Page 43 of Covert Temptation

Where did they send people who made false statements to the government? Prison? Surely it wouldn’t be maximum security?

Dante watched her from across the room. The heavy weight of his stare made her feel trapped, pinned to a board like a bug.

Hopelessness washed over her. After all that happened with Alyssa and the security leaks, she was quite familiar with the feeling. She had no way of proving her innocence then or now.

And in all the weeks spent in the apartment, hopelessness had worn her down until she felt like a dry husk of her formerself. She was so tired of trying to prove she didn’t have a hand in hurting anybody, and it felt like she was climbing a mountain without a rope.

A small noise like a guttural whimper sounded in the room, and she realized with a start that it came from her.

Dante stood up and crossed the room, stopping a few feet in front of her.

Whatever he asked her, she would tell him the truth. Not the truth she’d been living for years, but therealtruth.

“Diana Prince is a name you use on the internet.”

She nodded, agreeing to his statement. She’d adopted the alter ego to spy on her family from a distance without getting ensnared in their drama. The minute they found her, or knew she was watching, they would try to drag her back into their messy lives, something she worked hard to outrun.

She also used the name to follow travel vloggers and even to create mood boards of luxury trips and beautiful things she hoped to someday have for herself.

That was another thing the SEALs kept drilling her about—how she paid for her nice things. She told them over and over that she made smart investments, saved up for her pricey possessions. After all, with most of her living expenses covered by her job, she had more disposable income than most people.

Dante’s dark gaze drilled into her, making perspiration break out on her brow. “When did you start using that name?”

“Years ago,” she said honestly. “Before I took the position with Alyssa.”

“You accessed my laptop.”

She bit down on her bottom lip and gave him a slight nod.

“You checked social media.”

“Yes, but I didn’t post at all. I haven’t been in touch with anybody but Alyssa, and that was only one email I sent weeksago with a photo I snapped of her at a ball we attended before everything. I…I hoped she might have seen it and replied.” She scrubbed a hand over her face, chasing back the tears that threatened on the edge of her voice. “I hate that she thinks badly of me. I hate that this has torn apart our friendship. She was my only family—my best friend. I lost everything when all this happened.”

He pushed a long breath through his nose and moved to the sofa beside her. He didn’t touch her, which was good because if he did, she might shatter.

She twisted her fingers in her lap. “I’m sorry I accessed your laptop without asking you first. How much did you see?”

“All of it.”

She wanted to sink into the furniture at the thought of Dante seeing her parents’ social media. But she only had herself to blame.

“It was stupid of me to look at my parents’ profiles. I don’t know why I even did it. Maybe because…without Alyssa I only have them, however dysfunctional they are.”

Dante searched her face, his stare burning with a new intensity. It made her squirm. It made her stomach roll.

It made her want to slip into his lap and be held.

“Kennedy, the things you’ve done over the past two days haven’t instilled trust in you. You ran from the safe house, and I had to hop a helicopter to chase you down. Now I can’t even take a shower without worrying what you’re going to do next.”

She had to backtrack with him. But how?

She racked her brain and finally lit on an idea.

Growing up, the only way to keep her rioting parents on an even keel was with some comic relief.

“Shh.”

“Shh what?” He narrowed his eyes as if she were trying to trick him.

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