Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
“More water cooler gossip?”
“Perhaps, but sometimes it’s the most reliable source.” He sighs, not enjoying this. “All roads seem to be pointing to Brooke being the FBI’s informant.”
His words might as well be a punch to my face.
Every muscle in my body tightens with the pain of her disloyalty.
“If someone is talking, why haven’t I heard about it earlier?” I growl.
“Because it only just happened.”
“It might not be her. I already suspected we have a rat.”
“Not a rat talking to the feds. A rat talking to Vlad. This is different. Besides, Brooke met with him today. Our contact said this new witness has only come on board recently. He doesn’t have access to exact details, like dates and names. Only that it’s recent. You don’t believe in coincidences, and neither do I.”
He’s right. I don’t. Where there is smoke, there is usually fucking fire.
A heavy weight lodges itself deep in my chest.
“Can this contact probe deeper? Find out a name?”
“He said the details for this case are shrouded in extra security. You know how much Michaels wants to take you down. He’s not leaving anything to chance. He’s made it so only certain levels of security clearance can gain access to the information.”
“What about that other contact you had? The woman you used to date. Doesn’t she have high clearance in the FBI?”
“Olivia?” He looks sheepish. “She’s currently unavailable.”
Meaning his dick has somehow burned that bridge.
I sit back in my chair, my shoulders tight with tension. “It might not have been Brooke. I want to start looking for a rat in the bratva.”
Feliks frowns. “You know how much I like Brooke. I don’t want it to be her. But even you can’t deny that those photos and Todd Bastik’s parole denial make her look guilty.”
“Perhaps, but we need to be vigilant and not get tunnel vision with this.”
“I agree, and I hope I’m wrong about her. But we also can’t afford to let your feelings to get in the way of this.”
I glower at him. It sounds awfully like he is questioning my judgement. If it was anyone else but him I would wipe his face off his head with my bare hands.
I grit my teeth. “I don’t let any emotion cloud my judgement.”
“No but you’ve ever had feelings for someone like you do with Brooke.”
“She’s carrying my child.”
“And that’s the extent of your feelings for her?”
“No, it wasn’t.” I look at the photos and Todd Bastik’s denied parole notification and I feel the betrayal right down to my bones. “But it is now.”
I feel a beast wake up inside of me. One born to protect me from putting blind faith in someone because I’ve contracted some kind of feelings for them.
And right now its reminding me exactly why Brooke would do this.
I stormed into her life and relentlessly pursued her.
I broke into her apartment and pointed a gun at the man she had once loved enough to marry.
I ripped her from her safe life—the one where she didn’t have to worry about car bombs and assassination attempts— and forced her to live with me in my world.
All because of one fateful day when I caught a glimpse of her and decided I wanted her.
All because of one moment that gave birth to some sick obsession inside me that needed to make her mine.
Since then, she’s been a pawn in my fantasy. I’ve taken her freedom from her and backed her into so many corners she got confused enough to fall into bed with me again and again.
And in my bed, I pulled her further away from the light and deeper into the darkness, where she sank deeper and deeper with me.
Now, Agent Michaels has pulled her away just far enough for her to see the light again, where she can have her old life back. One that includes her friends and a world that doesn’t cause her the same pain as mine does.
So the question isn’t why she would do this.
It’s why the fuck wouldn’t she?
25
LEV
After Feliks leaves, I stare at the photos of Brooke and Agent Michaels.
I think back to the day she was meant to marry Wilson. How I had driven past her apartment and saw her exit the limousine in her wedding dress. How it felt like I had been struck by lightning when she glanced over her shoulder, and I saw her beautiful face for the very first time.
I became weak in that moment. Obsessed by just one glance.
And since then I’ve made a series of mistakes, starting with letting her into my bed, and ending with letting her into my heart.
I even got carried away by the idea of loving her and raising a family.
Like I could live a normal life. Be a normal man.
But I won’t make that same mistake again.
If I could banish every trace of her from my life, I would. But she’s pregnant with my baby, and whether I like it or not, that ties us together for an undetermined amount of time.