Page 9 of Deceit

But I did this.

Eli Montgomery was his son; why wouldn't he avenge his father? Why wouldn't he be involved in the first place?

Now Marty is in there, rescuing Reagan, his sister, and the love of his life, Stormi.

This is revenge—plain and simple.

I fuckinghatepoliticians and rich pricks.

"Forever, asshole." The remnants of Reagan's voice flows up the stairs, giving me some relief that she's still okay. "You tried to rape me!”

My eyes tightly clamp shut.

Reagan doesn't know it, but she isn't helping me keep her husband at bay from doing something really fucking stupid right now.

"Em." Wade's impatience hits the other end, and the stress I've been trying to keep calm, it's starting to bubble to the surface. “Did you just hear—“

"Hold," I leer, squeezing the phone and imagining it's Wade's throat.

"Fuck this, you tried to touch my sister, motherfucker?!"

And here goes Marty.

My co-worker is as insane and impulsive as they come. Not only did he just hear his sister claim that Eli attempted to rape her—this is news to me—but Marty will gladly give his life for Reagan.

Their sibling bond is like nothing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Mills peers over his shoulder at me, jaw taut with fury. "When we hit the bottom of the stairs, we'll make a sharp left."

I give him a thumbs-up as he promptly descends the rest of the way. The familiarity of the adrenaline rush that always pumps through my veins accompanies me as Mills and I press our backs against the wall.

And at the exact moment, we retrieve our guns.

Mills inches closer to the edge of the wall, peering over to see what's going on in the family room while I stare at the opposite side of the gray drywall on the other side.

In a wooden frame is Wade's reason for living—Reagan, their son, Huck, and the man himself. The life I always wanted for my best friend and second half-ass boss.

I’ve been so busy with B723 shit that I’m barely in the office with him anymore. I’m more emotional support when he’s about to lose his mind, but everything he has, he deserves.

We’ve been through hell and back together. His wife's survival hangs in the balance, and I know he's blaming himself for the situation.

That he was relying on me to make this go away, and I failed him. I told him the coast was clear, that Holden was dead, that they could come home from Italy.

I put Marty in this position too.

He gave up the love of his life, Stormi, so that she could live safely and not in the world—our world—that we walk through dangerously every day.

Today, it was all me.

I didn't dig enough.

I didn't keep sifting through documents and phone records—a complete rookie move.

A gunshot suddenly rings out, startling both Mills and I, as he tugs on my hand to pull me down with him.

Blocking me with his body, we listen for another one, another scream, another hint of anything from our loved ones.

"Did you just fucking shoot?" I yell-whisper into the phone.

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