Page 38 of Reclaiming Izabel

“When Dianne and I…” His shoulders pulled back as if in realization. “Jesus Christ, I’m such a fucking idiot. Ally and I had a brief affair…”

Viktor went in for the kill. “You had an affair with Tierney while you were separated from your wife? Can you give us a timeline?”

“Three months, on and off, but we were together the week up until we deployed.”

“Did she stay with you at the hotel?”

“Yeah…”

“Did she have access to your phone?”

“I’m so stupid,” Marcus muttered. “I never thought Ally…”

“Could the signal be coming from Tierney’s burner and not Marcus’s?” I asked. This could certainly be a game changer. Marcus didn’t have a motive; Tierney did.

“Possibly,” Viktor said. “The numbers are different, but she could have used different burners.”

“So, she already had operational information because of her position as Chief of Staff,” Brick interjected. “And she’s the one feeding information to Hamza? But why even bother with Marcus?”

“The Teams,” Marcus gave me a tortured expression. “She was very interested in our personal stuff. Family life. I’m an idiot,” he repeated. “She played me…I thought she was sympathetic to our lives…the challenge of getting deployed and coming home. Something Dianne had grown to resent and what tore our marriage apart. Jesus…she played me.”

“Hamza had a very detailed file on every single member of Fire Team,” Viktor said. “Granted, Tierney has access to every SEAL’s file, but this is personal to Hamza. He wanted to hit the SEALs where it hurt.”

“I’m gonna kill her,” Marcus whispered fiercely, eyes flaring. “I’m gonna kill that fucking bitch.” He shook his restraints again. “Let me go!”

“Not so fast,” Viktor said. “I’m not quite convinced you had no part in this.”

“Are you insane?” Marcus roared. “Get me out of this fucking chair.”

I had a surge of sympathy for Marcus, and the way his life was so fucked up spoke for itself, but there was still not enough evidence to eliminate him completely as a suspect.

“Maddox,” Viktor said. “Outside.”

I was ready for a break. Already raw from my situation with Izabel, it gutted me I’d misread Harrelson’s situation. We were brothers. I should have trusted him. These past three years had changed me in a fundamental way. The concept of brotherhood had been erased since we’d operated sometimes on our own.

Marcus continued to lose his shit while we exited the room. After the door closed, Viktor crossed his arms and braced his legs.

“What do you think?”

I emitted a brief, derisive chuckle. “You’re asking me?”

“Do you trust Harrelson?”

“I did. Then I didn’t. Now? I’m not sure anymore.”

“Gut?”

I exhaled a heavy breath rife with uncertainty. “I knew he was having problems with Dianne, but I didn’t expect he would have an affair.”

“He was separated.”

I was being unfair. But if Izabel asked me for a separation, the last thing I’d do would be to jump in bed with another woman. I’d panic and pull everything from my arsenal to win her back, to find out where I’d failed and fix what was broken.

“Not everyone has what you have with Izabel, Maddox,” Viktor said. His uncanny ability to read the room was unnerving. “Don’t let that cloud your judgment on the matter at hand.”

“I trusted him with my life.”

“Would you trust him with your life now?”

---