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“But not for me?” She straightened and paced to the window. She stood looking out at the forest beyond and saw nothing.
Behind her, Carpenter explained. “He came to me after Ronnie’s men attacked you. He traded his information for your safety.”
No, he’d traded his life for her own. That realization hit her full force in the chest, stealing her breath.
“I didn’t see how I could lose,” her boss finished.
“Of course not.” Carpenter still hadn’t lost, yet she fucking died as they spoke.
“This was the plan all along,” he confessed. “Our deep undercover told us—”
“You mean Grant.” She glanced over her shoulder in time to catch a glimpse of anger in Carpenter’s eyes before he pushed it down.
“He told you?”
She nodded.
“Grant told us two or so years ago Finn was our best bet to get inside and blow this organization apart. Finn was a good man in a bad world. We needed to find something he felt more loyalty to than that world and the people in it.” Carpenter shrugged as if Gretchen should be able to figure out the rest.
“And?” She turned to face him fully.
“And we had you. Finnegan James has loved you in one way or another since you were a child. We knew if we put you in that world, he’d have to make a decision, and we were certain he’d choose you.”
Gretchen shook her head as new tears sprung to her eyes. She and Finn had both been mere pawns in an elaborate game of chess.
“You bastard.”
“Gretchen, I—” Carpenter started.
She shook her head and backed away. She couldn’t listen to any more of this now. She had to get away from this office and these people and everyone who’d lied to her for months, or years. Hell, she didn’t know if anything she’d thought to be real was real anymore. She turned away, with the captain still calling after her, and made her way out of his office and to her car.
~ ~ ~
“What the fuck do you want?” Carpenter jerked his head up to glare at Grant as the agent pushed his way through his boss’s door without a knock.
“Did you tell her?” Grant crossed his arms over his thick chest.
Carpenter shook his head. “It’s too soon,” he reminded Grant. “She has to believe it or no one else will.”
“You don’t give her enough credit.” Grant shook his head. “You think she can’t pull this off? You think she can’t fucking fool people? Then why did you send her into that hellhole? Do you know what they would’ve done to her if they’d ever found out she was lying, that she was a fed?”
“Finn would never have let that happen,” he replied arrogantly.
“He couldn’t watch her every damn minute,” Grant raged. “You saw what they did to her because of Ronnie’s jealousy. They would’ve made her beg for death if she hadn’t been able to fool them.”
Carpenter tapped his fingers against his pursed lips. “This is too important. Besides, it’s for her. She’ll thank me for it one day.”
“Like hell she will,” Grant snapped. “She’s already slipping. She’s spiraling, Carp, and I don’t know where she’ll end up.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“And if she’s not? She hasn’t slept, she hasn’t eaten. It’s only been two days, and she’s already losing it. Be her captain and do something.”
“I am. This is the plan. I’m beginning to wonder if I should’ve told Jackson instead of you. I thought you could hold your shit together better than this.”
“This isn’t about me. It’s about that woman and what you’re doing to her. She’ll never forgive us if this goes wrong.”
Carpenter laughed sadly. “Goes wrong? How can this go any worse?”
