Page 40 of Marked By the Devil

“Which is it? You want me to betray the agency and work for you? Or you want me to be your toy?”

“Why not both?”

Now she reacted. She slitted her eyes and wiggled to get free.

I held her closer, too turned on for my own good. “Tell me something, Red. You can assume that my asking for your help is a betrayal.”

“It is.” She tipped her chin up, dazzling me with that defiance. She’d exchanged her glasses for the contacts and I relished how nothing served as a barrier to my watching her face.

“What about the betrayal they’d done to you first?”

That shut her up. She searched my face with a dogged determination not to agree with me.

“You were sent to that stakeout where someone allegedly shot at you. You’re too fucking smart not to wonder if that was a setup. And if it was, the only ones who could have arranged that would be the superior and colleagues you want to think are right, not wrong.”

She swallowed hard, her throat flexing.

“You have been out of their reach for over a week now, and they haven’t looked for you at all. You’re too goddamn sharp not to connect the dots that they might be counting on your not showing up again.”

When she began to lower her gaze, I hugged her tighter to prompt her to look at me.

“What about that betrayal?” I asked, mesmerized by the hurt on her expressive face.

“I don’t know.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t know what to make of them betraying me or setting me up, if that’s what happened. All I know is that you are asking me to question my allegiance.”

I wouldn’t hide it. “I am.”

“All my life, I wanted to serve like my parents did. Being on the right side of the law is in my blood. It’s my passion. It’s my purpose.”

“To be shot? To be dead?”

She furrowed her brow.

“What purpose have you had working for them so far? With low rewards and barely any recognition as a rookie. Sent to be killed?” I scoffed.

“It’s not supposed to be like that. You don’t understand.”

“Then convince me. Make me understand.”

She licked her lips and frowned. “I grew up knowing I wanted to bring down criminals⁠—”

“Then do it.”

She glowered up at me, her green eyes crystalized with ire.

“Bring down criminals like the ones paid off to do the bidding of other criminals.”

“Oh, and you’re exempt from that?”

I didn’t reply.

“You are the kind of criminal I’m supposed to want to bring in and have arrested. You and your Bratva men. You’re the targets of all law enforcement agencies. Yet, here I am. Told to act like your supposed guest. Expected to trick myself into thinking I’m some kind of roommate under your lock and key. You’re asking me to betray myself, Viktor.”

I watched her, marveling at how fierce she could be even when she was scared and caught in a position she didn’t welcome.

“You’re asking me to betray the ideals I’ve always stood by. You’re asking me to give you my allegiance.” She huffed lightly, like it was so ludicrous of an event that she couldn’t convince herself to get behind any of it. “Because it’s all or nothing. I can’t offer you ideas and still call myself a member of the agency. I can’t do a favor for you and expect to be ushered back into my life when the opportunity arises.”

“How is that even on the table anymore?”