My jaw clenched so hard it ached.
Why she didn't just kill you?
That question had been eating at me since she'd disappeared from that restaurant. She'd had opportunities. Hell, she'd had plenty of chances to put a bullet in me. In my office. At her apartment. In her bed,of all places, when I was at my most vulnerable.
But she hadn't.
She'd confessed instead. Looked at me with tears in her eyes and told me the truth.
And then she'd vanished.
"I don't like where your head's at right now." Stone's voice pulled me back. "I can see it on your face—you're already making excuses for her. Convincing yourself she's not a threat because she's got you twisted up inside."
"I don't think she's a threat." The words came out before I could stop them.
Stone's expression darkened. "Boss—"
"I know what you're going to say." I held up a hand. "I know it's your job to protect me from threats. Even threats that come from my own bad judgment."
Her words kept replaying in my mind, a loop I couldn't escape.
I'm so sorry, Quentin. You have to believe me. When we’re together, it's real. I'm not playing you. I couldn't do it. I'm not a person who would sleep with someone as an undercover role. Never. I only have sex in caring relationships formed around love and respect.
I believed her.
God help me, I believed every word.
And that terrified me more than any assassin's bullet ever could. Because believing her meant I'd already lost the ability to think clearly about this. Meant I'd let my feelings cloud my judgment in ways that could get me—get all of us—killed.
But I couldn't shake the image of her face when she'd told me. The genuine anguish. The fear. The desperate hope that I'd understand.
She'd been as trapped as I was. Maybe more so.
"Serenity." I stood abruptly, needing to move, todosomething. "Her desk. There has to be something personal there. If you can touch it, get a vision—see her future, what she's planning—"
Understanding lit Serenity's face. "Yes. Good idea." She stood, clapping her hands together. "Let's see what I can find."
As she headed for the door, Stone caught my arm. His voice dropped low.
"Boss. Be careful here. I've seen men lose everything because they couldn't see past a pretty face and a sad story." His grip tightened. "Don't let her be the thing that gets you killed."
I met his eyes and saw genuine concern there. Fear for me.
"I won't," I said.
But even as the words left my mouth, I knew the truth.
It might already be too late.
Because somewhere between hiring Julia Russell and discovering she was Julia Russo, I'd done the one thing I'd sworn I'd never do.
I'd fallen in love with someone I couldn't trust.
And now she was gone. Had she been pulled back to New York by her family, facing God knows what consequences for failing to kill me?
For choosing me over them?
The thought made my blood run cold.
