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“Or I’ll hurt you in a way you don’t like.”
“You have no idea what capacity for pain I’ve developed in these last months.”
He looked away, but not before I saw something that could be sympathy in his eyes. Did he wonder what I’d been through? Did it matter? As far as he saw it, I’d sent him away bleeding to further my career.
“I could hand you over to the men you ran away from tonight.”
I shook my head. “You won’t.”
“Matteo, don’t say a fucking word about this.”
“Okay.” His eyes widened. “They don’t need to know about any of this. It’s only important to us.” I stood and dressed hurriedly.
“It’s not–”
I glared at him. “Don’t.”
He turned and stomped to the door.
When he opened it, I saw the three men he’d shown me pictures of back when we were fighting on the same side. Miles, Ford, and Worth. They were all disgustingly rich—not that Carter wasn’t, he just didn’t flaunt what he had, and he tried to pretend he didn’t want anything to do with all the money that was sitting in an account with his name on it.
Carter said they’d become friends at their elite boarding school where they’d been sent to be educated Lord of the Flies style. Instead of becoming the worst of the worst, they’d found each other and learned how to be themselves. From everything Carter had shared, I knew they were essentially good, at least to each other, but they didn’t mind getting their hands dirty when it was necessary. Now, I knew that for certain after seeing their performance the night before.
Or at least Ford’s and Miles’s. Worth didn’t like to get his well-manicured hands dirty, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to pull strings. I wasn’t going to discount him as a threat.
These men might be Carter’s friends, but I was sure none of them gave a damn about me. They probably wished he’d finished me off when he’d had the chance. One of them had yelled at him to stop just before he shot me, so they couldn’t be all bad.
They cared about Carter. They’d taken care of him when I couldn’t, and for that I wouldn’t hurt them. But I also wasn’t going to let them take Carter from me when I was finally close to him again.
So tell him your secrets.
No, not yet, maybe not ever.
10
CARTER
The second Miles saw Matteo behind me, he pulled out his gun.
I snarled at him. “Put that away.”
“If you think I’m going to trust him, you’re insane, though I’m getting more and more concerned that’s the case.”
I glared at him. He knew we had orders not to kill Matteo. The CIA likely wanted its asset back, and we didn’t need that kind of trouble. Normally, I wouldn’t think that would stop Miles. The man did what he wanted and didn’t listen to a damn soul, but the orders were relayed through X. No one crossed X.
“I’m unarmed,” Matteo said. “I’ve got nothing but the clothes on my back. Your boy saw to that.”
Miles snarled. “No one asked you to speak.”
“They rarely do.”
Ford tired but failed to hold back a laugh, and Worth smiled. “He’s just as annoying as you said.”
“I am, but don’t shoot me. You’ll have to deal with a lot of red tape.”
Miles narrowed his eyes. “I don’t have a problem with that.”
“No, you have your empire of people to take care of little messes, but this one won’t be so small.”
