Page 24 of Saved By the SEAL

“Butwhile I’m doing that, I need you to do your job. Do you understand what I’m saying here? I need you to be back with Michelle, watching her.” He checks his watch. “I don’t think she’ll be at the office anymore. You might have missed her there. Hopefully, she’ll think that you’ve just forgotten, which is why she hasn’t been in touch…” He shoots me a warning look, trying to make me feel bad about things that I definitely won’t feel bad about. Michelle is the one in the wrong here. “So, you need to get back to the apartment and make up some excuse for where you’ve been. You need toactlike nothing is wrong while I do my research. If Michelle is who you say she is, then we can’t let her be suspicious for the time being.”

I hate that idea. I really don’t want to be around the woman who tricked me and made me fall for her any longer. Plus, Kate warned me not to. But I suppose Kate isn’t my boss and Max is. I have to listen to him and follow his rules.

“So, I’m just supposed to act like everything is fine? What if she already suspects and freaks out?”

“Jordan, you are on this job because you are level-headed and smart,” he warns me. “Because you have good instincts and I believe in you. Iknowthat you’ll make this work one way or another. You can do this. I need you to buy me time.”

“Yeah, okay,” I relent. I know that I don’t have any choice but to just go along with it, so that’s what I do. “I’ll go and play nice with Michelle now, pretend that the encounter with Kate didn’t happen and just… wait for you. It’ll be fine.”

But in reality, how am I going to act like everything is fine? What if she wants to kiss me? I won’t be able to fall for her shtick now, knowing that she’s married to some other man. Some powerful Russian man who could have me killed in a heartbeat, probably.I mean, if he wanted me dead, that is. I don’t know what’s going on with Michelle’s marriage. I suppose if she’s a seductive spy, then he knows she must be hooking up with other people. It can’t be that much of an issue…

Oh, God. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to imagine her in the middle of her marriage with another man. It’s overwhelming and makes me feel ill. It’s already going to be challenging enough for me to act okay in front of Michelle.

“I’m going now.” I grab my car keys and nod toward Max. “I’ll make you proud, Max. I’m sorry for acting out on my own accord. I just… well, Kate rattled me, that’s all. But I’m going to be smarter from here on out.”

Max gives me a warning look, but a grateful one too, and he sends me on my way, leaving me with very little choice but to make my way over to Michelle’s apartment. I do take a detour over to the office building first, just to be certain that no one is there, and just as I suspected, the building is dark and very empty. Somehow, Michelle got herself home. I wonder why she hasn’t called me. That’s pretty weird. She must be wondering why I didn’t turn up. Although she did seem to be making friends today, so maybe she got a ride home with one of them, or perhaps she went for some after work drinks.

“Damn it,” I mutter angrily to myself. I slam my hand hard on the steering wheel until it hurts. I feel like I’ve fucked up massively, in every single way. I’ve messed up for everyone. I’ve disappointed Max, and Michelle too. I shouldn’t care about Michelle anymore since she’s betrayed me badly. Since she’s done nothing but lie to me. But I can’t contain my emotions. I can’t seem to stop myself from losing my mind about her anyway. “Fucking hell, Jordan, you are going to end up in trouble here.”

I eventually gather myself up to drive all the way to Michelle’s apartment. I suppose I do need to come here anyway to gather up my things. If I’m eventually going to leave this job, then I need to have everything with me. All the stuff that I’ve half left in my case and scattered over the floor too will have to be taken back home and far away from that place. I won’t ever be able to return once this is done. I suppose I’ll be sent off on some other protection job soon enough, and I’ll have to forget it all.

But will I everreallybe able to forget Michelle? Right now, it feels like definitely not. It feels like she’ll consume me like this forever. My brain will ache, my heart will hurt, and I’ll be in this pain for the rest of my existence.

“Here we are,” I whisper in an attempt to gear myself up as I park my car in the spot which I’ve been comfortable in for a while now but today makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable, like I don’t belong. “Time to face everything.”

I force myself inside the building, and as I take the stairs two at a time, I try to think of ways to question Michelle, to find out if Kate’s accusations are the truth without making her suspicious. I can’t let Max down any more than I already have. I need to give him this time to do his own investigations without things erupting into panic and chaos. It’s up to me to keep things calm.

“Michelle?” I push the door open with my heart in my mouth. I don’t know what to expect, but it isn’t darkness. “Michelle, are you here? Sorry, I know I wasn’t there when you finished work like I promised. I came up against some work stuff…”

I’ve no excuse, really, and I can’t think of one, but I’ll have to try and make it work somehow. But as I pad quietly through the house, not wanting to disturb too much, and I get only silence back, I realize that nothing matters because no one is here.

“Michelle?” I don’t want to accept that she isn’t here just yet. I want to check first. “Michelle, are you here?”

Each room is emptier than the last, which makes everything inside me sink. I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to seeing her because I have no idea how to deal with things, but it’s worse knowing she isn’t here. I don’t know where she is. I’ve lost all control of the situation, and I don’t know how to claw it back. I don’t really stand a chance.

What was that?Even deep in thought, my instincts go on high alert as soon as I hear the slightest, smallest sound. My heart stops beating and I cling to my next breath. I need to hear with every inch of myself to work out what it is.Footsteps.

I don’t know exactly which way the sound is coming from, so I strain more to listen in, but I get nothing. At least, I get nothing until I see a shadowy figure appearing in the door frame. A figure which I immediately want to identify.

“Michelle, is that you?” I ask, trying to blow over the shakiness in my voice. “Let’s turn the light on.”

I take one step closer, tentatively in case everything is about to explode, but I don’t get far. A cocking sound gets me. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. I recognize the sound, but I don’t understand why it’s happening. Why would Michelle do this?

“Michelle? Just calm down. This doesn’t need to happen.” I hold up my hands in a surrendering gesture. “Let’s talk.”

Bang!

The sound strikes me hard. It ricochets off every wall, making my eardrums shatter. But that isn’t the worst pain that I feel. That was a gunshot and it hit me. I know that for sure, whichis why my body is sliding downward, giving up. It’s why a blackness is coming for me. I try to fight it off, I attempt to battle it because as soon as the blackness takes it, that will be it for me. That will be the end. I know how this shit works.

“Michelle,” I whisper as the world pinholes. She might be the person who killed me, but she’s also the last person in my mind. “Michelle…”

20

MICHELLE

Ihate this. Ihatethis. These fucking items of clothing are too disgusting for words. I might as well have nothing on at all. But Alexander has insisted, and there isn’t a damn thing that I can do to stop this. It’s gotten out of hand already. I’m in a fucking lacy bra, which shows far too much nipple for my liking, and a miniskirt and heels so high I can barely walk in them, but Alexander has insisted upon them to keep me looking ‘my best’. Asshole, he just wants to torture me, to make this worse than it already needs to be.

“Here we are.” Alexander stops his flashy car outside a very posh-looking bar, the sort of place where only the wealthy who want to show off their riches will frequent. “Time for you to get this show on the road. Are you ready?”

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