Page 41 of Risky Match (Royal Spies #1)

BLAKE

T wo hours later, I still don’t have answers.

Bri and I were whisked away in Range Rovers.

The blacked-out windows hid us from outsiders, but we couldn’t see out either.

With all the twists and turns the driver took, I have no idea where we are.

All I know is that I’ve been in this room with a silent guard for a long time.

They even took my mobile phone, so I’m left with my own thoughts.

I start to worry another panic attack will hit, but at this point, I’m not even sure what the trigger would be.

I’ve lost Wimbledon, and at least two members of my team turned out to be criminals.

What’s a guy to do when he can’t trust his sports psychologist?

And now, the woman I’ve been falling for may be a spy?

I’m too confused to know what to be stressed about at this point.

I ask the guy standing in the corner, “Am I free to leave?”

He replies, “It wouldn’t be safe.”

“That wasn’t my question?”

“That’s all I can say.”

“Can you tell me what time it is?”

“No, sir.”

An eternity later, someone knocks on the door. It opens, and Deputy Harrington says, “It’s time. Would you join us in the debriefing room?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Always. But I’m assuming you’d like answers to your questions. I’m told you have a lengthy list.”

“I do.”

“Then follow me.”

“Where’s Bri?”

“She’ll be there.”

We walk down the hall and enter a small, windowless conference room. Bri is already waiting for us.

Harrington directs me to sit across from her while he takes the seat at the head of the table.

“I’m pleased to report that we have successfully broken up a smuggling ring, saved lives, and retrieved stolen property that was illegally removed from various European countries.”

Bri says, “Do you finally believe me about Blake? He wasn’t involved. Is that why he’s here?”

“We know Blake is innocent. The whole story is complicated, though. You both played separate roles, along with other participants who will not be named here. When we finish this debriefing, you’ll understand more.”

Bri nods. I’m more confused than ever.

Harrington continues, “We now know the identities of everyone involved. Noah was running the smuggling operation. He recruited Marco when he couldn’t hide enough coins in Blake’s trophies and racquet handles.”

“Originally, I thought Thomas was involved, too. Am I right that he wasn’t?” Bri asks.

“Yes.”

“There was a note in Blake’s trophy that said ‘Stay the course. It will keep paying off.’ Was it Noah wanting to make sure Blake didn’t replace him?” Bri asks.

“That’s the one thing we haven’t figured out, but that would be a reasonable assumption,” Harrington answers.

Blake chimes in, “It would be wrong though. The note didn’t have anything to do with the smuggling or my coach.

The engraver for that tournament always puts a note of encouragement in the base of the winner’s trophy.

He was just reminding me that when you win, you must be doing things right and should stay the course.

But I have another question. How does Natalie fit in?

She was my doctor. It doesn’t make sense. Is she even a sports psychologist?”

“The real Natalie is a licensed psychologist. The person you know as Natalie is actually CeCe Wright. She lost her license about five years ago. Then about two years ago she teamed up with Noah to assist him in his side business.”

“What happened to the real Natalie?” I ask.

“She’s off the grid in a remote area doing research.”

“What about Josh? Was he involved?”

“No. He met the fake Natalie through Marco. Apparently, Noah had been worried that you would fire him. He wanted Natalie in place on your team to convince you not to make any changes.”

“Why did I think she was helping me with my panic attacks?”

“She probably was. Until she lost her license for sleeping with several of her patients, she was a successful psychologist. Her goal was to keep you winning tournaments and working with Noah so they could use you to smuggle coins. They needed you to keep playing.”

“What finally convinced you that Blake was innocent?” Bri asks.

Harrington says, “I have a confession. We knew at the beginning of the investigation that Blake wasn’t guilty—at least it was unlikely he was willingly involved.

We’d suspected Noah for a long time. And we knew someone else on Blake’s team was working with him.

Initially, we thought it was Blake until he reached out to a museum asking about a coin he found.

He wanted to know if it was valuable. The museum contacted us, and we arranged to meet with Blake in private.

It was then that we recruited Blake to help us. ”

Bri’s jaw drops as she jumps to her feet. “How dare you keep that from me? You led me to believe he was likely guilty. You even had me bug his room when you knew he was innocent.”

“You bugged my room? How could you invade my privacy that way? So you really are a spy?” I ask.

She doesn’t deny it. Instead, her lips press together, and she looks at Harrington. That’s all the answer I need.

I grimace. Everything with her has been a lie. She is a fucking spy. Did she watch—and hear—me moan her name in the shower? Did she sleep with me as part of her job? Of course she did. I was falling for her, but none of it was real. She used me.

“Please, both of you,” Harrington says. “Let me explain. We wanted to keep you two safe and needed you to behave normally. Blake, your room had to be bugged so we could watch if anyone tampered with your equipment or tried to hide something. And Bri, we didn’t want to risk you and Blake appearing to be working together or sneaking around for private conversations.

Blake needed to react the way he normally would.

He couldn’t want to play doubles, and he couldn’t be having suspicious conversations with you.

It would have raised too many questions from Noah. ”

“So, instead, you lied to both of us,” I say.

“No. I omitted information.”

“You lied,” Bri snaps. “You told me that Blake was a suspect.”

“That wasn’t an outright lie. We didn’t believe he was a suspect, but there was a small chance that he showed up with the coin to misdirect us. We had to be certain.”

“That’s fucked up. Someone poisoned me. Do you know who that was?”

“It was Marcos. He wanted a bigger cut of the profits and thought with you out of the way, it would be better for him. He didn’t know that you weren’t receiving a share. Fortunately, we received intel that your life was in danger that day and were able to redirect events.”

“What do you mean? I ended up in hospital. I could have died.”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“You weren’t actually poisoned. Oliver, the representative for the sports drink, works for us. He switched out the poisoned drink for one that merely made you sick. That way, we protected you without exposing the mission.”

What the bloody hell!

They let me think I nearly died? There’s absolutely no one I can trust—British Intelligence, my therapist, and Noah all betrayed me. The hardest part is that even Bri lied to me.

Bri’s brows furrow. “But Dr. Shepard said Blake was poisoned with oleander leaves. How do you explain that?” Bri protests.

Harrington calmly explains, “Dr. Shepard works for us. Marcos put oleander leaves in the drink that Blake was supposed to consume. Blake had to believe he was lucky to survive because he wouldn’t have survived the original drink.”

Bri is livid, her index finger jabbing toward Harrington. “I can’t believe you let me think that Blake might die when you knew he would be perfectly fine. I worried needlessly and was made to look like a fool.”

Apparently, Bri wasn’t in that part of the plan. But that doesn’t excuse the rest of her actions. However, I’ll deal with Harrington first.

“I’m the one who should be furious. You destroyed my Wimbledon singles hopes.

You made me ill. And you let me believe that I’d been poisoned and almost died.

You did all those horrible things to me when I’m the one who clued you in on Noah’s crimes and agreed to help you catch him.

How can you possibly justify your actions?

” My voice is almost shaking with fury as I glower at the intelligence officer and await whatever excuse he plans to offer.

Harrington’s voice doesn’t waver. “Again, it was critical to the mission that both of you reacted as if Marcos had been successful at poisoning Blake.”

“You said it was Marcos who set out to poison me. Was he working with Natalie today to kill me?”

“No. That was Noah. He had figured out that Bri was working with the authorities. They overheard an earlier conversation and became suspicious. Natalie planted software on Bri’s phone that intercepted Bri’s more recent texts.

That’s how they arranged to capture her today.

They couldn’t risk Brianna making contact with us.

And as for you, they planned to leave a suicide note blaming you for the smuggling.

They hoped they would be long gone before anyone asked more questions. ”

“You mean you didn’t get my text last night?” Bri grimaces.

“No, we didn’t,” Harrington says.

“Then how did you know to show up today?”

“You made the signal with your racquets at the beginning of your match today. We knew something was wrong when we sent someone to meet you. You were already gone. We would have been there sooner, but that caused a delay in tracking you.”

“I see,” she says.

Harrington follows up. “That raises another question. Why did you send the signal with the racquets if you thought we’d received your texts?”

“I almost didn’t. It was a last-minute decision. I feared that I hadn’t relayed the seriousness of the situation in my text. Something about the reply made me question it.”

“What was that?” Harrington asks.

“I texted my contacts last night, asking to meet before our match today. I was clear that timing was critical. To my surprise, they replied that it wasn’t possible. I had to make sure that we met today, so I did the racquet signal.”

Harrington nods. “Well done. Your instincts are good. I believe that should answer most of your questions. Do not discuss these events with anyone outside this room. You’re bound by our confidentiality agreements.

I’ll leave you alone now to discuss what I understand may be some .

..umm ...personal issues between the two of you. ”

“I’m assuming you’ll be listening,” I snarl, debating whether I even want to be in the same room with the princess right now. I’m not sure I can believe anything she says at this point.

“I can assure you that we will not,” Harrington says.

“Why should I believe you?” I question.

“You don’t have to. You can leave and talk elsewhere,” he says.

“No, what I have to say is short. Here will be fine,” I bark, having decided that it’s better to close this chapter today and be done.

Harrington nods and leaves.

The second the door closes behind him, Bri says, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea that you were working with Deputy Harrington. They kept me in the dark. I can’t believe it. I trusted them.”

I hold up a hand. She stops talking. “Forgive me, but that doesn’t really matter now, does it? You lied to me and used me. You clearly are a spy, aren’t you?”

She lowers her head, whispering, “I’m not at liberty to discuss my involvement in these events.”

The veins in my neck are pulsing as my anger swells.

“Right. You’re a spy. Clearly, you aren’t the person I thought you were.

Bloody hell, you had sex with me to work your way into my life even while thinking I was a criminal.

What does that say about you? And to think I was falling for you.

I’ve thought other women were gold diggers or celebrity chasers, but you’re worse than all of them.

On top of that, you bugged my room and lied to me.

You can’t be trusted. I can’t believe I fell for your act. ”

“Blake, you can’t really believe what you’re saying. Our emotional and physical connection was real. Please believe me,” she pleads as her eyes flood with tears.

“Save it for the next time you need to manipulate a man. I don’t want to hear more of your lies.”

“It’s not a lie. I was falling for you too, but I can’t blame you. I wouldn’t believe me either. I’d thought I could prove you were innocent. And I did. Harrington just already knew it.”

She looks devastated. But I won’t fall for her incredible acting skills again.

“I’m leaving. Don’t bother to speak if our paths cross. I want nothing more to do with you.”

She nods as she wipes tears from her eyes.

My heart aches with regret and disappointment. I’d started hoping there was a future for us. But I’ve had enough of her duplicity and lies. Shaking my head, I walk out the conference room door, slamming it behind me.

The heat rises in my face as I storm down the hallway and out of the building. I’m angry—at her, at my team, and at British Intelligence. Hell, I’m angry at myself for daring to let my guard down.

And I can’t even call my therapist. She fucking tried to kill me today. How messed up is that?

But Bri was the worst. She’s one hell of an actress. She betrayed me, but damn it if I didn’t want to hug her and tell her it would be okay. For some inexplicable reason, my heart wanted to believe her even after the role she played in this cocked-up mess.

No wonder they recruited her to be a spy. She’s damn good at her job.