I’m no damsel in distress and he’s not my white knight, but that’s not going to keep him from charging after a killer determined to get his revenge.
I’ve made so many mistakes. Some worth it, most not. Getting involved with him again would be the biggest one of them all.
I knew when I saw him for the first time after a decade that going home was the worst idea possible. But that one moment brought it all back. The heartache. The pain. The longing…
Now my identity has been burned and I have nowhere else to go. I may not be worthy of a second chance, but neither is he. He’s also too dangerous to ignore.
"Stop right there. I don't want to shoot you, but I will if I feel threatened."
He smirked. "You won't shoot me."
"Don't presume to know what I will or won't do. I will. It's what I've been trained to do."
"Is that what you are now, Mandy? A killer?"
I sucked in a sharp breath. His familiar use of my former nickname made my stomach jolt. He was the last one who'd called me that, and it had been over a decade since I heard it.
"This isn't right. Just go. You don't want to be here anymore than I want you here. That makes for an easy solution." I don't know why I expected him to do anything I asked. I raised my voice. “Go!”
A wicked smile crossed his face, and I knew damn well there wasn’t a shred of humor in it. “The days where I take your wants and desires under consideration are long gone—Kelly.”
An ugly feeling rose inside me as he practically spat my undercover alias in my face. But it was the contempt he delivered with a smile that sealed the deal. "This is your last warning. Leave, or I will make you leave in an ambulance."
"That's what I thought," he said, dropping his arms. "You shouldn't play with guns if you aren't going to take them seriously."
I looked down the sight of the gun and squeezed the trigger, my body absorbing the blowback, so I could keep the gun level and in place for another shot if necessary.
Axel grabbed his ear. "Jesus fucking Christ. You crazy bitch." He pulled his hand back with a spot of blood where the bullet had scratched him. "You almost fucking killed me."
"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." My heart beat slow and steady as he freaked out. He had no idea that there wasn't anyone currently in the CIA who was a better shot. How could he? I'd been recruited for covert operations. Hell, technically, I didn’t need this gun to kill him. There were dozens of ways to get the job done without an official weapon.
“What if I’d fucking moved? A few inches, and that bullet would have landed in my skull. What the fuck is wrong with you?"
That was a good question. However, I did relent and lower my weapon. I'd proven my point. I would shoot him if I had to. That's simply who I was now and he'd better get used to it.
She lives in a small town across the water from Seattle where you are likely to find her writing books, hunting treasure or watching super hero movies at her favorite nearby theater. She and her real life hero husband (he spends his days in a Blackhawk with a National Guard Medivac unit) love to take pictures, many of which you can see on her Instagram page AuthorEMGayle.
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Sounds amazing!
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