“Oh God,” Bray whispered. I swore I saw him shrivel. “Um … okay. Shit.” He turned to me, his face flushed with panic. “Stay here with Ramesh, and I’ll—”
“Bring Ms. Daniels with you,” the director called. She turned back toward her office without waiting for him to acknowledge.
I shot Bray a look, which was anything but flirtatious. My veins had turned to ice again. This time, not from henchmen chasing me but from having to stand trial in front of my hookup’s mother.
“Don’t say anything unless she speaks to you,” Bray instructed as we approached her office like we were heading for the gallows.
“No problem,” I muttered. “Guess they noticed we were gone?”
His jaw tightened in guilt. “They are the DSA after all.”
“So much for taking matters into our own hands …” I muttered in defeat.
“You wanted to see us, Director?” he asked when we reached the door, forcing his voice to sound steady. I couldn’t help but feel like we were teens who’d been caught making out with the bedroom door closed. I’d been reprimanded before; hauled in front of directors and supervisors, but never had I been in bed with one of their offspring some six hours prior.
“Come in and shut the door,” the director said in a tone two degrees above frigid.
I shivered.
Bray led the way, and we stood side by side in front of her heavy wooden desk. She remained seated in an unnecessary display of power. Simply being in the same room as her was intimidating enough. I knew in an instant Bray inherited the hard facets of his demeanor from her. His father made up his softer side.
“Agent Bray, it has come to my attention that over the past three days, you have made unauthorized use of DSA resources to conduct unsanctioned activity.” She held the painful silence after, waiting for him to confess.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said in a quiet voice.
“Not only did you coordinate an off-site visit with a federal prisoner with no justification, you also exposed an asset’s identity to said prisoner—”
He tried to interject with a defense. “With all due respect, ma’am, there was—”
“I wasn’t finished.” She cut him off with an arched brow sharp enough to cut glass. “In addition, you chartered a flight on DSA resources for an unsanctioned trip to and from Houston, where I am told you caused a traffic accident and then engaged in a public foot chase, which resulted in you discharging your weapon.”
“No one got hurt,” he muttered.
“Oh, I think the three people in the traffic accident Agent Singh orchestrated for your benefit would beg to differ.”
Bray shrunk at each accusation. I felt myself doing the same.
The director’s jaw tightened the same way Bray’s did when he was upset or embarrassed. A hint of color curled into her cheeks. “And then there is the hotel room, where I can only imagine what kind of breach of protocol took place.”
My body caught fire.How could she know?But of course she knew. She knew every detail of our trip, and it was only fair to assume what went down in that room.
“Ma’am, I assure you, nothing inappropriate occurred,” Bray tried to defend.
“Don’t lie to me, Calvin,” she snapped. “It’s unbecoming of you.” The director mask dropped from her face, and she was a full-on pissed-off mom. “Don’t tell me nothinginappropriatehappened when I have footage of you and Ms. Danielsin my houseengaging in highly inappropriate behavior from mere nights ago.”
She whipped her computer monitor around to show us a still image of Bray pinning me against the kitchen wall and kissing the air straight out of me.
The air left my lungs all over again. I had never been so embarrassed in my life. Not only was this a professional reprimand, the woman berating us was his mother.His mother.In that moment, I felt supremely stupid.Of coursethere would be security cameras in that fortress of a condo. She probably had footage of us all but cuddling on the back patio too.
I glanced at Bray. He seemed to be at a loss for words. His face burned scarlet, and he looked like he wanted to die right alongside me.
“Now, I don’t know what part of me telling you to stay on the Del Rio case you interpreted as going rogue in pursuing a classified case and free rein to harbor a DSA asset at my personal address, but this is a gross abuse of power,” the director went on. “Engaging in intimate conduct with an asset is a violation of so many policies, I could have you terminated right now.” Her face was red to match his.
Her words stung for more reasons than one.Abuse of powermade me sound helpless. Like I’d been taken advantage of. Like it wasn’t me begging for him to put his hands and mouth on me the whole time.
I softly cleared my throat. “Ma’am, I can promise you, it was all consensual.”
She shot me a sharp glare, which nearly made me take a step back. “Ms. Daniels,” she said coldly. “Consensual or not, an agent is prohibited from having any relationship with an asset outside of a professional one. Agent Bray’s behavior is in direct violation of policy, and he should be ashamed of himself.” Each word felt like a lash of a whip. I thought I was done flinching until she came back with more. “And also, I would expect more fromyou, having been a valued DSA asset for over a decade. This behavior is reckless and a sign that I was correct in my decision to keep you on the Del Rio case—which youwillstay on this time.”
