Page 9 of Vengeance

“Not so loud.”

“Holy shit. You’re pregnant!” Cress repeats in an excited whisper. “Adrian is going to freak.”

“You can’t tell him.”

“I’m not. Totally get why you want to tell him in person. But holy shit! I thought you couldn’t get pregnant.”

“So did I.”

“And you said if you did… Everything’s okay, right? No complications or anything.”

“Just perfect.”

“Holy shit.”

“You can’t tell—”

“I know.” Then, “Fuck. If Pray finds out about this he’s going to want to kill you more than he already does.”

“See why I’m keeping it so quiet?”

“Right,” Cres says. Then with a nod she says, “Okay. Got it. Now that you’ve given me something to work with, I can figure out what to tell Adrian so he won’t figure out I’m lying.”

“You don’t have to lie. Just tell him that if he wants to know, he can figure out a way to come find out for himself, and that if he touches a hair on your head to try to get it out of you, I’ll shoot him again.”

“You won’t shoot him.”

She’s right. I won’t.

“Stab him then.”

Eileen walks into the room then, and I instantly know that something has happened and whatever had her quiet early today has suddenly become relevant.

“What?” I ask.

“Deal with the Russians is off the table.”

“Off the table?”

“There’s evidence that Isaak was poisoned.”

The implication doesn’t need to be said but I say it anyway.

“They’re blaming it on me.”

As if I didn’t have enough fucking problems.

5

Viper

“Y

ou’ve got five seconds to come up with something better than what you just told me or I might decide to throw you into the Pacific ocean with a chest filled with your entire wardrobe tied to your body to anchor you to the ocean floor.”

“Creative,” Cres replies.

“I’m serious.”

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