Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
“I think I’m the first person he’s ever told his story to.” And then she’d betrayed him. She was starting to understand that he couldn’t come back from that. She’d slipped into something that for most people would be the exact thing couples’ therapy was made for, but in Josh’s case it was quicksand, and the more she struggled to make him understand, the deeper she went with him. He wasn’t going to up and get it. He wasn’t going to forgive her. Ever.
When the op was over, he would shut the door on their relationship and move on. If there was one thing she’d learned about him, he was good at compartmentalizing. He would put their relationship in a room in his brain and lock the door and never think about her again.
And it didn’t matter. She still loved him. She would still do what she needed to do. It was so odd to finally fall truly, deeply in love only to understand how painful it could be and that it was also the thing that could make her stronger than she’d ever been.
Loving Josh made her happy. The fact that he couldn’t love her back might end up being the tragedy of her life, but at least she’d known what it meant to love.
“Well, you shouldn’t be the last one. That kid needs some therapy. He’s obviously got the weight of the world on his shoulders. The good news is I don’t think he’s going to sue us,” Tag said. “There’s bad news, of course.”
Yep. This was the part where she got fired. “I’ll resign.”
Taggart’s brows came together. “That’s between you and Damon. I’m not going to mess with his personnel policies. He runs the London office and it’s up to him whether or not you remain employed. I’m talking about the fact that this op of yours has a million moving pieces and I’m worried that Levi Green and Ezra are about to have a knock-down, drag-out, and only one of them will come out of this with his job. I think Green is making a play to get rid of Fain and I don’t know why. I’m trying to figure it out. Normally I would get Chelsea on it, but she’s buried under the startup. Given that I recommended the startup to my investor group, I’m caught between curiosity and making money. Charlie wants another kid and they eat cash, so I’m stuck with Hutch. I love that idiot, but he hasn’t got Chelsea’s ability to put a puzzle together. He can hack into anything, but I need someone who can see shit coming from a mile away. I would get Li working on it, but he’s on freaking paternity leave. Charlie did this to me. She’s got weird ideas on how to run a business.”
Avery had recently had a baby girl. Daisy O’Donnell. She’d seen the baby over Facetime when Liam had called into the London office to let them know mother and daughter were doing fine.
God, she would miss them all. Miss all the babies and the way they were a family. She probably wouldn’t get that at her next job.
“Ezra said he was called back to Langley,” she told him, trying to stay professional. “I thought that was odd. Why have two handlers and then ditch one?”
“I don’t know about that either, but I would have been more comfortable with Fain taking the lead. Which could be the point.” Tag paced, his long legs eating up the space before turning and striding again, a lion in a cage. “If they thought you were the only operative who could do this op, they would need to make me and Damon comfortable, and having Fain in the mix would do the trick. I don’t think I’d let you do this if Green had come to me himself. Now we’re down to the nitty gritty and they dump Fain.”
“They might have dumped him, but he claims he’s not going anywhere.”
Tag nodded. “Yeah, we’ve talked. Hutch is going to cover for him. He’s got everything set up so it looks like he’s being a good boy, but that plane we’re on is going to pick him up and quietly take him down to Mexico City. It’s the only reason I haven’t pulled you off this op.”
“I would go anyway.” She couldn’t leave Josh on his own.
He stopped, his lips curling up faintly. “Yeah, I suspect you would. Josh Hunt, huh? Don’t tell him, but he’s pretty badass in those car movies. That’s what the world needs more of. Fast cars and very little plot line. I can follow that shit even though I fall asleep two or three times per film. I like to call them dad movies.”
“I won’t tell him that at all.” But she smiled at the thought. Not that he would care what she said. “Is this ache going to be with me forever?”