Page 71 of Under Fire in Big Sky

She held his gaze, searching for any flicker of deceit, any sign that those words were merely a calculated maneuver. But the raw emotion etched on his face was undeniable.

“Don’t,” she breathed, her voice barely a whisper. “Don’t do this.” She moved her leg from his grasp. “I love you, too, but not like that.”

He looked vulnerable, almost heartbroken. “Because Eli met you first. By only a few months.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Do you know what is simple? The fact he’ll never give you what you need, what you deserve. Or that baby. But I would give you both everything.”

“Please, stop.” She lowered her head. “For over two years, you’ve pretended to be dead. Now, I find out that not only are you alive, but you’ve become a terrorist. A murderer capable of crossing any line. No matter how wrong it is. That terrifies me.”

He got up and strode to the window. Looked outside. “A strong part of me doesn’t care if what I’m doing is right. It only cares about what I can bear to do for the right reasons. To stop the corruption. To stop Aegis and its clients. One at a time.”

“Could you bear to kill Eli if he got in your way? And me, if I did the same?”

She loved Sean, once considered him a brother. A guardian angel, the way he insisted on handling the most dangerous part of their missions, like planting the bomb in the server room. He was smart, compassionate, strong. And ruthless, sometimes, but that wasn’t bad. Justice, even nature, could be ruthless, too.

But hurting Eli, hurting her, that would put him past the point of no return.

“Could you?” she repeated.

“If I have no other option.” His gaze slid back to her, and she saw a flicker of pain in his eyes, a fleeting shadow. “But there is almost always another choice. That’s why I brought you here.” He came closer and knelt in front of her.

“I don’t understand.”

In a blink, Sean whipped out handcuffs and restrained one of her wrists to the bed frame.

The sensation of the cold metal against her skin made her adrenaline spike. “What are you doing?”

“What I have to do in order to keep you safe.”

“You promised to let me go.”

“And I will. Once I’m finished in Montana. If I released you now, it would be war between us. Casualties you care for. Do you want that?”

A cold dread crept up her spine. They wouldn’t win a war. Not against Sean. “No.”

“Neither do I.” He removed her belt, checked the buckle for a weapon, found it, and grinned. Then he probed in her hair for pins or anything else she might’ve had tucked in her bun that she could use. His touch was clinical, devoid of affection, and it made her skin crawl. “I gave Eli a task. Something he needs to do if he wants to get you back quickly.”

He was holding her here to keep her safe. The possibility of quickly wasn’t a factor in the equation. It was part of the game.

“What task?”

“Go to Aegis and get the NOC list.”

Stunned, she reeled back. “Lauren will never give it to him.”

“Certainly, not. I’d love to get my hands on the list, but it’s a fool’s errand.”

“You always underestimated Eli.” Never gave him enough credit. “He’d move heaven and earth to get me back.”

“I’m counting on the fact he’ll try. Eli is a damaged soul, but he cares about you.”

Everyone had some degree of damage. Who was the homicidal terrorist to judge?

Sitting down, Sean picked up one of the wooden bowls and spoons and began to eat. “I’ve removed the queen from the board. The IPS pieces will scramble around, solely focused on getting you back, instead of what I’m planning to do next. Which will allow me to eliminate the final target here without your interference. Then I’ll disappear until I’m ready for phase two in a different state. Or perhaps a different country.”

Aegis had clients worldwide, but this all felt like it was personal to him. She had a hunch he would remain in the Northwest region, the same sector of the country they were both from and loved and had been assigned to work for Aegis.