She’d lied to me.
After everything—after I’d promised to protect her, after I’d married her, after she’d told me about Vance—she was still lying.
Still betraying us.
Still trapped in whatever web Vance had spun around her.
By the time I pulled into the parking garage, my hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel.
I sat there for several long minutes, trying to prepare myself for what was coming. Trying to steel myself for the conversation that would either save us or destroy us completely.
Then I got out and headed upstairs, each step heavier than the last
Cassandra was in the kitchen when I walked in.
She was wearing one of my shirts—an old gray one that was too big on her, sleeves rolled up to her elbows—and her hair was pulled back in a messy bun. She looked soft. Domestic. Safe.
But I knew better now.
“Hey,” she said, turning to smile at me. The smile reached her eyes, warm and genuine. “I made dinner. It’s nothing fancy, just pasta, but I thought—”
“Did you give Vance information about the Seattle operation?”
The words came out cold. Flat. Lethal.
Her smile vanished instantly.
The color drained from her face so fast I thought she might faint. The wooden spoon she’d been holding clattered to the counter.
“Drew—” she started, her voice trembling.
“Don’t.” My voice was low and dangerous. “Don’t lie to me. Not anymore. You told me you stopped. You told me you cut him off after you came clean. Was that a lie?”
Her lips trembled. Her hands gripped the edge of the counter, knuckles going white.
“I saw the access logs, Cassandra.” I took a step closer, my chest tight. “Shipping manifests two days before Seattle. Operation timelines three days before the warehouse. You were still feeding him intel. After you promised me you’d stopped.”
Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over before she could stop them.
“I tried to stop it,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “The warehouse—I called Rafael. From a burner. I tried to warn him before—”
“You warned him about an ambush you helped set up?” My voice rose despite my efforts to stay calm. “You gave Vance the information, then tried to minimize the damage? That’s your defense?”
“I didn’t have a choice!” The words exploded out of her, desperate and raw. “He said if I didn’t give him something—anything—he would—” She choked on a sob, her whole body shaking.
“He would what?” I demanded, closing the distance between us. “What does he have on you that’s worth betraying everyone who’s tried to protect you?”
She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face. Her whole body trembled like she might shatter.
“Tell me,” I said, my voice dropping to barely above a whisper. “Tell me the truth. All of it. Right now. Or I walk out that door and I don’t come back. Are youstillhis informant?”
The silence stretched between us, suffocating and endless.
“Yes.”
Chapter 22 – Cassandra
I stood still across from Rafael’s desk, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might crack through my ribs. My palms were sweating, slick and cold, and I had to force myself not to wipe them on my pants because that would show weakness.
