She finally looked at him again. He expected pleading and despair, but what he got was a fiery fortitude that nearly knocked him to his knees.
“If you won’t help me save Maddie, I’m going to fight you every step of the way. The only way you’re going to make me stop is to kill me.”
Her words careened through him, casting doubt on his conclusion about her. “Drop the act, Marley. You’ve been caught red-handed. Give up.”
Her brown eyes turned to steel and she lifted her chin higher.
Mack’s blood beat in his ears and he clenched his jaw so tightly, he was surprised his teeth didn’t break in half. What the hell was her game? Even the best CIA operatives knew when to call it quits and give up. She was restrained, completely at his mercy, and yet she was still acting like a mother who loved her daughter.
“If I look at this phone and the messages prove that you’re lying, you’re going to wish you were dead.” Still restraining her, he held the phone out in his palm. It had gone back to the lock screen. He knew it would be awkward for her to unlock it with her hands held together, but he wasn’t going to give her another opportunity to catch him off guard.
Without saying a word, she quickly punched in her code. Mack pulled up the messages screen. The first one that popped up was the order for her to lead his men into an ambush. But this time he gritted his teeth and slowly dragged the screen down. Ice-cold shock hit him square in the face. There was a very clear photo of a little girl playing on a swing set in someone’s backyard. It was the picture he’d seen yesterday, only now it wasn’t blown up to fill the screen and he saw the message directly beneath it—a message threatening her life.
“He’s going to kill her, Mack. He’s going to hurt my baby if I don’t lead you to that spot. I swear I never wanted to hurt you.”
Mack stared down at the phone to see when the message was sent.
Marley flinched.
“Yesterday, back at the river, you weren’t looking at old pictures of Maddie, were you?” He already knew the answer. He’d seen this snapshot.
In a trembling voice, Marley said, “I got the first message when you went to hunt for food.”
His peripheral vision blurred like he was staring down at the phone from a long tunnel “And instead of telling me then, you had sex with me. You let me believe that you really cared about me while you were planning on leading us into a trap.”
“I was in shock and I was trying to figure out what to do. I trust you with my life, Mack, but I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to Maddie. Tonight, I decided I could trust you with my daughter’s life, too. That’s why I was coming to find you. I realized I couldn’t sacrifice you or your team, no matter what. I was coming to ask you for help.”
Mack latched on to her honest, pleading voice, wanting for all the world to believe her, but he couldn’t—not completely. She’d planned to betray them; her actions would’ve gotten him and his entire team killed. His men would’ve followed their leader blindly into a trap, all because he had decided to trust her.
“I can understand why you would consider it, but I don’t understand the complete betrayal. I’ll help you rescue Maddie, but that’s it, nothing more.”
Mack let his arms fall down at his sides, the rush of rage gone, leaving him depleted. She’d betrayed him. He couldn’t get that thought out of his head. The two women he’d loved had both lied to him. Barbara had hidden her illness from him. If he hadn’t come home on leave, he wouldn’t have even been there to hold her hand while she died. All because she was trying to protect him. And Marley had lied to him to protect someone else.
Mack squared his shoulders and offered Marley a hand up. Electricity sizzled where they touched and he immediately let go, rubbing his hand down the side of his pants. He was man enough to admit that he had a weakness for her, and he would make it a point to keep his distance in the future. He’d let Riser take over instead, since he seemed to get along with her the best. And Mack’s life could go back to normal—alone except for his men.
“Can I trust you not to try to run off in the middle of the night?”
Marley flinched before answering, “If you give me your word you’ll do everything in your power to protect my daughter.”
“You have it.” Mack turned and went back to camp, forcing Marley to follow him at a run. And she did follow him, just like he had known she would. When they entered the camp, not a single one of his men lifted his head or gave any indication they were awake, but Mack knew they’d all undoubtedly heard every single word of their exchange.
Shame like he hadn’t experienced since Barbara’s death washed over him in a well-deserved tidal wave. He was unfit to lead these men; his blindness could have caused each and every one of them to die.
He wrapped his palm around Marley’s arm and forced her back into the middle of the circle and down to the ground. She settled into a cross-legged position, watching his every move. This small, beautiful woman had nearly been his downfall.
“If you move an inch from this spot, our deal is off.”
Marley licked her lips and Mack couldn’t help but follow the movement, remembering how good she tasted.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
He couldn’t stand to look at her for another minute. “Men, stop pretending to be asleep. We need to talk. Now.” Every single man in the circle got to his feet, all of them locking gazes on him. Their expressions would be inscrutable to most, but not to Mack. Not when he knew exactly what was on their minds.
He was weak. Marley had found a chink in his armor and sunk her claws in deep. He couldn’t blame them if they turned their backs on him, hell, he would be tempted if he were in their shoes. “Over here, circle up.” Mack nodded his head, indicating the spot in the clearing farthest from Marley. He positioned himself so that he faced her, keeping an eye on her in case she decided to be stupid and run. “I’m guessing y’all heard pretty much everything?”
“Seeing how you two were shouting most of the time, we couldn’t help it.” Riser scrubbed a hand over his scruffy neck, looking slightly sheepish.
Where was the anger?
