Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
First, she needed answers.
“You purposefully left a trail of beer to this freezer,” she said to Cole. “For Tiago?”
“Yes.”
She stared up at Tiago’s unreadable expression. “How did you know he did that?”
“I spotted him while we were dancing, and he tipped his beer bottle at me. A helpful clue.” He scanned the ceilings and shelves of frozen foods. “Is this—?”
“I did a sweep.” Cole’s words rode on a flume of white steam. “The area is clean.”
“Clean of what?” She glanced between them, taken back by the way their eyes connected so…comfortably. “I’m sorry. Do you two know each other?”
“Clean means no bugs. We’re not being recorded or spied on.” Tiago banded an arm around her back, pulling her against the heat of his body. “And yes, we know each other.”
“Took you long enough to mark me.” Cole cocked his head. “I’ve been here all night.”
“I was distracted.” Tiago stroked a thumb along her arm.
“You shouldn’t have come out of hiding,” Cole said.
“We both know I didn’t have a choice.” His jaw hardened. “How’s Trace?”
Cole crossed his arms over his chest, nostrils flaring.
“Who’s Trace?” She adjusted Tiago’s tuxedo coat tighter around her, shivering.
“He was our handler.” Tiago turned, putting his dark eyes inches from her face. “Cole and I have known each other for a long time.”
“What?” Shock strangled her voice. “How?”
“We worked for the U.S. government.”
Her mouth fell open, closed, and opened again. “But you’re Venezuelan.”
“My mother was American. I was born in the U.S. and raised here, in my father’s country.”
“Were you military?” She recalled what little she knew of Cole and the fog of secrecy surrounding the man’s credentials. “Or some kind of spy or assassin?”
His gaze slid to Cole, and they exchanged an indecipherable look.
“He can’t discuss the job.” Cole’s lips slanted in a harsh line.
“But you both knew this Trace guy?” She trembled uncontrollably, fighting to keep warm in the subzero temperatures. “You worked together? On the same side?”
Her whirling thoughts jumped to FBI, CIA, top-secret espionage stuff. Except weren’t those the very organizations that were hunting Tiago?
The night he told her about his wife, she’d asked him why he became like the man who had his family killed. His response hadn’t made sense at the time.
I didn’t. He was my colleague. When he betrayed me, I became the opposite of him. I became his enemy.
“Many years ago, Cole and I had the same employer, on the right side of the law.” Tiago tugged her against his chest and enclosed his arms around her, running a hand up and down her back to create warmth. “We didn’t work closely together, but we both reported to Trace. He was the handler who gave us our orders.”
Just…mind-blowing.
“Trace is also Cole’s best friend. Or was.” He shot Cole a cruel smirk. “Is he still banging your fiancée?”
Cole bared his teeth. “He married her, you fucking asshole.”
“Then he’s definitely banging her.”
“You know, you weren’t always such an insensitive dick.” Cole lowered his arms to his sides, and the hard lines of his face smoothed away. “I’m sorry about Semira and your family. Had I known what was happening, I swear, Tiago, I would’ve warned you. I would’ve done something to stop it.”
Her throat tightened, and she grabbed Tiago’s hand. God, they really did know each other. No wonder Cole had located Lucia so easily. Tate would shit himself if he knew about this crazy connection.
“The job came with risks.” Tiago said softly. “They told us no attachments. No spouses. No weaknesses. We knew that going in, and we walked away losing everything that mattered to us.”
“You were both betrayed?” Her mind churned to fit the pieces together. “It sounds like you were the good guys, fighting on the right side, and that side fucked you over. Is that what happened? You lost a fiancée, a wife, and a family because people you trusted turned on you?”
“Something like that.” Cole stared at Tiago.
“Explain it to me,” she said.
“There was a defection in our ranks.” Tiago flexed his hand around hers. “Two of our colleagues—a man and a woman—defected from the agency and leaked our personal information to known enemies who were willing to pay a small fortune for it. The female traitor threatened Cole’s fiancée, but his best friend protected her.”
Did the best friend fuck her before or after he protected her? Maybe there was more to the story, but holy crap… Poor Cole.
“The other defector was responsible for the deaths of my family.” Tiago’s voice scratched, and he cleared it. “He sold classified information about me to an enemy, fully aware it would turn my home into a bloodbath. It wasn’t personal. He just wanted the money.”
“That’s why you both switched sides.”
Cole straightened. “I didn’t—”
“I know for a fact you did a job for Van Quiso.” She glared. “Which side do you think he’s on?”