Page 48

He sighed. “The truth, which you asked me for, is I felt like an imbecile.”
“What? Why? I’m sorry, Magnet, but this conversation is making my head hurt. If you don’t want to leave because of Magnolia, I understand. There.Isaid it. Are we finished now?”
“While you may be getting a headache, I feel as though I’m stuck in an alternate universe. I don’t know what Magnolia has to do with anything, but I can assure you, she plays no part whatsoever in whether I remain in Shere or travel to St. Moritz.No part whatsoever.”
“Okay, you don’t have to shout.”
“Can we please start over?”
“I’m not sure I can survive a replay of this conversation,” I said, bringing my hand to my forehead.
“Not a replay. I’ll state my position simply. As I said, I confessed my feelings for you last night. After I had, I wondered if I’d gone too far and made you uncomfortable.”
“Did I seem uncomfortable?”
“Well, no. But I did. Actually, it was more that I felt I’d made things awkward between us.”
I cocked my head. “That’sthe reason you decided not to deploy on an op that may very well lead us to finally finding the woman we believe is the key to taking down AMPS?”
“When you put it like that, I feel even more ridiculous.”
“Sorry, Magnet, but I agree. That’s ludicrous.”
“Right. Yes. You’re right. Lost my head.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” said Magnet.
Rogue stuck his head inside. “Nem wants to know when and how many people are deploying.”
“You, Schön, and me.” Magnet looked down at me. “When will you be ready?”
“Five minutes. I just have to put my computer in my bag.”
“Right. Good. We should go, then. Yes?”
Rogue looked at me with raised brows, and I shrugged. I certainly couldn’t explain Magnet’s odd behavior.
“Wait. Hold on. I need a minute.” Magnet turned. “Rogue, please let Nem know what I said, and we’ll join you straightaway. And please close the door.” He put his hands on my upper arms and leaned down. “We didn’t have time to circle back to this last night, but I feel we must now,” he said right before bringing his lips to mine. “That is how I should’ve started this conversation. It’s the most honest way I know to tell you how I feel, what I’m thinking, and most especially, who I want.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed…”
“Nor should have I.”
He kissed me again. It was gentle and sweet, like the first time, and not at all what I wanted from him. Soon, once we found time to be alone again, I vowed to get Magnet to let go of the constraints he was putting on himself and unleash the passion I could feel building inside him.
15
MAGNET
Schön said she could be ready to deploy in five minutes, but there were several things I had to take care of before we could leave.
First, I needed to check in with Delfino and Atticus and see if they were able to dig up anything on Francesca’s oldest daughter or Tommaso Borg’s cause of death. According to the woman in the Gozo records office, she hadn’t heard anything about Charlene and her husband divorcing. It was odd that Xavier had said they did in the deposition that took place after he was taken into custody following Mithras’ death.
He’d also said his parents were Marco Vella Jr. and his wife, Yasmine, who were killed in a car accident when he was two.
It occurred to me that separating what we now knew were facts versus the lies Xavier told in that deposition would be an excellent project for Magnolia to undertake. One, it needed to be clear and concise enough that, once we learned more, we could correct additional mistruths. Two, nothing I could think of would get the agent up to speed on the AMPS investigation faster. She’d literally be combing through every detail.