Page 65 of Over the Edge

And yet his words resonated in me like a tuning fork struck at just the right frequency.

“Flynn, you can’t?—”

“I can. I am.” He gave a short, disbelieving laugh. “Figures I’ve spent my life running from connections, and now I find the one woman who makes me want to stay, and she’s doing the same damn thing. That’s karma for you.”

I turned away, busying myself with jewelry—sliding diamond studs into my ears, clasping an obscenely expensive necklace around my throat. Fashion for Elisa, armor for me. “We have a mission.”

“And we’ll complete it. But don’t ask me to stand by while you offer yourself to that monster.”

He grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him. “I can’t do it, Lyric. Not when I know what it’s like to have you. Not when I...” He paused, his jaw working before the next words came out, like he wasn’t sure he should say them. Like it cost him something. “Not when I love you.”

A tremor ran through me, but I forced myself to stay steady. To keep my voice neutral, my face blank. “Then you’re a fool, because I don’t know how to love. And even if I did?” I looked him dead in the eye. “I would never love you.”

CHAPTER20

LYRIC

I’ve never seena heart break in real time before.

I wouldn’t love you.

The moment the words left my tongue, I wanted to call them back. I watched Flynn’s face shutter closed, the warmth in his amber eyes going cold in an instant. He didn’t argue. Didn’t try to change my mind. He simply nodded once, stepped back, and slipped into his role as my security detail, as if the man who’d just declared his love had never existed.

It was better—cleaner—to sever the connection now.

At least that’s what I tried to convince myself as I turned to the mirror and tamed my hair into a French twist. But the ache in my chest suggested otherwise.

The yacht’s engines slowed, signaling our arrival at our destination.

“It’s time to go,” Flynn said.

Those four words were so coated in ice, I was surprised I didn’t get frostbite. But I deserved it. He’d given me his heart, and instead of accepting it, treasuring it, I’d weaponized his vulnerability and used it against him.

I was a grade-A bitch.

Still, the mission came first. It had to. I knew with a bone-deep certainty that Sentinel hadn’t been on that truck, and it was too dangerous a weapon to let anything stand in the way of securing it.

Flynn had lost sight of that, so I couldn’t.

I applied a final coat of lipstick the color of fresh blood, then squared my shoulders, lifted my chin, and stepped into the skin of Elisa Deveraux again. My posture straightened, my walk became a prowl, and my voice dropped to a cultured purr that held nothing of Lyric Renard’s directness.

We stepped onto the deck just as the yacht nosed into a narrow inlet between soaring cliffs. A stone mansion perched on the cliff face, windows blazing with light. Smaller boats were already ferrying guests to shore. Beyond that, the jungle loomed—too contained to be wild, too quiet to be natural. Even from the water, I could spot cameras tucked in the foliage and sensor lights tracking our approach. This wasn’t just a private island. It was a hidden compound. And as I took it all in, one thought curled cold in my gut: the team had no idea this place even existed. If this went sideways, no one was coming to save us.

One look at Flynn told me he was all too aware of that fact, too.

Moreau waited at the railing, his smile rapacious as he watched my approach. “Ah, Elisa. Magnificent as always. I trust your accommodations are satisfactory?”

Heat flushed by body at the memory of Flynn’s fingers moving inside me and I hoped to hell I wasn’t blushing. “More than. Thank you.”

“I’m sure.” That predatory smile turned knowing. His gaze flicked to Flynn, then back to me.

“Your guard dog seems... subdued. Have you muzzled him?”

“I’ve reminded him of his place,” I said coolly. “He won’t interfere with our business again.”

“A pity. I rather enjoyed his jealousy.” Moreau stepped closer, his cologne enveloping me like a toxic cloud. He dragged a finger over the curve of my shoulder. “I’m interested to see how he’ll react when I finally take what he’s so possessive over.”

Ugh. Like I was nothing more than an inanimate object to be possessed by men.

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