Page 47 of Escape You

Mia and Vic exchanged a knowing glance. “That asshole. That’s how he knew we had Rossi’s files. Tyler told them.” She glared at me. In her world, a snitch was less than dirt.

“I didn’t.” Out of habit, I lowered my voice and half mouthed my words. “They have his office bugged.”

“We’re fucked.” Mia paced the length of the room. “They bugged my room too.”

I rubbed the back of my head. This wasn’t the time for lies. “No, that was me.”

“You’re quite the little spy, aren’t you?” Her tone was dry. Oddly enough, that was good news. She was annoyed but not angry, and more importantly, not leaving. Her feelings were hurt, but her family came first. Now that she’d had time to mull over this new information, she knew I wasn’t the monster here. “How much do they know?”

I chuckled. “Confirmed names. No actual dealings. You got to Rossi’s computer before they could. I tried to improvise and do a little hacking job myself, but I didn’t make it.”

“That was you.” She met my gaze, and a tiny smile pulled at her lips. “I had to clean up your mess.”

“Thank you. Though you did that for yourself.”

“I did.”

Vic ambled to the door with his hands in his pockets. He’d been doing this spy thing way longer than me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“How was it that the FBI was able to get you in place so soon? That kind of stuff takes years to set up.” He regarded me, but his mind was somewhere else. “They had an agent on Chase?”

“They did. The agent was there when Chase overdosed. They were able to contain the scene.”

“Those sons of bitches.” His hand rested on his holstered gun. “Chase wasn’t a user. That kid had a head on his shoulders, much like his dad. My first clue was that they wanted nothing to do with Rossi.”

A line creased across Mia’s forehead. Her expression wasn’t that much different from Vic’s. “What are the odds you think? The dad dies, the son dies, the mom wants money. I’m willing to bet that the FBI manipulated that entire situation. I’ve seen them destroy families before.”

Clifton tottered around the gray line of what the FBI allowed and didn’t allow, but I never would’ve pegged him as someone who would trample over a family to get his guy. “The FBI doesn’t work that way.”

“You must be new.” Mia glared at me. “You better tell us everything you told them about me.”

“They know about our relationship and that the baby is mine.”

“We don’t have a relationship.”

“You’re my wife.”

“I’m a widow.” She raised her voice, eyes wet with tears. “Thanks to your people.” She pressed her hands to her forehead. Her gaze shifted from me to Vic. No doubt she had a million conspiracy theories going through her mind.

For my part, my mind was about to implode. The FBI, and the ATF for that matter, couldn’t be that callous. Could they? “If the FBI did something illegal to get me here, they will have to answer for it. You have my word.”

“Don’t think for a second, Tyler, that your friends won’t use you and our baby to get what they want. If I go down with the rest of them for being here, so much the better for them, I’m sure.”

“You two need to hash this out. Call me when you’re ready to make a move,” Vic said.

“We can work this out, Mia. You and me. I still want that.” I sounded like an idiot because Mia and I lived in two completely different worlds. She was the prey, and I was the hunter. If I didn’t do my job, many would suffer. But if she gave into me, where would we be?

“Talk it over. Mia, he’s the enemy of our enemy.” Vic shut the door.

I rushed to it and locked it. “Is he always this somber?”

“It grows on you after a while.” She wasn’t slapping me or running away. We were making progress.

“Can I have those five minutes now?”

“Talk fast.”

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