I fold my arms in front of my chest, wordlessly warning her I’m two seconds from tossing her ass to the curb. She finds my attempts to act superior amusing. Her cheeks rise, exposing her gleaming white teeth.
“I get it, I do. I saw the surveillance pics. You had chemistry. But seriously, how much time do you need to get over a week-long fling? Regan was good within a few days. You. . .” A laugh finalizes her sentence.
Once her laughter settles, she raises her eyes to mine. They’re glistening with humor, but it’s the devious gleam of revenge I’m paying the most attention to.
“Let me spell it out in layman’s terms for you, so that scrawny brain of yours has no trouble keeping up.” She glances over her shoulder to ensure we’re alone before returning her eyes to mine. They’re even more scheming now. “If you don’t help me get back the position I deserve, I’ll ensure you’ll never win back the woman you’restillin love with.”
I nod, acknowledging I finally understand her threat. She thinks I’m so scared of losing Regan that I’ll do anything she wants me to do. The thing is, she failed to realize I’ve already lost Regan, so I’ve got nothing more to lose, meaning she’s shit out of luck.
“I get it, I do,” I mimic, nasal voice and all. “Isaac didn’t even need a day to get over you, so you’re angry and lashing out, but let me spell it out in a way a vindictive two-faced bitch will understand: you fucked with the wrong man. Not once, but twice. There’s just one difference this time around. I won’t go down without a fight.” I lower my eyes to her level to ensure she can see the honesty in them when I say, “I’ll also never be stupid enough to side with a woman like you, much less lie in the same bed of fleas.”
When she raises her hand to slap my face, I catch her wrist halfway.
“Nice try; do it again and see how far it gets you.”
I drop her hand before moving back to my side of the desk. I won’t lie; it’s the fucking fight of my life to let her walk out of my office. The only reason I do is because of the tidbits of information she dropped during our exchange. She’s aware of Isabelle’s connection with Isaac. There is only one way she could know that: I have a snitch in my crew.
That’s even worse than discovering the woman I’m in love with is siding with the enemy.
Nineteen
Alex
“You have your suspicions on who your nark is?”
Although Kristin can’t see me, I jerk up my chin. “I have a few hunches I’m running on.”
I hear her twist the old battered cord on her landline phone around her finger before she asks, “Anyone I know?”
“Not unless you’re hiding a secret life from me?”
Laughter chops up my words. I wish it was my honest chuckle. Unfortunately, it isn’t. I should have known the timing of Theresa’s visit wasn’t a coincidence. She didn’t arrive at Ravenshoe to put in a bid to have her title returned; she’s the IA agent the Bureau sent to investigate the possibility that Isabelle aided and abetted Isaac with confidential government documents.
Even with my weekend spent schmoozing my father’s colleagues in the hope they’d approve my request to have Theresa pulled off the case hasn’t stopped her grilling Isabelle at this very moment, and what can I do about it? Sweet fuck all.
Because I couldn’t disclose I was aware Isabelle is in a sexual relationship with Isaac, the bureaucrats didn’t see any connection between Theresa and Isabelle. They want Theresa to make an example out of Isabelle, to show what happens when agents cross the line they have marked in the sand.
Can anyone say hypocrite?
Theresa was removed from her position because she withheld vital information on the target she was assigned to investigate. Then she blackmailed an up-and-coming techie to do her dirty work to ensure her hands remained clean and she’d never face prosecution. If anyone should be made an example of, it should be Theresa.
“What are you going to do?” Kristin asks, drawing my thoughts back to the present.
I scrub my hand across my recently shaved jaw. Even with my beard gone a year, the smoothness of my chin still feels foreign. “I don’t know. They want Isabelle to go on unpaid leave until the case is resolved.”
“It’s probably for the best.”
I sit up straighter in my chair. “What makes you say that?”
Kristin breathes heavily before forcing out, “You’re there for a reason, Alex. Do you really want a rookie agent sidetracking your plans? If you have IA breathing down your neck, you’ll never achieve what you set out for.”
“That’s not true.” I grit my teeth, stunned at how violently my words came out. I’m angry, but Kristin doesn’t deserve the brunt of my wrath. “I’m here to bring Isaac to justice. I can do that and support my team at the same time.”
Kristin’s sigh reveals she doesn’t believe me. “You said Dane’s death wouldn’t be in vain.”
“It won’t be—”
“Come on, Alex. It’s been twelve fucking months. How much longer do you expect me to wait?” A chair rolling back sounds down the line before, “I have to go. Addi needs me.” Her bitchy tone when she snarled Addi’s name is more shocking than her brutally slamming the phone down.
