Page 7 of Double Edged Hearts
“So, that must mean something,” Lyndsey points out.
“I just want to focus on work at the moment, and if I date, it’s not going to be someone at work.”
It’s a lie, and that actually isn’t to do with Alex. I can’t date Zack because I don’t trust him. The man wants to get in my pants. That’s it. I know it is. He’s just after sex, and I hate that. I hate being with a man and knowing they just want me for my body. It’s the price of having double D’s. Few men look at me and see the real me. The only guy who’s looked at me like that is the one I mustn’t have.
I continue to stare at Lyndsey as she looks on at me in surprise. I doubt many women have turned Zack down. I know she wouldn’t if she were single, but she has Owen. Her own Prince Charming. She’s been with him since she was sixteen. They were high school sweethearts and now they make their long distance relationship work.
“Fine. You win.” She rolls her eyes at me. “So, did you just oversleep?”
I nod. Best to say that. There’s no way I can tell the truth. I can’t talk about Alex to anyone.
It’s better that way. Saying the wordmafiais dangerous enough as it is. I can’t talk like that around anybody who doesn’t already know that I’m linked to them in some way.
What’s more important than that is keeping my head above water. If Alex knows I’m here, then the others must know too, the Chicago boss and his crew. Altogether, they’re known as The Four. They’re dangerous men nobody wants to mess with.
I know I have to be more than careful. I’ll just do what I have to do in Chicago and leave.
That’s it. The answer.
I have to say goodbye.
Lyndsey keeps her gaze trained on me as I walk over to the sofa and grab my purse.
“Today’s going to be a long day, Cora,” Lyndsey says, and her mood instantly sinks. As she switches to business mode, I’m reminded that I don’t have time to be sidetracked by men because we have an important job to do.
“Yes, I know. We’ll be lucky to leave by nightfall.” I sigh.
“Nightfall? I’m thinking more along the lines of tomorrow morning. This guy is clever.”
“He absolutely is,” I agree.
We’re special agents in the counterterrorism division. We were called in from L.A to assist on a national security case here involving a Russian arms trafficker called Matvey Kuznetsov. He has links to a syndicate of international terrorists called The Hand. He’s in Chicago, and we don’t know why. What we do know is that if he’s here, there’s something brewing. The results of his last crime left over two hundred people dead in Sarajevo after a bomb attack. That’s the sort of thing he gets up to. I can only begin to imagine what his plans are here.
Apart from a murder that alerted us to his presence two weeks ago he hasn’t been seen since and no one can find him. All we have is a delisted phone number for a phone that was probably tossed into the river.
“I’ve never worked on anybody like this guy,” Lyndsey states.
I have. Matvey is not the first arms dealer I’ve encountered. The last one was a guy called Goliath. Six years ago, I was called to Chicago by Claudius himself to help take him down. The table has literally turned from me helping a bunch of mobsters to being a federal agent.
Unlike that time, Matvey is definitely going to be a challenge. He’s clever but I think he just has the right help. Whoever sent him here to do their bidding is making sure he’s untouchable.
“We just have to be careful and work with what we have,” I answer.
Lyndsey picks up the donut box. “Let’s go. We can eat these on the way and cheer ourselves up.”
I nod and grab my jacket.
We get outside to the parking lot, and the roar of a motorcycle makes me look up to the road above us past the upper level floor.
There’s a biker there dressed in full black. I don’t have to guess who he is.
That’s Alex.
He’s on a midnight black Kawasaki that looks like it was pulled from the set ofThe Terminator. Instantly, my blood heats from the memory of last night.
I gaze on wondering what I’m truly going to do about him.
He speeds off, and I watch until I can’t see him anymore. Seeing him was a warning, a signal that he’ll be back.
My traitorous body craves him like it always does, and eagerness fills me.
It’s not good to keep secrets. What do I do, though, when my secrets become the master of me?
My problem isn’t just that I can’t resist him—he has my heart too, and that’s the most dangerous thing about him.
