Page 80 of What Started In Deception

She shrugged as she moved back to the faster lane, figuring that there was no point in denying that she was more than a little upset. He knew her too well.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

She jerked her shoulders again. “I keep trying to convince myself that I’m okay with all of this, but deep down I know that I’m not.”

He touched her arm again. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Is it? Because it doesn’t feel like it. What if they find out? What if they disown me when they do? Because I wouldn’t blame them for telling me to kiss their asses.”

“Lyd—”

She adamantly shook her head as she gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I keep thinking about how Gram-Gram, Aunt Cindy, and Uncle James would take the time to come see my swim meets after he was elected to the Senate. At Thanksgiving, Will would fly down from Harvard to spend the holiday in Oliver Heights. We would all sit around my grandparents’ table because they were supporting me. They were loving me, and this is how I repay them?”

“This isn’t a simple situation.”

“Maybe not. But I know for a fact that he would be so disappointed in me. My dad.”

“That’s not fair.”

She quickly met his gaze. “You’re right. It’s not. To help my family, I have to lie to them. To protect them, I have to betray them.”

“You’re not doing anything wrong.”

She scoffed as she looked at him again. “How can you say that? When is lying ever right?”

“In a situation like this. You’re helping me. You’re giving me the smoothest way onto the compound to develop information. We’ll get to the bottom of whatever this is, give the DOJ the answers that they so desperately want, then I’ll exit stage left without anyone being the wiser.”

“Well, I hate it. Being put in this position.”

“I’m sorry that I’ve put you in this position.”

“The FBI has put me in this position.”

“I am the FBI, Lyd.”

She said nothing else in the tense silence as the miles ticked by while the music played, watching the signs for Providence pass.

“Can you pull over?”

She frowned as she looked at him. “Are you okay? Do you feel sick?”

He shook his head.

She used her blinker to quickly change two lanes, making sure to pull well onto the shoulder as she put on her hazards. “There’s a rest area not too far up the road if you need to pee.”

“I don’t.” He turned up the stereo, blasting the first few catchy notes of Dua Lipa’s “Illusion” on the current playlist before he opened his door and got out in a white tank top and black athletic shorts that he wore with his sneakers.

Her frown returned as she got out in a similar outfit, but she wore denim short shorts with her tank top, hurrying around to his side in the summer heat. “What are you doing?”

He began to move to the song’s beat, his rhythm excellent. “Dancing.”

She felt her mouth fall open before she closed it. “What—Ty.”

He made a come-hither gesture with his finger as he continued to move. “Dance with me, Lyd.”

She struggled with a smile as he grabbed her hands and laced their fingers as he pulled them above her head.

“Dance, Lyd.”