Page 92 of Love at First Sighting
“How’d it go from him trying to protect you to you killing him?” I ask.
“Carter…” Marcus’s jaw firms to a straight line and his words come through gritted teeth.
“No,” I snap back. “I deserve to know. You can’t start and then not finish. Because you can tell me now, or I’ll keep looking for answers, and you know I won’t stop.”
“What do you think you’re going to find?” Marcus laughs bitterly. “Any proof has beenlonggone, kid.”
I don’t flinch. He knew my dad well enough to know he backedeverythingup. A backup of his file might mean he knew something would happen to him.
“We’ll see about that.”
“No one’s going to believe you. Carter, you have to understand your dad gave menochoice. He was going to blow the whole operation wide open, no matter who it hurt. It was either stop him and keep PIS running or spend the rest of my life behind bars. This wasn’tjustabout me. It was about everyone in this sector.”
Marcus says it so plainly, socowardly, I wish he were vile and evil. I wish there was no humanity to him, because it’d make it easier to write him off. Instead, I’m stuck staring at someone I spent years looking up to and trying to impress, only to realize that in his worst moments, he’s going to choose cowardice.
Jail, or killing your partner.
This answer fucking sucks. It’s so embarrassingly weak, so disappointing, and in a way, I feel more galvanized than ever.
And because of that, Idohope he rots behind bars, and I’ll make sure of it.
“You got him killed—you nearly gotmekilled—because he was going to turn you in? You did something wrong and you were going to face the consequences, so you got yourown partnerkilled?”
“I didn’t have another option.”
“Maybe try not committing treason next time, you jackass. That’s a good option.”
“I didn’t expect you to understand.” Now he sounds angry. I take a step back, my gun aimed at the center of his chest, with his desk between us. The key card is in his jacket. If I can get close enough to grab it, El will be able to get inside.
“How could I? How could you ever expect me to understand? I don’t have my dad because of you. I don’t have…”A family, I almost say. “You made other people pay for your mistakes, and it’s time you paid for yours. And I amnevergoing to forgive you for what you’ve done.”
Marcus takes another step toward the desk, urging me to put the gun down. Something on the camera shifts in my periphery and I don’t hide my glance well enough. And Marcus looks there, too.
“The girl…”
My voice shakes. “Ian was right. You shouldn’t underestimate her. And you shouldn’t underestimate me, either.”
Before he registers what I’m saying, I fire a shot at the Agent of the Year award on his desk. Glass shards spray into the air, a few digging into my skin as well as his. With Marcus distracted, I dive forward, grabbing his jacket and pulling him close to the desk. He lets out a frustrated grunt as I dig into his jacket, grab the key card inside, and slam it onto the card scanner. It snaps back on the retractable cord he has it on, whacking him in the side as it returns.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m making this right.”
I turn my gaze to the computer screen where El wiggles her way through the bunker door and pulls it shut behind her. She’s in. She’s going to get the file, and hopefully get out of here before Marcus can track her down. If I can keep him distracted for a little longer…
I hear the gunshot before I feel anything. It’s not until I glance down and see my stark white shirt turning a furious red that I realize what’s happened. I draw my fingers to the center of my stomach, watching them stain.
“Shit,” I gasp before the pain hits. And when it does, it’s obliterating. Marcus lowers the gun and slides it back into his holster. He doesn’t need to say anything for me to read the look in his eyes.I had no other choice.
I drop to my knees and grip harder at the wound. I know I’m supposed to focus on slowing the bleeding and calling for help, but the pain is so blinding, all I want to do is collapse on the ground and give up. But El is still down there. And she’s about to be in danger if I can’t keep Marcus from getting to her.
Marcus rounds the desk, coming to finish the job. I pull myself to my hands and knees, minding the shattered glass on the ground. I’m prepared to look up and find the barrel of a gun pointed at my head. El’s voice echoes in my mind.
You need to come back to me.
I should have pushed harder to tell her how I felt, spit it out way sooner, even if it scared me. Because now I’m not certain I’m ever going to get the chance to tell her how much I love her, or that for the first time in so long,Ifeel loved, too, and how it feels so good.
Instead of shooting me, Marcus grabs my bad arm, disregarding the years of surgeries and physical therapy it took to get it working right again, and jerks it behind me. I have no idea what he’s doing at first, but then a handcuff clinks around my wrist. Then the other latches around one of the radiator bars.
