Page 9 of My Temptation

His eyes narrowed. “That seems a little dramatic, Mila, considering it didn’t happen.”

“Please don’t pretend you have no idea what happened to me. I called you. I asked you to call me back, and you didn’t.”

“At that moment, I couldn't. You had a handler, and I trusted that he would take care of the situation. I couldn’t show you any favoritism.”

I huffed. “It's not favoritism, Dad. It’s concern for an employee.”

“And it was handled. I made sure of that.”

“As my boss or my father?”

“Both. I never wanted anything bad to happen to you while you were undercover. My job is to make sure all my employees are safe while they’re doing their job. You had the best handler in the FBI. He wasn’t going to let anything happen.”

“Except it did happen.”

“If you recall, Mila, when I knew it was safe for you,” he stressed, “I did return your call.”

“And told me that it was a part of the job and if I couldn’t handle it, I could turn in my resignation.”

“My hands were tied. You were on an assignment. Your only way out was to resign.”

I shook my head and stood. We weren’t getting anywhere with this conversation. He would never admit that at some point, he stopped being my father, stopped having my back, and we had nowhere to go from here. My best choice was to leave the FBI and start a new life. “Was there anything else you needed?”

He sat back in his chair and studied me. “The director is not going to be happy.”

“That’s not my problem anymore.” I glanced at Beth, whose eyes remained on her tablet. “I don’t answer to him, and I don’t answer to you. I’m happy with my new life and my new career.”

“Career?” He scoffed. “That business could go belly up in a year. Then where will you be? This offer won’t be on the table when you need to come crawling back with your tail between your legs.”

I tilted my head. “Do you really want me back? Can you honestly say you want me on your team again? Under your supervision?”

“You would be directly under the director’s supervision.”

“That’s interesting.” I paused. “Why is that exactly?”

“I have no idea,” he replied, but he was lying. His left eye twitched very slightly when he was lying. I picked up on it years ago but never told him. Everyone has a “tell,” and I discovered early on that I should learn the “tells” with every one of my coworkers to protect myself. It occurred to me that I hadn’t done that at Elite, which told me I was finally working with a group who didn’t make me feel as if they would stab me in the back the first chance they got.

“That’s okay, I have my theories.” I waved my hand. “It doesn’t change my decision.”

He stood slowly. “You do realize the reach he has, right? And what that means for the company you work for?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Is that a threat?”

“Absolutely not.” He raised an eyebrow. “It’s just some information I think you need to have.”

“Come at us,” I taunted. “But here’s some information you need to have. The Dimarcos won’t be pushed around and won’t appreciate being threatened. They don’t fear you like the men working for you.”

When he didn’t respond, I got Beth’s attention, and she stood. “It was nice seeing you.”

Once again, he didn’t respond, and Beth followed me to the door. We both stopped when my father said, “Don’t be a stranger, Mila.”

I shook my head and pulled the door open, casually closing it behind me. We walked in silence until we turned in our visitors' badges and exited the building.

Pausing at the bottom of the stairs, I faced Beth when her soft voice rang out. “I liked what you said at the end.”

“You heard?”

“I silenced my video when your father stood. I hope that’s okay. I just wanted to make sure I could call for help if you needed me to.”

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