The Darkest Corner

by Liliana Hart

  He pulled the Sig and pointed it at Levkin.

  “Like I told you,” Levkin said. “I’m ready to die for my country.”

  “Oh, I’m not going to let you die,” he said. “I’m going to make sure you get the best hospital care you can possibly get to patch up all your wounds. And then I’m going to do it all over again.”

  “Go to hell,” Levkin said.

  “I’ll give you one more chance. Where is the truck going?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Wrong answer,” Deacon said and shot him in the knee.

  Levkin howled and dropped to the ground. “I couldn’t hear you the first time. Where did the truck go?” Deacon asked again. “If you give me the answer I want, I promise to give you death.”

  “Phila . . . Philadelphia,” Levkin gasped out.

  “See,” Deacon said. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” He looked at Axel. “Let’s wrap him up and put a bow around him for Eve. I’m sure she can get all kinds of information from him.”

  Levkin started laughing and rolled around on the floor, the high-pitched sound grating on Deacon’s nerves. It was almost maniacal. Sometimes pain could do that to a person.

  “Do you think we didn’t plan for this?” Levkin snarled through gritted teeth. “Egorov is smarter than that. You’ll never catch him. There are many chess pieces in play. There’s nothing to do but watch the game. You’ve failed. In more ways than one.”

  TESS CHECKED THE clock for what had to be the hundredth time. It was close to five in the morning, and they still hadn’t returned.

  Deacon had kissed her good-bye and told her to get some sleep. Instead of kissing him passionately and giving him something to remember her by, she’d grabbed his shirt, given him a rough peck on the lips, and blurted out that she loved him. She had to be the biggest dork on the planet. He hadn’t answered her. He’d only stared at her, and then he’d kissed her one last time.

  It was impossible to go back to sleep after he’d left, so she got up and made a pot of coffee and turned on the TV. She’d listened to them play out the op over and over again. And she’d heard them lay out contingency plans in case one of them was killed or injured. They talked about death as casually as they talked about their favorite sports teams or the weather. They’d gotten so conditioned to it being a very real possibility that it was part of their daily lives.

  She checked social media while she was waiting for the coffee to finish, and noticed that the only other person she knew online was Miller. Miller habitually kept weird hours, depending on when her writing was going well, and when it wasn’t going well she could be found on social media.

  Why are you awake and posting Kermit the Frog memes at three a.m.? Miller messaged her.

  Tess smiled and replied, Can’t sleep. Making coffee and going to watch a movie.

  Good, I’m out of coffee. Why don’t you bring some extra this way and we’ll watch the movie together?

  The book must be going well, she replied.

  I don’t want to talk about it. Bring chocolate if you’ve got any of that stashed somewhere. I ate all mine.

  Tess laughed and dug out a package of Axel’s stash of Tim Tams, and she grabbed a small bag of gourmet ground coffee from the freezer. She also grabbed a bottle of Tums because the worry was giving her heartburn. Loving Deacon wasn’t going to be easy. There was no need to get ready or dress up. That was the good thing about having lifelong friends. She wore an old pair of gray sweats and a T-shirt, and her hair was piled in a knot on her head. She wasn’t even going to bother to put on a bra. She was only going three blocks away.

  She put everything in a bag and had reached to grab her keys from the hook when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Eve Winter stood just in front of the locked door that led to HQ. She had no idea how long Eve had been standing there or how she hadn’t heard Eve slip through the door. But she was there, in the flesh, and Tess had never felt more outmatched in her life.

  Intimidating didn’t begin to describe her. Even at five in the morning she was dressed for serious business. She wore a sleeveless black sheath dress that stopped just above her knees and a pair of wicked stilettos in a neutral color. Her legs were long, her nails manicured and painted crimson, and her lips slicked with lipstick of the same shade. Her hair was like black silk and hung to the middle of her back.

  “Did I scare you?” she asked.

  “No, of course not,” Tess said. “I’m used to seeing strangers pop in unannounced. I’m actually just leaving.”

  Eve smiled and walked around the spacious kitchen, looking at the area as if she were a prospective buyer, her heels clicking on the tile.

  “He’s an excellent lover,” she said. “Deacon, I mean.”

  Tess’s blood chilled at the words.

  “A well-oiled machine in his prime. Men like Deacon are trained for one thing. Don’t you want to ask me what that one thing is?” Eve arched a brow like a teacher expecting an answer from a student.

  “Not really,” Tess said. “Like I mentioned, I was on my way out.”

  “You’re stubborn. And you’ve got spine. I can see why he enjoyed this assignment more than the others.”

  The bottom dropped out of her stomach. It wasn’t difficult to read between the lines and interpret what Eve was trying to tell her. It was clear Eve and Deacon had been lovers. Was she jealous? Were they still lovers? And the insinuation that Eve had ordered Deacon to sleep with her had been a debilitating blow. The slice had cut deep and she was bleeding, only she couldn’t feel the cut yet because her body was numb.

  “I’d told him you’re an asset to us here because of your connection to the community in aiding our transition here. But I can see you’re a woman who’s ready to break free. It’s hard being the steady one. The responsible one.” Her nails drummed rhythmically on the granite countertop of the island. “It’s hard being the one everyone always depends on. Everyone else gets to live their life as they choose and have adventures. To come and go as they please and sleep with whomever they choose. What’s holding you back from doing the same? Fear?”

  Tess’s hand balled into a fist around her car keys and the metal bit into flesh. It seemed Eve knew every one of her secret thoughts. Knew exactly what buttons to push. She hated being manipulated. And worse, she hated that it was so effective.

  “I’m exactly where I want to be,” she said firmly. She could feel the blood rushing to her face and hated that she couldn’t be calm and cool like Eve. That her emotions were too strong to contain. But she really hated Eve Winter, and there was nothing she could do to hold it back.

  “Really?” Eve said. “My mistake. But are you experienced enough to be able to go on with your daily life, to see Deacon every day and not have it cut you to the bone when he moves on? You wear your heart on your sleeve. Men like Deacon don’t have hearts. They only have love for the next mission. The next adrenaline rush. Though there are benefits to those adrenaline rushes, as I’m sure you know.”

  Her smile was smug and knowing, and a vision of Eve and Deacon, naked and wrapped together in an intimate embrace, flashed through her mind before she could stop it. Eve seemed like the type of woman he’d be attracted to. Beautiful and smart and polished. Not a small-town, blue-collar girl who didn’t crave that same adrenaline rush.

  “I just don’t want you to get your heart broken,” Eve went on. “You’re useful to the team for now, and his interest lay in the fact that you’re needed here for us to work effectively. But that’ll change once this mission is complete, and he’ll move on to the next mission. The next woman. There’s always another woman. A man like Deacon is very . . . virile. They all are. It’s learning how to contain and harness all that sexual energy that’s the challenging part of my job.

  “I’ve known of his fascination for you since he met you, and now that he’s gotten a taste he’ll be able to move on and become more effective. So I should really be thanking you. And as I told you earlier, I have use
for you in another location. Your skills are useful, and you’ve proven to be trustworthy with our secrets. Your salary would be triple what it is now, and you’d finally have the opportunity to have your adventure and go off on your own. And it would make things easier on you. Putting that separation between you and Deacon while you’re piecing together your broken heart.”

  “Wow,” Tess said. “You are a piece of work. Really.”

  Eve arched a brow, her full lips moving into a sensual pout. “I won’t make the offer twice.”

  “Thank God for that,” Tess said. “If you’re done, I’m still on my way out the door.”

  “Be careful, Ms. Sherman. I’m not someone you want to irritate.”

  “And I’m not someone you want to bully,” she said, her anger past the point of no return. “Unless you want to deal with the mess of killing me and figuring out a way to keep the people in this town from noticing my disappearance. Because I can guarantee they’ll notice and they’ll have a lot of questions. Otherwise, I’m going to go on about my daily life and deal with my personal life how I see fit.”

  “You think I’d just make you disappear?” she asked. “That would be very reckless of me. It’s so easy to have an accident in the home these days. Or for rumors to get started that you’ve been troubled and depressed recently. Everyone would be shocked by your decision to take your own life.”

  Tess felt the blood drain from her face, and her skin went cold and clammy with fear. She was dealing with forces that were more powerful than she could ever hope to be. She’d never be completely safe as long as she was involved with The Gravediggers.

  “Make sure you clean up your brimstone residue before you leave,” Tess said, and hurried out the kitchen door to her car.

  Her hands shook as she hit the key fob, and they were still shaking as she drove the three blocks to Miller’s house. She’d been stupid to think she could have anything permanent with Deacon. This was the world he came from. The world he lived in. And she had been naïve to think he was capable of having anything different.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Deacon had never been so terrified in his life.

  He’d faced death dozens of times, sure—looked down the wrong end of a gun a time or two, been stabbed in the kidney with an ice pick, and he’d had an Italian double agent try to slit his throat while she’d ridden him to orgasm. But none of those incidents had inspired the deep, icy fear that had penetrated his being when he’d returned to the funeral home to find that Eve had taken up residence and Tess was nowhere to be found.

  When they entered HQ from the tunnel, Eve was sitting at the head of the conference table, her legs crossed. She had a pint of ice cream in her hand and licked the back of the spoon like the damned cat who’d eaten the canary.

  “Where’s Tess?” he asked, his gaze narrowing on hers.

  “Your kitten has claws,” Eve said. She put the lid on the ice cream and set it aside. And then she leaned back in the chair and studied him.

  “What did you do?” he asked.

  “I told her the truth,” she said. “You’ve always been big on wanting to know the truth, Deacon. Why shouldn’t she get the same courtesy?”

  “There are shades of the truth,” he said. “Which ones did you choose to share with her?”

  She smiled then and his brothers moved in beside him. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure if it was to give him backup or to hold him back if he lost his shit.

  “I just told her what she already knows. That you’re an exceptional lover . . .”

  “And how the hell would you know that?” he asked.

  “You forget that you were on surveillance with that Italian agent. She certainly didn’t have any complaints. A woman recognizes when another is faking. And she was enjoying every moment up until she tried to kill you.”

  “You explained that part to Tess?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

  “She wouldn’t let me finish my appraisal of you. She’s got quite the temper.”

  “I know,” he said. “It’s one of the things I love most about her.”

  “Love?” she asked. “You think you’re capable of love? After the things you’ve done? The things you’ve seen?”

  “I’m the same man I’ve always been. I’ll make sacrifices that no one else should have to make. And I’ll do what’s fucking right. Always. That’s why you wanted me. And that’s what you’ve gotten. Otherwise you would’ve let me die.”

  His heart was hammering in his throat, but he didn’t let her see his anger. That wasn’t the way to deal with Eve. She shrugged and drummed her nails on the conference table, a habit of hers he always found irritating as hell.

  “Where is she?” he asked again.

  “I don’t know,” she answered. “She left.”

  “What else did you tell her?”

  “Only that you were just following orders.”

  “That’s fucking cold,” Elias said, shaking his head.

  “Is it?” she asked. “Is it cold to expect the best agents in the world to keep their dicks in their pants and do their jobs? To stay focused on saving lives. Do you think you would’ve put an end to this sooner if you’d been more concerned with finding their headquarters instead of fucking her bed through the floor?”

  “You’ve got her suite of rooms under surveillance?” he asked, fury rising inside him.

  “Of course I do,” she said. “She knows about us. She knows classified information. It’s my job to make sure our existence stays classified. I’m not going to let a nobody mortician from Nowhere, Texas, fuck that up. Think like the agent you used to be instead of the lovesick puppy you’ve become.”

  “I can do both, thanks. I’ve got five years, eleven months, and twenty-two days left on my contract,” he said. “Tess is mine, and I love her. She knows the risks. But I’ll ask her to be my wife if she’ll have me.”

  “Damn,” Dante said. “We really thought you were just following orders. Who knew you’d really fallen for her.”

  “I’d be pretty piss poor at my job if I couldn’t make you all think what I wanted you to think. But I’ll not lie to Tess. Not about anything.”

  Eve smiled again. He’d never seen her lose her temper. She was always cool under pressure. And when she didn’t get her way, she thought of different ways to get what she wanted. She wasn’t a woman who liked to hear the word “no.”

  “Five years, eleven months, and twenty-two days is a long time,” she said. “A lot can happen. A lot can change.”

  “That’s true for any life,” he said. “There are some people who know how to fight. How to stick when things are hard. And how to use the bad things in life to grow and become better.” He thought of Tess and all she’d been through in her life. “Tess is that kind of person. If she’ll have me, she’ll be here for the long haul. I will always be better with her than I am without.”

  Eve uncrossed her legs and got to her feet. “It’s your life,” she said. “You know the rules. If you don’t mind putting her life on the line, then by all means, marry her. You’ll have to convince her to stay, of course. I think she’s seriously considering the job offer I made to send her to D.C.”

  “Believe me,” he said. “Tess is smart enough to see through you.” At least he prayed to God she was. Eve was a masterful liar and manipulator.

  “We’ll see,” she said. “Now, enough of this. I listened in on surveillance, but give me a full status update.”

  “According to Levkin,” Axel said, “the Detroit Lions truck departed two days ago as an insurance policy, and it’s headed to Philadelphia. That’s where they’re playing the opening game of the season. We’ve got him waiting for you in one of the holding rooms. We thought you might want to question him yourself.”

  “I do, thank you,” she said.

  “It’s too late to stop the truck now,” Elias said. “It’s already confirmed as arriving at Lincoln Financial Field. Men dressed as advanced game day staff were there to greet th
e truck and unload it. They have credentials that are only issued every week by the league. Egorov and his men have everything they need to make their mission a success.”

  “When will you head to Philadelphia?”

  “We leave in twelve hours,” Deacon said.

  “I’ll have what you need from Levkin by the time you arrive,” she said, walking toward the door that led to the containment rooms.

  Deacon turned and headed toward his rooms, trying to keep out the emotion that wanted to spill to the surface. He’d spent thirty-six years of his life able to control his emotions. He couldn’t let that change now. Not when so much was at stake.

  “Don’t let her fuck with your head,” Elias said, coming up behind him. “You do what you have to do. We don’t get chances like the one you’ve been given with Tess every day.” Elias slapped him on the back and then said, “I’m heading home for a few hours’ sleep.”

  Deacon nodded and hurried the rest of the way to his rooms before anyone else could give him advice. He only knew one thing. Tess had left. He needed to find her. He needed to know she was safe and whether or not she still loved him. She’d told him she did just hours before. He had to believe she hadn’t changed her mind.

  TESS HADN’T BEEN good company.

  Miller had known immediately something was wrong when she’d shown up pale-faced and white-knuckled, bearing the bag of chocolate cookies and coffee. But she hadn’t pressured her for answers after Tess had told her everything was fine.

  They’d watched movies until the sky turned dark gray with the first inkling of daylight, Tess all the while checking her watch over and over again, wondering when Deacon would be back home. If he’d make it back home.

  Then she’d given Miller a hug and driven the three blocks back to the funeral home. It had been tempting to climb the stairs to the third floor and sleep in her own room, no matter the mess that was inside. But she wasn’t a coward. And she knew the longer she waited and wondered, the worse it would be.