in.
And that’s exactly what she was going to do.
Mona fell to the mattress, fully clothed, yanked the covers over her head and closed her eyes.
Pretended she was anywhere but there. Hiding in a Pierce-scented cocoon.
****
EVA SAT AT her desk when Mona walked into Intel’s office. “Good morning.”
“Not really.” Mona flopped down in her seat, letting her head fall to her desk.
“Seems like it should be considering you didn’t sleep in your own bed last night.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She didn’t want to even think about it.
“Yeah. That’s not an option.” Eva scooted her chair across the floor using her feet to pull and her hips to thrust it forward. “I’m going to need details.” She rested her arms on Mona’s desk, dropping her chin on top of them. “Lots of them.”
Mona straightened. Maybe she could deflect. “Chandler’s dead.”
“What?” Eva shot up. “How do you know?”
The clutch of her insides relaxed a little. “The guy from GHOST came to see Pierce last night.”
Eva’s lips twitched. “So then how did you come to know this information?”
Shit. “Some guy named Anthony Sanders put a hit out on me.”
Eva’s eyes narrowed. “Anthony Sanders?”
Mona opened her mouth to explain.
Except that explanation led right to the one thing she was doing her best to distract Eva from.
Pierce.
“We should probably look into him. Find out all we can.” At best she was on borrowed time.
But it was still time.
“What do we need to find out?” Heidi strode into the room, her arms loaded with computer bags, beverages, and the breakfast Shawn sent her with each morning.
“GHOST found a lead for us to follow.” Mona kept it as generic as possible. “A man named Anthony Sanders.”
Heidi snorted. “He sounds fancy.” She set her container of eggs on the desk before dropping everything else around it.
Eva opened the top drawer to her desk and started rifling through the contents. “He hired a hit man to kill Mona.”
“I’m not sure that he’s actually hired anyone.” It was one of many things she neglected to find out last night.
Too much happened too fast and it shorted out her brain.
And her guts.
“Where did GHOST find this?” Heidi flipped open her computer as she settled into her seat. “Oh my gosh. I can’t get over how much I love this fucking chair.”
“I am happy to hear that.” Pierce walked into the room, a smooth wooden tray held in his hands.
“What are you doing?” Mona was already on her feet. Maybe to stand up to him.
Maybe to run.
It was anyone’s guess at this point.
Pierce hit her with a dazzling smile. “I brought you breakfast.” He set the tray on her desk. “Since you left without eating this morning.”
She’d snuck out the kitchen door with the aid of the passcode Pierce gave her. Unfortunately Abe was camped out on the other side, so her walk of shame wasn’t witnessless.
Not that it was a true walk of shame.
Yes, she slept in Pierce’s bed, but it was all by herself. Even then there was way more tossing and turning than there was sleeping.
“I’m not hungry.” Mona backed away from her desk, trying to put a little more distance between them.
Not that it was going to help. She was stuck being close to him around the clock for the foreseeable future.
“I think you’ll change your mind.” Pierce opened a small cardboard container of orange juice and poured it into a glass filled with crushed ice.
“Is that fucking quiche?” Heidi stood from her chair, leaning to get a better peek at the food on Mona’s desk. “And fried potatoes?” She looked down at her own container of eggs before turning back toward Mona. “If you don’t want it I do.”
“It’s ham and asparagus quiche with rosemary hash browns.” Pierce took a step back. “I figured you’d be hungry after last night.”
Mona picked up the knife situated on the tray. Technically it was made for cutting butter.
She eyed Pierce.
But it would probably cut him too if she jabbed hard enough.
One dark brow lifted and he smirked at her. “I’ll see you at lunch, Love.”
Oh God.
She was definitely going to have to shank him.
It was the only way to recover from this.
The whole room was silent as Pierce left. She didn’t have to look to know Heidi and Eva were both staring at her.
She could feel it.
“What the fuck is with all the plants in here?” Harlow stopped just inside the door, one side of her nose scrunched up as she looked around the room.
Mona glanced toward the