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Where was the other guy, and what was he doing while his counterpart assaulted a young woman in the other room?I asked myself that question several times, trying to figure out what Lucas was hiding from these men.I would need access to Lucas’s house, but first, I needed my woman to finish her story.Shit, I’m referring to her as my woman. I need my heart to stop convincing my brain that she belongs to me. It can never happen. “What happened next?” I asked, getting my head to focus on something else.
Evie reached for my hand and raised my wrist closer to her face. Seeing the time on my watch, she removed the ice pack. “The other man kneeled beside me and clasped my face in his hand, turning it so our eyes met.Give your brother a message for me,he said. I thought it was weird that he knew my brother, and I wondered if that is why he stopped the other guy from killing me.”
I stood from her bed and balled my hand into fists, allowing one to connect with the wall beside the bed. The drywall cracked from the power of my knuckles colliding with it. When I looked at my hand, I saw the blood, and I flexed my fingers to ensure I hadn’t broken anything. Rubbing my hand, I walked to the window and looked out across the yard at the lake. The water rippled from the light wind that came from the west. Satisfied I had my emotions in check, I turned and faced my best friend’s sister. “I need you to think hard and give me any information you can about their facial features, voice structures, anything that might help me figure out who they were.”
Evie closed her eyes, was silent for several minutes, and then spoke. “The man that attacked me was about five foot ten, maybe six feet. It was kinda dark so I’m not a hundred percent sure. He was extremely muscular, that I know because of his broad shoulders and how powerful he was. I can’t recall anything more about his body other than he had bright reddish-orange hair.” She thought a moment longer, biting at her lower lip. “Oh, when he spoke, I noticed he had an accent, but honestly, I couldn’t tell you from where. If I had to guess, maybe Austria or Czech, somewhere in that area.”
I watched her body shiver, so I pulled the covers up tighter around her body. “I’m not cold. Just recalling that night sort of scares me all over again.” I brushed her bangs off her forehead. She smiled at me. “The other man who stopped the first man from killing me was shorter, maybe five foot eight, over two hundred pounds, definitely overweight, not muscular. His face was long and narrow, but I remember his forehead most. High, with a scar from the edge of his hairline to his temple and one on his left cheek. He had light brown hair and deep brown eyes, and his voice was deep, and I am almost positive it may have been Russian.”
I listened as she continued to describe a few more facial features and the tattoos she had seen. On the side of his neck was a tattoo of an eight-pointed star with dots between each point. On the other side were a hammer and sickle. I had an idea of where to start looking for the men in question, but the message would solidify where I’d start looking first. I was proud of Evie for being able to recall so many facts about her assailants. It was obvious Sawyer had trained her over the years.
“Tell your brother the gray man won’t get lucky again. If he knows what’s best for him and you, he’ll tear up the letter he received and stop looking into Smoke and Fire. It is none of his concern. None of it made sense to me, but when I told Sawyer, I saw the recognition in his eyes, even though he said he had no idea. He lied to me, Max.”
Chapter Nine
The Truth Comes Out
I’d done so well controllingmy anger until now, and I couldn’t let Evie see me lose it again. Without saying a word, I stormed out of the room, down the stairs, and through the French doors. I didn’t stop until I reached the water’s edge. Going for one of the Adirondack chairs, I lifted it off the ground and swung it into the lake. I get why Sawyer lied to his sister, but he lied to me. Not once had he mentioned Smoke and Fire to me, yet I knew in my gut that he also used me. He was using me now. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and dialed Sawyer, but it immediately went to voicemail. “You son of a bitch better get your ass back here and tell me what kind of fucking mess you’ve got me involved in.” Without hesitation, I reached for another chair and began to swing it, but stopped mid-motion when I heard her voice.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
Setting the Adirondack back on the ground, I turned to face her. She continued to walk toward me. The closer she got: my heart started beating faster. Her doe eyes were wide, her brows raised, and her lips parted. She was scared, and it was my fault. When Evie reached me, she pushed her arms beneath mine and around my waist hugging me. I just stood there, arms slack at my side. Did I just stand here? Should I embrace her back? Raising my arms, I cupped her small frame to mine, holding her tight. “It’s nothing for you to worry about,” I told her as I kissed the top of her head. She remained quiet in my arms for a moment and then pulled away. I was surprised by the emptiness I felt as Evie put distance between us. Even bruised and battered, she was beautiful and strong. I admired this in her.
“I want to believe you, Max, but the fact that the last ten years of your life have been a lie, I’m not sure I can. Where have you been? What have you been doing? Sawyer won’t tell me, so why don’t you. Help me understand why everyone in my family but my brother thought you were dead.”
“It’s complicated,” I told her, hoping it would appease her, but I should have known better. Evie Wyatt always needed answers. Even as a kid, she demanded to understand every aspect of what was happening to wrap her mind around the situation and come up with her own conclusion.
“Just tell me. I’ll determine if it’s complicated or if you’re a coward who couldn’t let go of the past and chose to live without us—your family.”
“The only easy day was yesterday,” I whispered to myself. Something I learned as a SEAL. Every day brought a new challenge more significant than the last. Yesterday things were slightly tricky, but today they’ve gotten more complicated, and once I tell her, things will get even more challenging. “You should sit,” I suggest, reaching for her hand as she lowered herself into one of the chairs.
“Sawyer recruited me from the SEALs, and I’m an agent for the CIA. I had to die. It was the only way to keep you safe—everyone safe.”
“That makes no sense.” Evie shook her head.
“If I’m dead, no one expects me to come home to visit, write, or make calls. I’ve got no attachments to anyone, and no one would ever know you existed in my life. I didn’t worry about mom so much; she was at Harmony House, but I couldn’t keep reading the letters you kept writing to me. I ached to be with you with each one I read, but I had to be all in all the time as a SEAL. There was no room for anyone. So you see I had to die.”
Evie took in a sharp breath and raised her hand to her chest. “I thought you were done with me once you left, and you never returned a letter, and my heart shattered because I felt the emotions I had were one-sided.”
I dropped to one knee beside her chair and took her hand in mine. “They were never one-sided, Vee. I was in love with you and too afraid to tell you because I’d lost Steven and my dad. And Mom, no one knew what her future held for her. I couldn’t put anyone through the agony if something should happen to me when I was deployed and didn’t come back. So I kept myself from writing. l hoped you’d move on, or at least I had hoped you would.”
Evie’s glance turned cold. “Yet you wrote your mother up until your death.”
“She was my mom. She didn’t need from me what you did. Plus, she was struggling with her health, and I had to know what was happening with her. As sad as it is to say, the doctors told me every day that she took a breath would be a blessing. She’d gotten sick a couple of times, and they didn’t think she’d make it, but she did. The relief and disappointment I felt were horrible, and I hated myself even more for having those feelings.”
The tiny pale hand in mine pulled away. “I held your mom at your funeral. Your death took an emotional toll on her, and she couldn’t let go of the fact that you were no longer here. Her reason for living was gone; she gave up and didn’t fight when she got pneumonia last year.”
Evie struggled to get out of the chair. Its reclined angle with her arm casted made it hard for her to get up. She’d said her peace but needed to finish hearing me out. I stood, collected her in my arms, lifted her from the chair, and set her on her feet. But I didn’t let go of her. Not until I finished explaining.
“You don’t know how much it eased my soul to see you comfort my mom. I knew she was in good hands with you. But seeing you walk down the aisle with Richard made me want to rise from the dead. But I couldn’t. If I loved you back, you’d always be a target for someone to use to get to me. What I do for the CIA requires me to be a loner. No attachments, not even a pet.”
Evie raised her hand and slapped my face. “You were there? At the funeral, at my wedding?” she screamed. “I married Richard because I lost you. I married a cheater who annihilated my heart when he divorced me. I wasn’t good enough for you, and apparently, I wasn’t good enough for him.”
Tears began to stream down her face. I closed my eyes briefly and rubbed my chest. “There hasn’t been a momentous occasion in your life that I wasn’t there, Vee. And, when I found out Richard was cheating on you, I gave him an ultimatum, divorce you or die. I never meant for you to feel unwanted.”
Evie’s fists slammed into my chest repeatedly. “I hate you.”
I grasped her hands and held them to me. “No, you don’t. You love me as much as I do you, but we can never be together. Your injuries are because of your brother's actions, and I’m barely holding it together. If something happened to you because of me, I’d scorch this earth with a vengeance.” Gently, I placed my hands on her cheeks. “But, I promise you, I’m going to find the men who did this and make them pay.” When our eyes met, I saw the hunger she tried to hide. I kissed Vee tenderly, until she knew just how wanted she was. I knew I shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn't control my desire for her any longer.
