Page 31 of Reclaiming Izabel

Castle Rock—our task force’s base.

Our analyst, Tim, was in one corner, processing data. Edmunds and Brick were sitting around a conference table. Viktor stood at the head of the table, poring over some documents and, without looking at me, said, “Glad you could join us, Maddox.”

Fuck you, Viktor. I didn’t regret my tardiness. I’d discovered something in Izabel’s office at home that had gutted me. The temptation to blow off this meeting and confront Izabel at once was strong, but I reminded myself that the sooner we closed the loop on the task force’s mission, the sooner I could return to mylife with her. My chest spasmed at the idea that I could be too late, that my wife had truly moved on.

Or she didn’t want to go back to being my wife.

I nodded at the other two men in the room, who returned my greeting with chin lifts. The grin on Brick’s face told me he was enjoying whatever anti-bromance I was having with Viktor. Finally, the man in question glanced up, studying my face. The slight narrowing of his ice-blue eyes felt like a blade scraping layers off my skin.

“You okay, Maddox?”

Why deny this shit was okay? “Feeling a bit raw.”

“Something happen with Izabel?”

I clenched my jaw and shook my head, hating the drilling stare from the other man. “No. Can we get this meeting started? Got shit to do.”

“Oh, definitely…” Viktor replied. He looked at Edmunds and Brick. “Give us five minutes.”

A look of surprise came from the other two men when Viktor headed to the back room, tipping his chin at me to follow him. Blowing out a breath, I trudged after him. Whatever Viktor had to say couldn’t bring me down any lower. Maybe he’d kick me off the team, although the look on his face was far from irritated. I would even say it was almost…pitying.

Which was worse.

When we reached the far corner, Viktor faced me. He was an inch taller than my six-three, so we were more or less eye-to-eye.

“Kept you guys waiting…sorry.” I grimaced. “I needed time to sort myself out.”

“Can you do your job?”

“What exactly is my job?” I derided. “What the hell am I working for if I’ve lost everything I want to live for?”

“Groveling not working, I take it?”

“Fuck you,” I growled. “Cut this shit and get to the point.”

“We will, but we need to sort out your ass.”

“Got a headshrinker for that.”

“Maybe Izabel needs to see Carter, too?”

Dr. Gina Carter was a good friend of Viktor’s and a retired agency shrink. Somehow, he had convinced the doctor to fly over to Germany during my recovery from back surgery. Viktor didn’t believe in wasting time and wanted me to work on my mental, as well as physical, recovery. Basically, ensuring I didn’t break down and return to Izabel before the mission was complete.

“What? Like couple’s counseling?”

“You make it sound like a bad thing.”

“Doc G would do that?”

“She’s retired,” Viktor said dryly. “Gina has nothing else to do but play golf.”

“Izabel’s having second thoughts about staying married to me.” Bile rose up my throat as I looked away from the older man and brushed the cold sweat from my upper lip.

“Give her time to adjust to you.”

“How long?” I fidgeted in place. Thinking about staying away from Izabel was making it hard to keep the panic from crawling out of my skin.

“Jesus, Maddox, I don’t fucking know.”

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