Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
He understood her frustration, but this wasn’t an easy situation. This wasn’t something they could simply shine a light on and the problem would burn away in the sun. Unfortunately this problem would burn a lot of people they cared about if it was put in the light.
It would lurk in the background. It would be something they would all have to live with the rest of their lives. He missed the comfort of her hand in his.
“All right. I’d like to take a look at the data.” Kim seemed to pull herself together and Solo was back in the house. He’d come to think of her as essentially two people—his Kim and the Agency’s Solo.
She’d had to compartmentalize to do her job, to survive in the harsh world they’d lived in for so long. Even here at McKay-Taggart there were hard calls to make.
Had she found a softness in Malta that she missed? This was the first time since he’d seen her again that Solo had come out. How hard was it to bring back her cast-iron persona?
“I can walk you through it all,” Jax promised. “It really is good news, Solo. If Levi’s out of power, there’s not much he can do to you. Given the fact that we can prove he manipulated this data, I can’t imagine a scenario where he keeps his job. Not only did he threaten to point a finger at some people who did support McDonald, he implicated people who didn’t. And he hid the actions of people who could help him, including his future father-in-law. The current VP not only had stock in Kronberg, he met several times with McDonald herself and had a close relationship with McDonald’s father. He’ll dump Levi like a hot potato.”
Kim got quiet. “He’ll dump Levi and move on with his life. In the end, Levi was nothing to him.”
“He made his choices,” Ian said softly.
“Of course he did. He deserves every fucking thing he gets. And more. When you think about it, he’s getting off easy.” A bit of his old anger bubbled up. They were still here. She still had some kind of feelings for the bastard even after all this fucking time. His old insecurities welled inside. “Do you even want to pursue this? I guess I should have asked. Maybe you want…” Fuck. He wasn’t doing this. He wasn’t falling back into this pattern. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”
She stood. “Oh, but you did. I assume what you were going to say was maybe I want it. Maybe I want Levi to continue to come after me. Maybe I’ll miss having a sick stalker coming after me. Who knows? Maybe I’m some pathetic creature who craves his attention.” She sighed and turned to Jax. “Can we do this downstairs?”
“Kim, I’m sorry.” He knew he’d been an ass, but he didn’t understand what she’d meant. She’d looked like she felt sorry for the bastard. “Let’s go to my office and talk. Please.”
She was already at the door. “No need. I’ll see you later. After all, we’re still going to Sanctum tonight. Or maybe I should ask Levi.”
Damn it. He’d fucked up. “We’re still going unless you want out. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I made a deal. I keep my deals. I don’t break them when I get my feelings hurt,” she said and strode out the door.
Every word felt like a kick.
Jax gathered up his papers. “I’ll go and show Solo what we found. Adam, you can handle walking the rest of them through it, right?”
“Sure,” Adam offered. “Though if I’d known I was getting a show, I would have popped some corn.”
“Why don’t we take a break before Adam starts his presentation?” Charlotte stood up and sent her husband a look.
Ian sighed. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
Adam shook his head, but he was already out of his chair. “You guys are no fun. Anyway, I should go and make sure we’ve got eyes on Levi if we’re doing this today.”
“As long as Solo and Beck are good, we’re a go,” Tag replied. “I say the sooner we get Operation Summer’s Eve underway, the better.”
“We’re not calling it that,” Charlotte said with a groan.
“It’s because he’s a douche, baby,” Tag replied.
Ezra stood up and moved close to him. “You want to take a walk?”
He stared up at his brother. So much had gone wrong, but it might have started with him. “I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t come to me. I don’t know how I would have reacted back then, but I know I would have still loved you.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, and then I let too much time pass. I’m sorry I had a part in what happened between you and Kim,” Ezra said softly. “She doesn’t care about Levi. She loves you. She always has. Maybe you should go downstairs and try to talk to her.”