Sins, Lies & Spies (Black Brothers #2)(7)

“Nice of you to finally show your face,” Miles growled, his gravely voice putting me on edge.

I sent him a brief text last night telling him I hadn’t succeeded and avoided him as long as possible. I wanted to give him time to calm down before we met in person. When his phone calls and text messages escalated to the point of harassment this afternoon, I caved and drove to his house after dinner.

I rested my hip against the corner of his desk. “I’ve been busy.”

“Busy avoiding me,” he said. His heated, dark eyes swept over my body. I used to like that look. Now it pissed me off. I curled my hands around the square edge of the desk, just barely resisting the urge to yank on the hem of my skirt. He lost the right to look at me as anything other than a colleague the minute he started screwing his ex-wife on the side while we were together. “You look beautiful as always, Trinity,” he said, his words almost reverent.

I barely checked the urge to roll my eyes. His compliments were meaningless. “I’ve been working on alternatives to recover the information Knox Black lifted from Lang’s private computer.”

He chewed on the end of his pen, his eyes never leaving mine. “Have you come up with anything?”

I rubbed my hand down my neck. “I have some ideas, but nothing definitive at this point.”

“Now that Knox has the information, we’re on borrowed time. We need to destroy it before he realizes what he has. Otherwise this whole thing will explode in my face.”

I nodded. “I’m working on it. Give me a couple more days.”

“We don’t have a couple of days. My client isn’t going to like this.” He tossed his pen on top of the desk. “Hell, I don’t like this.”

“I know, but unless I shot Knox in front of Representative Lang, it couldn’t be avoided.” My shoulders sagged in defeat, but I quickly rolled them back again. I couldn’t show any weakness around Miles. He was like a shark smelling blood. “Besides, none of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t waylaid me on the way to the party,” I said, trying to turn the tables.

When I walked out my front door last night to leave for Lang’s house, Miles was waiting for me. He wanted to give me a ride to the party to talk about us. Like so many times over the last month, we exchanged barbs, and I ended up being late.

He leaned back in his chair and propped his hands behind his head. “You knew Knox Black getting to the computer first was a possibility. It shouldn’t have mattered. We had a backup plan. Why didn’t you stick to it?”

Stalling, I picked up the snow globe on his desk and shook it. Apparently, he bought it for his fourteen-year-old daughter last Christmas, but she didn’t want it. Somehow, it found a permanent home on his desk, collecting dust. Part of me wanted to look him in the eye and come clean about everything, and apologize for being distracted by a stupid, meaningless kiss, but I knew a confession would only prolong this interrogation. I didn’t want to spend any more time in Miles’s company than absolutely necessary. He knew how to manipulate me and make me want stupid things—like him.

“I managed to get the thumb drive from Knox Black, but then Lang walked in the office. Knox diverted my attention and stole the thumb drive from me.”

He stood up, closed the distance between us, and chucked me under the chin with two fingers. “And you just let him take it? That doesn’t sound like you. What am I missing here?”

My pulse racing, I smacked his hand away from my face. “Nothing. Your plan was flawed. I needed to upload the virus before Knox Black got to the computer. There were too many people at the party. I couldn’t do anything to stop him, and he knew it. He didn’t take me seriously.”

He pursed his lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I pushed away from the desk and smoothed the folds of my skirt. “Nothing. I need to take off. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.”

“We need to destroy the information from Lang’s computer. Conceding is not an option.” Looking down, he rubbed his temples. “My client will go nuclear if we fail.”

My brows pinched together. “Nobody likes failure, but sometimes it happens. We need a contingency plan for what to do next.”

“There is no next. We need to stop that motherf*cker before he ruins everything,” he growled heatedly.

“I don’t get it. Why does the client want to get rid of those files, anyway? What’s so important about them?”

He yanked on his already loosened tie and glanced to the side. “I don’t know exactly, and I don’t care. Those were his instructions, and he’s not someone to f*ck with. He’ll stick a knife in my throat before I finish explaining why we failed. He’s not like the other people I’ve worked for. He’s ruthless, Trinity, and I don’t say that lightly. I’ve worked with some bad people in my life, but he’s in a league of his own.” He blew out a breath. “That’s all I’m going to say about it. You don’t need to know anything else.”

A tremor zipped down my spine and my muscles stiffened. I inhaled through my nose and rolled back my shoulders. Probing him for information he didn’t want to share was a waste of energy, and a small part of me didn’t want to know anything else. “I’ll see what I can do. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait. Do you want to stay for dinner?” He tugged on the end of my ponytail, an expectant smile on his face. “I ordered Chinese. Your favorite. It should be here any minute.”