Page 109 of My Temptation

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to, Ethan.” She tilted her head. “You know people have relationships all the time and don’t share them with their coworkers.”

“We don’t have normal jobs,” I argued. “That kind of secret could blow up in our faces.” I took a step toward her. “It could affect the whole team. I have too much at stake to risk everything by hiding something I don’t think should be hidden. And I know that’s not what you want.”

“You don’t know what I want,” she replied dismissively.

“Maybe you’re right.” I shrugged. “But I do know what I want. And I know prolonging the inevitable isn’t something I want to do.”

I wasn’t willing to compromise, and neither was she. If I didn’t agree to her plan, I'd already accepted that everything we’d started in Devil’s Lake would end, but that had to be less painful than what she proposed.

She studied me for a minute, but then she squared her shoulders and nodded slowly. “Then I guess there’s nothing left to say.”

I dropped my head as she walked away. When I heard her car door slam shut, I let the finality wash over me.

It was over.

How could something that never had a chance hurt so fucking bad when it ended?

33

MILA

“I want to investigate my mother’s death, and I was hoping you’d help me,” I said quickly.

After stewing over this for a week, I’d asked them to meet with me. It had bothered me since Ethan and I talked about it, but I didn’t have time to think about it then, much less do anything about it, but now I did. I’d been home for a week with nothing to do because Jax and Brody were only assigning me small jobs, which I understood. However, I needed more to occupy my mind.

This was doing a fantastic job of giving my obsessive mind something to focus on, especially considering Ethan and I weren’t speaking. Actually, not speaking would indicate I’d seen him, which I hadn’t. He was back to installing security systems, which meant we didn’t cross paths too much. Before this case, we’d see each other in the gym or in meetings, but I hadn’t been going to the gym because I was avoiding the awkwardness between us. Since we got back, we’d only sat through one meeting together. However, that was changing this morning, and I was afraid of what that would look like. Because I knew we’d be seeing each other today, I’d texted him last night to gauge the waters. He said he was good and spending all his free time with Riley and Everly.

That was it.

That was all I heard in a week, and I wouldn’t have gotten that much if I hadn’t reached out first. I wasn’t sure what changed, but everything did the moment he pushed into the room where Samson was holding me.

I knew he didn’t love the idea of keeping our relationship private when I first suggested it, but I thought he would at least consider it or let me explain. But he didn’t. He just shut it down as if everything in Devil’s Lake meant nothing. I thought at the very least he’d be willing to compromise, but he wasn’t and, in the end, neither was I.

I wasn’t sad, and I didn’t feel rejected. I was pissed, and I needed a place to channel all that anger. What better place to put it than on the other man in my life who’d disappointed me?

Brody and Jax shared a look, which I thought was odd before Jax finally replied. “Why?”

“Because I think my father had something to do with it,” I replied honestly.

Jax got up and circled his desk before closing the door. Once he returned to his desk, he started talking. “That investigation was already done.”

“What do you mean?” I sat down in the chair across from him.

“After your mother’s death, the FBI director opened a quiet investigation into your father.”

I was stunned by that information. “Why?”

“Because the director at the time thought he may have had something to do with it.”

“And...” I gestured for him to continue.

“And they found no evidence. The toxicology report found alcohol in her system. Her injuries were consistent with a fall down the stairs.”

“Which could've happened if she was pushed,” I pointed out.

“That’s true, but unfortunately, they couldn’t prove that. There was no evidence to support it.”

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