Page 57 of Rogue

Now I find out—the hard way, nevertheless—that he’s alive. Yet a changed man. He’s not the same balls-to-the-walls charmer I knew. Familiar yet a stranger. Harder, more cynical. More dangerous than ever.

My emotions bounce about like ping-pong balls, from sadness, to rage, to disappointment, to love . . . regret . . . And in the end, what remains is need. I need to fix this. I need to avenge my father. Avenge those scars on Jaxson’s chest. I need Hayden to forgive and forget. I need Jaxson to understand why I was late. Why this happened to him . . . us.

“Did you locate where Novák is staying in Paris yet?”

“What makes you think I’m looking for him?”

Jaxson gives me a smug, knowing smile. So familiar. So devastatingly heartbreaking because it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Fine. I’m finishing our assignment. I’m terminating that Prick.”

“No. You’re not.”

I scowl. If Jaxson believes he’s going to breeze into Paris . . .

“My orders are to interrogate him,” he says, his tone firm, full of purpose.

I grit my teeth. Hayden and his goddamn orders. “It’s going to be hard, even for a good little soldier like yourself, to question a corpse.”

“Unless I complete my other order first.” He cocks an eyebrow at me. “One quick phone call . . .”

“Oh my God. Have you even reported in to Hayden yet?”

He shrugs.

“He doesn’t know you’ve found me? Jesus, do you have a death wish or something?”

“Sweetheart, you’re the last person who should be asking me that.”

“Damn it.” I stomp my foot. “Stop with the sweetheart bullshit. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking what a traitorous bitch you are.”

His tone is harsh, brutal. My throat hitches and I fight back the wave of sadness trying to overshadow everything else. “It’s you and me,” he once said.

No more. Yeah, the idea of us, in any shape or form besides enemies, died back in Shelby. Right alongside a little piece of me.

“I’ve got seven bullets in a pistol I’ve been saving for a special occasion. The first is earmarked for Novák after Hayden has his answers. The next four are for the Pricks you’ve rooted out for me.”

“No. I rooted them out forme. This is my termination. My assignment to finish.”

“Not anymore.”

Okay, now I’m seeing red. No freaking way. “Back off. This has been a long time coming. Ineedto finish this. Novák is mine.”

“Not if I can help it.”

Grrr.I hit him in his hard, unyielding chest.

“Besides, we all know how well you keep your promises.”

It’s like the air’s been sucked out of my lungs. I can’t breath. Jesus, if words could kill, he’d have me six feet under.

“An order is an order, right? Not to be ignored or there’ll be consequences. Why not terminate me now?” I snap.

“All in good time.”

“And the two bullets that remain?” I demand. “For me?”