Page 24 of Rhys

Spinning on his heels, the man’s demeanor went from being filled with feigned humor she didn’t understand to pure disgust.

“I’m laughing because I’m tired, Vanessa. And I’m done.”

Her stomach dropped. “Done with what?”

“This. You.”

“Me? Rhys, what are you—”

“Stop!” He raised a hand palm-up. His agitated voice echoed all around her. “Just…stop. You want to keep going with these games, fine. But you’re going to have to find someone else to play with because I’m done.”

“I’m not playing at anything, Rhys.”

“Really? Okay, let’s recap, shall we? You travel all the way to Kabul on a super-secret spy assignment, and only a few months in, you get all the evidence you need to put your target away for good. But instead of giving it to your handler as soon as you have it, you decide to keep it to yourself because you fell in love with me.”

“Yes.”

It was a fireable offense. Borderline criminal, even. But at the time, she hadn’t cared. The only thing that had mattered to Vanessa back then was finding a way to stay with Rhys.

A man she’d met in the wrong place at the wrong time. A man she was willing to throw away everything she’d worked so hard for.

Back then, Rhys had looked at her as if she hung the moon. But now…

Now that same fiery gaze that made her heart melt was filled with flames of anger and distrust.

I have to make him see. I have to make him understand.

“The night before I left, I got a message. We were asleep, but the notification woke me up. It was John. He’d sent the code we had in place that meant I needed to call him ASAP. I thought maybe there was a new development with the case, so I made sure you were sound asleep, and then I got out of bed and went down to the hotel lobby to make the call.”

“What did he say?”

“That he knew about you.” She swallowed. “About us.”

“So? Agents have flings all the time while on assignment. Helps with their cover stories, right?”

“Some do. I never did.”

“Uh, huh.”

“Damn it, Rhys, I’m telling you the truth! What you and I had…it was special.”It was everything.“And somehow…” Her chest tightened. “Somehow John knew.”

“How?”

“Because of me. He said the job was taking too long. That I should have had enough evidence by then to bring Young and his operation down. He thought…” She swallowed back her emotions. “John thought I was compromised.”

“Compromised?” Rhys frowned. “The guy thought you’d switched sides?”

“Apparently.” The pain from knowing her friend and mentor believed she was capable of becoming a traitor still stung. “Turns out, John had sent in another agent. Someone pretending to be a new volunteer with the group.”

Understanding—and hopefully a little trust—began to filter in behind his angry stare.

“Another agent was sent in to spy on you?”

Vanessa nodded. “Whoever it was must have been damn good at their jobs because I never even suspected.”

“Because you were distracted.”

“Yes.”By you.“Rhys, that agent sent John pictures of us together. Several different images, some showing us in very…compromising positions.”

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