Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“He was willing to put his career on the line to help his cousin, and now she’s married to a nice man who isn’t trying to use her,” Sandra explained.
“That’s great for her, but I don’t think it’s the same for me. I am willing to accept that maybe he didn’t betray me before. I can see things from his point of view, but I still worry that what he truly cares about this time around is the mission.” It was the doubt that crept into her head at night after she hung up the phone—that Drake would do anything to take his sister down. That Drake might genuinely have feelings for her, but they would pale in comparison to how much he hated his sister. They were too close to Drake to see what he was capable of.
You’re too close to see anything at all, and you won’t ask the right questions because you don’t think you can trust the answers.
She wished her inner voice would shut the fuck up.
“He’s trying very hard to get you out of this,” Sandra argued. “Although I’m pretty sure Big Tag told him to fuck you until your eyes crossed and you can’t fight him anymore. It’s sound advice and definitely the advice likely to not get you killed.”
“I would have hoped that the last several days’ worth of evaluations would have proven to you that I’m capable of holding my own,” Taylor said with a huff.
“You’re physically capable, but when an agent goes into a mission with nothing to lose, they usually lose the only thing they think they have. Life,” Kim said quietly. “I think you have decided that life took everything from you. Your mom. Your dad. It feels like you’re next, doesn’t it? It feels like nothing good could possibly happen to you because it never has before.”
“My father was a good thing.” She could still remember standing there looking up at this big scarred man who promised he would protect her.
“I know, but he should have shown you that you came first,” Sandra pronounced. “He shouldn’t have risked himself the way he did, and he should never have had you out in the field. It was selfish of him. He wanted to have his kid and his job.”
A thread of anger flared in her. “He didn’t know anything else. He didn’t know any other life.”
“And he hated his former agency, and continuing to work was his revenge,” Kim explained. “I know. I talked to him. I worked with him. He adored you, and at the time I thought it was kind of cool that he had his kid with him, but I’m a mom now. You needed stability. Drake needed stability. You both grew up in a world that trained you to distrust. Your fathers, for one reason or another, demanded loyalty to them and not much else.”
“That’s not true.” Why were they attacking her father?
“I didn’t say he meant to,” Kim corrected. “But the very nature of taking you with him made you loyal to him above all. Drake’s father actively demanded loyalty from his kids to the point of keeping secrets from his wife and making sure his children did the same. And you can see how that turned out. One of them betrayed everything she once professed to believe in. And Drake couldn’t believe you were real because nothing has been real to him. Your dad merely let you be his tech in the field and took you into dicey places with him. Drake’s dad made him a spy when he was a child. Drake doesn’t remember a time when he didn’t know how dangerous the world could be. He doesn’t know how to trust.”
“He does, but it’s not his first position.” Sandra refilled her glass. “It’s hard for him to trust. How did you meet him? He’s been quiet about it.”
“We met at a safe house. He was trying to get valuable intel to base, and the house I was at was the closest place. We got snowed in and had to stay together for almost a week,” she explained. “It would have been longer but my father was killed and the Agency came to get me. I didn’t know the Agency had been watching me for a while because my dad had been sneaking into Cuba to treat his lung cancer, and yes, I know that was a breach of trust and I helped him hide it. They thought he was a double. When I proved he wasn’t, that was when we decided to send me undercover.”
“So Drake could have believed you were helping your father do something wrong,” Sandra mused.
“He did.” It was good to finally put it out there. “He went to bed with me because he wanted to figure out what was going on. Brad’s told me he asked him to do it.”