of my skirt. “Nothing. I need to take off. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.”
“We need to destroy the information from Lang’s computer. Conceding is not an option.” Looking down, he rubbed his temples. “My client will go nuclear if we fail.”
My brows pinched together. “Nobody likes failure, but sometimes it happens. We need a contingency plan for what to do next.”
“There is no next. We need to stop that motherfucker before he ruins everything,” he growled heatedly.
“I don’t get it. Why does the client want to get rid of those files, anyway? What’s so important about them?”
He yanked on his already loosened tie and glanced to the side. “I don’t know exactly, and I don’t care. Those were his instructions, and he’s not someone to fuck with. He’ll stick a knife in my throat before I finish explaining why we failed. He’s not like the other people I’ve worked for. He’s ruthless, Trinity, and I don’t say that lightly. I’ve worked with some bad people in my life, but he’s in a league of his own.” He blew out a breath. “That’s all I’m going to say about it. You don’t need to know anything else.”
A tremor zipped down my spine and my muscles stiffened. I inhaled through my nose and rolled back my shoulders. Probing him for information he didn’t want to share was a waste of energy, and a small part of me didn’t want to know anything else. “I’ll see what I can do. See you tomorrow.”
“Wait. Do you want to stay for dinner?” He tugged on the end of my ponytail, an expectant smile on his face. “I ordered Chinese. Your favorite. It should be here any minute.”
I focused on the black and white landscape photos hanging on the wall behind his desk. “I already ate.”
He stepped closer to me, the front of his pants brushing the side of my thigh. “Don’t make me eat alone. We haven’t spent any quality time together in a while. I miss you.” He lowered his voice, his lips only inches from my ear. “I miss us. We were good together. Don’t you think it’s time we worked this out? Every time we get close, you push me away again.”
My face flamed with humiliation as memories of what happened between us a week after we broke up taunted me. We’d been working late. In a moment of weakness, he kissed me and one thing led to another. The next day and every day afterward, I rationalized the whole thing as me being lonely and nostalgic for what I thought we had before the truth slapped me across the face. Marrying him and building a life together had been the next step in my life for almost a year, and I didn’t have a contingency plan. Part of me wanted to give in and try again even though I knew this back and forth between us had to stop. It was unhealthy.
“Miles.” I held up one hand as I took a few steps backward to put space between us. “I don’t want to keep going in circles. We’re over, and nothing you do will change my mind. If you can’t keep this professional, we need to cut ties.”
“You didn’t object a couple of weeks ago,” he said, his voice hard, cold; and I shivered. Two steps forward and he loomed over me. His jaw was set, and his dark eyes glittered.
I shook my head. “I made a mistake. I’m sorry if I gave you the impression I wanted to reconcile. That was never my intention because it couldn’t be further from the truth. I can’t do this again.”
His mouth opened, but just as quickly hinged closed, his eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly. “I’ve apologized for what happened countless times. Too many times. You need to start acting like an adult instead of a petulant child, punishing me for a few missteps.” He scraped his fingers down his neck. “You’ve given me more mixed signals than a drunken music conductor.”
“A few missteps?” I scoffed, my hands trembling and anger heating my skin. “You were sleeping with your ex-wife. She thought the two of you had reconciled. We were shopping for engagement rings. I thought we were getting married. You were stringing us both along.” I bit down on my lower lip, restraining the urge to spit dozens of sarcastic insults. I didn’t want to back him into a corner and force him to sever our working relationship. I had enough upheaval in my life right now. I needed stability so I could keep helping my sister. She deserved everything I could give her and more.
“I know. I know.” He raised his hands in surrender. “I shouldn’t have touched her. I realize that, but we have a complicated history. I know it’s not an excuse, but one thing led to another and I fell into an old habit. It’s all over now. She understands that, and it won’t happen again. I promise.”
“You’re right.” I paused for a beat, summoning the backbone to push him away. “It won’t because I’ve moved on.”
His eyebrows slanted downward. “Are you seeing someone?”
“Yes,” I lied. “I’m late. I need to go.”
“Wait.” He grabbed my wrist. “Who is he?”
“No one you know. We’ve only gone out once, but I like him.”
“It’ll never work. He won’t understand what you do, why you spend time with me, or why you have irregular hours.”
“Maybe. Maybe not, but it isn’t your business.” I pried his hands off my wrist and shrugged. “By the way, you don’t have the right to touc
h me anymore.”
“Don’t I?” he said, his hand stroking the side of my face. My breath stalled inside of my lungs for a moment, then gusted out in one giant whoosh.
“No.” Our eyes locked in a wordless struggle. “You had your chance. I’m doing what I should have done months ago. I’m moving on.”
“Listen, Tri.” He lowered his voice an octave, clasping his hands around the swells of my hips. “Give me one more chance. I sorted everything out with my ex. She won’t be an issue. I want to make this work. She’s my past. You’re my future. Let me know how I can make this up to you.”
I rubbed a hand down the side of my face as I stepped out of his hold. “I don’t know. I don’t think I can go there yet. I’m not ready.”
“Can you try? We don’t have to rush anything. Just keep an open mind.”
I swallowed hard. I shouldn’t trust him, but a tiny dysfunctional part of me wanted to pretend the last few months hadn’t happened and be happy again. For a small moment in time, I was on the cusp of getting engaged and living happily ever after. Since I was little, I’d dreamed of having the perfect someone in my life who’d never disappointment me or abandon me.
I pulled my lower lip between my teeth, studying him before I answered. “I’m not going to promise anything, but I’ll keep an open mind about our future.”
“That’s a start.” He pressed a kiss to the corner of my mouth and a flicker of self-hatred shot through my veins. “You won’t regret this. I promise.”
Why can’t I believe him? Trust him? Damn him. Damn me.
Acid rolled in my stomach at the thought of letting Miles into my life again. I couldn’t stop the nagging feeling he’d hurt me again.
“I’ll be in touch tomorrow,” I said, stepping out of his office.
***
I cased the entire length of the block of Knox’s three-story apartment building. Interior lights winked at me, taunting me with their warmth. The night clung to the buildings as I darted in and out of the shadows, testing whether or not anyone had spotted me. An occasional car drove by, its lights reflecting off the wet pavement. No one had walked by in the last thirty minutes. Pausing at the side entrance of his building, I propped my back against the wall. The icy brick bit into my back, but I ignored it, my attention focused on the yellow glow of lights shining through the corner window on the third floor. Knox was in his bedroom and awake unless he slept with his lights on. I eyed the windows below his. Most were dark and quiet.
“Go to bed, already,” I hissed under my breath.
I promised myself I’d leave if he didn’t turn off his light in the next fifteen minutes. Any longer, and I might freeze. My teeth chattered nonstop. My legs felt like twin popsicles and my feet resembled lumps of ice. I should’ve gone home and changed into more appropriate clothes, but I didn’t want Miles to discover I lied to him about having plans.
As if fate knew I couldn’t wait any longer, the light in Knox’s room turned off and the window blurred into the darkness. Fear and excitement pumped fast through my veins like a drug. I pushed away from the wall and pulled a slim bag of tools from my pocket. Growing up with an uncle who stole cars in his late teenage years came in handy, especially when I needed to pick locks.
CHAPTER FIVE
Knox
My eyes popped open. Moonlight shimmered through the cracks of my drapes. Wide awake, I reached for the gun hidden in the sideboard of my bed. As quietly as possible, I rolled off the mattress and waited. Most people would’ve attributed the sounds to an overactive imagination, but I didn’t think so. Every nerve in my body howled in warning. Somebody was inside my apartment.
The light echo of leather shoes clapped against my hardwood floors. The rustle of papers shuffling drifted through the air. If I strained hard enough, I heard the soft puffs of someone breathing.
Stepping out of my bedroom, I inched around the corner and paused, using the shadows as a cloak as I listened. The noises came from the guest bedroom I used as a personal office. With my back pressing into the wall and my gun in front of me, I crept down the hall. When I reached the entrance, I peeked into the room and froze.
Trinity Jones crouched in front of my filing cabinet with her back to me, a slim metal tool hanging out of her pocket. Her long dark hair was in a ponytail that brushed the middle of her upper back with every movement. Her dark colored skirt clung to her ass and thighs, leaving nothing to the imagination. I blew out a breath. I didn’t want to deal with this shit tonight. I went to bed late too late for my scheduled early morning meeting.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?”
In one smooth motion, she jumped to her feet and whirled around. Mascara smudged the skin beneath her eyes, but other than that, she looked fresh. Beautiful. “You tricked me. You didn’t give me what I asked for.”
I laughed. “I never intended to give it to you. I just let you believe I would for a few minutes.”
She rolled her eyes and stepped around my desk. “And that’s why I’m here. I need those thumb drives and any copies.”
“And you thought you’d find it sitting around in my home office?”
She shrugged. “It was worth a try.”
I lowered my gun and took a few cautious steps forward. I didn’t have any illusions that Trinity wasn’t armed or trained in martial arts. Miles might be an asshole, but he did a respectable job of grooming the people who worked for him.
“Well, they’re not here. In fact, they’re long gone. I passed them along last night.” It was a lie; Jack and I were still combing over every last document, video, picture, and photograph lifted from Lang’s computer. Once that was done, I’d handle the case myself. Sometimes politics trumped evidence, and the Department of Justice refused to prosecute the offenders. I didn’t like it, but that was exactly what would happen with Lang. All the evidence pointed to treason and blackmail, but the Administration didn’t care. They considered a conviction more of a liability than letting the guilty walk away with a slap on the hand.
She chewed on her lower lip. “You’re lying.”
“No. I’m not.” I smirked. “So be a good girl and run along before this encounter becomes even more unpleasant.”
She curled her hands into fists, her coffee colored eyes glittering. “Don’t threaten me.”
I pointed toward the door. “You’re in my home. I’m entitled to do whatever I want.”
She stared at me for a prolonged beat, her gaze tracing the lines of my naked torso, before focusing on my face. “Fine. I’ll leave.”
She took a few steps in the direction of the door to my office, and I noticed the bulge inside her jacket. I grabbed her wrist as her body came even with mine. Her bones were startlingly tiny. My finger and thumb easily overlapped the circumference.
“Did you find anything interesting?” I asked, my tone deceptively pleasant.
Her hair whipped around her chin as she turned to face me. She twisted her wrist, but I didn’t release her. “Not particularly.”
I pinned her with my stare. “Great. Then you won’t mind me taking this from you.” My hand shot inside her jacket and I pulled out a couple of files.
I flipped through the labels.
Benton Family.
Representative Lang.
Amy Black.
She stole the file on my mom.
My entire childhood, I had a recurring daydream of my father banging on the front door of our shitty trailer in that even shittier town in Arizona and demanding to take me away from there. By the time I reached thirteen, I gave up hope, and I focused on getting the hell out of there and away from my mom.
Last year, I spent some time investigating my mother’s relationships around the time I was born. My mom told me more times than I could count that she didn’t remember anything about my father. She claimed she had a drunken one-night stand and ended up pregnant, but I didn’t believe her, and my research backed up my instincts. My mom may have spent a good chunk of my formative years working as
a high-paid escort of sorts, but she had a very short list of steady clients. I had narrowed the list to two men who could be my father.
Between Archer’s quest for revenge against Senator Wharton and the explosion of business at my security and intelligence firm, I didn’t have the time to dig any deeper and part of me didn’t want to know anyway. Somehow over the past year, it no longer mattered who fathered me, but it didn’t mean I liked Trinity prying into my personal business.
As I stared at the label on the inch-thick file folder, I felt the familiar sensation of a hundred pound weight on my back, my mind drunk on unwanted memories. I had forgotten, or maybe just hadn’t wanted to recall, the feeling of dejection and hopelessness of growing up poor and without anyone who cared about me except my brother Archer.
“You’re spying on me. Is this late night visit another errand for your piece of shit boyfriend? Tell me. Why does he make you do all his dirty work?” Hate coated my words, but it wasn’t directed at her. Not really.
Her eyes narrowed and she yanked her hand away from me. I didn’t resist. I needed her to get out of my home before I snapped. I couldn’t stand the thought of people prying into my personal business. I didn’t share my history with anyone. Sure, I disclosed a rose-colored version of my history to the government to get security clearance, but nobody except Archer and his fiancée knew the real truth. The real truth was so much uglier than I wanted to reveal.
The corners of her lips turned down. “My boyfriend?”
“Yes. I’m talking about Miles.” I folded my arms across my chest. “By the way, you have poor taste in men.”
“Miles isn’t my boyfriend. He’s a business associate.” The melancholy in her voice hit me like a punch to the gut.
“Oh really? That’s not what I heard.”
She rocked back on her heels and laughed, but it wasn’t genuine. “Yeah, well, your sources are wrong.”
Our eyes met, and I took the opportunity to study her face. I could get lost in those eyes. They were dark and endless. My attention dipped to her mouth. Even pursed in anger, it looked good enough to nibble on.