Page 34 of Hostile Extraction

“Just didn’t care enough to let your friends and family know you were okay? Did anyone you know even meet him?”

“No, we were planning to, but—”

I cut her off. “Let me guess. Something ‘came up.’” He threw air quotes up again. “And tell me this, why the goons?”

“Nico is worth a lot of money, and he wanted to make sure I was safe.”

Dusty changed gears to one of his earlier questions. “Why do you think you’ve felt so tired all the time?”

“I told you, the sun.” She felt flustered, not even sureshebelieved her answer.

“Haven’t you been living in Miami for some time now? You should be no stranger to the sun.”

“Well, I’ve been in it even more lately,” she mumbled. “And I had an injured ankle. So, I think they were administering pain meds.”

“You think? How do you not know if you were being given pain meds?” Dusty barked. “I don’t understand how you can turn a blind eye to so much proof.”

She flinched at his raised voice, and he immediately seemed to regret it, sighing heavily.

“Look at you, Asia. You’re putting up a wall. I can see you erecting it right in front of my eyes.”

“You’ve hurt me in the past. Why wouldn’t I put up walls around you?”

“I’m not trying to hurt you now, and I never meant to hurt you then.”

“Right. Now who’s blind? Look, I’m in love with Nico, not you. You left me. You shipped out and left me.”

“I said goodbye. I told you why it had to be that way. And I tried to stay friends.”

“Friends. Is that what you thought I needed? A friend?”

“I wrote to you.”

“You did. I thought you’d realized your mistake. But then, after a few letters back and forth, you sent me that goodbye letter, and I never heard from you again. Do you know what that did to me?”

“I was trying to do the right thing. You were so young.”

“Well, that’s the past. Nico is my future. He’ll never abandon me.”

“I didn’t abandon you. I was in the military.”

“He loves me. He’ll come for me.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of, Asia.”

She turned away, her arms folded.

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “Look, believe what you want about me, but everything I’m telling you now is true.”

Suddenly, she was done. She couldn’t continue to argue with him another minute. “Leave me alone. Please,” she whispered and pressed her fingers to her temples. She was on the verge of tears. What he’d said about Nico couldn’t be true. It couldn’t. She was so close to having all her dreams come true. Now Dusty was telling her it was all a façade—that it was all a nightmare. “Please, Dusty. If you ever cared for me, just go.”

He looked like he wanted to stay more, but held it back. “Fine. Get some rest.” He moved to the door, but paused. “Don’t try to climb off the balcony. I don’t want you breaking your neck, and I’ll have someone watching it.”

He exited the room.

Asia thought about locking him out, but he’d probably just break it down. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she lowered herself to the edge of the bed. It felt like she’d had the wind knocked out of her.

Her mind reeled from everything Dusty told her, and then all the things started to fit together. She couldn’t deny them. Not being able to get a replacement cell phone and losing hers in the first place. Had Nico maneuvered that? The way he always changed the subject when she asked about contacting Emily. All the security he kept around. The fast way he pursued her. She stared at the ring on her finger. Was it a fake? Was everything about Nico Amorosi fake?

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