Page 15 of On the Double

“Seriously, Harper. I can’t take it! Find a husband and move out so my ears will stop bleeding.”

“That’s the plan. Maybe I’ll meet Mr. Charming tonight.”

“Prince Charming. And you’d better be wearing a chastity belt.”

“I think I might go commando.”

His face turned red and he stomped out of the house, refusing to hear any more.

5

EDU

“Go,”Cash barked, refusing to look at me.

“But—”

“You burned down my building.”

I looked at the still-smoldering mess and winced. Maybe it was the explosives IRIS had used or what was surrounding the building. Either way, that fire did not want to go out. It had been a day, but his attitude hadn’t changed a single bit toward me. Not that I expected him to forgive me overnight, but as we stood there staring at the wreckage, he acted like it had happened just minutes ago.

“Technically, only part of it. The silo is still intact.”

He slowly turned to me, his face angry and unyielding. I could probably understand his position. Sure, I had gone to drastic lengths, which he was still unaware of my reasoning, but I hadn’t meant to take things quite this far. I blamed IRIS for that. I suggested a simple explosion, but he didn’t feel that was quite the right way to go.

Bigger is better, he said.

And I agreed because I was desperate for a job. After the shit that just happened, we needed a simple job. Maybe an heiress in need of a bodyguard or a woman running from her bastard husband who only wanted her fortune. That was easy shit we could deal with. But Cashwas only interested in dealing with The Syndicate and delivering the final blow to the organization.

“What I can’t understand is why you thought it was a good idea to blow up my building.”

“Well…”

His eyes narrowed and I began to sweat. Nobody had said a word to Cash since the funeral. They didn’t want to push things with him, but someone had to say what was on everyone’s mind. If I didn’t take this chance, no one would.

“Boss, the thing is, you’re stuck in a rut.”

“Is that right?” His tone was biting. I could practically hear him telling me what a fucking idiot I was through only his eyes. It was terrifying.

“See, since Rafe’s death, you’re only focused on The Syndicate.”

“The group that was responsible for his death.”

“Exactly.”

“His death—where he was lit on fire and burned at the stake like they did five hundred years ago.”

I swallowed hard. “Well?—”

“The same torturous death they set aside for people who went against the Crown or people who were persecuted for their religious beliefs.”

When he put it that way… “Boss, all I’m saying?—”

“The very death that I had to watch,” he continued.

“And that was hard.”

“Where I had to watch my brother—mytwin—suffer an agonizing death in which I was powerless to stop or help in any way.”

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