Surrender (Careless Whispers #3)(39)

Her gaze snaps to her sometimes lover. “You don’t understand who and what that man is,” she says, and I realize that she’s set her hands on the table because she’s trembling.

I’m reminded then of the night of the party, and her mentioning that she’d fled Paris after crossing Neuville. I can easily imagine the many ways he might have created the anger—and the fear—radiating off her now.

“Let’s step outside, Sasha,” Adriel says softly, a tenderness in his voice that tells me their relationship might contain a real connection that neither has allowed the other to explore.

“No,” she says, twisting to direct an appeal to Kayden. “Please listen to me.”

“Carlo’s right, Sasha,” Nathan argues. “Evil Eye—”

“Won’t matter,” she bites out, keeping her attention on Kayden. “I experienced that man’s capabilities, and he just saw me as a fling. He sees Ella as a possession that you took from him, Kayden. He will come for her.” She looks at me. “He will come for you.” She gestures around the table. “He will come for us. He will kill us all, if we let him. Do you all hear me? He will kill us. And then what damn good is Evil Eye? Tell me!”

The room goes silent, everyone staring at this strong, bold woman who is no longer able to hide her trembling. I want to grab her and hug her and tell her I understand, but I know that isn’t the answer. Not here and now.

“We’re going to kill him, Sasha,” Kayden promises, his voice soft, strong, and absolute. “We’re going to make him pay for his many sins.”

“When, Kayden?” she demands. “When is someone finally going to kill that man?”

“We are going to end him now. But you need to go take a breather with Adriel. We’ll detail a plan when you get back.”

“Respectfully, no,” she says. “I’m here. I’m fighting.” She shoves fingers through her brown hair, still a mess from the rain. “And I’m perfectly composed. I just needed to get a point across.”

“At the risk of sounding like the sane one here,” Nathan says, “I’m going to be the voice of reason. If we kill Neuville, his entire operation will come after us. And both his second and third are problems.”

“Which is why it can’t look like we did it,” Kayden states. “And they have to die with him.”

“If we didn’t do it,” Nathan asks, “who did?”

“Raul would make a damn good fall guy,” Adriel suggests. “Pit him against Neuville. He’s brutal and he’s hungry to expand his power here.”

A buzzer goes off, and Kayden picks up a remote control to bring one of the dozen monitors on the wall to life, revealing a person in a raincoat at the street door of the store. “That should be our delivery.”

“I’ll get it,” Adriel says, already on his feet and moving toward the door.

Kayden eyes Matteo. “Go with him for backup.”

As Matteo follows Adriel, Kayden’s phone rings. He pulls it from his pocket, glances at the number, and heads for the door, leaving only Sasha, Nathan, Carlo, and me at the table.

“Any drugs you can give her to jolt her memory, Doc?” Carlo asks, talking to Nathan but looking at me.

“No,” Nathan says. “But I have a few to shut you up.”

Carlo ignores him, fingers thrumming on the table. “So, let me get this straight. We’re supposed to believe you were a schoolteacher who eloped with this doctor, but you can fight and handle a weapon as well as any of us?”

I tell him about Blake Walker. I tell him about my father. “He was covert CIA. He trained me from a young age.”

“My experience is that the CIA is a shady operation,” he comments. “Most of the agents, especially the highly covert ones, feel they have no rules or boundaries to follow. In my experience, the dirty agents outnumber the good ones.”

“You’re such an ass, Carlo,” Sasha says. “This is her father, who was murdered on the job.”

“Why was he murdered?” he asks. “And by who?”

That’s the question. Why? By who? And the word dirty is grinding through my mind with dogged insistence. Was my father dirty? Is that why he was killed? Was I an agent? And was I, am I, dirty?

“What about you, Ella?” Carlo asks, as if reading my mind. “Good agent or bad agent?”

“Schoolteacher,” I say. “No one has found any proof I’m an agent.”

“Let it go, Carlo,” Nathan warns.

“Yes, Carlo,” Sasha says. “You really are a piece of bad work. Tell me why you’re here again?”

“To take down The Jackals,” he says, never missing a beat. “Who have been known to have a few CIA contacts of their own. As does Niccolo.”

The obvious accusation hits a nerve. Anger comes at me hard and fast, and I don’t even know what root it’s sprouting from. “This from the Jackal himself?”

“I’m no longer a Jackal,” he snaps.

“No?” I challenge. “Because once a bottom feeder, always a bottom feeder.”

“Don’t push me, Ella,” Carlo warns.

“What are you doing to me?”

“Trying to get you to get your fucking memory back,” he snaps.