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His hold tightened on her.“I’m not letting you go.”
“You don’t have me.”Anger broke free, for just a moment, as she whirled toward him.Back in that interrogation room, as she’d listened to Madeline spill details that had made her very bones seem to shatter, Naomi had been shell-shocked.She’d gone dead silent at times, something not like her at all.
But it’s not every single day that you learn your husband was a killer for the CIA.
And your new lover?He just happens to kill for them, too.
Her new lover was a killer.And a liar.And he’d hurt her.Made her start to believe in heroes, damn him.“You sonofabitch.”Low.Her whole body quivered.“You fucked me.”
“We fucked each other.”He leaned in close.“And it was the best fucking of my life.”He’d slapped sunglasses on his face, so she couldn’t read the expression in his eyes, but that jaw of his was tightly clenched.“We’re not having this fight right here.”
Uh, seemed to her that they were.Right there.Right then.
“They’re watching us.You really think Madeline’s interrogation ended the moment we walked out of that room?She thinks one of us killed Ivan.Or maybe she thinks we did it together.”
“Because you’re afflicted?”Naomi asked, voice sweet.“You and Hudson are suffering from the same affliction?”How freaking insulting had that been?I am not an affliction.She really, really did not like Madeline.At all.
“She thinks I might have helped you kill Ivan because she believes I’m just as obsessed with you as Hudson ever was.When the truth is thatIsaw you first and you should have been mine.”
Shock rolled through her.What?“I’m not athing,Eb.You don’t get to see me and call dibs.So how about this?You stay the hell away from me.Just get away.”She put several important steps between them.
He shook his head.“That’s what she wants.Basic divide and conquer.The CIA uses that technique all the time with suspects.It’s why she had you in that observation room so you could hear us talking.I should have realized what was at play sooner.”His shoulders squared.“Get in the car with me, and I’ll explain everything, I promise.”
What was his promise worth?“Better idea,” she tossed out.“Get in the car by yourself.And drive away.Again, by yourself.I have other plans.”She turned on her heel and began marching forward.Her phone was in her bag.They’d given her the bag back before she left the station.It had been taken by the cops and searched but she had it now.The bag and her phone.She’d use one of the apps on her phone and get a driver to come and pick her up.She did not need Eb.Or his safe house.The sooner she was away from him, the better.Then she’d be able to think more clearly.Maybe breathe without feeling like a weight was on her chest.“I’ll find my own way home.”
“Don’t go back to the guesthouse.”
“Go screw yourself,” she suggested without looking back.
But the pad of his steps told her that Eb wasn’t taking her helpful advice.
Fumbling, she pulled out her phone and began tapping on the screen.
“Madeline made sure they took your phone so that she could have access to your email and your texts and everything else you have on the device.”
Now she stopped and peered back at him.“The CIA just bugged me?”
“It’s a whole lot more complex than them bugging you.FYI, they did the same thing to my phone.”
“That’s not legal.”Talk about a major invasion.
“Yeah, that’s the CIA.Ivan is apparently a BFD so they will go balls to the walls on this.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Big Fucking Deal?—”
“Iknowwhat a BFD is.”
“Right.He’s a big deal to the CIA.Or else a whole ground crew wouldn’t be in your town right now.They swarmed the bar.Only someone beat them to Ivan.That someone is now going to be hunted by a very elite team.”
“A team you belonged to.Until you…what?Quit?And decided to go all vigilante because you wanted to bring me down?”The anger within her quaked again.She stepped toward him.Dammit, why had she just stepped toward him?“So Ivan’s murder is a BFD, but Hudson’s death wasn’t?”
“Hudson wasn’t tied to organized crime, arms deals, narcotics, terrorism?—”
She held up her hand, stopping him.“I heard the list she gave.You don’t have to go through it again.”
“Ivan had ties that the CIA wanted to use.With his death, they’ll have cases in jeopardy of imploding.They are going to dig and dig to uncover as much as they can on his killer—and to try and salvage cases under investigation.”