Page 53 of The Spy Who Ghosted Me

Thankfully, a visibly shaken Sabrina opened the door, trying to pretend like everything was fine. A sense of relief unlike any I’d felt before went through me.

“Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you were helping Daddy?” she said a little pitchy but pulled it off well.

I had to hand it to her—she was an excellent actress, but Izan was a terrible actor. He stood a ways back, staring coldly at me. I wasn’t sure if he suspected I’d been in his room, but his facade was fading.

“You said you might come here, so I thought I would check before I headed back to the cabin.” I tugged Sabrina toward me, onto the porch, and kissed her like I normally would. Except there was nothing normal about this. I wanted her as close to me as possible so I could shield her if I had to.

“What’s up, Soren?” I asked, trying to plan my next move and gauge what Izan knew, or thought he knew.

“We just heard a loud noise coming from my room.” His tone reeked of accusation.

“I thought it was a possum.” Sabrina laughed.

I laughed too, trying to play along and not give anything away. “You don’t want to mess with those. Do you want me to check it out?”

“No, I think I can handle a rodent on my own,” Izan warned me.

“I have no doubt.” I was well aware of how Izan handled people. Unfortunately, he suspected me, and most likely Sabrina, of something. Worse, I couldn’t remove us from the situation. That would only add to Izan’s suspicions and would have him running. I had to let this play out.

“Well,” Sabrina sang. “I guess we’ll leave you to it. By the way, just in case you need to know, possums love the color white, so you can use sweet flour paste to catch them. Anyway, tell Lexi I’ll call her later. This guy and I have a lot of making up to do.” She patted my chest.

That sounded like an incredible idea, but I knew she was just making excuses to get us out of there.

“Bye.” Sabrina waved and shut the door before I even had time to process what she’d done. “We need to get out of here,” she frantically whispered.

What had happened to her in the minutes we were apart? All my worst fears ran through my head. The rush of emotions was disconcerting and had me forgetting my objective. As we tore down the path, hand in hand, I started making plans in my mind to jet off to the convent in Switzerland or a safe house with her. To hell with the mission and letting it all play out.

“Did you find the diamonds?” she said in a muffled voice as soon as we were far enough from the house and could speak without listening ears.

“I didn’t have time to do a thorough search. Why didn’t you leave like you were supposed to?” I scolded her.

“Because I was trying to give you time,” she defended herself. “And because ... well ...” she huffed.

“What?” I was anxious to know. “Did Soren do something to you?”

She stopped and blew out a deep breath. “Other than giving me a peek at his uneven temper, no. I didn’t leave right away because ... well ... I thought maybe you should know what it felt like for someone to try to save you.”

My jaw dropped. It was the most maddening, preposterous, amazing thing I’d ever heard. “That’s not your job.” Didn’t she realize the danger she was in?

She ripped her hand out of mine. “Well, it could have been my job, but you ... you just left me. You stole our happy ending.”

I stood stunned. Did she really think we could have a happy ending? “Sabrina.” I took her hand back. She tried to pull away, but I wasn’t having it. I tightened my gentle grip. “Please, hear me out.”

She stopped resisting, tears welling in her eyes.

I pulled her closer to me, wrapping my arms around her lithe body that fit perfectly against mine, as if a sculptor had molded them together by design.

She rested her head on my chest, shaking. “I thought maybe a mob boss had killed you,” she cried.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“It’s not funny.”

“You’re right. But it’s going to take more than a mob boss to kill me.”

“What, like a ninja?” she teased.

“Highly unlikely. I’m well trained in the art of ninjutsu. But I’m not good at this.” I kissed her head. “I should have never brought you into my world. It’s not safe.”

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