Page 94 of Spying Under the Mistletoe
“The FBI. We work with them from time to time, helping with some of their cases.”
When I was eight years old, I accidentally crashed my bike into my favorite climbing tree. My bike was totaled, and my arm landed in a cast. At the time, I’d felt like the tree had betrayed me.
The pain and sting of betrayal I’d felt is nothing compared to what I’m experiencing now.
I pull away from Landon. “You lied to me.” The words scrape my throat like sandpaper on fire. “You lied to me about who you are. You were using me all this time.”
I stand, sending Whiskey tumbling to the floor, and back away from Landon, almost tripping over Ava’s feet.
“Let me guess, you staged the attempted kidnapping so I would agree to be your girlfriend. Then you could use me to get to my cousin?”
This entire time I’d been kept on a short leash, all for nothing.
I’d poured out my heart, all for nothing.
I’d been falling in love, all for nothing.
“I bet all that stuff you told me about your old girlfriend was a lie, too.”
Landon shoots to his feet. “That’s not true.” His tone is hard. I don’t understand why he’s mad at me. He was the one who manipulated me, not the other way around. “Everything else was true. The only thing that wasn’t was who hired us. But I never said Nikolai hired us. That was all on you.”
“But you never corrected me when I assumed he was the reason for your sudden appearance in my life. You’ve had plenty of time to tell me the truth, but you didn’t. You kept stringing me along, making me think my cousin still loved me enough to hire men to protect me.”My voice cracks again, the fissure in my heart widening with each bitter word.
The only thing saving it from completely splitting in two is the knowledge that my father, stepfather, and Mark might not have stopped loving me like I’d initially believed. They were murdered.
But Nikolai…he was another matter.
I’d loved him like he was my brother, like he was my best friend, but in the end, he was the one who had walked away from me.
By choice.
25
Landon
I’m notone for feeling helpless. I’m a doer. A person who has to be in control of the situation.
But right now, a foreign sense of helplessness is winding its way around my heart.
It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. None of it was—including Chloe believing her cousin hired us to protect her.
The lie is all on me.
I thought it would be easier to get answers.
I fucked everything up.
The look of betrayal on her face guts me. All I can do for several seconds is stare idiotically at her, trying to figure out how to make things better.
For her.
For me.
For us.
She turns to the agents. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. I have no idea where he is.”
She doesn’t give them a chance to respond. She walks past them, chin lifted, and rushes from the room.
