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W es shifted, the first hint of movement since I’d encroached into his personal bubble.

The shock slowly left his eyes as a predatory hunger took over, causing my facade to crack.

And I knew exactly what he was doing as he did it.

He leaned in toward me, pushing into my hand as his own snaked around, catching my lower back, drawing me closer to him so that no space remained.

With his lips only an inch away from mine, he whispered back, “I think we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“What?”

Wes let me go, backing away as a limo pulled up next to us. Roger popped out the front and walked around to open the door for him.

I blinked. I was super not happy. “Wes, wait just one freaking minute,” I scolded as I turned to face him, watching as he began stepping into the car. “You owe me an explanation.”

Wes hesitated, and then looked at me, his lazy, cocky grin sliding into place. And that just pissed me off even more. “What was it you said to me a second ago? Co-leaders can’t tell each other what to do?”

I grimaced as my own words came flying back at me. If I thought I was annoyed and angry before, I was discovering a whole new level. “That’s not fair. That’s not what I was talking about.”

He chuckled. The jerk actually chuckled at me.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was enjoying this.

“That’s the thing, Mara. You can’t pick when and where the rules apply.

You’re not in Telvia anymore. I’m your partner, in more ways than one, it would seem, and I’m willing to meet you halfway.

” His eyes grew serious, but there wasn’t a single mean line in his face.

Instead, I saw sincerity and an openness I rarely saw from Wes. “So which one is it?”

“I…” It was my turn to stutter. Because suddenly, I didn’t think we were talking about the same thing anymore. And I wasn’t sure how to respond. “I don’t know what—”

“Cut the crap, Mara,” Wes cut in as he shifted his weight, taking a step away from the car.

He walked back over to me, finger pointed as he poked my chest. “I know there’s something going on.

I’m not stupid. You want me to be honest with you, to tell you what’s really going on in my head?

You’ve got it. I’ll lay it all out for you. But not until you come clean first.”

Crap. “I—I, um,” I blubbered. Damn it, damn it, damn it!

“ I what, Mara? What’s going on? What’s happening that you’re not telling me?”

I inhaled sharply, realizing my breath had been trapped in my throat and my lungs were starving for oxygen.

This was not how I imagined this going. And I couldn’t figure out what Wes suspected, but all I could assume was that he knew I was going to run.

That I wasn’t going to stick around to see the wedding through.

But how the hell did he figure it out? And if I admitted that, and I was wrong, I could only imagine the shitstorm that would rain down on me then.

I opened my lips again, scrambling to come up with something— anything —to get him off the trail. “I…”

Wes’s eyes grew hard, his body stiffening as the silence ticked and the tension grew hot and thick between us.

And just as I thought I was about to explode, he backed away from me, releasing the pressure.

“That’s what I thought.” His words came out soft but firm, and the emotion I heard hanging on them told me he was bothered by my lack of a response.

“That’s fine, Mara. Keep your secrets,” he tossed out as he turned away and climbed into the car.

“But don’t expect me to reveal mine, either.

” The door slammed shut, ending our conversation.

I sighed, my chest feeling heavy. There was no hiding the disappointment I felt, but the worst feeling was the guilt that was slowly crawling into my belly and curling up into a tight ball that felt like a rock.

I watched as Roger got into the driver’s seat, revved the engine, and drove away, leaving me deflated and feeling like a rotten human being.

***

I avoided dinner that night. No way in hell was I going to be there to face Wes after everything that happened that morning.

Moreover, I suspected that his dad and mom weren’t going to be too happy with him and his little stunt at the base.

I seemed to remember Sasha telling me that Marissa was furious when he volunteered for the Admin Job.

I could only imagine her reaction when she found out that he muscled himself into a position of not only participating in Jacob’s rescue mission, but actually leading the damn thing.

I had no doubt that, somehow, she was going to blame me for the whole debacle.

If she didn’t hate me before, she was definitely going to detest me now.

And frankly, I had no desire to be a witness to how that whole drama was going to go down. No thank you !

So I bailed on dinner and asked for food to be delivered to my room instead.

When I heard a knock on my door, my stomach twisted into a pretzel.

It was a maid delivering my food, and the tension in my body eased.

I was half expecting Wes to be there, holding the tray just like he did this morning.

Despite feeling relieved that it was just the maid, another part of me felt disappointed, and that part had me scratching my head and tossing all night in bed, trying to figure out what the hell was going on inside of me.

Eventually, I fell asleep late in the night.

When my alarm finally went off at eight in the morning, I was still tired and just wanted to curl up into a ball and forget about the world.

But I couldn’t do that.

Wes had scheduled a second meeting for today, this time with a potential team present, and I had to be there.

So I pushed myself to get out of bed, got ready, requested coffee to-go with another muffin, and put in a request for a ride to be ready for me ASAP.

Deciding to look as much like a military leader as possible, I opted to wear my standard cadet uniform with my standard-issued black boots.

I pulled my hair back in the cleanest, tightest bun I had ever accomplished, and made sure everything about me was neat and crisp.

And dare I say it, if it weren’t for my stepmom being a complete bitch, I think she’d actually be proud of how close I got to absolute perfection.

Muffin half eaten and to-go cup in hand, I sipped coffee as I waited outside at the foot of the stairs leading into the estate.

I took in deep, full breaths of fresh air.

The early morning sun was warm, and the heat of the day was already starting.

The humidity was no picnic either, and I could swear that just breathing could keep me hydrated.

But it sure was beautiful. The long cypress-lined driveway, the giant babbling fountain, and all the trees that actually rustled in the wind, sounding like whispers in the air.

It was amazing to see how different Telvia was from the rest of the world.

A world I never knew existed. A world I, as well as the rest of the Telvian people, had been denied for almost two decades, simply because Raúl wanted to keep his stupid position as president.

Simply because he valued power and control over truth and the wellbeing of those he pledged to serve.

It was disgusting.

The more I saw, the more I learned, the more I shivered at the fact that I took everything he said as the unquestionable truth.

How stupid and na?ve I was. How ridiculous and absurd that I never used my head to put the pieces together and see that Raúl was full of crap.

But I guess that’s what happens when you’re beaten down for so much as whispering a thought that might be considered out of line.

Telvian Administration squelched out any independent thought, and fear kept the people obedient.

I was no different.

First Daughter or not, my parents were ready to slaughter me, to burn me alive in front of the masses as an example of what would happen if you dissented against the government.

Part of me thought it was just because of who I was.

That because I was the bastard child, sacrificing me was an easy decision, one that Belinda was all too happy to orchestrate.

But I guess I never should have taken it personally.

Because the moment Jacob picked me over them, they were ready to do the same.

Ready to execute him in front of a live audience—the esteemed general of the REG—slaughtered at the hands of his own parents.

I shivered.

I couldn’t let Jacob share Chase’s fate.

And that was why this mission had to work; why I was going to do everything in my power to make it happen.

Train as hard as I had to, kiss whatever ass I had to, agree to whatever terms I had to.

Chase died because of me. There was no way in hell I was going to allow that to happen again.

Not now, not ever.

Never again.