PROLOGUE
Marietta,Ohio
Twenty-six years ago…
“There has to be another way.”Michael Stanton stared at the ranch-style home through the lenses of his TT260 night imaging monocular. “She’s a mom, for Christ’s sake. Her daughter’s only like, what…six?”
The man on the other end of the encrypted phone call blew out an exasperated breath. “Her kid is not my problem, and she sure as hell shouldn’t be yours, either,” Douglas Easton shot back. “You know how this works, Michael. There’s too much at stake to back out now. If you don’t follow orders they’ll just send someone else to clean up your mess. And if that happens, you know they won’t stop with just her.”
The cold-hearted prick’s point was crystal fucking clear. Either Michael eliminated the person threatening to expose him for what he really was, or the people he worked for would do it for him.
They’d kill her. The kid. And when they were finished with that…
They’d kill me, too.
He sat back into his leather seat and studied the house again. Michael had known for a long damn time that this day was always a possibility. The risks of getting involved were perfectly clear, even before he chose to sell his soul to the Devil.
But the temptation was too great, his greed too strong. And when he’d gotten his first glimpse of how the other half lived, the rewards seemed to heavily outweigh the risks.
The connections. The money. The power. It was all far more than a man like him could have ever imagined. But now, because of the choices he’d made…
It’s either her or me.
He’d spent a lot of time these last few weeks pondering his life choices, reflecting on that which he could have done differently. Things he probablyshouldhave done differently.
Both lists were long and filled with his own version of regret, but it wasn’t enough for him to try to make amends. And backing out now, well…that wouldn’t change a fucking thing. Nothing other than getting his ass killed, of course.
The truth was Michael loved his life. Loved the promise of the lavish lifestyle he was mere months away from securing. And dammit, he fuckingdeservedit.
He’d given up too much and worked too damn hard to lose it all now. Especially to a woman who should have had his back as he’d had hers.
Michael had tried to reason with her, too. He’d even offered to cut her in on his part of the take. But rather than seeing the opportunity for what it was, the bitch had threatened to oust him.
Only she wasn’t a bitch, which was what made this so fucking hard.
Amanda Owens was kind. Brilliant. A loving wife and an incredible mother. As an agent, she was every bit as brilliant, and when the situation arose, the woman was as deadly as they came.
But she wasn’t just a loving wife and mother, nor were her talents confined to playing whichever part the Agency assigned. His partner had also been the one to show him the ropes when he’d first been assigned to their unit.
Everything Michael knew about being a master spy he’d learned from her. Now, in a twist of a fate that existed solely because of one stupid, idiotic mistake, he was about to use what he’d learned against her in the most heinous of ways.
It’s either her or me. Her or me. Her or me.
Over and over, the mantra rolled around inside his head as if it were stuck on a never-ending loop. The words his mind had created served as a reminder of what was at stake.
His future.
His freedom.
Hislife.
And when it came down to it, he was a selfish fucking bastard who was nowhere near ready to die.
“You’re right,” he told the man on the phone, cutting the car’s engine with a quick turn of his wrist. “I’ve got this.”
“You’d better. Otherwise, you know I’ll have no choice but to?—”
“I said I’ve fucking got this,” Michael growled through a set of clenched teeth.
