Is she designing and creating chemical weapons?
There’s no way.
I stand, shaking my head as I pace the small hotel room.
Lacee just keeps being in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s the only logical explanation.
A memory flashes across my mind. Lacee wanted to tell me something right as the computer chips were loading on my computer. Maybe she wanted to tell methis.
BANG! There’s a loud noise behind me.
In one quick motion, I pull my gun out from the holster on my waist and point it at the balcony window as four men dressed in black come crashing in. They’re attached to cables fastened to the roof. Gunshots fire through the locked door behind me as more men enter the small hotel room and surround me.
I raise my hands in defeat.
It’s over.
THIRTY-SIX
LACEE
So this is Christmas—bowlsof homemade candies on the table, the sound of playing cards being shuffled, soft Christmas music in the background, trays of finger foods left out for hours, everyone dressed in nicer clothes with Christmas-patterned socks, a crackling fire, the glow of lights spread across the house, a cinnamon candle, laughter, smiles, the feel of something sacred and special. This is the part of Christmas I love the most…usually.
But tonight, nothing feels right. Even the slow drop of snowflakes outside doesn’t have the same effect. It’s like something’s missing—a vacant spot in my heart that no amount of Christmas cheer can fill.
I tuck my feet under me as I sit on the couch, watching the flames in the fireplace sway and crackle. Erika and Cassi are on the floor below me, playing a card game, completely unaware that I wish I were somewhere else.
My dad places another log on the fire, turning to me. “It’s too bad Park couldn’t stop by for a little bit.”
I think my heart was just feeling the same thing.
“Are you guys dating or something?” Cassi flicks her eyes to me as she waits for Erika to discard.
I feel myself getting defensive for no reason. “Why would we be dating?”
Government operatives don’tdate.
How could they?
There’s always a villain or a bad guy waiting in the wings, threatening any real relationship.
So we’re not dating.
Or using a holiday fling as an excuse to spend time with each other.
Whatever game we’ve been playing this season is over.
Cassi frowns as if she senses the frustration I’m projecting. “You spent the last two days skiing with each other. I assumed you must like Park a little bit or be starting some kind of relationship. Or else why would you leave right before Christmas?”
“I do like him.” I relax my shoulders, reminding myself that my family has no clue where I’ve really been. They don’t know about the men with guns or the computer chips. They don’t know that being with Park is dangerous for him and for me. “But things between us would never work. Our relationship would be too complicated.”
“I hate it when people say things like that.” Erika looks over her shoulder at me. “If you like him, which you just said you did, thenuncomplicate things.”
Uncomplicate things?That’s like asking a blindfolded person to solve a Rubik's cube. There’s no way to figure things out.
“Well,” my mom fiddles with caramel popcorn in the kitchen behind us, “I think Park needs to spend Christmas Eve with his mom anyway. That’s the entire reason he came to Leavenworth.”
I glance over my shoulder, lifting my lips to acknowledge her words, even though what she said isn’t true.I’mthe reason Park came to Leavenworth for the holidays. I put the wheels in motion. I forced him to follow me. I just didn’t know I would end up feeling this way.
