Page 62 of The Truth Between

Parker: Soren is also aware. He is already near NYC because of another assignment.

Aria’s car maneuvered effortlessly along the road and then through the city streets. The closer we got, the more I was convinced that I knew exactly where she was going. I kept my distance, blending in with other vehicles while ensuring I never lost sight of her.

Aria turned down the street I thought she would and slowed down in front of a building. I wondered if she was debating her choices and deciding whether she was going to follow through with whatever her plan was.

But then I saw her park the car.

I watched from the shadows of my vehicle as Aria and Iris walked into the building that held Parker’s office and the Chevalier Headquarters. My job wasn’t to follow them into the building because it would be too easy for me to be seen.

While I waited, I thought about this assignment. I’d been following Aria for a while.

Parker had called me into his office before a meeting with some of the top leaders in the Chevaliers and explained to me what my next assignment would be.

“Landon,” he’d begun, looking out of the tall windows of his office, “I need you to watch Aria and report back to me what you find. Make sure you do it discreetly.”It had been the last thing I’d thought he’d ask me to do after I finished the job following Nash and Bianca Henson. Watching your boss’s sister wasn’t just any assignment, especially when that boss was Parker, and he was in charge of one of the most powerful organizations in the world.

It wasn’t easy to track Aria. She moved unpredictably, which made sense given that she was a college student, but it had been easier now she was on winter break. Aria barely left her parents’ home unless she was with them or Parker.

Until tonight.

I hadn’t been sure what she was doing tonight until the last minute. The only red flag was that she’d recently bought a new cell phone, and I now assumed that was how she’d planned this with Iris. But that hadn’t been something I was aware of until tonight.

Sometimes, I wondered if she knew I was there, tailing her, but she never acknowledged it. That was how I liked to keep it.

I rolled down my window, turned off the engine and allowed the city’s sounds to be the soundtrack to this scene that would be unfolding in front of me. Once Parker and Soren arrived, the games would begin.

38

SOREN

Ifought the urge to push the gas pedal down harder because getting stopped by the police was the last thing on my mind. The city lights swirled around me as I drove through the night, but I was barely paying attention. The only thing that mattered to me was getting to the Chevalier Headquarters as soon as possible.

Parker’s call had pissed me off on a multitude of levels. As he described what Iris and Aria had done, I couldn’t help but see red as Iris’s betrayal became more apparent. She slipped through my fingers despite my warnings and threats. I had Franklin double-checking how she’d done it, and although I was angry, I couldn’t deny being impressed by her ability to do so. However, her desire to disobey me at every turn had put her in more danger than she realized because now she’d further pissed off the head of the Chevaliers.

But above all else, I’d let my guard down. I’d thought we’d moved past everything that had happened and were in a better place, but then she pulled this damn stunt.

I’d already told her that no matter where she ran, I would be right there, ready to snatch her back in an instant. So, if I was being honest, it was almost funny that she even tried.

And then they decided to go to the Chevalier Headquarters in New York City, which was strange unless they thought they could get in and out without someone catching them.

No matter what the reason was, Iris had caused a mess, and I would be forced to clean it up for her.

Because that is what I would always do for her.

Parker’s voice ran through my mind, his anger at Iris for bringing his sister into this. He was also going to be pissed at me because she slipped out of my custody when I promised that I would make sure she didn’t.

While he didn’t know the extent to which I had disobeyed his direct orders, I knew that there would be a lot of questions coming my way that I would need to answer.

That all had to wait for now.

What I did know was that I had to get to the Chevalier Headquarters and Iris as soon as possible.

The closer I got to the building, the more I began to wonder if Iris’s behavior over the last few days was because she was plotting this. The change in her attitude toward me had been significant. Now, I wondered if she’d done this to lull me into a false sense of security with this idea sitting in the back of her mind.

But if she really wanted to get away, why come here? She must have known that she would be caught, but she still came anyway.

My eyes darted to my left before focusing back on the road ahead. There was a hidden agenda afoot here, and I think I might have figured it out.

She was still determined to prove that her ancestor was a founder of the Chevaliers.

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