Thorne Princess(108)

“It was more of an affair.”

“You don’t do affairs. You do contracts and NDAs and rape fantasies. All the sordid shit.”

“People change.”

“People—yes. Not you.” His hands quivered with anger and he balled them into fists by his sides. He snarled, animal-like, making his way to me.

I stood straighter, my muscles tensing in case we had to rough it out. Wouldn’t be the first time. We were forced to do this a lot as kids. Solve our disagreements with our fists.

“Are you insinuating I’m incapable of developing feelings?” I drawled.

“I’m not insinuating, it’s a proven fact. I’d put money on it.”

But he wouldn’t win. Not this time. Because I did, in fact, have feelings. Lots of them. I felt angry and out of place. Confused, too. It was the first time a woman had kicked me out of her bed—out of her place. A woman who, specifically, I wasn’t done with.

No matter. It was supposed to be good that Hallie and I were now on opposite sides of the continent. Nothing would’ve come out of our little fling.

So why did I feel like such a goddamn mess?

Realizing Tom was waiting for an answer, I finally said, “Look, it doesn’t even matter. Whatever happened, happened, and it’s behind us now. Anthony will never know. She’d never tell him. Schedule a call with McAfee. I’ll explain the Russian kidnap blunder. If anything, it’s a good thing.” I pushed Tom out of my personal space, striding toward the wall-to-wall window overlooking Chicago’s skyline and The Loop.

“Good?” he snorted out behind me. “Walk me through your logic, Lockwood.”

I reached for the bottle of cognac in the Ralph Lauren liquor cabinet, pouring myself a generous drink. “The fact of the matter is, she was kidnapped, and it took me less than two hours to find her and save her. In the process, I also got Kozlov and company locked up. Two birds, one stone. McAfee will be impressed by that.”

“Will he also be impressed with you getting fired?”

I took a swig of my drink, rolling it in my mouth. “No one has to know I was terminated. As far as McAfee is concerned, we shifted things around. I decided to go back to the main office now that the threat’s been removed, and we assigned someone else to the job.”

“There’s no one else on the job,” Tom pointed out.

I turned to give him one of my special, you-don’t-fucking-say looks.

“I hadn’t noticed,” I deadpanned.

“Asshole.” Tom clenched his teeth. “Fine. But only if we get Max back on the job. I don’t want to lie.”

I shook my head. “There’s zero chance of Hallie letting any of us near her ever again.”

And rightly so. I’d fucked up royally with her. I was lucky I didn’t have a lawsuit the size of Belgium waiting for me right now.

“No bodyguard—no McAfee.” Tom crossed his arms over his chest.

“Are you kidding me?” I snarled. “You promised. That was the only reason I went out there in the first place.”

He raised his palms up. “Let’s settle. We’ll put surveillance on her without telling her, to make sure she doesn’t run into any trouble. Put our minds at ease, and we don’t have to ask her for favors. I understand how tricky it might be, to ask her for a solid considering your…indiscretion.”

Perfect solution. One that would put my mind at ease, too. Yet, I couldn’t fucking do it. Couldn’t bring myself to go against Hallie’s specific request not to be followed, just to save my own ass. I didn’t care to think about what it meant. I just knew I couldn’t do this to her.

“No.” I hung my head down.

“No?” Tom echoed, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” I said. “I can’t have her followed. She said it’s over. We need to respect that.”

“Since when do you respect other people’s rules?” Tom spat out. “Who even are you?”

Both were good questions, and I didn’t have an answer for either of them. All I knew was I wanted this conversation over. I walked over to my office, retrieving my wallet, keys, and laptop before walking out the door.

“Secure the meeting with McAfee. I want to talk to Thorne and have him introduce us to whoever we need in D.C.”

I dipped out of the office, slamming the door behind me.





That night, I stumbled into a bar near my apartment and drank myself half to death.

I showed up at work the next morning, after a CrossFit session, showered, dapper, and ready to conquer the world. Pressing hard on all work-related issues, I convinced myself that diligence was all it took. Twenty-four hours to get Hallie Thorne out of my system. Just like a bad stomach bug.

She was no longer my job, my problem, or a part of my life.

The plan went well until the clock hit seven and everyone left the office for home. I went straight to the bar. Again.

Other people—normal people—had someone waiting for them at home. A spouse, a girlfriend, a kid, a goddamn pet. For the first time in my life, there was someone I actually wanted to see, and I couldn’t. The only time I didn’t want solitude, I had been forced to have it.

The next day was the same. I functioned. I attended meetings. I assigned agents to cases. I briefed. I courted. I even got McAfee on the phone and, as expected, he seemed pleased with how I’d handled the Hallie Thorne kidnapping case. A case that was now appearing less on newspaper headlines and popping up more on pages four and five, right next to the grocery coupons and adult incontinence diaper ads.