He gives me a tight smile. “I see his kitten has claws.”
“You wanted this meeting.”
“To see why Elijah walked away from his rank, his career. To be frank, why Elijah North walked away from me. I created him, after all. I can destroy him, too.”
“I think if you could do that, you already would have.”
“You think? Then you underestimate how valuable he is to me. It would be like blowing up a shiny new Black Hawk. A complete waste. The military already has more than enough waste. Assets like Elijah North are rare. And important to national security.”
“I don’t need Elijah to tell me classified information to know you’re dirty. So far I’ve seen you try to steal diamonds, put a bounty on my head, and create a fake arrest warrant. You don’t get to talk to me about national security.”
“My dear. I forget that you’re naive. National security isn’t achieved by following the rules. It’s not the pretty speeches that politicians give on green lawns.”
“So the arrest warrant for me is about national security?”
“I picked Elijah out of nothing.” His pale eyes grow even paler as he grows more intense. “He would still be a low-level grunt on some shithole base if I hadn’t picked him out—his psych eval, his tests. A personal interview. I found him. I created him.”
God, no wonder this man isn’t going to give up Elijah. “You’re insane.”
He smiles that reptilian smile again. “I’m trying to help him.”
“Leave him alone.”
He glances casually at his watch, an overlarge monstrosity that’s probably waterproof and can tell the time in eight different time zones. “At this moment, our good friend Elijah North is being charged by the United States for treason.”
Dread pools in my stomach. “You’re lying.”
“I don’t have to lie. You’ll find out soon enough.”
“This is your fault.”
“Contrary to what you may think, I don’t control the entirety of the American government. There are things beyond my control. I tried to help Elijah, but he didn’t make it easy, traipsing across borders with a civilian in tow. He should have known this would happen. He would have known that if he hadn’t been so blinded by lust.”
I’m stricken for a moment. Maybe I am the reason that Elijah is in trouble now. If I had never landed in that French prison cell with him… he would still be working for the lieutenant colonel. It would have been a cold existence, but would it have been safer?
Then I look into the man’s reptilian eyes, and I know the truth. He would not have been safe with him. He was a tool. A machine that this man deployed on his enemies. Not a living, breathing person. He would only be safe until the lieutenant colonel was done with them.
And he would never have reunited with his brothers.
No, I don’t regret meeting Elijah in that French prison. That doesn’t mean I’m still good for him. Without me this man holds no leverage over him.
I raise my chin. “What do you want from me?”
“Walk away, Ms. Frank. Go back to New York City.”
My throat clenches. “If he follows me?”
“He searched for you because he thought you wouldn’t be safe. He has a hero complex, our Elijah.” He says those words with such smug possession, as if he’s sure of his hold over Elijah. And for all I know, it’s justified. Elijah walked away from him, but maybe he only did it to protect me. What happens when I don’t need protection anymore? “He’s not a man who enjoys domesticity. Watching reruns with a box of takeout? No. He won’t follow you.”
My chest aches, because I recognize the reality of his words. We’ve been living in a world of danger and subterfuge. It’s been horrible in some ways. In other ways, it’s… exciting. I think that Elijah thrives on that excitement. He needs it, much more than he could ever need me.
We are fundamentally different creatures. He’s a tiger. I’m a mouse. We played together for a time, but there’s no future. I can’t last in his world, and he’ll never fit into mine.
“What if he doesn’t let me leave?” It’s strange, the hope that springs out of the words.
“That’s why I suggest you leave before he gets back. I can secure transportation, though Liam North can also do that.” He glances back toward the empty doorframe. “Couldn’t you?”
Liam appears, his expression hard as granite. “Holly, you don’t have to listen to him.”
Unfortunately I’ve already heard the truth. I’ve already seen the future. “Would you help me leave if I wanted to? Take that chopper you offered with my sister?”
“We can wait until Elijah gets back.”
He won’t let me leave, not until he ascertains my safety. He won’t believe that I’m safe, and once he’s sure of it, we’ll have an awkward goodbye. I glance at the lieutenant colonel. “Will you allow that?”
A shark-like smile. “It would be better if you were away. In fact, if you leave immediately, I can have the arrest order lifted, the bounty removed, and the charges against Elijah dropped.”
“Not that you admit to being responsible for any of those things,” Liam says, his voice hard.
“No,” the lieutenant colonel says with that same smile. “There are too many confidential things to share, but everything I do is for the uniform.”
That’s a lie. Everything he does is for himself, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong in this case.
You can’t help me. It will be easier on my own.
He said that to me only last night, and I had felt myself shrivel up even as I lay on the bed, my body still warm from his lovemaking, my heart freezing cold.
“What will you do with Elijah?” I can’t help but ask.
“We’ll have words, I’m sure,” the lieutenant colonel says. “Perhaps he’ll come back to work for me. Perhaps he won’t. Either way you’ll be out of the picture.”
London needs you. I don’t, sweetheart.
It isn’t my place to worry about him. He doesn’t want it to be my place.
“Okay,” I say in a whisper. And then louder. “Okay.”
Liam swears under his breath. “Elijah wouldn’t want this.”
He may not want me to leave, but he doesn’t want me to stay either. He wants to keep me safe, and I learned last night what a cold companion protection could be. I want more than he’ll ever give me. Love. Companionship. I want a partner. “I’m going. The only question is whether you’ll help me. I’d much rather take a North Security jet than go with him.”
“What a dilemma.” The lieutenant colonel looks so pleased with himself. “The infamous Liam North with his impenetrable sense of honor. You can help the woman leave or you can do what your brother would want.”
“This is what my brother would want,” Liam says, his voice grim. “If she’s leaving, she’s leaving with me. You won’t lay a finger on her.”
Gratitude and guilt war in my chest. I don’t want to cause a rift between the brothers, especially now that I understand how precarious their relationship is.