Page 178 of Rush of Jealousy

“You’re being downright reckless. You are diving headfirst into a situation that is dangerous and trying to uncover the mystery, but with little knowledge of how bad this could get if you get caught.”

“Are you using these trackers on girls at the agency? On me?” I glance down at my body as paranoia rushes over me. “Where’s it at?” I ask, pulling at my clothes and running my hand all over the fabric. “Am I wearing something now? You said you put them on bodies. Where is mine?”

Graham sits up and slides to the floor to join me. “Calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down? That is what you have to say? Calm down? That is like the worst thing to say to a woman, Graham!”

“I see that now,” he sighs. “You’re not wearing one.”

“But I did? At some point, right?”

He nods slowly, hesitant to set me off.

“Shit, Graham. Really? Is the FBI telling you to put them on me?”

He shakes his head no. “But I had to keep you safe. And I couldn’t trust you to stay away from Tanner.”

“How does Mark even fit in?” I remember what he told me in the hotel room, but I really want to know more details. Something isn’t adding up.

“Mark used to use Penny as an escort when she worked in the previous company.”

“This is like a soap opera.”

“And it gets worse.”

“I don’t know how much worse this could get,” I breathe out.

“He was the owner of said company.”

“Do you think he is at fault for what happened to Penny?”

“How could he not be—even if just partially? The way he flaunts her name to me every chance he gets may suggest that.”

“On our first date, when you picked me up instead of Nic”—I cringe over the name change, still scolding myself for not seeing it sooner—“I remember Mark mentioning Penny to you. That was the first time I heard her name. But I had no idea who she was.”

“I tried to convince you that night that there were more suitable jobs. I tried to stay away from you afterwards. I swear I did. I tried everything I could to get you to either quit the agency or to exclusively date me. And it was all because I was desperate to protect you the only way I knew how. I tried to lock you into only dating me and then tried to hack your account to force you to reject Tanner. But you would still find a way to meet up with him. I even resorted to blackmail. Nothing seemed to work. You just kept pursuing him—relentlessly.”

“Well, now you know my motive behind why I couldn’t stop. Mark is hiding something. He has connections with other men, and I think he is just a puppet to someone making all the orders.”

“If he’s responsible for the drug overdoses that killed three of his previous employees, he could go to prison for a very long time. His shady underground club got Penny in trouble. And who knows if she will ever be the same girl I grew up with. And now my own agency’s girls are moving down that path. Whoever is doing the drugging is getting more aggressive with it. And it terrifies me. Nic is working at finding the connections, but he is limited in what he can do.”

“This explains why you hate Mark. But why does he hate you so much?”

“Because before you, I had nothing to lose. And every time he had a business venture, I would outbid him or sabotage him.”

“And now?”

His intense stare at me causes goose bumps to form on my arms. “I have everything to lose now,” he snarls. “And Tanner knows it.”

“Tell me more about the tracking devices. Where are you hiding them?”

“Having two very creative parents helped to drive me toward doing something hands-on. So I created HH and used it to house a jewelry company. But in one of the divisions that is extremely private—hence all the security features I have in place—we analyze and test body trackers. And having Jealousy established helped me to be able to place the trackers undetected in jewelry. I was able to make them small enough to fit on the identity bracelets that are given to girls at Entice.”

I think to all the times I’ve been out with Mark that I haven’t been wearing my bracelet. “I don’t wear mine all the time.”

“I know.” His words come out as a growl. “And you not wearing one when you were coerced into going to the Maylord almost caused me to lose my mind.”

“I wasn’t on an agency date,” I say in defense, realizing after the fact that Graham is getting angrier.

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