Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
I heard Worth suck in a breath. The bitterness in my words was practically tangible.
“I already told you it was necessary.”
“Necessary to do it without asking me.”
Ford cleared his throat dramatically. “We need a plan, and we need details.” He looked at Matteo and raised his brows.
“You can work with us, or we can lock you up and figure this out on our own,” Miles said.
I held up my hand. “This is not a matter for just the four of us.”
“Sure as hell doesn’t sound like it,” Worth said.
I frowned at him. “Certainly not with you in those shoes.” Worth huffed. “We’re going to need more resources.”
“I have infinite resources and with all of us together—”
I interrupted Miles. “No, I don’t mean money. I don’t even mean people, not even well-trained people. We need somebody who’s been in deep.” I looked at Matteo. I didn’t want to work with him, but if we were going destroy the cartel and whoever else was involved, we were going to need his help. I hadn’t figured out what else he was hiding, but one thing I knew for sure, whatever was going on, he intended to put an end to it, and if he tried to do it on his own, he was going to die.
For months I’d tried to tell myself I didn’t care about him, that I hoped he was lying dead in the jungle, but now all I could think about was him shaking in my arms, sobbing, releasing some of the hell he’d been through. I needed to know why. I needed to know what had really happened.
“No fucking way,” Miles said. “He’s not going to be part of this.”
“Yes, he is. He’s going to work with us because that’s his best chance for survival.”
“You really think you can hold me?” He caught my gaze, seeming to look right into me. “You think I’ll still be in whatever cage you put me in when you come back?”
“I think you’ll be there because you have nowhere else to go,” I said. “You can’t go back to the jungle, and you’ve fucked up your mission for the CIA, so we’re your best bet. On your own, you’re a dead man. With us, you might survive.”
“And then what?”
“And then you can go as far away from me as you can get and start over.”
“Why wouldn’t I just do that right now?”
I glared at him. “They’ll track you down. You fucking know that.”
“So you’re going to save me, then turn me loose?”
“As much as I might want to, I don’t kill government agents unless they’ve truly joined the enemy.”
“The CIA isn’t much better than that group of fuckers in the jungle. I’d prefer not to work for either one.”
He was so fucking infuriating. “Then why the hell did you—”
“If you knew, you might have never locked me up.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt, fisting it in my hands. “What secrets are you still keeping?”
“Ones I won’t spill no matter how you threaten me.”
Miles snarled and stepped closer. “Carter might have a code he follows, but I don’t care who the hell you work for or how noble your cause is. You hurt my friend again, and you will die a slow, painful death.”
Matteo looked Miles up and down. “I’m not afraid of you or your minions.”
“You should be.”
Matteo snarled. “You want to settle this here, or do you have to hide behind men like Carter with better training and—”
Miles lunged for him, but Worth and Ford caught his arms and pulled him back.
“For God’s sake, can you two stop?” Ford asked. “We have enough to deal with, even if we work together.”
“I have things to deal with,” Matteo said. “None of you need to be involved.”
This time I was the one who grabbed him. “If you think for one fucking second that I’m going to trust you to put an end to the cartel, you’re out of your mind.”
Matteo held my gaze, and the intensity in his eyes scared me. “You need to stay the hell away from them.”
“Why? What the hell aren’t you telling me?”
Matteo shook his head.
“You will tell me.”
Miles started to move toward us, but I held out my hand. “Let me deal with this.”
Miles’s eyes widened, letting me know just how scary I must look. My whole body was throbbing with fury, and I knew that could turn to need for Matteo so quickly. I wanted to pull him to me and crush his mouth in a kiss, but while I might have given in to fucking him, kissing him again was absolutely not going to happen. I couldn’t let it. I’d already gone way too far. What had I been thinking, taking the time to hold and comfort him?
But his lips. They were so plump, so slick from being licked by his tongue.