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Natalie swallowed hard and kept her gaze locked on Arrieta. “Kind of slow for you, though, right?” She rolled her eyes, pretending to be bored by the thought. “A simple beheading would be more efficient.”
“Yes, but so much less dramatic.” He gave her a dismissive wave. “You really have no style whatsoever. No one here does. The best decision I ever made was to leave this disgusting country behind and move on to bigger and better things.”
“It’s your homeland, Miles.”
“It was the place of my birth. It was never my home,” he said, his tone razor sharp.
She’d struck a nerve. Good. She kept pushing. “What about your father?”
Miles was at her side in an instant, gripping her jaw painfully tight in his hand as he snarled in her ear, “Do not ever speak of my father again. He was a vicious, drunken bastard. The most wonderful moment of my life was the day my ten-year-old brother and I killed him. That day I was a hero.” He thrust her away from him and paced the floor. “I will be a hero again, once that virus is unleashed.”
“Funny. Some people might see it differently. Some people think you’re the vicious one here.”
“Those people would be wrong.”
A loud bang issued from the other side of the door, and Arrieta froze.
Natalie craned her neck to see what was going on, but her movements were restricted at best. From the hardened expression on Arrieta’s face and the way he was mumbling under his breath, it wasn’t good, whatever it was.
Not good forhim,anyway. The jury was still out on whether it might be a good thing for her.
Arrieta pulled out his phone and stalked over to the windows. Natalie could only pick out a few words here and there—rendezvous, deployment, eradication.
Next thing she knew, the door behind her crashed open. There was a yell from one of the guards, followed by the sickening thud of fists pounding flesh.
“About time we meet again,” said a familiar male voice.
Kyle.
Elation mixed with confusion inside Natalie. She’d have expected him and his team to be storming the compound, burning this place to the ground, not rescuing her. She glanced sideways and spotted him standing, hands up, while a guard frisked him. Blood trickled from one corner of his mouth, and she realized with sickening clarity that he’d been taken prisoner too.
“I should have known you’d show up,” Arrieta sneered, circling the Navy SEAL like a shark. “Where’s the rest of your cavalry?”
“Waiting at an undisclosed location.” Kyle glanced at Natalie and gave her a cocky wink. “You okay, Duchess?”
She nodded, still stunned to see him.
“Have security check the perimeter,” Arrieta said to the guard. “These SEALs are like a cockroach infestation. Where there’s one, there’s bound to be more.”
The guard lowered his gun and left the room, closing the door behind him.
“So.” Arrieta eyed Kyle like something disgusting he’d found on the bottom of his shoe. “To what do I owe this dubious honor?”
“I came to offer you a deal.”
“A deal?” Arrieta chuckled. “How quaint. And is this deal on behalf of your country?”
“I have no country. Not anymore. Not after the way they abandoned me and my team after my brother’s death.” Kyle spat on the floor, his expression angry.
Natalie scrunched her nose.What the—
Arrieta narrowed his gaze. “You expect me to believe you’ve changed your loyalties? What reason do I have not to think you’re lying?”
“This.” Kyle pulled out his phone and handed it to Arrieta. “The numbers for all my military contacts are in there, along with Brighton’s plans for your capture. You can use those to stay one step ahead.”
Arrieta glanced at the phone, then Kyle, his expression unreadable.
“Go on. Look at it.” Kyle rattled off the security code, which Arrieta thumbed in. Then he scrolled through screen after screen. “Want to make a deal now?”
