Page 107 of No More Spies

“The talking part did you good, and she used it against you.Now we find someone who won’t. Someone who will guide you in figuring out howto handle some of your more delicate emotions.” Eve stopped for a moment asthough trying to figure out how to move forward. “Were you serious aboutgetting screened for depression?”

So she’d heard pretty much everything. Kala nodded. “Yes. Ithink we both know how that’s going to go. My brain is all fucked up. I owe itto all the people I love to figure out if I can make it better.”

Eve’s head shook, and tears pooled in her eyes. “No. Yourbrain is perfect. It just needs some help so you can be happier. And you needto do it because you owe it to yourself. That’s what therapy is about. You areworth the work, Kala Taggart. I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

So many emotions. She hugged the woman who was going to beher mother-in-law. That was one thing she didn’t know. She should wait, but itwas an impulse to tell her. “Cooper wants to get married next week.”

She wanted to see if Eve would stiffen and change her mindif she knew they were serious. Eve stepped back, a big smile on her face. “I’mso happy. But, sweetie, your mother is never going to allow you to get marriedat a courthouse. I’m sure that’s what he offered. Absolutely not. We’ll putsomething together. I don’t suppose we could have two weeks.”

Nope. Her future MIL hadn’t hesitated. “I’ll talk to him.”

The truth of the matter was she wanted her family there. Shedidn’t want to wait too long, though, and she definitely wouldn’t be having afull-on church wedding with twelve million flowers like Carys and Aidan triedto have. Though the exploding helicopter had been cool.

“Kala,” a familiar voice said. “I’m so sorry.”

Devi. Kala turned and there was her cousin. With Lena.Who—fuck it all—had a gun pointed to the back of Devi’s head. Eve gasped andtried to move in front of Kala.

Yeah, it was a theme with the McKay family, and she wasgoing to stop questioning if they loved her. She was sure if Alex had beenhere, he would be offering himself up, too. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t help.She was the target, and she had to find a way to get out of this situation witheveryone alive.

Well, at least now she knew what Lena had meant by doing itthe hard way. Kala held her hands up and cursed the fact that she’d thought shewould be safe in the club, so she hadn’t walked around with her SIG. Rookiemove. “Let Devi go and we can talk.” That was when she noticed Lena had twofriends with her. Big guys, and they hadn’t made the same mistake she had. Theywere strapped and looked like they knew how to use them. She was sure theywould have been waiting for her wherever Lena planned on taking her. “So weweren’t going to DC?”

Lena had lost her super-professional look. The woman knewhow to hide her crazy eyes. Kala would give her that. “It was the originalplan, but earlier today my boss decided to change things up. I called theseguys in because we’re getting on a private jet. The doctor would like to seeyou.”

Fuck. She was working for Huisman. Well, they’d known he’dbeen planning things for years and years. Was it so surprising he had a coupleof long-term plants? “I’ll go with you if you let Devi and Eve go.”

“No, you won’t,” Eve said stubbornly.

“Dr. McKay, put the phone down,” Lena warned. “I see yourhand in your pocket. Toss it my way.”

Kala heard thethunkof a phone hitting the hardfloor. She prayed Eve had managed to get a call out and someone was listeningin. She forced her panic down. It was there because losing his mother woulddevastate Cooper. And Devi… She couldn’t stand the thought of losing hercousin. A thought hit her. How bad was it already? “Is Landon dead?”

Landon Vail, son of Eric and Deena Vail. Eric had been thehead chef at Top Fort Worth for over a decade, and his wife Deena ran publicityand marketing for her Uncle Sean’s restaurant group. They would… She couldn’teven comprehend what they were going to go through if their only son was dead.

How bad would this get?

“Who the fuck is that?” Lena asked.

Kala felt her eyes narrow. “He’s supposed to be herbodyguard, so now I have to figure out which of them I’m killing.”

“I ditched him,” Devi admitted. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Ididn’t think it was this serious. Why is this happening?”

Lena might not know who she had. Devi had been convenient.Shit. Had she given up important intel? She hadn’t called hercousin.Did Lena know the connection between Devi and Zach? “It’s not anything thatinvolves you. She needed a body to hide behind, and you came along at the wrongtime.”

“Yeah, I’ve been here before. Hoped I wouldn’t again. Thissucks, and it keeps happening,” Devi complained. “It makes a girl think.”

Lena’s hold tightened. “Devon Taggart?”

Yep, she’d fucked that up. She was going to give Cooper apass on his overly emotional reaction to thinking she was dead because here shewas screwing up because she cared about the people around her.

“Oh, I think I can bring my boss a bonus. Maybe then he’lllet me kill you myself for what your father did to mine,” Lena said with asnarl. “I was pissed because this ruins everything I’ve worked for. I wasalmost close enough to kill your parents, but the truth is I’m afraid ofHuisman. But when I present him with the perfect way to force Zach Reed to turnhimself in, maybe he’ll let me have you. He’s obsessed with you, you see. Hewants to experiment on you again. He dreams of your screams at night.”

“Fun guy,” she quipped, though her adrenaline was alreadyup. She kind of wished Coop was. Up, that was. Shouldn’t he have, like, feltthe danger or something? Shouldn’t all that great sex have given them a psychicconnection? Romance novels had not properly prepared her. “Who the hell areyou?”

She didn’t have to ask what her parents had done. Probablykilled someone. It didn’t matter.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Kala shook her head. “Yes, that’s why I asked.”

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