Page 106 of Promises in the Dark

I leaned against the doorframe, doing my best to seem engaged even though the only thing I wanted to do was slam my head against the wall.

“And did you find them?” I asked, trying to mask the eagerness in my voice.

She nodded, a grim smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Fuck yeah, we did,” she replied confidently. “Took us weeks of surveillance and intel gathering, but we finally took down their leader and dismantled the whole operation.”

I forced a smile, feeling like a fraud as I pretended to be impressed.

Come on, Raven, throw me something useful.

“Sounds like a hell of a mission,” I muttered, hoping she’d spill some useful information without even realizing it.

She laughed, a sound that grated on my nerves. “You have no idea,” she confidently said. “We were outnumbered, outgunned, but we made it work.”

Déjà fucking vu.

Hold up.

Outnumbered and outgunned—those same words had been circling my head ever since my own mission went to hell. Now here she was, spitting out the exact same thing.

Coincidence, my ass.

Something was going on. Both Raven and I had been thrown into enemy territory with the odds stacked against us, like we were disposable pawns. Someone higher up was pulling the strings, sending us out on what looked like suicide missions, and I wasn’t buying that it was just bad luck.

But who? And why?

I nodded, not quite sure what the fuck else to say. As much as I wanted to shout my suspicions from the rooftops, I knew better than to fucking jump the gun.

This shit was too important to fuck up with a knee-jerk reaction. I needed proof, solid evidence, before I could even think about confronting whoever the puppet master was pulling the strings.

“Well, glad you made it back in one piece,” I said, knowing just how close you could come to not making it back from a hellhole like Afghanistan.

“Yeah...” she let out a long breath, like she had a story she wasn’t telling. “That makes two of us.”

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, she started eyeing the space behind me, trying to get a peek into my apartment like she had any right to. I quickly sidestepped, blocking her view with my body, not about to let her snoop around where she didn’t fucking belong.

This was Red’s space.

And I wasn’t about to let anyone else invade it.

I eyed Raven warily, wondering what the hell she was really doing here. “Anyways, why did you come?” I asked, already fucking tired of this small talk.

She cleared her throat awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot as she glanced around the hallway. “I was just wondering how you’ve been,” she said, her voice wobbling like she was trying to keep this bullshit conversation going.

I shrugged, not in the mood for idle chitchat. “Busy,” I replied shortly, hoping she’d take the hint and fuck off already.

“Maybe we could catch up later?” she suggested, and her voice was way too eager for my liking.

I gave her a stiff nod, already plotting how I’d avoid that like the plague. “Sure, maybe,” I replied, already regretting the decision to open the door in the first place.

I eased the door shut behind Raven, letting it close with a soft, final click.

Fucking cockblock.

I turned back to Red, hoping maybe we could salvage whatever the hell was left of our conversation before Raven came crashing in. But I found her already dressed, ready to make a quick exit and giving me the cold shoulder treatment.

“Where’s the fire, little one?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as I watched her fuss with her hair like she was in a hurry to bolt.

She met my gaze with a tight smile, but her eyes didn’t quite meet mine. “I’ve got patients waiting, Rogue,” she announced tersely as she brushed past me. “Unlike you, I actually have responsibilities.”

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