Deadly Lies (Deadly #3)(102)
Then because there was no more to say, Hyde turned away.
He walked back toward the warden. Hyde didn’t usually follow the criminals to their cells after conviction, but this time, he’d made an exception.
A man who should’ve had it all now had nothing.
One more killer off the streets. More victims buried in the ground. Not a fair score sheet. Not even close.
Not yet. But, God willing, soon.
We’ll stop them.
Because he’d made a promise a long time ago. A promise to a girl that he hadn’t seen in over thirty years.
The sunlight hit him when he walked out of the prison. So hot and clear. Hyde stopped just outside and pulled out his wallet. He glanced down and stared at the grainy photo.
Some promises time broke. Other promises, the soul kept.
I won’t give up.
His daughter had been missing for so long, but one day, dammit, one day, he’d find the man who’d taken her away. And Hyde would make sure that the bastard paid.
Because he’d be damned if he let the monsters win.
Two brilliant agents. One dream team.
Please turn this page for an excerpt from the sizzling first book in the series
Deadly Fear
Available now.
CHAPTER Two
So… are we gonna talk about it?”
Monica froze at the deep voice. Her notes were spread in front of her, the shade on her window firmly closed—because she really hated to fly—and with only about ten minutes left on the private flight, it looked like Dante had decided to get chatty.
Great.
“I mean… we’re gonna be working together, and we can’t pretend the past didn’t happen….”
Sure they could. She spent most of her days shoving the memories of her past away.
Carefully, Monica set down her pen. Then she lifted her gaze. Dante sat across from her, his long legs spread out, taking up too much room. He’d changed before they left, thankfully gotten rid of the blood, and now he wore loose khakis and a button-down shirt.
Over the years, she’d tried not to think about Dante. Tried to pretend the fling with him hadn’t happened.
Tried and failed really, really well.
“Like what you see?” The words came out of his mouth sounding like some kind of sensual purr.
Asshole.
And, dammit, yes. Luke Dante was sex, he was power, and he was temptation.
A temptation she hadn’t been able to resist when she was twenty-two. But one she would ignore now.
Tall, muscled, with bright emerald eyes and sun-streaked blond hair, Dante was a southern boy with charm and a dimple in his chin.
A long, thin scar marred his right cheek. She’d been there the day he got that scar. The mark didn’t detract from Dante’s looks. No, the scar just made him look all the more dangerous.
She stared at him, trying to be detached. A strong jaw, wide lips, slightly twisted nose—he shouldn’t have been handsome.
But he was.
No, not handsome. Sexy.
Dammit.
Monica cleared her throat. “The past is over, Dante.” They’d been over this before, when he’d made the mistake of tracking her down. Serious mistake. “We’re professionals, we can—”
“Pretend we never had sex? Pretend we didn’t nearly tear each other apart because we were so f*cking hungry those nights?”
Her heart thumped hard enough to shake her chest.
He smiled at her, flashing his white teeth. “Don’t know if I’m that good at pretending, Ice.”
Her eyes narrowed. She hated that nickname. The jerks she’d been in training with had tagged her with it. No one understood.
Control—control mattered. But she’d sure lost control with him.
Dante was her one mistake over the years. The one slip that had broken past the walls she’d worked so hard to erect.
Ice.
All the agents had been given names in their class.
Dante had been called Devil. The guy liked to take risks, to push boundaries. A devil who didn’t care about being cautious. How were you supposed to resist the devil?
His name hadn’t stuck, though. Hers had.
Monica sucked in a hard breath and deliberately relaxed her fingers. “Long time ago, Dante. And I don’t deal in the past.” Wrong. She’d spent years running from her past. “I focus on the present.” As much as possible. She held his stare and knew that her face would be expressionless.
She’d practiced that. Ice.
So, okay, maybe she’d helped a little bit with that nickname. But being cold kept the others away, and it could be dangerous when someone got too close.
Straightening her shoulders, she said, “I’m the senior agent here, and I’m not looking to screw around.” Too dangerous. “We’re on a case. We work together because that’s what we have to do in order to get the job done.” Simple. Flat.
Dante didn’t so much as blink.
“Now, are you going to have a problem with that? Because, if so, it won’t be too hard to send your butt back to Atlanta.” Total bullshit now. Like she had that kind of power.
Hyde wanted Dante on his team. He’d been adamant about him. He’d even overridden her objections, and the guy usually listened to her opinions about people. Not this time.