Page 147 of Through the Water

I studied the vein throbbing in his neck before asking the obvious. “You’re not really a security guard, are you?”

Dean looked at me like I’d suddenly sprouted a second head before sighing, “If you’d just been patient and trusted me—”

“Kinda hard to do when you won’t tell me who you really are, though, don’t you think?” As Killian would have said, I had zero fucks left to give.

“Since my cover’s about to be blown to hell—”

“How? I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

“Once upon a time, I was an officer in the Army and saw a lot of things I wish I could forget. For the last two years, I’ve watched you walk the grounds with that same haunted look in your eyes that I used to see in the mirror every day.”

We passed another darkened classroom, the window decorated in the Bible verses they were memorizing. I had a feeling it was going to be the last time I saw these halls.

Dean stopped and placed a hand on my shoulder before gruffly admitting, “I know you won’t tell anyone because that’s the kind of person you are. But you should know I’m not letting you go back to that hell.”

“Right,” I murmured as we reached an exit that led to the playground, nodding as if his words made all the sense in the world. No one defied Tristan. At least, no one who lived to tell about it afterward.

“I’m serious.”

I’d just opened my mouth when the door in front of us burst open, hitting the exterior of the building with a resounding clang.

Dean positioned himself in front of me, only to lower his weapon with a harsh exhale.

“You’re late,” a female voice stated casually.

“Yeah?” he chuckled. “Maybe you’re early.”

“We’ve got a problem—”

I peeked through the small opening between Dean’s arm and torso. “Tsega?”

“Hey, Ari,” she said, sounding eerily calm for someone who’d lost her entire career.

“I’m so sorry,” I blurted, shoving Dean aside to throw my arms around her neck. “You lost your job all because of me—because of my stupidity. If I could fix it for you, I would.”

We pulled apart to find Dean scratching at his temple with a smirk. “Ari, this is Agent Simons. She was working undercover to keep you safe at True North.”

“Oh, you didn’t really lose your job then, I guess. Whew!” I swiped a hand across my brow with a forced laugh, feeling my face heat in embarrassment. It took a few seconds more for it to register, and then my eyes went wide. “Wait, you work for the FBI? Are you Dean’s boss?”

Tsega cocked her head to the side and squinted up at him with a piercing gaze. “Oh, I absolutely am. Come on, we can talk more in the car. There’s been a… development.”

With that, she spun on her heel and marched over to a black SUV with tinted windows parked nearby.

“I can’t believe she’s your boss,” I breathed, as I followed behind Dean. “How lucky are you? So, that must mean you work for the FBI too.”

He grumbled something under his breath before opening the back-passenger door for me. “Just get in, Ariana.”

“Does she still have it?”

I instinctively took a step back, my legs threatening to buckle beneath me. Dean tried forcing me forward, but I tightened my grip on his suit jacket, suddenly seeing past the blonde wig and tortoiseshell glasses, and into the eyes of a ghost.

“No,” I whispered, my pulse hammering in my throat. “It’s impossible.”

Dean muttered a string of curse words. “Does anybody in this family listen to me? I told you to stay away from here, Ashlynn.”

“I told you we had an issue,” Tsega noted wryly from the front. “Get in, before we draw an audience.”

He deftly maneuvered me into the backseat, before taking the front passenger seat for himself. An uncomfortable silence fell over the vehicle as Tsega pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway. I tried to come to terms with the fact that my sister had not been killed in a traffic accident.

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