Page 15 of Saved by my Baby Daddy Spy
My handler will want me to deal with it. If I don’t, he will. He’ll make sure that she disappears without a trace.
So, I either have to kill her or drag her so deep into this mess that she can’t get out. I have to make sure that she has something to lose if she ever decides to talk about it.
I hate myself for knowing that I’m about to ruin her life but I have no choice.
Hannah is attractive in many ways. She’s the first woman I’ve met in a long time who makes me want to think about what comes after tomorrow. She is everything I want in a woman, she’s intelligent and driven. She’s made a career for herself in a world that places little value on careers in the arts.
She is the most intriguing person I’ve ever met, and I’ve fucked up her life more than she can comprehend right now.
One day, she’ll understand exactly what I’ve done and why.
Sighing, I pull the rag away from my mouth and drop down on one of the couches. I sink into the cushions, wishing that the ache in my body would leave me faster.
“Sit down,” I say, jerking my chin at the couch on the other side of the coffee table. I know my tone is harsh, but I need her to understand the severity of what is about to happen.
I can’t tell her the options I’m faced with, but I can ask for her help. She is a people pleaser. She’s going to want to help me if I ask her for it. She’s not going to say no.
It guts me to have to manipulate her, but there is no other option.
Not the way I see it.
Hannah looks at me for a moment. She is biting her tongue, holding back whatever it is that she wants to say to me.
Instead of lashing out, she sits on the couch and crosses one leg over the other. Her arms are still wrapped around her body, and she is completely closed off from me.
I brought this on myself. I should have never agreed to handing off the flash drive across the street from brunch. It was foolish. I thought that I could step out quickly and then go back to enjoying the rest of the time I had with my family.
Stupid move, Holden. You should have known better than that.
“I should probably start with explaining what it is that I actually do for a living.”
Her eyes widen, but she says nothing. Instead, her stare feels like it’s tearing through me. It feels like she is stripping away pieces of me with that look.
“I didn’t lie to you. I do deal with security and IT as well, but that’s only when I’m not on assignment. I enjoy working with my family, but it’s not my only job.”
“Got it,” she says, nodding sharply. Her gaze leaves me and somehow, I feel more naked than I did before. “You just go around beating the shit out of random people for a living.”
“Yes and no. You’re not really wrong about that, though I don’t know if the people I work for would phrase it that way.”
“Holden, it’s been a long morning following a long night and quite frankly, right now I feel like I don’t want to be around you that much.” She shakes her head and pulls one of the throw pillows into her lap like it can protect her from me. “Hell, I don’t know if I ever want to be around you again.”
“I’m going to tell you what I do for a living, but you have to promise that you won’t tell anyone. My handler will be pissed that I’m even telling you any of this. Hell, he’s going to lose his shit.”
“Your handler?”
I nod and dab at the blood leaking out of the side of my mouth with the rag. “My handler. I work for the CIA. I used to be a navy SEAL, but now it’s a lot more secretive shit I’m involved in. I have a thing I have to deliver, and there are some people who are making it hard.”
That’s close enough to the truth without telling her all of it.
Hannah looks at me like she doesn’t know what to think. Her gaze travels around the room without saying anything.
“I know that this is a lot to take in. I need some help, though. The people who keep stopping me from meeting with my target keep tracking me down. A single man wandering around the city sticks out like a sore thumb. I have to lie low for a little while.”
“I don’t know how I fit into this,” Hannah says as she gets up. “I want to go home.”
“Hannah, if you leave, I can’t protect you. The people who are after me know what you look like now. You have to stay close to me for awhile so I can keep you safe.”
She scowls and her eyes are watery.
