A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(94)

But then she remembered the photographs of Catalina Olivera lying in a dirty, dark alley after being beaten and raped. She remembered the testimony of a woman who saw Milo with Catalina, and many other girls over the years, coming out of hotel rooms while he was supposed to be home building a life with her.

At some point Milo listened to Garrett’s warnings to not come any closer and had stopped where he was, his hands still in the air and a flash of fear in his eyes.

The past and the present swirled through Parker’s mind, conversations and memories, lies and facts, all merged together until she finally understood that she wasn’t dreaming; Milo was alive and well and standing close enough for her to touch.

And the fear she caught a glimpse of in his eyes moments ago was because of her, since presently she held her weapon with shaking hands and aimed it directly at his chest.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t pull the trigger, you miserable piece of shit,” Parker growled.

“Parker, put the gun down,” Garrett told her softly as he shuffled himself slowly in her direction.

Garrett watched Parker struggle with what to do and wished he could just turn back the clock. He didn’t even know where he wished the hands of time could take them; he just knew anywhere was better than where they were right then.

Garrett made it quietly to Parker’s side and reached out with his hand, wrapping it around hers.

“It’s okay,” Garrett whispered in her ear as he gently pushed her hands down until the gun pointed at the ground instead of the man in front of them. Neither one noticed the same man clench his hands as he watched the tender exchange unfold in front of him.

Garrett didn’t have any clue if they could trust Milo or what he was trying to prove by showing up, but he was certain that if Brady was aware of his presence and didn’t take him out immediately, there must be a good explanation for it. His team would never let a dangerous man anywhere near them if they could help it. Brady knew Milo had been there waiting for them, and instead of shooting him point blank or taking him into custody, Brady let him wait by their villa and tried to warn them that he was there.

“I’m going to brief the new team that just landed, do you think everything will be okay now?” Brady asked Garrett.

Garrett gave him a questioning glance, wondering the same thing himself. Brady gave Garrett a slight nod of his head in answer to his non-verbal question. Garrett dismissed him and pried the gun from Parker’s hands after he walked away.

“Thanks,” Milo said to him.

“I didn’t do that for you, *. Parker’s not thinking too clearly right now, and she might be a little irritated with herself if she killed you and wasn’t alert enough to watch while you suffered,” Garrett said with enough bite in his words, making Milo look away from him sheepishly.

“Look, I know you guys have a lot of questions, and you have every right to be pissed off. Please, just give me a chance to explain everything,” Milo begged.

“We planned your funeral. We mourned you. There is nothing you can say right now that could make up for that,” Parker said with scorn as she took a step towards him. “We know about the girls, about all of your sick trips here to the Dominican. Catalina Olivera was a child. Just barely sixteen years old. She had her whole life ahead of her.”

Parker took another step in Milo’s direction until she stood toe-to-toe with him. Garrett stuck close to her side, still not one hundred percent certain of Milo’s intentions.

“Everything about you is a lie and it makes me sick to stand here and look at you, alive and well, when you’ve left a trail of young girls in your wake. They'd still be here today if it weren’t for you,” Parker fumed, narrowing her eyes and clenching her jaw.

Milo let out a sigh and looked at Parker sadly.

“There is an explanation for all of that, I swear. I’m not the bad guy you think I am. And if we’re going to discuss lies, I think you had quite a big one yourself, Agent Parker,” Milo said softly.

Parker’s hand flew out before he barely finished the sentence. Instead of the smack across the face she had given Garrett not that long ago, her fingers curled into a fist and her knuckles connected with his nose. The sound of cartilage shattering with the force of her blow made Garrett wince.

“Son of a bitch!” Milo yelled as his hands flew to his nose and blood poured down the front of his face, dripping off of his chin.

Parker stepped back and shook out her hand.

“Jesus, Parker!” Milo said in a nasally voice as he tipped his head back and put pressure on his nose with one hand and tried to wipe the blood off of his lips with the other. “Garrett, can you please calm her down?”

Garrett laughed and crossed his arms in front of him.

“Obviously, in the time that you’ve been away, pretending to be dead, you’ve lost what little brain cells you still had left,” Garrett said with a sneer. “You’re lucky I’m not pummeling your face myself.”

Milo managed to stop the bleeding and wiped his hands on the front of his shirt. “I told you, there are genuine reasons why I did the things I did. If you would just give me a chance―”

Garrett wasn’t in the mood to give Milo anything and had reached the end of his patience with him. He lunged forward and wrapped his fists around the material of Milo’s shirt, shoving him backwards until he slammed into the wall of the villa.