Page 166 of Wilde and Deadly

Not yet. Not when his head was still a hurricane of thoughts, each one slamming into the next with the weight of everything that had happened.

Brody O’Connell.

The name alone soured his stomach, sent a sharp twist of regret cutting through his ribs.

He should have seen it.

Elliot prided himself on being the guy who noticed things. The cracks before they widened, the lies before they unraveled. He was the one with the instinct for deception, for danger lurking beneath the surface.

And yet, Brody had fooled him.

Not just fooled him. Broke him.

Hell, he’d considered him a brother. The kind of friend you take into your confidence, into your family.

Elliot had brought him into WSW.

That was the part that sat like a rock in his chest. Elliot had vouched for him. When they’d both left the military, when WSW was growing and Davey needed more trusted operatives, it had been Elliot who convinced his brother to bring Brody in.

Brody had been his guy.

Smart, sharp, loyal—or so Elliot had thought.

How many times had they worked side by side? Trained together. Covered each other’s six. Laughed over beers after long missions.

And all the while, Brody had been betraying them.

A Praetorian mole, embedded inside Wilde Security Worldwide.

Feeding intel to their enemies. Sabotaging operations. Putting his people in danger.

Putting Elliot’s people in danger.

And worst of all?

He’d done it with a smile.

Elliot clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stare at the tablet in front of him, files scrolling past in a blur. Daphne had decrypted everything. The extent of Brody’s treachery was all laid out in black and white, cold and damning.

And now Brody was gone.

Dead.

At least, that’s what they were telling themselves.

It should have made him feel better. More in control.

It didn’t.

No body, no confirmation.

Which meant Elliot couldn’t shake the feeling that Brody wasn’t finished with them yet.

The sharp buzz of his phone cut through the silence. Elliot blinked, dragging himself back to the present as he glanced at the screen.

Rue Bristow.

He hesitated—just for a second.

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