Page 16 of Braxton

“I have a safehouse nearby.” When she turned and headed up the sidewalk, Brax followed.

“I can drive us.”

She glanced over at him, her pulse kicking up a notch at how much taller he was than her. Exactly seven and three quarter inches taller than her five foot five frame. A part of her wished she could forget details like that, but she never had. “Afraid you’re going to melt, Graves?”

His mouth edged up. “Hardly.”

They didn’t say much more during the walk to her place. She wasn’t worried about bringing him there because she could always move if she felt threatened. There was no way she wanted to go back to his warehouse where his teammates would be waiting, most likely polishing their knives and cleaning their guns. Hell, he probably had her face on a dartboard. Plus, shehad weapons stashed around her place, all within easy reach if she needed them.

Besides, she was the Cardinal and, ego aside, she was trained to handle any dangerous situation that came her way.

Physically, anyway. Her traitorous heart was another story, and she needed to keep her emotions locked down tight. Because when it came to Brax, he had a way of making her lose her mind, and her control, far quicker and easier than anyone else she’d ever encountered.

When they reached the nondescript apartment building where she was staying, she unlocked the door and he reached an arm over her head, pushing it open and holding it for her. He always did gentlemanly stuff like that and, truth be told, she missed it. She missed so much about the way things used to be between them.

But you can’t go back,she told herself firmly. No matter how much she wished she could rewind what had happened and somehow fix it, she couldn’t. Their marriage was over, and every precious memory they’d made had shattered when he’d chosen to not fight for her.

And that made her so mad, she still saw red when she thought about it.

Marching past him, she walked up to her first-floor door, quickly opened it and shoved through before he could try to hold it for her. She didn’t need his help and she certainly didn’t need him.

To hell with Braxton Noah Graves.

He hadn’t even pulled the door closed when she whirled around. “Let’s stop dancing around each other. Time to lay it all out on the table.”

“Alright,” he agreed, slowly dragging the word out as he bolted the lock. “Where do you want to start?”

“With why I should believe you over Merlin. You admitted Ex Nihilo is a team of hired assassins taking out Agency targets. How does that make you any better than them?”

“I never said I was better.” He stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “All I said was the job came when I needed it.”

He was still circling her questions and it pissed her off.

“C’mon, Brax.”

“What do you want to know, Quinn? Really?”

God, that was a loaded question. She hesitated, knowing this wasn’t just about The Agency anymore. Not really. It was about the one question that had haunted her for the last five years.

She wanted full disclosure, so time to get down to the dirty truth.

“I want to know why you gave up on me so easily after the CIA accused me of something I didn’t do!” As hard as she tried, she couldn’t keep the hurt out of her voice. Or the slightly hysterical pitch that made it raise a notch.

“You. Left. Me!” he roared, his normally calm composure slipping as he stalked closer. His hands were out of his pockets now and clenched into fists.

And then he was right in her face, but she refused to back down.

“I called you and told you someone set me up!”

“Two daysafteryou disappeared without a word and my superiors grilled me like a goddamn terrorist. Everyone assumed you got the intel you sold fromme,” he growled. “Do you have any idea what I went through, defending you to them like a damn fool?”

Her heart caught.Wait, what?“You defended me?” she asked softly, completely thrown for a loop.

He let out a frustrated huff, shoulders sagging. “Of course, I did. You were my wife. I loved you…and you left me.”

Her mind reeled. All this time she assumed he thought she was guilty. Hell, that he might’ve even been leading the charge to track her down. She took a moment to process his words and their significance.

“I ran because I didn’t want to drag you into my mess. And because when the CIA sets someone up to fall, they make sure they’re silenced. That morning, someone came after me and all I could think about was keeping you safe.”

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