Page 18 of Undefeated Love
“Absolutely not.” Alex twirled the ring around his finger. He wondered if the engraved words underneath were still true. Would she love him forever or would this publicity trick defeat their love? “We are not engaged. We are not getting married. I waited way too long to make Katlin a permanent part of my life. I’m not going to let your little stunt tonight fuck that up for me.”
JJ giggled, sounding drunk again. She nodded toward the phone in his hand. “I’m not so sure that you’re engaged to Katlin anymore. If you are, wonderful. She’s a better woman than I would be. If she truly loves you, she’ll get over it, knowing it’s just a publicity stunt that you helped me with. If she truly loves you, she’ll understand.”
Alex looked down at his phone and counted fifteen text messages and a dozen calls. What the hell was he doing? JJ was right. If Katlin truly loved him, she would know that he could never love anyone but her. He looked at the words in the texts. How many times could he tell her that it was a big mistake? She should know that he would never ask JJ to marry him. If Katlin didn’t have any more confidence in their relationship, that she’d run without talking to him about the situation, then maybe it was a good thing he found out now, before they were married.
Not that they had set a date yet. Which was another thing. They’d been engaged for almost two years and hadn’t even discussed a wedding date. Why was that? Her brother and Nita married very quickly. Grace and Griffin, who hadn’t gotten together until long after he and Katlin had, were getting married in a few months. Why weren’t he and Katlin already married?
The limo stopped in front of a huge Beverly Hills home. JJ grabbed Alex’s phone and tossed it on the car seat as they exited the limousine at the producer’s house. She leaned up and gave him a long, deep kiss. “Now act like my fucking fiancé.”
Alex grabbed her hand as they approached the front door.
CHAPTER9
Two WeeksLater
Katlin sat at the head of the Section 7 conference table at Homeland Security. Her plan was solid. She knew exactly what needed to be done and how she was going to execute each step.
After returning from China two days ago, she debriefed her mission with General Standish then had a short personal discussion with her boss. Later that evening, Katlin had cooked one of her uncle Tom Gillpatrick’s favorite meals for him and the woman she’d called Aunt Ava most of her life. During dessert, she shared her medical condition with the only two people on Earth she trusted with that knowledge. With the undivided attention of her uncle, who was deputy director of the CIA, and her surrogate aunt, who happened to be her boss, both were in unique positions to offer her advice.
“Katlin, I so wish your mother were here to talk to you about this.” Uncle Tom took her hand and gave it a little squeeze.
A tear ran down Katlin’s cheek as her chin quivered. “Me, too. She’d understand and have some wonderful piece of advice for me that would solve my problems.” Katlin forced a grin. “Why do you think I invited you two to supper?” Moments like this, Katlin missed her parents so much.
“You have to do what’s best for you.” Uncle Tom looked to Ava for confirmation.
“I absolutely agree.” She reached across the table and grabbed Katlin’s other hand. “The doctors in San Diego said that you have time. Use it. Nothing needs to be decided tonight.”
“Katlin, do you feel capable of handling the next mission? Think carefully before you answer,” her uncle cautioned.
Determination built from deep within her. “I want that mission. No, I need that mission. He’s mine.”
Her quasi aunt smiled. “I figured you’d feel that way. That’s why I assigned it to the Black Swans.”
As soon as her team was seated at the large oak table, Katlin stood. “Alex made his choice clear to everyone in the world two weeks ago. I’m not going to discuss him because he is no longer part of my life. This should not impact you or your relationships in any way. Nor does it impact our jobs.”
She sipped her bottle of water then set it back on the table. She hadn’t expected her throat to be so dry. But she could depend on the support of these women. They’d been through so much together, both professionally and personally. “I hope you enjoyed your vacation because I’m not sure how long our next mission will take.” She clicked the control in her hand and a picture appeared on the screen behind her.
The abrupt intake of breath indicated they felt the same way she did. “Jack Ashworth is our next target. His elimination has been sanctioned, if he isn’t already dead.”
Murmurs echoed around the room.
Katlin looked at each member of her team. “Yes. You heard me right.” She quickly added, “No. I don’t know why.” She distributed the mission packets, and they spent the rest of the day reviewing the intelligence that had been gathered on him.
Near quitting time, Katlin had a horrible headache even though she’d taken medicine for it. She’d taken advantage of the constant flow of food throughout the day, so her stomach wasn’t in revolt. It had behaved surprisingly well after her Alex speech.
Nita leaned back in the comfortable conference chair and rubbed her neck. “I had no idea Jack was that wealthy.”
“Given the evidence of his parents’ deaths, he could easily have killed them. It looked like a professional job, but Jack knew how to make it look any way he wanted.” Tori stood and stretched her long toned body.
“Hunting down murderers for the local police is not our job,” Katlin reminded them. She picked up the top-secret report. “But hunting down treasonous bastards who are trying to avoid extradition is most certainly what we do.” She slapped the file on the table. “What the fuck was he doing calling officers in the Islamic State Army?”
“Are we sure he wasn’t kidnapped by one of our multiple enemies?” Grace asked. “Every bad guy around the world has a grudge against Jack Ashworth. They know who he is and what he does…I mean did. That sounds so final, like he’s dead, not retired.”
“All we have to do is find him and I could release his location on the dark web. Our enemies would take care of him for us.” Lei Lu rolled her shoulders and stretched her fingers.
“That’s only an option if we watch them kill him then gather proof of death. They’d want to torture him for any information he could give them…and he had plenty of secrets. Including the existence of us.” Katlin would rather personally put a bullet between his eyes and take a DNA sample along with pictures.
“Did you read Nikkole’s statement?” Nita dug in her pile of papers and folders. “I can’t tell if she absolutely hates the man or is in love with him.”
