Page 45 of The Agent
Her hands dropped to her sides, her entire body growing colder than a glacial ice cap. All the oxygen rushed from her lungs, leaving her breathless.
The room was empty, but that wasn’t what shocked her to the core. Oh no, it was the computer monitors sitting on the long desk pushed up under the window. At least half a dozen of them. A couple had switched into screen-saver mode, but the rest… She stumbled forward. Oh, God. The rest displayed very clear images of her house.
Her front porch. Her backyard. Her kitchen. Her bedroom window.
Oh, God.
Bile rose in her throat. Caleb had been watching her.
But why? Why the hell would he— She stiffened again when her gaze landed on the photograph taped to one of the monitors.
Her pulse shrieked in her ears as she moved closer. As she looked at the photo and saw Patrick Grier’s face peering back at her.
She stared at the picture for a very long time, fighting back wave after wave of nausea.
A noise came from behind, causing her to spin around and face Caleb.
Their gazes collided, and she stood there, watching all the color seep out of his face. Watching as a thick cloud of guilt settled over his blue eyes.
“Marley,” he choked out.
Her fingers curled into two tight fists. “You son of a bitch.”
CHAPTER 11
MARLEY SWAYED ASice slithered through her veins. Rage was the only thing that kept her feet rooted to the floor while her heart slapped against her ribcage, urging her to run.
Never breaking eye contact with Caleb, she forced her vocal cords to work. “Who are you?”
“I…” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I’ve been monitoring your house in case Patrick shows up.”
“Patrick,” she echoed.
“Yes. We suspected he might come to San Diego, so—”
“We?” she interrupted, anger continuing to claw its way up her spine. “Who’swe?”
“The DEA… I’m a federal agent.”
“A federal agent,” she said, feeling her stomach roil.
“Yes.”
Marley wished she could crawl into a hole and disappear. Her heart felt as though it was full of little razor blades. Each time it beat, a shudder of pain shot through her body. And each time she took a breath, her lungs burned.
How could he do this to her? She’d trusted him, and all the while he’d been lying to her.
Caleb squared his shoulders, sucking in a breath and releasing it.
“How long have you been here, watching me?” she demanded.
He held his ground as he looked straight into her eyes. “Two weeks.”
Marley staggered backward. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Two weeks! He’d been spying on her for the past two weeks, one of which he’d spent conning his way into her life. Into herbed.
She’d slept with him. She’d taken him to meet her family. She’d laughed with him and kissed him, and the whole time he was pretending to be someone else. Resentment coursed through her, trailed by humiliation. At the moment, she wasn’t sure whom she was angrier with—him, for deceiving her, or herself, for falling for it again.
“Marley, I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth earlier, but…”
