Page 95 of Savage Beauty

“Everything I told you was the truth. I was never supposed to be based here for long. My wife wouldn’t move, so I agreed to come out and get things going, but the plan was always for me to transition back home.”

“You’re married?”

He gestures with the end of his gun, waving it between me and the house. “Let’s go inside, shall we?”

“You never told me you were married.”

“Technically, we were separated. You never seemed to care if I was married or not.”

“I would have cared about that. I don’t cheat.”

“And neither did I. Sloane, I promise you, I care about you. If I didn’t…” He closes his eyes and shakes his head while his lips move like he’s having a conversation with himself.

“You’re married.” I trusted him.

“We worked things out when I returned home.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. His eyes are closed like he’s in pain. I’m the one who should be in pain. He never mentioned a wife to me.

He opens his eyes and uses the gun like it’s a pointer in a presentation. “Get inside, Sloane.”

There’s no advantage to being indoors.

Keep him talking.Sam’s voice comes to me.

“You once told me you don’t like guns. Was that a lie?”

“No. I can’t stand them.”

Which means he probably hasn’t practiced often. Most people who own guns have horrible aim.

I take a step back, closer to the path along the side of the villa. I can run along the beach. Dive into the water.

“Sloane, I did everything I could to save you.” I take a step back. “There’s no point in trying to run away. There’s no escaping.”

“What do you mean, you tried to save me?” Another step back.

“When they told me to handle the situation, I instructed them to keep you alive.”

“Was I the situation?”

“Unfortunately. But I never agreed to kill anyone. We were bending some rules. That’s all I agreed to.”

“But this has been going on for years. It’s…how long have you been working for them?”

“I didn’t get involved until I moved. I swear. I took over for someone else. It was a good opportunity. That’s all.”

“You saw the report I was working on, didn’t you? You saw my notations that I wanted to submit it for peer review.”

“Sloane. You made notations of your plans to submit your findings to peer review on six different communal databases.”

“And someone saw that?”

“I told them I could sell you on it. But they saw you as a risk. I should have just walked away. Let it happen. But I couldn’t live with myself.”

“You mean, if they killed me?”

“I’m not a killer. No one was ever supposed to get hurt. I volunteered to step up and take care of the situation, only so I could keep you safe. My plan had been to move you to Thailand. But I underestimated your connections. You never mentioned anyone other than your sister.”

“They sent me to Cambodia.”

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