“We hadn’t heard from him since the two of you filed your reports after rendezvousing with Eva,” Ted said.
“And I’m afraid we’ve just had an update,” Nigel added. The calmness in his voice had Gina playing the game Brit or CIA Officer? In her head. She figured he either had his UK persona down, or maybe he was an American raised in London.
Nigel and Ted looked at each other before Nigel picked up a large manila envelope.
“These are copies. The originals which we received an hour ago are undergoing every test we have to find fingerprints, DNA, anything. I need to warn you before I show this to you. I’m afraid it appears your husband?—”
“Mypartner.”
“Excuse me, your partner was visiting Eva Lambert when the attack occurred, and was taken. Not long after Ms. Lambert’s body was discovered, we received these.”
He handed her the envelope. Inside was photo after photo of Jeremy being tortured. The final photo in the series clearly showed that he hadn’t survived.
Shaking, Gina sat down. She blinked back tears.
“I’m sorry.” Ted actually reached across the table and grabbed Gina’s hand. “It’s a loss for us all.”
“We have to find him.” She looked up at the men. “We have to find Jeremy’s body and give him a decent burial. We have to stop Marcus Porter. This—” she slammed the back of her hand against the pile of photos. “This can’t stand. We have evidence. We just need to find Jeremy.”
“We’re doing all we can,” Ted said.
“What are you doing?”
“That’s…” he trailed off.
“You think I’m involved?” She felt rage build inside. “You think I had something to do with this?”
“Gina. There is a small handful of people who knew about this mission. Nigel only knows about it now because it went sideways. We have to make sure we don’t have a mole first.”
Gina scrubbed her face. Of course, she knew that. Either way, she was screwed. What if a mole knew she’d been seeing Lach? And if there wasn’t a mole, they would blame her for shitty tradecraft. Say that she’d let something slip. It could have been Jeremy’s fault, but since he was dead and they needed a scapegoat…
I can’t leave. Oh my God, I can’t leave until this is over. And they can’t know about Lachlan.
What followed was months of hell. She didn’t dare contact Lach right away, and by the time she felt safe doing so, he was back out on a mission and impossible to reach.
And by then, The Repair Shop owned her soul.
SIXTEEN
Lachlan, present day, Los Angeles
Lachlan watched Elissa’s face as he told her his story and realized she was the only person on earth who he’d ever opened up to about those secret days of meeting with Gina. At the time, his teammates figured he had a woman in every port—hell, some ofthemdid, after all. Not a single one ever caught on to the fact that he was meeting with the same amazing woman every time. If anyone asked how it went when he returned from spending a few days with her, he’d just shrug and say it was nothing serious, when all he wanted to do was brag that the smartest, most talented, sexiest, most beautiful woman in the world was his.
But even that hadn’t been true, not quite. Lach wasn’t competing with another man for her love but with her vocation. She truly believed in what she was doing—protecting her country, chasing down the enemy, saving lives. He didn’t want to take that away from her. Hell, he’d felt the same way about being a SEAL and he’d resent anyone trying to talk him into giving it up.
At the same time, as he watched the job eat her alive, he didn’t want to lose her.
The engagement ring had jumped out at him from the jewelry store window right after their first time together after being apart for two years. Stopped him dead in his tracks. It was perfect. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d gone into the store and bought it. Lachlan didn’t know when he’d ask Gina to marry him, but he was certain it would happen. So he brought the ring every time they got together and waited for the perfect time. In Paris, when she looked so haunted walking into the bar, he almost took out the ring and dropped to one knee then and there. Proposing to her later was one of the happiest moments of his life.
“So you asked her to marry you and she said yes?” Elissa asked Lach, her eyes misty. She brought him crashing back to the present, but at least he could put off the memories of what came after the proposal.
“She said yes.” He held up his hand. “Before you ask, we’re not married. It never happened.”
Elissa made a frustrated sound and covered her face. “Please tell me she wasn’t in love with her partner,” she said through her fingers.
Lach grimaced. “No. And even if she had been, he was dead before she returned to London.”
Her hands flew away from her face. “What?”
