Page 106 of No More Spies

Kala got to the bottom of the stairs and realized she wasn’talone. Her stomach dropped. Eve McKay stood there, tears shining in her eyesand one hand to her heart.

Fuck. It might not be a good day. Not if Eve was here totell her to stay away from Cooper. She wasn’t sure what the hard way was, butshe had to deal with the situation at hand. “I’ll have to kill you later. Bye.”She hung up and straightened her shoulders. She’d told herself she didn’t haveto fight so much, didn’t have to be defensive. But this was one fight shecouldn’t back down from. “Hello, Eve.”

She was wearing her normal outfit. Eve was always stylish,with elegant lines. Where her mom wore a lot of trendy clothes, Eve stuck tothe classics. Tailored slacks and a silk blouse with a Chanel necklace thatKala would absolutely use as a weapon if she had one. Those suckers were wellmade. Eve had blonde hair that reached her shoulders. The only thing thatmarred her perfect looks was the angry expression on her face. “Who were youtalking to?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She wasn’t sure why Eve would want toknow about Lena. How much had she heard? Was she pissed she’d just found outabout the possible depression? Maybe she thought she hadn’t treated hertherapist the way she should. She kind of felt like she was fifteen again andthis woman thought she was going to wreck her perfect son’s life.

“It matters. Was it the Agency woman?”

She needed to not get mad. Calm. She had to prove to Evethat she was working on her anger issues. “I’m not going to hurt her.” A lie,but a necessary one. Lena’s murder would happen off the books and only aftershe figured out why the woman had been placed there. “It was a joke. Look, thisis Agency business. I think we should probably talk about why you’re here. Ican go wake up Cooper, if you like.”

Eve ignored her. “She’s had you in sessions for weeks, Kala.I want to know what she said to you.”

“I thought that was supposed to be secret.” It was kind ofwhat they preached. What happened in therapy stayed in therapy. Though if Lenawas working for someone bad, she probably didn’t follow the rules.

“I heard what that bitch said. I want to know what she’sbeen filling your head with, baby girl.” Eve’s voice cracked, and Kala realizedthe angry expression might not be directed at her. Eve walked right up to her,heels clicking on the stained-concrete floors. She got into Kala’s space andcautiously brought her hands up, giving Kala plenty of time to step back if shewanted to. “You are not poison. There is nothing wrong with you. You are smartand bold and strong. You are resilient. You hold people accountable when theyneed it and you forgive when they deserve it, and I am so grateful you forgavemy son.”

Damn, she thought she’d cried it all out, but the world wentwatery again. “I think she’s working for someone who wants to break up theteam. Or maybe Huisman, though it feels more personal and Huisman doesn’t haveany ties to her. So if it was Huisman, she was probably doing it for the moneyand wouldn’t have folded so fast. It sounded like she hates me. I’ve pissed offa lot of people at the Agency.”

“So you didn’t listen to her? You know the things she saidwere manipulative and wrong?”

Kala hesitated. “She sounded reasonable at the time. Shedidn’t say the things she said on the phone just now. She told me how muchbetter off I would be on my own.”

Eve’s head shook. “She is not supposed to have an opinion.She is supposed to ask questions so you figure out what your motivations are.She is supposed to lead you down a path, not make one up and put you on it.”

“She said I was kind of evil.” A rush of shame flowed overher even thinking about it. “Not in those words, but in a way that almost madeit seem good to be evil. At least for my job. It’s not the first time I’veheard it.”

“You are not evil,” Eve said, her voice shaky. “You are goodat your job. Every bit as good as your father. There are some people who havedifferent impulses. You’re a protector.”

“I can be a killer.” It was pure truth. She’d killed morethan once and hadn’t missed a wink of sleep over it.

Eve stepped back, frowning her way. “Name me one, Kala. Oneperson who you killed who wasn’t trying to kill you or someone else. One personwho wasn’t in the line of duty.”

“Seth says I kill his soul sometimes.” She was going to dosomething terrible to her brother who had betrayed her in the worst way. Andshe was also going to hug him because he was an asshole who deeply cared abouther.

Eve chuckled but sobered quickly. “You are not what thatwoman said. I didn’t like her from the beginning, and neither did your mother.Which I suspect is why you didn’t tell her how deep in you were getting withher.”

Kala shook her head. She was going to be honest withCooper’s mom and then maybe see how she handled that particular truth. “It wasmore than that. I was seriously considering leaving the team, and Lena wasgoing to help me do it.”

Eve paled. “Ian’s going to kill her. Where are we going toput her? We’re all full.”

Yep, the family tradition. “I thought it would be a good wayto gradually break the bonds between me and Cooper so he could find someonemore suitable. Someone who wouldn’t drag him down with her.”

She went even paler, and her eyes closed. When they openedagain there was naked pain in her brown orbs. “I always wondered if he toldyou. We were good and then you would barely look at me and your mom said it wasbecause of what happened during the kidnapping and the fact that Cooper brokeyour heart. But I knew different because you were fine around Alex. It was meyou didn’t want to be around.”

“It’s okay. I got over it.” It was easy now to forgive Eve.

“No, you didn’t,” Eve insisted, “and you also didn’tunderstand what I meant. I never thought you weren’t good enough for Cooper. Iworried he couldn’t be enough for you. I worried he would do exactly what hedid because at the time it was important to be popular and have the world seehim as this perfect son. I know it’s a common feeling among adopted childrenand it doesn’t necessarily reflect on the parents, but it’s hard to not wonderwhat we did wrong. What we did to make him think we loved him less.”

“He knows now,” Kala reassured her. “The question is how doyou feel about me being with Cooper now?”

“He’s a man,” Eve replied with surety. “It’s completelydifferent now. He’s not an insecure boy, but you have to know that he won’talways do the right thing. He’s human and he’ll screw up sometimes, and hemight not always know how to fix things.”

“Oh, he has his ways.” She let a smile cross her face andthen frowned. “Unfortunately, my dad caught the end of that show.”

Eve laughed. “Good. Then maybe I can talk him into beingeasier on Coop. You’re his baby. No man is ever going to be good enough foryou, but I think Cooper is, and I know you’re good for him. But what Lena did,sweetheart, that wasn’t therapy.”

“No, it was apparently some form of black op,” Kalagrumbled, but she understood Eve’s point. “I know. I’m actually a little hurtby it. I thought it was doing me some good.”

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