“Justin!”
They turned as Melissa screamed his name from the doorway of his office.
“Come back in here or fuckin’ leave and never return.” The chilling command in Colt’s voice had Melissa turning back to the room quickly.
Justin turned back and looked down at her expectantly.
Nakia sighed and pressed the button to call for the elevator. “Justin, go deal with your wife before I end up in prison. I’m not going to put up with anyone talking to me like that.”
“She’ll not come near you again.”
“You can’t guarantee that,” she whispered fiercely as she stood in front of the open elevator doors, horrified that she was so close to tears. Already her emotions were warring in her, berating the fact that she’d let him fuck her only moments ago, only to now have to leave because his wife showed up. When did she become that woman? When did she become the other woman?
“I can’t be without you another day,” he was now saying.
She couldn’t believe how desperately she wanted to believe him.
“I don’t have the strength to be without you anymore,” he told her achingly. “I’ll make sure she never bothers you again.”
She was suddenly filled with indecision. There was no doubt that she loved him, but the big question was, did he love her? “I’ve left a file on her in your folder that may be useful.” Nakia told him with a calm she was far from feeling.
He leaned toward her and kissed her tenderly before stepping back and allowing her to enter the elevator.
She couldn’t believe he’d kissed her like that in front of Janice. His “I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks” was making her want him more.
“We have to talk about your risk-taking in getting files on people.”
His words brought her back to reality fast. She remembered his attitude the last time she’d gotten a file on someone. She still hadn’t forgiven him for his highhandedness. “Will that talk include you wiping my files and demoting me again? Because if you try that shit again, I’m leaving.” She couldn’t believe she was doing this with him, with any man really. This was a leap of faith that she didn’t expect to be making when she’d woken up this morning.
“Fair enough. But for the record, you were not demoted.” He kissed her again. “No more secrets between us. Agreed?” His voice was a soft caress on her senses.
Nakia took a few moments on the ledge of commitment he was obviously offering, uncertain whether she was ready to take that leap of faith with him or not. But then the question became whether she was ready to continue being without him. After their activity of a few minutes ago, that was not an option. She was already dick whipped. How the hell was she supposed to resist him now? “Agreed,” she mumbled, still stunned by her addiction to him.
“I’ll see you later,” he told her.
She could only nod as the elevator doors closed and his image disappeared.
Chapter Eleven
“Melissa, your stubbornness is not helping your cause,” Colt was saying as Justin walked back into the office.
“I don’t care what you think. I like being married. And I especially like being a Ragnarson, one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Texas. You can’t expect me to give that up without a fight.”
Justin ignored them to go retrieve the electronic file Nakia would have left on his computer. Despite being gone for over a year, he was aware of his new password, which had been reset by Colt last night when he’d called Colt to let him know that he was headed back Stateside. It hadn’t been easy completing their mission. And when one of their team members had been taken hostage after a friendly betrayal, it had taken almost six months to uncover the traitor on their team and another few months to rescue their captured teammate and the other American hostages. In between, he’d done a few side missions for the Pentagon that he didn’t dare tell Colt about. He’d been too deep behind enemy line for even his peace of mind and had gotten too close to death more times than he’d like to count. The things he’d done to survive, the things done to him, yeah, all of that would be sealed away and never spoken of again.
He skimmed through the file quickly. As usual, Nakia had been thorough, and some of the details surprised him. Justin looked up at his soon to be ex-wife with the expression he usually reserved for combat. He knew that the color of his eyes would have changed from a brilliant green to icy gray. It was a signal that his men knew immediately to respond to.
Colt stopped speaking as soon as he saw it and walked over to Justin. “What is it?”
Justin didn’t bother speaking. He simply turned the monitor for Colt to read it.
Colt’s sharp drawn-in breath and the stillness of his body told Justin when his brother had seen what he had.
“You will sign the divorce papers and never come near me or my family again,” he told her coldly.
“Are you deaf? I am not going to let you out of this marriage. You owe me. And I won’t let you go to marry your whore.”
“Sign the papers or your sins will be on every front page of every paper in this state tomorrow morning.”
“You don’t scare me. You don’t have anything on me.” Melissa tried to act brave, but Justin could see the doubt in her eyes. She wasn’t sure of what sins he was aware of, so she was hedging.
“That’s the problem of not using reputable institutions to get shit done,” Justin drawled. The fact that she wanted to play this game with him had him starting to enjoy himself. He was glad she wanted to play this cat-and-mouse game. He was seriously thinking of fucking her up just for the hell of it. The evil of this woman was shocking, and he fought to hide his disgust. “Next time you should consider acting within the law, because you’re always at the mercy of having your business plastered in the open for all to see. Now you risk exposure and jail time.”
“You know nothing.” The shakiness in her voice told of her growing fear.
Justin laughed bitterly. He turned to Colt. “Can you get the papers please? I want this shit over with.”
Colt left the room swiftly.
“You won’t do it. I don’t know what you think you have, but whatever it is will taint your family too.”
“Oh, I think my family will be fine. We had nothing to do with your breaking the law. You did that shit all on your own.”
Colt came back into the office and placed the documents on the desk in front of Melissa, giving her a pen at the same time. ‘Sign it,” he gritted out.
“I don’t—”
“I’m sure all your friends would love to read about your late-term abortion, especially with your husband being gone almost a year before,” Justin began drolly.
Melissa stared at him coldly.
Justin smiled knowing that she wouldn’t feel embarrassed or contrite about that. She would only be pissed that he found out. “Or do you want them to read about you and your girlfriends prostituting for the mob?”