Page 9 of Braxton

She needed to tread carefully.

Another message appeared right after the last:Ex Nihilo has one of our people in custody. If you get Dr. Ivan Zaitsev and return him to us—and destroy Ex Nihilo—we will welcome you with open arms.

What the hell? That asshole was changing the deal—without her say—and Quinn didn’t like that. It meant she couldn’t trust Merlin to keep his word. She’d had a bad feeling about him from the moment he contacted her, but she’d ignored it. It was a good chunk of change being offered. Then she’d received the dossier on the team she’d been assigned to neutralize. And Braxton Graves was at the top of the list.

Everything inside her had twisted.

Pulling up a new window, she did a quick search on Dr. Ivan Zaitsev. Several items of interest came up, most notably that he was a former Russian chemist. Quinn wasn’t stupid. If The Agency wanted a chemist, it didn’t take a genius to assumethey had nefarious plans for his work. And she wasn’t interested in killing innocent people.

However, she didn’t want to arouse suspicion either. Right now, she held all the cards and had a decision to make.

Kill Braxton and get paid, or trust her gut and warn him?

Quinn typed out her response:Copy that. I’ll be in touch.

I expect results. Soon.

Merlin signed off and she frowned. Something definitely didn’t feel right. And if her four years with the CIA taught her anything, it was to listen to her gut.

According to Merlin’s pitch, The Agency was a group of like-minded individuals who wanted to make the world a better place by eliminating enemies of the US and supporting technological advancements on the homefront. So why did they need a Russian chemist? And why did they want to kill her ex-husband?

She hated not having all the answers so she could make an informed decision. But Quinn knew one thing for sure—Brax was always on the side of good. He was a goody-goody like that. Always had been. If it weren’t for her, he never would’ve learned to loosen up. If The Agency wanted to silence him, she wanted to know why.

Dammit.Suddenly, she was questioning everything. But, most importantly, was she on the right side?

She needed more information. She couldn’t trust Merlin to provide facts, but Brax would tell her the truth. The man didn’t lie. At least, he’d never lied to her. He possessed a strong code of ethics and should’ve been a member of the freaking uprightbrigade. Hell, his parents had met at church and he’d probably been conceived between reading Bible passages.

Quinn squeezed her eyes shut. That wasn’t fair. She’d loved Brax’s dad, and he’d welcomed her with open arms. Her beef wasn’t with Sam, it was with his son and that damn moral code of his that made him abandon her when she’d needed him the most. That righteous fucking attitude and those noble principles that he held so highly.

Quinn rubbed her temples, fighting off the beginning of a massive headache. If Brax was trying to bring down The Agency, he had a damn good reason. It also explained why they wanted him gone. Before she did anything rash, she needed more intel.

She needed to talk to Braxton.

Ifhe was still alive.

Because, dammit, she wasn’t going to be anyone’s fucking scapegoat again.

???

Quinn managed to track Ex Nihilo’s location down with help from an online hacker buddy and knew his team was staying at a warehouse in the Waterfront Historic District. But waltzing up to the front door and ringing the bell wasn’t exactly an option. She’d need to stake it out first and wait for the perfect moment to strike.

A plan began to form in her head, and she grabbed her trusty drone along with her go bag full of gadgets and goodies. A part of her fervently hoped to see Brax safe and sound inside. The alternative made her chest tighten.

Exactly twenty minutes later, Quinn was positioned in a clump of bushes beside the warehouse. Her hi-tech drone flew up, barely visible because it was the size of a grape, and she used the controls on her phone to maneuver it right outside the balcony door.

A group of people sat on chairs and a couple of couches. They looked deep in conversation. Quinn’s breath hitched when she saw Brax, safe and sound.

Thank God,a little voice whispered, and relief flooded her.

Now that she had confirmation he was alive, she could be pissed at him again. He’d always had that infuriating power to make her love him one second and hate him the next. The rollercoaster of emotions he’d incited usually left her dizzy, slightly out of breath and, more times than not, naked in his bed.

Of course, it had been a while since she’d found herself between the sheets with him. Hell, with anyone, and it wasn’t because her sex drive had diminished or for lack of options. No, her drawer full of naughty toys was proof of that. It was so full, she couldn’t open it without something getting caught. But the alternative of seeking out a flesh and blood man, allowing herself to open up and be vulnerable, wasn’t going to happen. Besides, no one else was capable of giving her what she needed…what Brax had been able to do to her body, not to mention her heart. The connection between them was unparalleled, unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Or anything she knew she’d ever feel again.

She understood what the phrase “once in a lifetime love” meant better than anyone. And what it felt like when you suddenly lost it—like her heart had died.

Even now she still felt that potent link to him. Despite all of the other people in the room, her attention focused solely and completely on him. And she hated herself for it.

Dammit, she’d tried to forget him so many times. Six months after running, after her entire life had fallen apart, she’d picked up a random man at a bar. Determined to rid herself of Brax’s hold once and for all, she had every intention of fucking the stranger senseless.

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