Page 310 of Hell Hath No Fury
“Yes. You’re the one who said you couldn’t sit back and watch me ruin my future.”
“Well, I lied. I’ve been keeping tabs. I’ve spent every day thinking about you, while you made it look effortless to forget I exist.”
It wasn’t effortless. It still isn’t.
“What do you want from me, Anthony?” I repeat. “Why am I here?”
He raises his glass to the bartender a few yards away, wordlessly ordering another drink. “Do you remember the night Torian came back into your life? How I was right there in your apartment? How your lips had been on mine before he interrupted?”
I hide a wince. “I remember.”
“I could give you a better life, Fox. One where you don’t have to worry about being gunned down by agents that used to be your friends.”
“You were my only friend in the Bureau,” I correct. “I hated that life.”
“You don’t seem much happier now.”
I raise my chin at the direct hit and keep my mouth shut. Easton has caught me on a bad day, that’s all. One that started with an argument with Cole and will probably end with the same.
“You regret it already, don’t you? You know you’ve made the wrong choice.”
I shake my head. “There was never a choice. Not really. Cole was, and always will be, the man for me.”
“Is that because you actually love him or because you’re well aware he’d never let you leave?”
Ihopehe never lets me leave. That in the heat of our arguments he fights against my stubbornness. That he demands I stay and fix the mess we’ve created for the rest of our lives.
I’ve never had that before.
My father left when times got tough, and I still can’t forgive him.
I mourned the loss of my mother without him. He left me while I wallowed. I was on my own. Desperately alone and torturously grieving.
“What will he do if he finds out we’re together?” Easton asks. “Why did you have to be so secretive if you’re not scared of him?”
“Because you’re still an FBI agent and I’ll forever be in love with someone on your most-watched list.” Not to mention how Cole’s men, who have finally started to accept me, will gun me down at the first sign of betrayal.
This meeting is more than enough to get us both killed.
“I miss you, Easton.” I slide my fingers over his and squeeze. “I honestly do. But I’ve made my choice.”
He pulls his hand away and grasps the fresh glass of liquor before him. “It sounds like he’s already placed too much blood on your hands.”
“I had that blood before I agreed to be his wife.”
“Blood I’m sure would’ve been justified if you’d reported it. You weren’t like this before him.”
“And what isthis, exactly? What do you see in me that’s so different?”
“Everything.” He takes a mouthful of bourbon. “You’re cold. Sterile.”
No, I’m torn. Heartbroken.
I fell for a man positively obsessed with me. One who crawled under my skin with aggressive force and refused to leave. But now he’s turned that passion against me. He’s become possessed with the need to protect. To keep me safe.
“If I’m those things, it’s because the Bureau made me that way.” I sip my cheap wine. “I’ve become cynical toward everyone in the mindless, law-enforced world. It’s ridiculous how oblivious you all act toward corruption.”
“Mmm.” He rolls his eyes. “The whole illicit drugs and murderous lifestyle is far better, right?”
