Page 39 of The Wrecked One

OLIVER

“You set me up.” I paced in front of my bed, phone to my ear. “What were you thinking? She could’ve gotten herself killed coming to find me.”

The other line was quiet for a moment before Carter responded, “I had her followed the whole time. You think I haven’t been watching her every move? I pulled the team back once Mya made contact with Gwen. But they’re still in town in case you need an assist.”

I was pissed off, unsure what to say or think.

“Or they can take her home. Your call.”

I went to the bed and dropped down, and the cheap mattress sank from my weight. “You know I’m not going to trust strangers to escort her back to wherever she’s been living.”

“It’s Easton, Teddy, and Steve.” They’d been part of Carter’s old crew from his scorched-earth days. We’d worked with them to stop an EMP weapon from being detonated last year. “You can trust them.”

“Bullshit.” I mean, I did know them, but Carter also knew I wouldn’t let anyone outside Falcon escort Mya back even though they’d clearly done a good job protecting her en route here. “Does Gwen know they followed Mya?”

“I told her before I spun up. I knew Gwen would try and go with Mya. They’re both stubborn, and?—”

“And you didn’t want to deal with Gwen’s father on your ass when he found out his daughter went trekking through the woods in Canada while being hunted by a murderous group of psychopaths,” I finished for him. “But you let Mya come by herself.”

“Like I said, Mya wasn’t alone. I only let her think she ditched her security. I’m not stupid. I knew exactly what Mya would do when she realized you were in Zurich, and it was only a matter of time before she’d have found you on her own anyway. I needed to get ahead of the problem.”

By setting a trap for me. “So, that’s the real reason you asked me to go to The Sapphire?” It was all a lie. “You made me believe this was your one chance to draw out Hugo.” Told me no one, especially Mya, would know I was assisting. “You asked me to offer myself up as bait. To give Mya a chance to live her life without these fuckers breathing down her neck and having to look over her shoulder every day.”

“It wasn’t a total lie.” Carter’s deep breath fell over the line, creating static. I wasn’t sure where he was, or what the team was up to, and I didn’t want to know. I just needed them to get back, so they could personally bring Mya home.

“This was never the deal. I make contact and you promise never to tell anyone when we’ve talked. I ensure Mya and everyone is safe and okay, and then I hang up. End of call. End of fucking story,” I hissed. “I should have known when you, of all people, begged me for help last week, you had an ulterior motive.”

“We need you, and you need us even more.” His tone dug deeper that time. “Mya buries herself in work, chasing leads all day, then spends her nights trying to find you. She’s a fucking disaster, Oliver. Like I said, I couldn’t stand by and watch it anymore. She’s on my team, and I take care of my own. But I’m a man of my word, and I told you I wouldn’t tell her we talk.”

His words played on repeat a few more times, the guilt cutting through me, splicing me open.

“So, you set me up. A loophole. Made sure she’d find me, then covered my tracks so no one else could.”

“Not entirely.” He cleared his throat. “I did want the Sorens to discover you were there, but I made sure Gwen did her thing to ensure The Collective can’t track where you are now.”

Just Mya. “All this to get me back.”

“Like I said, Mya would’ve found you eventually. And what if she did manage to slip her security when I was out of town and wound up getting herself killed? Then what?”

“Then I’d let you personally hand me over to the wolves to finish me off.” Because nothing would matter if she was gone.

“I don’t have much time, so let me cut to it. I didn’t tell Mya where we were really going on this op, but it does relate to your trip last week. The hotel is being sold.”

The Sapphire sat on land smack between Switzerland and Germany that neither country controlled, and back during the Cold War Era, a billionaire somehow acquired it and created a safe haven resort for criminals. We’d wound up making use of their no-weapons-allowed-on-site policy for an op just last year. When I’d shown up at the hotel at Carter’s request, it’d been hard to walk the halls, remembering my last time there with Mya.

“I plan to make the owner, Nicholas Barbier, an offer to buy it. I wanted the Sorens to believe I sent you ahead to scout a few things out for me before my arrival. My hope is they’ll try and buy it out from under me instead. They know who I am, and they wouldn’t want me having access to some of the world’s wealthiest and most dangerous criminals, especially not on property I own in their neck of the woods.”

“Right, FYVM’s headquarters are in Switzerland, and the Sorens are Swiss,” I said at the memory. “And then what happens?”

“Still strategizing on that part, but I don’t plan to let them win, trust me.”

Shit. I couldn’t be mad at him now. Well, I still was, because there was a brunette in my dad’s living room because of him. I’d need to either deal with her here for five more days or hand her over to Carter’s other team. And as that sure as fuck wouldn’t be happening, I was stuck. One thing I knew wouldn’t be a result of his ridiculous scheme was rejoining the team.

“You can sit there and tell me you won’t come back all you want, but it didn’t take much for me to pull you in last week.”

“You offered me a chance to help the team find the bastard who . . .” Ruined my life. “To save Mya and try to get him. What choice did I really have?” I’d sacrifice my life if I could guarantee her safety from The Collective. In a heartbeat. No questions asked.

“Exactly. That’s proof you’re not really as far gone as you think you are.”

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