Chapter 10
It was too optimistic to think Lara would be happy to see me.
She smothered her tension, but it radiated over me in waves of disapproval. What did she think would happen when she stopped replying to my messages? Didn't she know I would chase her to the ends of the earth?
"You're the new chief of police?" she hissed at me.
"We have company," I informed my lying little mentee, the one I hadn't seen in far too long.
Her heels clacked on the hard concrete as we moved through the light crowd. It wasn't enough to lose the hulking guard of Adelaide's who trailed us. A shame. I would have liked to take Lara into a dark alley to fuck her with my hand around her neck.
"How has Greenich Bay been treating you, Little Liar?" My heartbeat slammed against my ribs so hard I felt dizzy.
Her sleek strands of rich brown hair called to me. I wanted to wrap it in my fist and make her apologize.
For leaving me.
"Beck."
I reveled in the sharpness of her tone.
Her prickly temper set my nerves on fire. Lara had forgotten who she belonged to, and I was going to remind her.
"Don't Beck me, Lara." She winced at my pointed tone, an arrow, and I aimed another. "Your communication has been so lax, The Unseen have sent me to oversee your mission," I lied.
Lara stormed into a coffee shop, throwing the door back so it slammed against my toe.
The scent of coffee infused the air, and the hiss of the steamer soothed my rankled nerves.
My girl was here, in front of me. Lara weaved through the mismatched chairs until we found a cramped spot in the corner.
She arranged her back against the wall and flicked her hand in a discreet dismissal of the guard.
I turned in my chair and glared at him, letting the disguise I wore drop for a moment.
I was supposed to be Chief Goldman.
The new police chief. Unassuming and unthreatening. The guard's gray eyes turned flint, and I knew all I had to do was show an ounce of violence toward Lara to set him alight. If I weren't drowning in acidic rage, I might have appreciated his protectiveness.
"What are you doing here?"
I didn't answer right away, biding my time for the truth. I'd spent many years trapped in a padded cell before I got my revenge. Patience was etched in my bones. Underneath the invisible marks of a million needles.
"Ellington hasn't resurfaced the entire time you've been here. Are you deliberately doing a poor job?"
Lara let out a whistling sigh. She plucked the menu from the middle of the table and perused the drinks. Her jaw ticked, and I knew I'd pricked her ego.
"Is that what you think?" she murmured, refusing to meet my gaze. "The Unseen gave me no time limit."
"Explain why I'm here."
"I bet you couldn't wait to check on me. You probably convinced them I needed your oversight."
She had me pegged. There was no trace of hurt in her words. Lara knew better than to give me anything to work off. I clenched my fists to stop from reaching over to grip her jaw.
"Because I'm your handler, or because we finally fucked?" I prodded, and her head whipped up.
Lara's eyes shimmered. She became mine the minute I plucked her from a crowd and made her into something unstoppable. Eyes always searching, seeing the things others missed. She was quick and ruthless. She silenced the jangling cacophony in my mind.
Lara was born to be an agent of The Unseen.
But she belonged to me.
I was her mentor and fifteen years older than her, for god's sake. I'd done everything I could to put space between us. Ignored every blush, every invitation she sprinkled. She was too young and full of life for me to ruin.
I resisted until it made me snap.
A bullet embedded in the wall just inches from her head. My Little Liar could've died so easily. When her shallow breaths hit my ears, logic fled.
My mangled heart thumped differently for her. I tried to kiss it into her veins. I let myself give in and take everything she'd offered so sweetly.
She trusted me more than anyone.
And now? What did she feel for me now? What was she doing in Greenich Bay?
Because it wasn't her mission. She hadn't found a trace of Ellington, which didn't surprise me.
He was a brilliant student, too powerful even before formal training.
I'd warned the council Ellington would be their downfall, but they didn't listen.
Lara maintained militant composure, and I was a tangled mix of pride and frustration.
Was she as shocked to see me? My chest bloomed with a rare warmth.
Memories were a pale imitation and couldn't capture her essence.
She didn't think I was capable of love, but she was wrong.
It was just a darker, sharper shade of black.
There wasn't any generosity in my love, only obsession.
I tempered the need to toss her over my shoulder and drag her out of the coffee shop.
"Don't worry, I thoroughly squashed my unrequited crush after we fucked." Her face twisted with a wet choke, and I reached across to lay my hand over hers.
Only enough for my heat to sink into her skin before I pulled away. A gift. She schooled her face with a congenial smile. We were being watched after all. Even a momentous reunion couldn't wipe away the years of training I had drummed into her.
My gaze burned. "You didn't give me a chance to explain before you took this mission, Little Liar."
"You know I don't have a choice over what I'm sent to do."
There were so many conflicting emotions ravaging her face that I couldn't quite catch them all. I couldn't comprehend them. Not with my fractured mind. I could see the emotion, categorize it, use it to manipulate her into doing what I wanted.
But I didn't feel it.
The only things I felt were echoes, and even those were rare. Lara was the only person who made my heart beat faster, harder, and for something other than pure function.
She left me, and my heart hadn't stopped aching until this moment.
"Did they tell you to cut me off as well?"
An ember flared in my stomach, and I cocked my head. Didn't Lara understand what she'd given me when I sank deep inside her body? It was soul-deep, our connection.
Her chin jutted out in a mulish display of arrogant pride, and I wanted to collar her neck and force apologies from her shapely lips. I pulled my trembling fingers into fists.
"You think you can threaten to gut me, and I'd roll over for you? Call me a bitch and a slut because you're ashamed we had sex? It was a mistake to think you could feel anything for me."
Her words rained down on me like an ice waterfall and my muscles ached. If we weren't in the middle of a coffee shop, with a guard watching our every move, I would've put her over my knee by now.
"You think I'd say that to you?"
"Don't be coy. You don't have the emotional capacity for it.
The minute you sent me those vile messages, it changed things between us.
For years, I pined for you, years. But the second I leave, you lose your shit?
I've moved on, and you should too. Let me do my mission without getting jealous.
" Her gaze flickered over my shoulder, and my stomach sank like a stone.
I tasted the ashes of my plans. I thought Ray Donato eyed her with obsession, but perhaps I was wrong, and it was the guard lurking behind us. My knuckles cracked.
She chewed her lip. The coffee shop was near empty, and a server came over with a thin-lipped greeting. I ordered a long black and tea for Lara. I needed the caffeine to power me through what I knew would be a long night.
"Answer my question. After everything we've been through, do you think I would hurt you?"
"Beck, you took it too far. I understand you don't feel for me what I do for you, but this isn't professional."
"I don't play games."
"Who is the liar now?" Lara scoffed, spinning the phone over to me.
I scrolled through the unknown numbers and the messages. Lara's gaze shimmered like the mercury in the thermometers they used in the hospital. She wanted apologies, reassurance. This was what kept her from calling me outright all these months.
"You're right. It's not professional," I said. "I also didn't send these. But I'll be killing the person who did." My threat sliced through her carefully constructed, blank expression.
Good. She should feel scared. A shaky breath shuddered from her perfect lips.
"I thought you didn't play games, Beck."
"Lara, don't you know who you are to me?" I forced words through gritted teeth.
Frustration surged as she shook her head. I couldn't breathe. Frozen in a cloud of disbelief.
"You threaten people all the time, Beck."
"Not to you, never to you." My voice turned to gravel. "They had your direct number and knew the code words. They know your real name. This changes everything."
Lara fidgeted, and I seethed in silence as the server brought our drinks over.
"You think…it couldn't be him, could it?"
Ellington.
I looked back at the guard. His scowl was darker than the shadows that covered him. He crossed his arms over his massive chest. How much did he know about my Little Liar? Not as much as I did. I swiveled back to Lara with a sigh.
"Anything is possible, and Ellington was the best asset The Unseen had before he let greed corrupt him."
The server returned with our drinks. I'd been one of his mentors when Ellington first arrived.
But he quickly surpassed whatever teachings I could give him.
Ellington had an uncanny ability to make others fall into his thrall.
Maybe it was his prior education at the Ashden Academy.
A training ground for criminals, and a perfect poaching ground for The Unseen.
He'd graduated in under two years, rather than the four years most students required.
He had an unnerving ability to charm everyone around him, even those who knew better. Except me. The only eyes I wanted to drown in were sitting across from me. I'd warned The Unseen not to elevate Ellington so high.
He'd wanted a place on The Unseen's council of eleven.