“And too young?” she inquires.
“Same.”
The room grows hot and muggy for seconds that tick by like a year of seasons before a summer storm, our gazes crashing, our impasse thundering, and the blustery tension between us … brewing.
“So, Mr. Noire does indeed have another line he won’t cross.” She flashes me a wry smirk, bats those thick lashes, and readies to leave. “Well, it’s a good thing I have a hot date, too, since I’m out of bounds twice over.”
My heart stops, a sharp pain shooting through my sternum as my hands ball into fists. “You have a date?”
“Don’t worry,” she calls as she struts into the hall. “It’s a suitable one.”
“What are my options?” I ask Ryker three hours later, after giving him the rundown on my need to find a solution for Zara’s predicament.
He rolls his dice in his palm, though he’s staring at me. “What do you want to achieve?”
Omitting my blooming obsession with her, I keep it simple. “I don’t want her to betray me, and I don’t want her dead.”
A wry, all-knowing chuckle falls from him. “Is that all?”
I grunt, unsurprised that he can read my desire for her between my words. “For the most part.”
The reality of the situation doesn’t permit my infatuation to be realized. It’s not even about my own practices. The main reason KORT only authorizes the extremes of one-night stands or marriages is because the in-between is when things get murky. Pillow talk. Sexual relationships can turn intimate fast, secrets get spilled, and without a solid commitment, classified KORT information could be leaked. Even a one-night stand with someone I see daily would be unacceptable—too much potential for intimacy to build. Violating that bylaw would either force us into a marriage or deem her a threat. Neither scenario would be safe for her.
Everything about us already feels intimate. When I arrived in the conference room earlier, she’d placedOur Mutual Friendby Charles Dickens there. It’s a thick book, so anticipation pumped through me as I flipped the pages to find her telltale green highlighter:No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else.
It felt like a thank-you or at least validation that I hadn’t even known I needed. This weird literary exchange we have going makes me want to build her a whole damn library and fill it with every book ever written, which would take a lifetime, but …
Ryker’s dice hit the table, and he watches them roll as he speaks. “Hiring her was a wise move, especially with you puttingher on lockdown. She can’t carry out a hit on anyone, and even if she gained intel, she’d be insane to leak it without an extraction plan. She must know we have eyes on her at all times. That makes her less of a threat around Mercy and Tessa than half of our members at this point. And in turn, she’s protected. I wouldn’t change a fucking thing.”
Scrubbing my hand over my chin, I exhale my frustration. “I don’t disagree, and she hasn’t claimed that she isn’t on a job against us. But we can call it whatever we want; she’s still imprisoned.”
“And alive, Axe.”
He’s right. If it were anyone else, she’d be dead already—if not by my hand or KORT’s, then by whoever she works for after I sent her packing. And while she’s here, her employment is saving her life. Wells probably has someone in the resort by now, and my executive staff won’t be where they concentrate their search. But I don’t confirm that.
After giving it some serious thought, Ryker pockets his dice and leans on the conference room table. “Well, I doubt she’d be open to it, but if you want her protected from whoever her client is and still unable to strike against us, we have a number of favors we can call in. We could marry her off to someone connected. Get a claim out on her, so it’s her client against an organization, not a rogue assassin. But that’s challenging without knowing who she’s working for.”
“She probably doesn’t know,” I muse.
Many assassin networks don’t provide that information. It’s one of the advantages of hiring an outside firm. If an asset gets caught and interrogated, they can’t reveal an identity they aren’t privy to. For that same reason, they’re often spoon-fed details on a longer job. Everything is geared to protect the client.
“I figured.” His pensive stare scrapes over me, but I ignore him and spin my roulette wheel, until he finally moves on.“Of course, it can’t be someone in a secret society because she wouldn’t pass a loyalty test.”
I already thought of that, but I keep that to myself because he’s baiting me, and I’m not ready to divulge how fucked up my head is over her.
“I’m not going to marry her off to some asshole who will see it as him ruling over her. She’s too strong and talented for that. We were adamantly against most of the prospects for Rena. This should be no different.” I stand abruptly, ready to head back to my office. “Zara wouldn’t go for it either. This isn’t the kind of solution she’s looking for.”
His deep tenor stops my tracks before my hand is even on the doorknob. “Despite what you keep saying, that girl is under your skin. Maybe you haven’t even admitted it to yourself. But if you start something with her and she turns out to be betraying KORT, it could get you both killed. And even if she isn’t working against them or hired to harm our family, she doesn’t sound like someone who would willingly stick around. Do you really want to risk it all for someone who won’t reciprocate?”
It’s not as though I haven’t ruminated on all of that, but it’s still a crushing weight smacking into me.
I glance over my shoulder at him and shake my head. “You’re overthinking it. This is nothing more than the daughter of someone who died by our father’s hands. I’d like to make it right.”
“Remember that then. Because you might be nothing more than the son of the man who murdered her mother. And she might be here to make it right.”
His final warning wars with my conviction that she’s not vindictive with every step back to my office. Of course, the reason I met Ryker in our private conference room is because I had security sweep my office to ensure Zara hadn’t planted a bug in there, so vengeful or not, we’re a long way off from trust.
They did send me an all-clear though, so the only thing she did today was her job.
