Page 14 of Duality (The Archers #1)

MARCUS

L et’s get started? Surely, Alex couldn’t be serious. We weren’t about to help the woman who just revealed she had spent the last six years betraying us? Betraying our company? Not to mention almost getting us all killed just an hour ago.

I wasn’t the only one shocked by his words.

Evelyn was staring at my older brother like she had never seen him before.

It was uncharacteristic of him to make what felt like an impulsive decision.

He usually thought everything through and had contingency plans upon contingency plans. What was he seeing that I was missing?

Evelyn had betrayed us. That was clear. She had lied about who she was and why she was working with us.

There was no way she wasn’t in our systems. I glanced at the setup her hacker—Liam, I think his name was—had against the opposite wall.

There was no way he didn’t have access to our systems. That meant our clients were compromised regardless of her claims that they weren’t.

It could be the end of SDS if our clients found out. And Alex wanted to help her. Why?

The man she introduced as Danny laughed loudly.

I frowned. I recognized him when she introduced them.

He came to the office every few months to pick her up for lunch.

Was he coming to the office for alternative purposes, or were they dating?

He stood closer to her than I liked, but she didn’t seem to mind his presence.

He slung an arm over her shoulders. Sebastian stiffened next to me, and I didn’t like the way his eyes lit up as he looked at him.

It had been a while since Sebastian let his dark side out, but in Evelyn’s presence, it seemed to be bubbling to the surface more and more.

I would have to keep an eye on him. My family was everything to me.

I had to protect them. And I already failed them once by not seeing the threat right in front of us.

“You always get into the most interesting situations.” Danny chuckled, his lips close to her ear.

Red flashed in my vision, and my muscles clenched. Words escaped me before I could stop them. “Is he your boyfriend?”

Evelyn’s eyes widened at my question like she was horrified by it, but Danny just grinned. He opened his mouth, but Evelyn spoke before he did.

“No. He’s my cousin.”

I released a slow breath, and Sebastian relaxed next to me.

Danny pouted. “You ruin all my fun.”

I frowned. Was he intentionally messing with us?

Evelyn pushed him away. I could see their familiarity now was more familial closeness than intimacy.

I don’t know why that made me relax, but it did.

Okay, that was a lie. I knew why. Evelyn was a beautiful woman.

When she first started at SDS, Alexander had sat us down—well, specifically sat Sebastian down—and told him she was off limits.

Sebastian had honored that for about two years before he started spouting off nonsense about how she was perfect for all of us.

I tried to ignore her, but the quiet, efficient assistant drew me in, anyway.

She was always professional, but after two years, she started letting some of the mask slip, and we were rewarded with her sharp tongue and quick wit.

I enjoyed bantering with her and wished she did it more often, but now I knew why she didn’t.

She was trying to keep us at arm’s length so we wouldn’t figure out her secrets.

She had been playing us the whole time. And she almost got us killed with her secrets.

“Thank you, but this is an Archer mission.” Evelyn squared up with my older brother.

This would be interesting to watch. Alexander was used to being in charge, but it was clear that when Evelyn wasn’t lying to us, so was she.

“But it concerns us. Besides, we have resources.”

Grace scoffed, I recognized another military person when I saw one, but my attention snagged on the woman behind her.

Izzy stood at parade-rest without thinking, feet shoulder-width, weight centered on the balls, eyes sweeping every doorway and window before they’d even finished opening.

Old habits like that don’t come from weekend self-defense classes; they’re baked in by badge and academy drills, definitely former law enforcement.

Danny was her family, but Liam, the lanky kid in a hoodie, was a very skilled tech guy if he truly was in our systems and our tech team hadn’t found him. How had she collected all of them?

Alexander lifted an eyebrow. “You should know that SDS has resources.” It was a subtle dig that Evelyn understood the extent of SDS resources.

Grace folded her arms. “Oh, we know you have resources. But we work in a different lane than you do. Your resources are useless for this,” she said, implying that we didn’t get our hands dirty.

Meaning that the Archers operated outside the law. I shot a look at Alex, but he didn’t seem swayed. Evelyn found my eyes, then bit her lip before nodding slightly.

“I need to speak to them,” she told her lieutenants. They definitely answered to her, but she still deferred to them as well. “Alone,” she said firmly when they hesitated.

Danny brushed a kiss on her temple, a shit-eating grin on his face as he looked at all of us.

Even knowing they were family, my fists clenched.

I forced myself to relax them when I caught Danny watching.

His grin widened, and he whistled as he headed out the door to our right.

Grace looked like she wanted to argue, but Izzy grabbed her by the shoulder.

It didn’t keep Grace from giving us all a stern look.

The message was clear. Don’t mess with Evelyn .

“Shall we?” Evelyn waved to the table, and I got to my feet. I groaned softly as I shook out my arms and legs, giving Adrian a dirty look.

He shrugged. “Was trying to save your life, you stubborn bastard.”

A pang shot through my heart. I trusted this man just as much as I trusted my brothers.

Maybe even more. Adrian knew how much I hated secrets.

He had been there when the military fucked me over.

So I was having a hard time wrapping my head around his betrayal.

Had Evelyn blackmailed him? What was so bad that he didn’t feel like he could come to me for help?

I frowned, but before I could argue, Sebastian pushed by me, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as he slid into the seat next to Evelyn and scooted his chair closer to her, giving her an adoring look.

She looked at him, a trace of a smile on her otherwise composed face.

What would a real smile look like on her?

I immediately shoved that thought away. She was the enemy.

Well, maybe not the true enemy, as she had saved our lives today.

But she definitely was keeping secrets, and that meant she couldn’t be trusted.

My brothers had saved me after I got out of the military.

I had to protect them, even if my heart screamed that she would never hurt us.

Turning back to the rest of us, she folded her hands and rested them on the table. Any trace of a smile drained away as she stared Alex down. “I understand that you want to help as you’re the target, but we don’t need it.”

Alex mimicked her position and leaned forward. “You do. While we may be rivals, we know a lot about Citadel’s structure and who their top people are.”

“So do we,” Evelyn said. “And Grace isn’t wrong. The work we do…is the work you try to keep SDS out of. You’re already more involved than I wanted.”

“You would rather keep lying to us?” I arched an eyebrow at her, hurt and betrayal warring inside me. “What is it you actually do, anyway? What is so important that you would betray our trust like you have been doing for the last six years?”

Sebastian’s gaze knifed across the room like cold steel flashing a wordless order for me to shut up, but I ignored him.

I wanted to understand what was so important that she lied to us.

Geoff Young had said they broke up a drug ring.

Was that just so they didn’t move on the Archers’ territory?

Were we sitting at the table of a gang leader?

Evelyn’s hazel eyes sliced into mine, the gold flecks in them burning like a raging fire. She was angry. Good. So was I. She took a deep breath.

“The Archers exist, because the system fails people every day. The law protects those with power and money, but it leaves everyone else to fend for themselves. You’ve seen it, even if you’ve never had to face it directly.

Innocent people suffer while the corrupt walk free.

” Her voice steady but laced with emotion she couldn’t hide. This was personal to her.

I swallowed hard. A quick glance around the table confirmed my suspicions. Alex sat back in his chair, appearing not to be overly invested, but his fists were clenched under the table. Sebastian had stilled; his entire focus on Evelyn. Adrian looked at her with…pity? Seriously, what did he know?

She paused, glancing down at her lap and gathering her thoughts.

“The Archers are the ones who step in when no one else will. We find those who abuse their power, who think they’re untouchable, and we bring them to justice.

Sometimes that means crossing lines, doing things the law would never condone.

But we do it because someone has to. Because there are people out there who need protecting, who don’t have the resources their attackers or abusers have, who need someone to fight for them when the system turns a blind eye. ”

Adrian stiffened next to me.