he’d loved … she was not the person he’d thought she was.
Even though she was different than he’d thought, even though she’d lied … the gut-wrenching thing was that he understood. Finally, he understood what all the hesitation had been about. Why she’d pushed him away. Why she’d told him she would never have a family or kids. In reality, she had been trying to protect them—to protect him. He could see that, even though he resented it. She still could have told him. She should have.
He inwardly cursed and took another sip of coffee. It unnerved him that there had been leaks in the FBI. He thought of the agents involved in this case besides him.
Agent Anderson. Even though he said he cared, did he really? Was he the leak?
Agent Sears and Agent Thomas had been the ones who had brought her in. Either of them could have spilled a lot of information.
He didn’t know any of them. Not really. Was Agent Anderson even telling the truth about not telling anyone else?
As if on cue, his phone buzzed. Agent Anderson was calling.
“Hello,” Sean said in a low tone.
“I’m assuming things are still going as planned.”
“Yes, sir. One day down.” Sean didn’t know what else to say.
“Good. We need her at that trial, Sean. I have this gut feeling that she wants to run. You need to convince her to trust you. You need to convince her that this is the right thing to do.”
“I have a feeling she wants to run, too.”
“Well, we do have a backup.”
“What do you mean?”
“A small tracking device has been sewn into each one of her articles of clothing. So if she does run, call me and I’ll have our guys track her.”
He didn’t know how he felt about that, but what could he do? “Okay.”
“Good luck, son. Check in with me tonight.”
“Of course.”
Sean ended the call and took another sip of coffee. Something felt off, but he still couldn’t put his finger on why.
The fact that Zoey was willing to testify said a lot about her. But Sean still had so many questions. Would she have run from Hidden Falls eventually? Where would she have gone? What had been her endgame plan for her life?
Why did it matter to him? It didn’t. He clenched his jaw and turned away from the sunrise, emptying the rest of his coffee into the sink and fixing himself another. He was FBI now. He had a job to do, and he would do it.
Chapter 11
Zoey woke with a start and sat up. She stared out the window at the beach, and her heart raced as she thought about everything that had happened yesterday. Her hand went to her necklace. At least she still had that. Gratitude washed through her. It was her ticket to freedom.
She pushed the sheets back. First, she needed to shower, and then she would look through the bag of clothes and see what she could work with. Last night, she’d been too angry and distracted to sort through it.
She pulled everything out and found undergarments, T-shirts, pants, running clothes, and toiletries. Everything she needed. She showered, replaying what had happened yesterday, how devastated Charlotte had been. The FBI had found her. Rafael’s guys had invaded her town. By the time she finished showering and dressing, she knew one thing—today, she would call Charlotte and apologize, and she would also escape.
She would bug out for good, never to be found again. If she could get back to Charleston, it would be smooth sailing. She could find Sean’s keys and take the car.
There was just one little obstacle: him.
As she emerged from the room and walked to the kitchen, a delicious scent wafted her way. She found a plate of food on the counter and Sean standing by the window, holding a cup of coffee. He turned to face her, and she experienced another pulse of attraction that always accompanied the atmosphere around Sean. He wore jeans and a T-shirt and bare feet. She assumed he had a gun in the back of the jeans. His hair was mussed. Dang, the man could have been a male model.
“Morning.” He sipped his coffee. “There’s some breakfast if you want it.”
She wanted to refuse the food on principle. She didn’t need his food, but she was hungry, and she needed to pretend compliance in order to figure out how to get out of here. “Thank you.” She sat and began eating.
Sean didn’t move.
Yesterday, there had been no