Page 68 of Lethal Weakness

My guilt for evading her eats at me every minute while my body craves to be near her. I’ve never wanted someone inside of my soul like I want her.

But I’m forced to bide my time until the truth comes to light.

“Eagle-One, come in.” My handler’s voice comes in right as I’m emerging from the underground portion of the mansion.

“Eagle-One, clear.”

“The latest translation came back. Scott is discussing buying technology equipped for cell replication.”

“What does that mean?” I’m a soldier, not a scientist.

“Likely, DNA cloning.”

Without needing any further information, my thoughts go directly to the innocent little girl with the bee sting on her hand… The blood they took.

How much easier would it be for them to have taken a few strands of her hair, too? Her saliva…

The pit in my stomach after seeing the late-term fetus only grows, thinking about what the Scotts truly intend to do with little Avery’s blood.

And Linden has no idea.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Linden

Iend the call before it goes to Jack’s generic voicemail and send a text instead.

Linden: You told me to let you know if my ex was giving me trouble. He’s here at visitation. I don’t like it.

Linden: This is so stupid. I don’t know why I’m even telling you.

Linden: Ignore this, really. I need to rant.

Linden: Why can’t he just leave us alone? He doesn’t want to be Avery’s dad. He only wants to hurt me. I wish they would all just leave us alone.

Linden: I wish it weren’t so easy for you to ignore me.

I throw my phone into the passenger seat and dig my fingers into my forehead after minutes of phone silence. So stupid.

Jack acts like he wanted to be here for us but can’t even bother to text me back.

I’m pathetic. I knew that sleeping with him would only make me attached, but at the time, being attached to him seemed pretty appealing.

It still does. But now I’m the fool who fell for her hot, closed-off neighbor whom she barely knows anything about, and has barely seen for two weeks.

Just when I think my mood can’t get worse, Turner walks out of the mansion and starts strolling towards my car with a smug look on his face.

Just stay in your car. Leave the windows rolled up. Ignore him.

He taps on my window, and I fold my arms over my chest.

“I know you can hear me,” he says through the glass, and I pretend to ignore him. “We need to be civil for our daughter.”

“Civil?” I scoff and fling my door open, letting it smack him in the side. “You have ruined anything civil about this.”

He smirks like he got the reaction he was seeking—hook, line, and sinker.

“Don’t be so self-righteous. You’re not perfect either.”