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I thought fast. “Because this isn’t right. We don’t know where Sax has been, who he’s been interacting with, if he’s been hanging out with his brother or his father.” The last part, I knew to be a lie. Theo couldn’t stand his father. But, Kai may not have the full dossier on that, and an iota of loyalty festered at the bottom point of my heart where maybe, it was nobody’s business how Theo was abused, sold, and tortured by his sire. Not after the man he’d become.
Stop it, Letty.
I shook out of the reverie. “We don’t have enough, Kai. Two years of work can’t culminate into a lucky shot.”
“Sometimes it can.”
“You called him here, planned something with him to take me out of this game,” I said. “That makes you an accessory.”
Kai glowered. “First of all, Theo contactedme.”
He glanced back at his phone, but I recognized hesitation when I saw it.
“We need more,” I said. “Think about it.”
“You can’t…” He shook his head. Then, in a way of instinctual warning, I watched his forehead smooth out. “Maybe you can. Theo’s the best lead to Trace, you’re right. It’s why we wanted you to work for the FBI in the first place. Here’s an idea. What if you let Theo lead you to Trace, and then…”
“Spit it out.”
“You turn both of them in.”
A humming had begun in my ears the moment Kai had a change of heart. Now, all was quiet, including my mind. “What?”
“Theo and Trace Saxon, Scarlet. You’re the only one who could do it.”
My bare heel caught a splinter as I backed away. Thethwickof the way it slid into calloused skin brought tangible pain to the moment. “I … Kai, I can’t.”
“You have to.”
The only other time I’d seen Kai sport such determination and calm stubbornness was when he’d revealed to me he was an undercover agent. And I knew, the same way I was aware that Theo Saxon was different from any other person in his family, that Kai wouldn’t settle for anything less than both brothers on their knees in handcuffs in front of him.
“This would make your career.” I said it before thinking—as I was thinking—a swirl of thoughts and warnings swirling like moths in my head. “Not to mention, erase any charges that could be laid against you for double-crossing the FBI by communicating with Theo these past few months.”
“Don’t youeven,” Kai said, pointing ferociously at me. “That man has brought nothing but death and destruction to me, toyou.He needs to be out of our lives, you need to become the person you were supposed to be before meeting him. There are so many reasons why he needs to go. And you fucking know it.”
I swallowed.
“You’re doing this,” he said, and held out his phone. “Or I’m calling Chenko right now. Your choice.”
Chenko’s face flashed in my mind’s eye, the way he’d leered over my hospital bed, the smile he’d held over me. If I didn’t do this, buy enough time, he would come through on his threats, and all my work would be wasted.
The direction Theo had walked was empty, but I pictured him there, hands in his pockets, his broad back, the confident stride and measured control he possessed.
He once was mine.
“I have nothing in my life except for this,” I said to Kai. “Finding Trace, making him pay for the damage he’s caused…” I absently rubbed at the raised bump underneath my right breast.
“You still have your freedom,” Kai said. “If you leave right now, you’ll no longer have the FBI backing you. I’ll be the only one who knows your motives. Or, I can finish this. Bring Theo in the minute you give me the go ahead.”
“Is this what liberty is supposed to look like?” I tipped my chin up to seem taller, even if my eyes sheened over. “I don’t have Sax, I don’t have mysister”—my voice broke—“Verily can’t stand to be around me anymore, I have no career, no future.”
“You have parents that love you. Me,” he pointed in the middle of his chest, “who loves you.”
“My parents can barely look at me without…” My breaths were ragged, but I mustered enough strength to say, “I’ll do it.”
“Even if you’re forced to betray the man you love?”
I nodded but kept my stare. Theo wasn’t mine anymore. “Even that.”
