Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Charlotte nodded and jogged up the stairs toward the attic where Kenzie was staying.
Uncle Ian came out, the French doors opening to accommodate his big form. “And it can’t be him because I told CSIS I wouldn’t work with him.”
“And they always do what Mr. Lemon tells them to, don’t they?” Tara was followed by a tall man with movie-star good looks, who quickly assessed the room. His gaze settled on Kala. “Maggie.”
“Fucking Ben Parker.” Kala’s eyes narrowed.
The team started to argue, but all Carys could think about was the fact that he’d lied to her. Again.
A familiar numbness settled over her.
“Carys, I asked you a question,” Tristan said, though his tone was gentle. “Are you all right?”
She forced her lips to curve up. She wouldn’t say anything here, so she had to convince him everything was fine. It was easy since she was an excellent actress. “Great. I’ll go see if the conference room needs anything. I take it we’re starting the meeting over again?”
Tristan stared at her for a moment. Aidan did, too. “Yes. We should be able to go to the hotel in a couple of hours. We’ll talk there.”
“Of course.” She took a deep breath and walked away.
At least she had some time to figure out if she even wanted this battle. Or if it was time to walk away.
Chapter Thirteen
Tris watched as Carys left the room. She’d given him the smile she gave people she hated but tolerated for the sake of keeping the peace. He knew all her smiles, and the one on her face right now was the worst-case scenario when it came to him. Aidan moved in close, watching her, too. His voice went low.
“Dude, she is pissed. What is she pissed… Fuck.” Aidan’s face fell.
“Yeah, I hadn’t mentioned I was going to a club. I honestly didn’t think about it because it wasn’t like I was having sex. You can’t tell her you knew I was going to The Court,” Tristan said under his breath.
“I told your boss I wanted to work with someone else,” Ian was saying and he wasn’t keeping his voice down.
“My boss is more concerned with what’s best for our country.” Ben Parker looked over the room with cold eyes. “You’re not in charge of CSIS. If you don’t want our help, you should feel free to leave. I assure you we can have a team in place quickly. Hey, Lou. How are you doing?”
“Hey, Ben,” Lou replied with a smile, though her boyfriend had taken a place in front of her like she needed to be protected.
“I can’t lie to her.” Aidan had paled, ignoring what was going on around them. “I promised I wouldn’t ever again.”
He’d hoped Carys had missed Tara’s mention of The Court. She was a smart woman who could put two and two together quickly. He was absolutely certain it was what had put a blank expression on her face.
She’d gone cold on him again. She hadn’t demanded they talk.
She wasn’t going to fight him, wasn’t going to ask for explanations. She was going to do what she’d done the first time. Walk away.
“Lou is traumatized,” Kala said.
“Not really,” Lou countered.
Tristan barely heard the argument going on around him. His gut ached with the implications of what had happened. “I’ll talk to Carys, but if she knows you knew, she’ll feel alone again and she’ll shut you out, too.”
“Tristan, are you with us?” Ian stood staring at him, his best dumbass-is-doing-what look on his face.
Uncle Ian had perfected the look, though his dad was also giving him a good approximation.
He forced a blank expression on his face. He had to deal with this. He should be happy Carys was handling the situation this way, but he wished she was telling them all the meeting would have to wait. He would greatly prefer she upend the whole op than write him off so quickly. “Of course. Let’s move to the dining room. I believe we’ve already set it up. Mr. Parker, did Tara send a copy of her report to you?”
They needed CSIS on this or they could get booted right back to the States. And despite what Ben had said, no team they put together would have as much access as this one.
“Do you honestly think I’m happy about working with the woman who recently took the only parachute and jumped out of a plane filled with foreign agents who were going to kill me?” Parker argued.
Ian’s eyes went wide.
Shit. If Ian didn’t know something, Kala was absolutely at the heart of it, and she was about to get in serious trouble. He’d known the team had worked—and he used the word loosely—with the Canadian several times in the last few months, but he hadn’t heard about Kala trying to kill the dude.