Chapter 104 Elara
Elara
The moment I stepped into the room, I felt the weight of their eyes. Distrust rolled off them in waves—soldiers, operatives, men who bled for each other. To them, I would always be the woman who smiled in front of cameras while Hydra chained girls in basements.
They weren’t wrong. But I didn’t know what they were doing.
I sat straighter, refusing to shrink under their suspicion. I’d learned long ago that masks were armor. If they wanted to see a polished, unbreakable Elara Voss, then that’s exactly what they’d get.
Except for him.
Beckett Cole.
His eyes burned into me, sharp and unyielding, like he could strip every layer down to the truth. He was broad-shouldered, scarred, carrying himself with the easy lethality of a man who’d killed more times than he’d counted. Former SEAL, I’d been told. He looked every inch of it.
And I hated that I felt the heat of his gaze settle under my skin. Attraction had no place here. Not when trust was already hanging by a thread.
So I met his stare head-on, my chin lifting just enough to let him know I wasn’t going to break under it. If he wanted a reason not to trust me, he’d find one. But if he wanted to believe I could help them take Hydra apart, he’d have to accept that I wasn’t going anywhere.
When the briefing ended, he didn’t move, didn’t look away. His silence said everything his words hadn’t:
I don’t trust you. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Fine. Trust wasn’t necessary. Results were.
But God help me, the way he looked at me—like I was both the enemy and the only thing keeping him alive—made me wonder what would happen if I proved him wrong.