Hadley had felt the same way when she got dragged into this mess.Now she understood that her knowledge wasn’t about spy stuff, it was about people.She was a good judge of character.She understood what motivated people and moved them to act in certain ways.She was a good observer, and in the spy game, observation seemed to be at least 50% of the gig.“You might know more than you think.For example, who else knows about Eric, and would any of them have reason to rat on him to the CIA?”
“As far as I know, no one knows about him other than the person who created his new ID, and that person is someone he trusts implicitly.”
Well, so much for the mystery being solved easily, she supposed.“Did Eric do anything this past year to draw attention to himself?Is there another sleeper agent in this neighborhood that we don’t know about?”
Stella rubbed her temples.“Eric has lived completely under the radar for as long as I’ve known him.He doesn’t even have a real social media presence.And I’m sure there isn’t another agent in this neighborhood.We would’ve noticed.”
Considering how easily Cole had picked Eric out as the secret agent, she imagined that was true.But…
“This is going to sound weird, but what aboutyou?”Hadley asked.“Do you have any enemies?”
She gave a humorless chuckle.“I’m a teacher.Any enemies I have are twelve and if they can’t even handle middle school English classes, I sincerely doubt they’re sophisticated enough to uncover the fact that my husband was a former Russian sleeper agent.”
Yeah, that tracked.When she was in junior high, she couldn’t have planned her way out of a Waffle House, let alone gotten involved in espionage.She supposed they could rule her students out as suspects.
“Can I ask you a personal question?”Stella asked.
“I think we’re well beyond formality at this point.”
“You’re not an agent, right?”
Hadley snorted.“No way.I just got caught up in this whole spy thing.Just like you.”
“But your relationship with Clark—I mean, Cole—is real, right?”
Her heart beat a little faster.Were her feelingsthatdamn obvious?Tenley being able to see how she felt didn’t count.She was still half convinced that woman was psychic.But nowStellawas calling her out?“What makes you say that?”
Stella rolled her eyes.“I think we’re beyond bullshitting each other at this point, too.”
Hadley blew out an exasperated breath.“I’m crazy about him.But I promised him I wouldn’t catch feelings.And I promisedmyselfI’d never fall first again.Now we’re stuck in this weird kind of romantic limbo where the attraction is there, the friendship is there, but the whole happily-ever-after of it all seems…farfetched.I don’t know.It’s complicated, OK?”
Stella leaned forward in her seat, her expression warming up several degrees.“Look, after getting out of a truly terrible marriage and re-marrying the love of my life, I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty.”
Hadley mimicked her posture, eager for all the wisdom she could get.“What’s that?”
“It’s never that complicated.If you love him, tell him.Even if he can’t love you back, you still tell him.Hiding your feelings doesn’t lead anywhere good.And honestly, if he can’t love you back, you leave and find someone who can, because you deserve that, Hadley.”
That was the most logical thing she’d heard since this whole mess started.Could it really be that simple?It must be.Especially since Stella was sitting here in all her glowing, happy, head-over-heels-in-love glory after leaving her shitty…
Wait.Just.A.Minute.
“Stella…are you on decent terms with your ex?”
Her nose wrinkled up.“Hell no.I had to threaten to go to that man’s boss with photos of the black eye he gave me just to get him to sign the damn divorce papers.”
Fuckingbingo!“So, technically, youdohave an enemy out there.”
The look of absolute horror on her face spoke volumes about what kind of man her ex was.“Technically, I guess,” she said.“But…no.There’s no way.It couldn’t be…could it?”
As Hadley had learned in her short tenure as a spy,anythingwas possible.
Chapter32
Hadley and Cole ran into each other at the back gate to their yard and blurted, in stereo, “Franklin is Stella’s ex-husband!”Then, “Wait…how did you know?”
It only took a few moments to suss out how each of them had pieced the truth together about Franklin’s personal connection to their unauthorized mission.Figuring out the rest of the plan would take a bit longer.
“The only thing I don’t know is why Stella didn’t realize immediately that Franklin was the one who’d sent an agent into her neighborhood.Shouldn’t that have been a red flag?”Hadley asked.
