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“No. That’s what you pay the little brother for. Whoever has control of that code can do a lot of damage, Liam.”
I was afraid of that but also highly intrigued about what it could do. France HQ hadn’t really explained their need for it and Rhys never delved into his project. But that much power? It sounded fantastic. Too bad it involved getting Rhys to speak to me again and recreating it from scratch. Maybe a little… incentive might help.
My thought process quickly turned dark as I realized Maia was still next to me, chomping on those fucking skittles like a child. “Why the fuck couldn’t you have done this over the phone?” I cleared my throat but it didn’t erase the angry words I had already spewed.
“Needed the skittles.”
“I would have mailed them.”
“And I wanted to see your face when I told you that I got a new job.”
My brows furrowed in confusion. Maia enjoyed the life of a free agent, hiding behind a screen, and answering to no one. She could dictate her prices, the jobs she took on, and where she went. Maia… with a boss?
“You’ll never guess who!” She giggled again, dipping into one of the pockets lining her dress. It took several tries before she shoved a business card toward me and then skipped down my driveway. I had no fucking clue how she had made it here but this didn’t sit right with me.
I stared down at the card in my hand, my heart falling into my stomach.
Hawk International
France HQ
Of course, they would have snatched her up. Was it because of my request that had set off the alarms or had she always been working for them? I didn’t like the thought that I had been lied to.
Turning back to step inside, Joey met me at the door, arms folded across his chest. “Is this what has been bothering you?” He snatched the card from me and frowned. “I know this symbol. Ada? Yes, I’ve seen it on stationary or something. Why was Maia here?”
Joey knew Maia as one of my clients from the firm we used to work at. She was a needy, older lady who would stop in forSkittles and strange conversation. Joey had said more than once that he didn’t like her, that her vibes were off and he wouldn’t be wrong. However, hiding her real purpose behind a helpless old lady seemed the safest option.
“Apparently, Ada has been trying to recruit me and her newest tactic was using Maia.” I held my breath, hoping that this lie would work as well. I was running out of things that could be cataloged as a coincidence. And as naive as Joey was, he wasn’t stupid.
He stared at the card for several seconds, flipping it over and over in his hand. “She makes me uncomfortable, Liam. I don’t like her around the house.”
“Who? Maia?”
Joey’s gaze hardened as he handed me back the card. “No, both of them. I don’t like either one. Whatever is going on, figure it out because I’m sick of the lies and the avoidance tactics.” I stepped forward and he held out his hand. “Liam, I love you. I love the way that you own my body and soul. The way you’ll take me apart without me even having to ask. Should I need somewhere to run, it willalwaysbe you. But I’m done following you in the dark.”
My heart stopped as he put more distance between us. “What are you saying?” Joey was my light in the dark, the only reason I was surviving in this cutthroat world.
“I’m saying that you need to figure out what’s more important–your secrets or my heart. I know you think you’re protecting me and I love you for that. But I don’t need to be protected. I need to be loved.”
My breathing quickened because I couldn’t wrap my head around all the shit that was going down around me and the fact that Joey kept stepping away from me. “Joey,please. I do love you.” Tears gathered in my eyes and I hurriedly blinked them away.
“Love is many things but it is not full of lies. Choose, Liam.” Then he headed down the hall and stepped into the guest room. The door shut gently and that cut into my heart harder than if he had slammed it. What Joey was asking for was impossible. He wanted me to drag him into this world so that I could be myself with him fully. But that would keep him from ever truly being able to escape.
Then again, everyone already knew that Joey was mine. Push came to shove, when I received my sentence to eternal damnation, Joey would be right there just by association.
I had already condemned my husband whether I liked it or not.
One deep breath later, I was pushing into the guest room and snuggling up to my husband.
“Are you ready to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“Everything?” Joey asked as he pressed a gentle kiss to my nose. I hesitated, my heart splintering at the thought of revealing my entire past to this man but I nodded anyway, knowing that it would be the only way to keep him by my side.
“Everything.”
Chapter six
