Page 16 of Protected Hearts

She nodded. “My ex…William. The one who took me out of my apartment. He’s been working with a group.”

“If you have dirt on him, what made you run? Was he threatening you?”

She nodded. “He told me that he knew I had files.”

“How did he know?”

She gave him a long look. “He’s in tech. He’s brilliant at it. He could see they existed.”

Oaks narrowed his eyes. “But he couldn’t access them.”

She dipped her head in another nod. “That’s right.”

“This group you mentioned he works with. Is it Russian mafia?” Carson’s angular jaw ticked in the crease with tension.

She shrugged. “I only know crypto changed hands for a terrorist attack.”

“You only know? That’s a fucking lot to know, Shiloh. Where is it supposed to take place?” Oaks’s deep voice was sharp.

“I don’t know where the next attack is planned.” That was true enough. She hadn’t been with William in six months, and she was so far out of the loop she might as well be on one of the rings of Saturn.

A crease appeared between Oaks’s brows. “Back up. So the CIA knows about this group, and you were delivering the information to a handler.”

“Yes, only she never came, so I went back to the place I was staying at to devise a new plan. I was in the middle of tracking down who was the next link in the chain, but I only got as far as speaking to the receptionist at the United Nations.”

Oaks’s eyes narrowed on her. “Can you prove any of this?”

After all that she’d been through, all the emotions she had stuffed down, she couldn’t stop herself from exploding.

“What reason do I have to lie about it? Isn’t it obvious that I’m not involved with those people back in that house?” Her voice rose with every word.

Oaks erupted too. “How do we know you’re telling us the truth? Oh yeah, we can’t!”

Carson spread his hands. “Everyone calm down.”

Shiloh whipped her head to gape at the man. “Did you just tell me to calm down? I was forced to marry—not the Russian, but the Russian-speaking guy! Andhe’saccusingmeof not being straight with him?”

The woman who’d been so kind to her on the plane brushed her hair behind her shoulder. “I don’t blame you for having trustissues. I trusted Carson to get my shoes to Wyoming and now look what happened.”

Shiloh leveled her stare on the woman. “I’m running for my life. We are not the same.”

Her spine straightened to a pose that Shiloh could only call queenly. “I was only trying to lighten the mood. I apologize if that sounded like I was making light of your situation, but I amveryempathetic to your struggle. I’m just trying to help you, Shiloh. We’re practically sisters-in-law.”

Shiloh shook her head hard. “That wasn’t a real wedding. This isn’t a real marriage.”

“As far as you’re concerned, it is. It’s the only thing keeping you safe right now.” Oaks made a sharp move, and for a horrifying moment, she thought he would try to grab her hand. Then he pulled it back, long fingers stretched on the table that was made out of a slab of marble.

He turned his head toward his brother—Carson, the girlfriend called him. Carson and Oaks Malone. Two more pieces to the puzzle slipped into place. Eventually Shiloh would see the complete picture and have a solid plan to get out of here. When she had full access to a computer, she would spend it digging into this marriage to see if it was valid or how easy it would be to undo it.

Until then, she’d leave the issue of their marriage alone.

* * * * *

Oaks watched the anger flare in Shiloh’s eyes, deepening the color that seemed to keep changing on him. In the white gown, they were pale blue. In the black top, they appeared blue-gray, like a glint on steel.

Time to defuse the situation.

“You want to go pet a horse?” His sudden suggestion had everyone going silent and still.

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