Chapter 2
Mila
Location: Somewhere Wet and Worse
Time: Minutes Later
Isurface, gasp—
—and immediately try to stab him.
Pure reflex.
Also justified.
Because, Lord… seriously?
This is what you give me?
Not backup.
Not an extraction team.
Not literally anyone else on the planet.
Him.
Jase Dalton.
Of all the men in all the worst places in the world…
You put him in mine?
He catches my wrist like he was expecting it.
Of course he was.
“Still angry,” he says, like this is amusing. “Good to know.”
“You should have stayed out of this,” I snap.
“Funny,” he replies. “I was about to say the same thing to you.”
I yank my arm free and swim toward the nearest wreck—a half-sunk fishing skiff barely holding itself together.
We drag ourselves aboard.
I’m soaked. Bleeding. Furious.
And entirely too aware of him.
Don’t think about it.
Do not think about it.
“This wasn’t part of the plan,” I say, pushing wet hair out of my face.
“That convoy you were in?” he says. “It was never going to protect you.”
“I know.”
Silence.
I don’t look at him.
I don’t need to.
I can feel it—the shift. The way he’s watching me now.
“You know?” he repeats.
“Yes,” I say. “That’s why I let them take me.”
Another pause.
Longer this time.
Dangerous.
“You did what?”
I turn to face him.
“I needed to see who came for me,” I say. “Now I know.”
“And?” he presses.
I hold his gaze.
“They’re not trying to capture me.”
Something flickers in his eyes.
“They’re trying to kill me.”
His jaw tightens.
Good.
He should understand the level of problem this is.
“What are you carrying, Mila?” he asks quietly.
I don’t answer.
Instead—
“You should walk away,” I say. “Right now. This has nothing to do with you.”
He lets out a short laugh. No humor in it.
“Yeah,” he says. “That’s not how this works.”
Of course it isn’t.
Because nothing with him is ever simple.
I meet his eyes, steady.
“You don’t understand what you just stepped into.”
He leans closer.
Too close.
Always too close.
My pulse stutters.
Traitor.
“Then start explaining,” he says.
And there it is.
That pull.
That same dangerous, reckless gravity from Prague.
The one that makes smart decisions feel optional.
I look away first.
Because if I don’t—
I might remember exactly how his hands felt on me.
And that would be a mistake.
A very big mistake.
I glance back at him, irritation sharp enough to cut.
Seriously, Lord.
This man?
This one?
You couldn’t have sent me someone… less distracting?
Jase Dalton is now inside the blast radius.
And if he gets killed…
That’s on him.
I warned him.