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“And he didn’t mention me?”
“No. Why? Did you guys break up?”
“Yes. And I’m going to have to quit.”
Chloe was silent for a moment. “I think you should come over so that we can talk.”
“Oh, no. I really can’t.”
If Nickolay found her there, he’d probably lose his mind, and that was nothing compared to what Alek would probably do once he knew the truth.
Why didn’t Nickolay tell them?
“Please, Alice. At least talk to me face to face. I thought we were friends.”
Nickolay’s cold words about her being a stranger to him flashed through her mind. She didn’t want Chloe to think that she was only pretending to be friends with her this whole time. It was what she wassupposedto do, but the friendship ended up being real for her.
“I’ll come just for a quick conversion,” she said.
She wanted to tell Chloe the truth herself and assure her that she wouldn’t be turning anything over to her boss. After the call ended, she drove to Alek’s house, hoping that she would be gone before he returned with Nickolay.
As she rang the doorbell and waited for Chloe to answer, knowing that she didn’t get around very quickly these days. But when the door was pulled open, she found herself looking into Max’s adorable smiling face. Just the sight of him felt like being stabbed in the heart. She didn’t think she’d ever get to see him again.
“Max, you can’t answer the door, even if you think you know who it is,” Chloe said, rushing up behind him.
“But it’s Alice. I wanted to see her.”
That twisted the knife, but she managed to smile at him. “Hi, bud. What are you doing here?”
“Aunt Gina is sick, so I’m being babysitted.”
She smiled, wanting to hug him. Instead, she stepped past him into the foyer. It was strange to be here, knowing that it would likely be her last time in this house.
“Why don’t you go back to watching cartoons?” Chloe said, tousling Max’s hair. “I need to talk to Alice alone.”
He went back into the living room with no complaints, and Alice followed Chloe into the kitchen. She poured Alice a cup of coffee and sat it on the island in front of her.
“Now, spill it. Why do you think you’re quitting on me?”
Alice grinned for the first time since she left Nickolay’s house last night. “Think? I’m pretty sure Iknowthat I’m quitting.”
“Tell me what’s going on. Whether you work for me or not, I care about you.”
Alice couldn’t meet her eyes as the truth spilled out of her. She told Chloe everything, even things that she didn’t get the chance to tell Nickolay, such as her conflicting emotions about everything since the day she arrived and how much she cared about him. When she was finished, Chloe looked stunned.
“I swear, I haven’t given the FBI any evidence of wrongdoing by Alek or anyone, and I’m not going to. In fact, I’m going to leave the bureau,” Alice assured her. “I know that I lied to you, and I don’t expect you to forgive me for that. I can’t even properly apologize for it, because I was just doing my job. But this experience changed me.”
“I get that.”
Alice frowned, her hands wrapped around her warm mug. “You do?”
“You said that your boss is invested in this because of his missing partner. That wouldn’t be Rick Calloway, would it?”
“How did you know that?”
Chloe let out a bitter laugh. “I knew him. I grew up in Davinapolis, you know, but I left when my dad was murdered. I came back last year, and Rick tried to get me to be an informant as I grew close to Alek. I trusted him because he was a friend of my father. But it turns out that he actually killed him.”
Alice blinked, absorbing that information. “You’re saying that Agent Calloway murdered your father?”
