Page 81 of Arrogant Bastard

Fionnella curses under her breath as the picture of a bloodied face materializes on-screen. I look at Faith, and she’s deathly pale as she stares at the man.

“Who is he?” she asks.

The picture pans out to show the figure tied to a chair. Nothing about the plain, dark room looks familiar. But my skin crawls.

“That’s one of Fallhurst’s agents,” Fionnella responds. “He was supposed to be on assignment in Boise, Idaho. He didn’t show up. That was five days ago.”

Faith shudders against me. “Oh God.”

I put my arm around her shoulders. As she curls into me, the dots connect with a blinding flash.

My gaze locks on Fionnella. “Wait. This is how you found out about Ted and Shane, isn’t it?”

She nods. “Yes. Two agents killed in two different countries are bad enough. A third one so soon after the first two—”

“You have a mole,” Faith blurts.

Her lips purse, and she nods again. “That’s why we can’t just scoop up Galveston and toss him in the darkest black site hole. Not until we find out who’s feeding him the information.”

“Because whoever it is will just continue…”

We’re absorbing the discovery when the sound of a gunshot rips through the speakers. Our gazes return to the screen as the agent falls off the chair and lands in a dead heap on the ground.

“No!” Faith’s voice is a ragged sob.

“Shit,” Fionnella mutters.

I bite back a curse and keep my gaze fixed on the screen, looking for any clues that might help us down the line. But nothing happens. The camera stays on the dead body as a voice that sounds like Galveston’s, and yet not, filters through.

“That’s three for three, Knight.”

My puzzled gaze darts to Fionnella.

“Black, Phillips, his uncle,” she elaborates.

My breath punches out of me. Fuck. But a moment later, a tiny wave of guilty relief goes through me. If he considers us even, then Faith is safe.

His next words chew through my relief like acid on flesh. “For my part, since I’m still alive, despite your girlfriend trying to make it otherwise, I’m prepared to negotiate. Fifty million dollars in exchange for letting bygones be bygones and leaving your precious Faith alone.”

Everything inside me freezes, even while I calculate how quickly I can make that happen.

Fifty million dollars for Faith. The woman I love. I’d pay it a hundred times over.

Fionnella hits pause on the recording and shakes her head. “Don’t even think about it, son.”

My teeth grind. “Well, luckily it’s not up to you.”

“Yes. It is.”

I laugh. “How the hell do you figure that?”

“You really don’t want to find out.”

I crack a smile of my own. The gall of this woman. She’s half my size, and I can break her into little pieces without losing too much sleep. “Try me. Really,” I encourage softly.

Her eyes harden to frozen lakes. “Have you told her you didn’t just happen to stop by to visit brother dearest that day five years ago? Does she know you went there to investigate him?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

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