Deception (Infidelity #3)(40)

Talks?

Was that code for something? What lengths would Deloris Witt go to in order to learn valuable information?

She nodded toward my phone. “Call Lennox back. Let him know you’ve spoken to your parents and his father.”

My eyes widened.

“Are you surprised that I knew that?”

I shook my head. “I guess not.”

“After you talk with him, you and I will devise your story for this morning. Then, we’ll discuss tomorrow.”

“I’ll call Nox, but as far as our discussion about tomorrow, it will be about what time we need to leave here for me to get to class.”

She nodded. “It would make both our lives much easier—yours and mine—if you wouldn’t fight Lennox at every turn.”

I tilted my head to the side. “I’m not fighting, and for the record, I’m well aware of how he may respond. I’m not fighting that either.”

Deloris lifted her hand. “There are some things that are better for me not to know.”

“I thought you were like Oz, great, powerful, and all-knowing.”

She didn’t respond to my statement as she walked to the windows overlooking the pool.

“The perimeter is clear,” Deloris said. “I wouldn’t recommend going to the shore, but the pool house or even the pool deck is safe.”

I suddenly wondered if there were people stationed outside, dressed from head to foot in black, watching for any unusual activity from the bushes, ready to pounce or shoot without hesitation. Maybe I’d watched too many spy movies, but my imagination was running overtime.

“Thank you,” I replied. “We can talk after I call Nox.”

“I’ll give you some privacy,” she said, walking toward the door. When she reached the threshold, she was met by Silvia.

“Let me leave this with you,” Silvia offered as she walked past Deloris and sat the backpack on the floor near the desk.

“Thank you.”

Once I was alone and the door was closed, I hit my incoming calls. Nox answered on the second ring.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack by not answering? I couldn’t reach Jerrod either. Your fucking GPS isn’t working. Tell me you’re still at my house.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his loving greeting. “Hi, it’s good to hear your voice, too.”





AFTER MY CALL with Charli and another with Deloris, I quietly eased into a chair near the back of the gallery. The room was near capacity with afternoon testimony before the Senate Finance Committee in full swing. From my position, I could see the backs of most of the attendees. According to Oren’s rules, I was where I should be—no one seated behind me. In the small space between the chairs and wall, Isaac stood, also watching. While my concentration should be on the proceedings and testimony, his was on the surroundings and occupants.

Rarely did I travel without him. Usually, he would have been with me, regardless of what had happened this morning—it was his job—but now it seemed even more paramount. Isaac had been with me for going on seven years. Next to Deloris, he was my most trusted associate.

I needed to add Charli to that list. Considering the strides we’d made in our relatively new relationship, that shouldn’t be hard, but it was. Oren had taught me well. Few people deserved trust. Those who did earned it. I knew if I’d talked to my father about it, he’d tell me that after our short time together, Charli hadn’t earned it.

Fuck!

I didn’t fucking care if her name was Montague or even Davis—as in Severus Davis, the man testifying—at this point. The way I felt, the overpowering need to protect her, the way she made me feel, like I did deserve a woman like her, negated his warnings. I wasn’t being impulsive, nor was I thinking with my dick, as he’d said about my impromptu trip to San Francisco. I was thinking with my heart. I’d only ever listened to it once in my life. At thirty-two years old, it was time to give the vital organ one more listen.

After Isaac picked me up at my house in Rye, for the first ten minutes of our drive, he apologized profusely for not being present in Central Park. I told him it was all right. It was.

It wasn’t his fault. It was mine.

I was the one who told Isaac to drop me off. I was the one who texted him and told him to meet me at Columbia. I was the one who allowed Charli’s desire for fresh air and sunshine to nearly be our demise.

If the shooter hadn’t hit that woman, again, I would be responsible.

Me.

Her.

It was what Charli did to me.

I’d thought about the entire scenario from the moment I left Charli at the house. The danger we’d averted consumed my thoughts as Isaac drove and during my flight to DC. The entire time, as I read notes and prepared for the task ahead, Alexandria Collins was on my mind. Sometime during that reflection, I made a decision. I couldn’t allow her to do it any longer. This morning, I’d been thinking with my dick or maybe my heart. There was a time for that, but not when I needed to keep my head in the game.

I wouldn’t let that happen again.

I wouldn’t allow Charli to lower my defenses or lessen my instincts. Those predispositions had protected me throughout my life. They’d kept me safe and alive. If I’d have listened to them instead of concentrating on work, Jo would still be alive.