Rules in Deceit

by Nichole Severn

“Good idea. Give me a few minutes.” She checked her wristwatch. Nine at night. They weren’t going to get much done at this hour. The investigation would have to start in the morning. Another rush of nausea gripped her tight, and she fought to breathe through her nose to counter it. Didn’t work. The target of a shooter, reunited with the man she thought she’d never see again, and suffering from morning sickness all at the same time. Great.

  “Take your time.” He headed toward the kitchen, tossing his baseball cap onto the counter. His dark hair skimmed his shoulders, and, hell, she’d be lying if she didn’t admit the look worked for him.

  Elizabeth forced one foot in front of the other. Space. She needed space. Away from him. The lighttan-colored walls passed in a blur as she escaped to the nearest bedroom. She wasn’t sure if this was the room he’d meant for her to take, but at the moment, she didn’t care. Tossing her duffel onto the floor, she exhaled hard and ran a hand through her hair.

  It’d been four months since she’d made the worst mistake of her life by climbing under the sheets with Braxton. That should’ve been long enough to get control of her physical reactions. Damn it. This wasn’t the plan. She’d accepted there would be a bottomless hole in her heart where she’d shove everything she felt for Braxton Levitt in order to raise their daughter on her own. But he’d come back. To protect her. Still, while she might have to stay within physical proximity of him, she wouldn’t let him hurt her again. Keeping her emotional distance would have to do. That, and a securely locked bedroom door. “Just a few days, baby girl. We’ve got this.”

  The bedroom came into focus. Single queen-size bed, nightstand, dresser with some papers settled on top, same type of photography on the walls as she’d noticed in the living room. And a cardboard box full of phones stashed in the corner. She fished out a phone from the middle of pile and studied the room again. Groceries delivered, a box of phones, surveillance setup. How long had Braxton planned on staying here?

  She swiped her thumb across the screen and dialed Vincent Kalani’s number from memory. She’d left her phone with the SUV about a mile west of here. Anyone who tried pinging it for a location would only find disappointment. Blackhawk Security training 101. The other line rang three times. Then four. “Come on, Vincent. Pick up the phone.” Another ring. If he hadn’t made it out of the building alive, she’d never forgive herself for leaving the forensics expert in the middle of a crime scene. “Pick up the damn—”

  “Kalani.” Vincent’s usually smooth voice sounded rough, damaged.

  “You’re alive.” Relief flooded through her. She exhaled hard, closing her eyes with a hand on her forehead. Turning her back to the door, she ignored the burn in her lower lash line. Hormones. Crying came too easy these days. “I was beginning to worry I’d be stuck with your vengeful ghost for the rest of my life.”

  “No thanks to your new bodyguard there.” Muffled static reached through his end of the line. “What number are you calling from?”

  “A burner I picked up out of a box full of phones. Consider this my new number for the time being.” She chewed on the end of her thumbnail. They shouldn’t have left him behind. She could’ve fought Braxton harder, could’ve done something. “Tell me you’re okay.”

  “I’m good,” Vincent said. “Confirm you’re safe and give me permission to punch your ex in the face the next time I see him.”

  “I’m safe. For now. And permission granted.” She dropped her hand and rolled her shoulders back. Pain shot through the right side of her rib cage, and she doubled over with a rough exhale. “But you’ll have to get in line.”

  “Liz?” Vincent asked. “You okay?”

  “Fine for someone who took an eight-foot oak door to the right side.” She breathed through the pain. “Listen, whoever set that bomb tried to finish the job in the garage. I pulled three slugs out of Elliot’s windshield, but I’m not sure how to hand them off to you without putting myself back in the open.”

  “Stay put,” Vincent said. “I’ll have Anchorage PD’s crime scene unit check it out. Maybe we’ll get lucky on a stray casing. If that doesn’t work, we’ll set something up to get me those slugs. You should know, as of right now the Sovereign Army is taking credit for the bombing.”

  “The privacy activists? Explosives aren’t usually their forte.” Headlines had taken over national news with the group’s intent to sell and publish congressmen and women’s browsing histories and darkest secrets, but setting a bomb at a security company? Although if the extremist group discovered she’d helped the federal government create a surveillance system to spy on them for the past year, who knew how far they’d escalate. Still, something about that didn’t sit well. A knock at the door pushed her pulse higher. Braxton. She nodded, even though Vincent couldn’t possibly see it, and turned as the bedroom door cracked open. “Thanks for the intel. Call me if you find anything else.”

  She ended the call, nervous energy skittering up her spine.

  Green-gray eyes locked on her and, suddenly, the last four months disappeared to the back of her mind. Braxton made his way inside, a white box in one hand and a steaming bowl of something intoxicating in the other. “Your team?”

  “Yeah. Hope you don’t mind I borrowed one of your phones to make the call.” She tossed the burner onto the bed, crossing her arms over her midsection. Grinding her teeth, she fought against the pain ripping through her side. “Looks like Sovereign Army took credit for the bombing. Vincent’s sending Anchorage PD to analyze the scene in the garage. He’ll call back if he finds something. He’s very much looking forward to punching you in the face when he sees you again.”

  “Fair enough.” A smile curled at one edge of his mouth, and his all-too-familiar pull hooked into her. Damn it. When would he stop affecting her like this? Braxton closed the space between them, coming within mere inches of her. Her breath caught in her throat as he maneuvered around her to set the bowl on the nightstand. Straightening, he backed away slowly, that mesmerizing gaze steady on her. “So now that there’s nothing more we can do tonight, take off your shirt.”

  * * *

  EXPERTS SAID TIME healed old wounds, but what the hell did they know? Braxton popped open the first aid kit beside him on the bed. How many times had he called her over the last month from this very same safe house only to hang up when she answered? Two? Five? Maybe more. She wouldn’t have spoken to him if he’d opened his mouth. That was clear now. More than likely, she would’ve demanded a trace on the call the second she’d realized who was on the other line and sent any resource available his way. His disappearance obviously hadn’t torn her apart as much as it had him. But, hell, he deserved it. Even if leaving had been to protect her.

  “Excuse me?” Liz cradled her rib cage. Her features contorted but smoothed almost instantly. As though she’d caught herself in a moment of weakness.

  Stubborn woman. On a scale from one to ten, he pegged her pain around a seven. Yet she hadn’t said a word. He’d noticed the way she favored that side, the small flinches in her expression. She’d been lucky to survive that explosion. If it weren’t for the very same oak door that’d possibly cracked her ribs protecting her from most of the shrapnel, she might not be standing here. The ache under his sternum, the one connected with the woman standing mere feet away, refused to subside as he studied the fast tick of her pulse at the base of her throat. “The only way for me to see if your ribs are broken is you taking off your shirt.”

  “I’m fine. I’m sure it’s a rib out of place. It’ll either pop back when it’s ready, or this girl will kick it back where it belongs in the next few months.” She stared up at the ceiling, her fingers prodding into her side. Small lines creased her expression, and his gut clenched. In her next breath, she took back control. “Besides, I’m pretty sure you’re just looking for a way back under my shirt. Which isn’t going to happen.”

  A laugh rumbled from deep in his chest. Exhaustion p
layed a wicked game across her expression, but she’d keep going until they identified the unsub responsible for that bomb. That’d been one of the reasons he’d recommended her to Dalton Meyer for the Oversight project at the NSA two years ago. He’d studied her work programming drones for the small start-up company in Washington, DC, and admired her determination to get the job done. Nothing had changed in that respect. But sacrificing her health in the name of the investigation wouldn’t get them anywhere. “Can you blame a guy for trying?”

  Her burst of laughter filled the room but cut off in her next breath. She doubled over, hiking her hand into her side.

  “All right, enough stalling.” Braxton tossed the first aid kit onto the bed and propelled himself to his feet. “I’m taking a look at your ribs whether you like it or not.”

  “Why?” Liz straightened slowly, pain evident on her features. “Unless you got your medical degree while you were in hiding?”

  “Not exactly, but you learn a few things when you’re on your own and the government has plastered your face on the front page of the FBI’s website.” He feathered his fingertips under her shirt and lifted the black silk. Her sharp gasp quickened his pulse, and a rush of satisfaction shot through him. He’d always been able to change her breathing patterns with one touch. Nice to know some things hadn’t changed. Smooth skin slid against the rough calluses on his hand. And wasn’t that the perfect metaphor for their relationship—rough versus smooth. Bruises had already started darkening around her bottom rib on the right side. He studied her expression in his peripheral vision as he pressed his thumb into the bone. “It’s no way to live, though. Strange cities, fake names, avoiding human interaction.” Avoiding her. “Gets old real fast.”

  “Well, now it looks like we have something in common.” She hissed as he prodded the third rib from the bottom. “Now I’m being hunted like an animal. Only this predator isn’t the federal government and has tried to blow me up and shoot me in the same day.”

  He locked his jaw to cool the anger churning in his gut. If he hadn’t left, none of this would’ve happened.

  “Nothing feels broken.” Braxton dropped his hand. Every cell in his body screamed for him to erase the worry lines from her expression, but he couldn’t move. He studied the vulnerability playing across her face. What he wouldn’t give to help her forget the nightmare of the last couple hours. “I’ll get you a heating pad for the soreness and ice for the inflammation. Should be good as new in a couple days.”

  A weak smile played across her mouth. “Thanks.”

  He turned away from her and headed toward the door. If he didn’t, the unquenched desire that’d burrowed itself beneath his skin and crackled along his veins when he touched her would take control. Her life—their baby’s life—had been put at risk because of him. Anything more between them would only make it that much harder to walk away. That’d been the deal. She agreed to his protection. He’d go back into hiding. Fighting to keep his focus trained, Braxton forced one foot in front of the other.

  “Why’d you come back?” she asked. “Why now?”

  He froze, his hands curling into fists at his side. Ten seconds. That was all he needed to clear his head, but she couldn’t even give him that. “Liz—”

  “I’d finally worked out what I would say to our baby the day she asked about her father, but then you walked right into Blackhawk Security. Have to admit—” she fitted her shirt back into place out of the corner of his eye “—I never saw it coming.”

  Braxton turned. No point in lying. He’d never been able to stay away from her for more than a few days at a time. Even now, he was caught in the undeniable gravitational pull of hers, and he wouldn’t be able to fight it much longer. “I always planned on coming back.”

  “Did you ever think you never should’ve left in the first place?” Her expression shifted from genuine curiosity to outright fury. The small muscles along her jaw flexed. Liz took a step back as he approached then brushed right past him. As though his revelation ignited that anger she desperately fought to control. “Maybe then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  He wrapped his hand around hers and pulled her into him. Lean muscle flexed along her arm, and he imagined all too easily exploring every inch of the strength under her clothing. Every mole. Every scar. The soft curve of her lower abdominals where their baby thrived. He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand and loosened his grip. Desire surged through him, a mere taste of the chaos capable of rendering him completely useless when she was around. Damn what she thought of him, damn the investigation or the reason he’d stayed away from her for the last sixteen weeks. She had to know the truth. She deserved to know.

  Liz stared up at him with that gorgeous fire in her expression—almost daring him to make his next move—but didn’t wrench out of his hold.

  He forced the words to the tip of his tongue, but no sound left his mouth. Licking his lips, he dropped his hand from hers. No. Now wasn’t the time. Because he couldn’t lose her again. Every decision he’d made over his career had a price, but he’d never expected her to pay for any of it. And she would once she learned the truth.

  “You’re right. I never should’ve left, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you and our baby if that’s what you want.” He framed her hips between both hands, his thumbs grazing her lower belly. Braxton stepped into her, relishing in the slight widening of her eyes, of her exhale rushing against the skin along his neck. “Starting now.”

  Reaching past her, he skimmed his hand over the top of the dresser and grabbed the yellow envelope resting on top. He slid it between them and handed it to her. Everything that’d happened today at Blackhawk Security—the bomb, the shooter in the garage—had to do with what was in the envelope. “You asked me why I came back. Why now? This is why.”

  She took the envelope from him, the furrow between her dark eyebrows deepening. She slid her fingers inside the envelope and pulled out the short stack of surveillance photos he’d collected from Oversight’s servers. Photos of her. Confusion deepened the lines across her forehead. “What is this?”

  She blinked as realization hit her hard.

  He wanted to reach for her. To comfort her. But didn’t.

  The envelope protested in her hand. Liz shook her head and took a step back. She shuffled through the stack of photos, one after the other. But studying photos wouldn’t make the truth any less real. Someone had been hunting her for months. “Wh-how did you get these?”

  “I programmed an alert into Oversight’s code to notify me when you were the subject before I left the agency.” If he hadn’t, she—and their baby—wouldn’t be standing here right now. “I started getting alerts six days ago. Right after I read about Dalton Meyer’s murder and discovered Oversight’s feeds were hijacked.”

  “So many photos. Outside the office, getting into my car.” Her voice barely registered. Too soft. Too full of fear. The muscles down his spine responded. She swallowed hard, eyes wide. “This one is from a traffic camera as I drove home.” Liz ran a hand through her hair as her mouth parted. “Someone’s been watching me? For how long?”

  “No, someone has been stalking you.” He picked out one particular photo from the back and handed it to her. A photo of her leaving her own home. Whoever had been watching her knew where she lived. “And I’m here to find out why.”

  Chapter Four

  “I don’t think the Sovereign Army took these pictures.” Elizabeth dropped the photos in her hand to her side. She’d been followed for weeks—maybe months. She’d had no idea, but she couldn’t let the fear spreading at the back of her mind take control. What else had her stalker uncovered? Her head spun. Nausea festered. Focus. She forced herself to breathe deep. She’d started a new life here, loved her job, was having a baby. Nobody would take that from her. Not some extremist group. Not Braxton. And not whoever had tried to blow her up three hours ago.

/>   She headed for the door. Braxton was a former analyst. Analysts ran secure networks. All she needed was a computer. She trusted her team—trusted Vincent—with her life, but she had to see the Sovereign Army taking credit for planting that bomb at Blackhawk Security herself. The shooter in the garage, the photos Braxton uncovered. Neither of those were part of the group’s MO. “An extremist group bent on protecting Americans’ privacy wouldn’t run illegal surveillance on their target.”

  “They didn’t seem so concerned about protecting privacy when they threatened to leak officials’ browsing histories to the public.” Braxton cut her off, his mountainous shoulders blocking her view of the door. “I watch the news, too. These guys have been known to do what it takes to get their message across, violently if forced. The best shot we have to uncovering who’s coming after you is Oversight’s backdoor access.”

  The breath she’d been holding rushed from her lungs as the past threatened to overrun the present. She fought back the memories, but how could she when all she thought about when she closed her eyes was the last time she’d accessed that code?

  “I told you I can’t do that.” Her voice rose with each word. He should understand that better than anyone. He’d been there. He’d watched how Oversight’s trial run had affected her. No. He didn’t get to decide how they handled the threat on her life. He’d lost that right the night he’d walked out on her all those months ago. “This is what we’re going to do. First, you’re going to get out of my way, so I can review the bomb squad’s findings for myself. Second, we’re going to arrange to get Vincent the slugs we pulled from the windshield. If he gets a hit on ballistics, you get to keep your end of the deal, and we pretend this whole thing never happened. Go our separate ways.”

  “I’ll keep my end of the deal—” Braxton closed in on her “—but if he doesn’t come up with our suspect, I expect you to keep yours.”