2. Olivia #2
AKA, did you do your job well enough to conceal yourself? The answer is yes. Only Simon and Jordy know who I really am. But Jordy doesn’t count. And Simon? Well, he’s not in the business of telling others’ business.
“Yes, Agent Zero.” I barely breathe, pulling my shoulders back and my chin up. My muscles protest, begging me to lie down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get caught.” I hold my breath when he nods a few times.
“It’s an unfortunate part of the work, Olivia,” he says in an unnaturally calm tone.
There’s no chastising there or any hints that I’m in trouble. Yet. Thank fuck. It’s not like I walked up to JJ on my own, spread my arms, and sang I’m alive. He somehow found me out. How, though? That’s the mystery to me.
“We all get caught eventually. It’s the nature of the job. You’ll always find someone eager to unravel the newest arrival in town or in their organization. Even I’ve been found out a time or two. It’s a learning lesson.”
A lesson. Right. A lesson between life and death. If you get caught in the wrong situation, you’re as good as burnt toast.
My shoulders sag with relief. “So, who will be my replacement?”
There’s no way in hell he’d willingly send me back into a dangerous situation. My cover has been blown by someone who used to know me. Intimately.
“Replacement?” Jonathan asks sharply.
Every sense of relief disappears into thin air, especially when his eyes narrow at me with contempt.
“Yeah. Replacement. I thought you’d—”
“What?” he interrupts, his voice filling the abandoned warehouse and reeling me back a step. “Pull you from the case?” Irritation fills every molecule in his body, raising and lowering his shoulders with every haggard breath. “Why would I pull you from the case?” he yells again.
I flinch when he raises a hand, quickly running it through his chopped hair, taking his scorn-filled eyes off me and down to the floor.
Breaths pour through my nose, finally escaping my lungs when his eyes squeeze shut. Taking his scorn away from me and locking it away.
“Yes, sir,” I breathe. “I thought…” My voice trails off.
This isn’t going how I thought it would. I expected the hard but understanding Jonathan I’ve grown accustomed to. Not this. He’s practically vibrating with rage and a hint of desperation.
“I’ve been seen. JJ knows who I am and that I’m not dead.
Or Oliver. He could alert the other two and Franco.
They’d hunt me down again and make sure it’s done properly this time.
” I swallow the lump in my throat that tells me I’m not going to like whatever Jonathan has to say by the look on his face.
“Then find out what he knows. Use it to your advantage, Olivia. Use your damn brain!” His voice ricochets off the thick metal walls and knocks into me, piercing directly into my soul.
Every muscle in his body shakes. And for a brief second, the only thing that hangs between us is silence and a massive amount of tension that I could slice with a knife. I want to turn and run.
Jonathan always holds his emotions close to his chest. Never letting anyone get too close to rip off his mask. So, witnessing it slip off completely, revealing the man beneath, has my hackles rising.
Do I need to be worried? In fear for my life? Maybe not from him, maybe from the future of my life at Greenwood.
You’re supposed to spy on them.
An all-consuming pressure presses heavily down on me, shrinking me into nothing. He doesn’t want to replace me. He wants to send me back to the hell that is Greenwood University and live through the consequences of JJ finding me out.
“You… You want me…” I stammer over my heavy tongue, bile rising in my throat.
“You want me to go back?” I whisper, hoping that he’s joking.
That he’s not about to send me back to my death sentence.
“To Greenwood?” I nearly gag on the name of this town again.
The very place that sent me packing before, with scars from ruined friendships and my entire family decimated.
“Are you a dedicated agent of Veritas?” His question feels like a physical blow, knocking me back another step.
I nod without hesitation. “That’s what I thought, Agent Seven.
” He reaches into his pocket and throws something at my feet.
The loud clank reverberates through the warehouse, striking like lightning and making me flinch.
“You need to act like the agent we prepared you to be. So, JJ knows your identity. How are you going to play that to your advantage?” He quirks a brow again, and all the anger on his face from two seconds ago drains completely.
His mask slips back into place, concealing everything from before.
“You’re a good agent, Olivia. This is something you’ll have to figure out. ”
Cool. Calm. Collected.
Fear slithers through my veins at his outburst. The remnants of the Viotto family still sit with him, despite him being away for so long and being outcast by his brothers.
I’ve seen the ugly side of so many of my uncles.
Their monsters come out to play while they lash out in angry fits of rage.
Especially with my own father. The way he handled me when his anger got to be too much.
The punches, punishments, and hateful words.
Seeing Jonathan standing before me with his chest heaving one second and his mask back in place the next has flashbacks bouncing around inside my skull.
My lips pop open several times to defend myself or say something, but my instincts have me biting my tongue.
My father slipped from monster to calm in seconds, then back again.
The moment I open my mouth, Jonathan might pounce on me.
I’ll make it worse.
I swallow hard. Ignoring the ringing in my ears and the beat of my frantic heart. My mind whispers to me to run away from him. Run from the danger staring back at me with wide eyes and no emotions.
“I told you this would be your most difficult case yet. This was bound to happen,” he repeats himself, placing his hands on his hips with a heavy sigh. “I know it’s taking its toll on you, Liv.”
Bound to happen? What did he expect to come of this? Of course it’s taking its toll on me. I’m a shell of myself right now. I want to tilt my head back and scream at the top of my lungs. Beg for freedom. Beg for these shackles holding me in Greenwood to fall off and set me free.
I’m stuck.
He knows I can’t refuse his orders. He knows I’ll jump back into my dorm and pretend this never happened.
Only, it did happen. JJ knows who I am. Soon, the others will too. He had no incentive to hold his tongue. Not for me.
And it fucking terrifies me worse than anything before. Even after they slit my throat and poured gasoline in my home.
I didn’t see my death coming then. People I trusted most blindsided me. But right now? My death is on the horizon, and I know who will do it. My enemies. My ex-boyfriends. The only question is how they’ll do it. Fire? Stabbing? Shoot me in my sleep? The list is endless with them.
I can only hope I make it out alive, instead of dying as a pawn for Veritas, Jonathan, and his boss above him.
“If he knows who I am, then he might tell the others,” I bravely say again, reaching down to grab the object he threw at me.
The cool metal of my shiny badge, displaying “Agent Seven” and “Veritas” beneath it, stares back at me as I run my thumb over the words.
My badge. My proof I work for the government’s best-kept secret.
“So, he tells the others, Olivia,” he says in a softer voice, tapping the side of his head several times. “How are you going to get into their good graces? Have you forgotten the mission completely?”
“No.” I raise my chin despite the quiver working through me. “I haven’t forgotten the mission.”
How could I? It’s been in the back of my mind since the moment I set foot on Greenwood University dirt.
Infiltrate their frat. Find out what Franco is up to. Face what I shouldn’t have to face.
Even now.