Page 27 of His Forbidden Alliance

“Not my name, and you don’t need to know anything other than our shared motives.”

“Yes, I do. I don’t work with people who want to reveal their real identities.”

“I’m here to stop Ivanov. That’s enough.”

He shook his head. “Who do you work for?”

“I told you. No one.”

“I didn’t buy that before, and I’m not buying it now. Why did you pick Ivanov for your vigilante tendencies? You want me to believe you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart?”

I huffed. “It sure as hell isn’t the salary.”

“Whose payroll are you on, and why do they undervalue you?”

That was a damn good question for Maria. “I can’t tell you that.”

“Will they kill you?”

I considered that. “Possibly.” If Maria didn’t, some CIA agent might be sent to silence me.

“I could also kill you if you don’t tell me.”

“Then my people would come after yours, and they would start a huge war, and neither of us wants that.”

“You wouldn’t have to worry about that if you were dead.”

“I’d prefer not to be dead.”

He smiled. “Yeah, me too, and I’d sure as hell like to be there when Ivanov goes down.

“Alliance?” I held out my hand for him to shake.

“I was warned to stay away from you.”

My pulse increased. “By who?”

“‘By whom,’ actually. Sorry, that’s my brother’s influence. He’s a professor, but I’m sure you know that.”

I glared at him. “Who warned you off, and why?”

“I can’t tell you, but they want to protect me.”

Did someone in his family know? Would it be better if I went all in with him the way I’d planned to? Or was this the stupidest plan I’d ever devised? Maria tried to tell me it was, but the longer we worked together, the greater the chance Rafe would figure it out anyway.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. Who do you work for?”

Here goes nothing. “The government.”

Rafe’s eyes widened. He took a few steps back before pulling his gun on me.

“This is becoming a habit with us,” I said.

“It’s not going to be a habit for much longer if you don’t get the fuck out of here. If I see you again, I will kill you.”

“If I was after you, I would’ve already made the arrest or the kill or whatever my overlord’s ordered me to do.”

“Are you part of some fucking black ops assignment?”