Page 52 of Captive Lies

“I’m working onit.”

What I had not told Grant that although we knew the general location of the self-storage facility, we weren’t sure which exact unit it was. My father was careful not to put his eggs in one basket so to speak. For two years, we thought the evidence in the flash drive was useless because Orlov destroyed all the physical evidence after he’d executed my father. It was only in January when Liam had been tipped off that we might have been misled. It turned out that my father managed to give the storage unit key to another federal agent who was working undercover unbeknownst to Liam. He’d gone rogue as well after all those DEA agents had been assassinated inMexico.

“So you got a lock on your target?” Iasked.

“I havehim.”

A chill skated up my spine. “Do we know which agency he used to workfor?”

“He wouldn’t say. I don’t care at thispoint.”

“Liam,” I cleared my throat. “Don’t do anythingirrevocable.”

He grunted. “Listen, Blaire. I need togo.”

“Liam …”

The line wentdead.

I stared at my phone, frustrated with my inability to help him. We were a good team. We survived on the run. Liam had trained me on guns, physical combat, and how to work surveillance. I was supposed to be helping him, not sitting in a luxury brownstone twiddling my thumbs, stressing about my relationship with my boyfriend. I hated that my existence had been reduced to this. My love for Grant had turned me into this helpless person surrounded by bodyguards. This wasn’tme.

* * *

“Not hungry?”

Colette’s voice broke through my riotous thoughts. After my conversation with Liam, I’d been fighting a push-pull with my conscience. On one side was everything I had with Grant including my talk with Amelia about not hurting her son, and on the other was my loyalty to Liam. Even if my friend insisted I was better off with Grant, I knew I could help him. I didn’t like how Liam sounded in our last phone call. He soundedreckless.

“I had a big lunch.” This was partly true, but I felt bad that I was pushing around the aromatic Coq au Vin that Colette had prepared. I forced myself to eat a forkful. The flavor burst in my mouth, but my stomach was so twisted in knots that it prevented the food from going downwell.

“Oh, that’s unfortunate,” the housekeeper said as she polished the countertop, the last chore she usually did before she went home. I could feel her gaze on me, so I put another piece in my mouth. “Blaire, if you need to talk to someone, I’mhere.”

I gave a shaky laugh. “Do I look thatpathetic?”

“No, not pathetic,” Colette said gently. “Lost, maybe. That day you left. The day you were supposed to meet Mr. Thorne at the airport, you have that same look right now. I’m glad you came back because Mr. Thorne wasn’t doing well without you. He was functioning, but not living, youknow?”

Shit! Colette was only making my already confused mind moreconfused.

“Don’t leave him again, Blaire. He needs you.” With a sad smile, as if she knew the war in my head, sheleft.

Not five minutes after, the door to the garage opened and Tyler walked through and he was smiling. He had a device in hishand.

“Our secure phones just arrived via courier,” he informed me. “Boss wants to talk toyou.”

A whoosh left my lungs and, with it, the slew of negative emotions that had taken root since this morning. I took the phone from Tyler and held it to myear.

“Grant?” I saidsoftly.

“God, baby, I’m so sorry for leaving the way I did this morning,” hemuttered.

“Yeah, it was kindashitty.”

“I didn’t mean to put you through that shit,” he said. “I fully expected our new phones to be ready by the time I got to New York so I could have them couriered over immediately. I had a communications expert look at the configuration and she found some vulnerabilities. She installed the fixes, so we’rekosher.”

“Grant, are you not coming backtonight?”

A deep breath exhaled from his end. “No. There’s been a snag with several real estate acquisitions in Brazil and Russia that was only brought to my attention this morning. We’re at a crucial stage of negotiations right now and I promised the board I was giving it my full attention. I should wrap up in a fewdays.”

“Okay,” I said, deeplydisappointed.

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