With Every Breath (Slow Burn #4) - Maya Banks Page 0,42

him by his last name, as did most of the other DSS agents. And now, in the space of twenty-four hours, she’d used his name twice. He doubted she’d even realized it either time.

She lifted her head, resolve rigid in her eyes as she visibly composed herself. She stared at him with enough frost in her gaze to freeze a desert.

“I can’t . . . w-won’t tell you anything. Now get off my car!”

She emphasized her statement by pounding on the steering wheel so hard that he inwardly winced. Hell, she may have broken it, though he wasn’t sure if it was the steering wheel or her hand that wouldn’t have held up. If she thought to infuse strength into her statement, it was an epic fail, because all it did was make her sound and appear even more vulnerable and . . . lost. Fuck it all, she looked lost and forlorn. Like she had no options. No choices. As though her path had been decided a lifetime ago and every year had been spent in preparation for here and now.

But he’d caught her slip in speech and knew she was as aware of it as he was. She had said can’t, only to hastily amend it to won’t. Was the almighty Dane, the man she gave her unwavering loyalty to, fucking blind? Because if Eliza had stood in his office as Dane had said she’d done, and Dane saw what Wade was seeing now, hearing what Wade heard, then Dane should have cuffed her and sat on her until he pried the truth from her. It wasn’t as if DSS didn’t have invaluable resources in the wives of some of the DSS members. Especially Anna-Grace. Let Eliza weasel her way out of that.

“What won’t you tell me, Eliza?” he seethed. “You don’t have the goddamn sense to ask for help. You’re too busy trying to save the world without thought of protecting your own ass, and it’s obvious you’re scared and even more obvious you aren’t safe. Because you don’t back down. Ever. And any brainless twit could see that you know you aren’t safe.”

She erupted, her eyes blazing, hands in tight fists as if it took everything she had not to punch right through the window of the car door.

“It’s not me who isn’t safe!” she yelled.

For a moment he was dumbfounded. Eliza was calm and cool under pressure. He’d never seen her this rattled even when those sons of bitches had tormented her and waterboarded her like the inhuman savages they were.

She was furious. He got that.

She hurt. He understood that too.

She wanted vengeance. He could see it in her eyes. God, he wanted vengeance as well, and not the kind the judicial system did—or rather didn’t—dole out. But whether or not they lined up on the same side, she was damn well going to be behind him where she would be protected.

So what the fuck was going on here? She was definitely leaving town. But it sure as hell wasn’t on vacation.

They stared at each other several long seconds, his thoughts formulating in meticulous fashion as he quickly assimilated all the pieces of the puzzle. His gut clenched, puzzling him, and he played it off as natural concern for any woman as courageous as Eliza.

But was she even planning to come back? Because she was definitely running, and if she was to be believed, the fear that had glittered in her eyes in those brief, unguarded moments wasn’t for herself.

Realization made him swear violently. No, she wasn’t afraid for herself. She was deathly afraid of anyone close to her being harmed and that pissed him the hell off.

She must have sensed his blinding rage and the fact he was about to punch right through her windshield to prevent her leaving because her expression became pleading, another jolt to his system, because his Eliza didn’t beg for anything.

“Please, Wade. Just go. I have to get as far away from here and the people I care about before it’s too late. I’m running out of time. If I don’t leave soon enough, he’ll find me and he’ll kill every single person I love, care about, did something nice for or even just smiled at.”

Wade was a writhing mass of fury and confusion because he had been one hundred percent right in his conclusion as to why she was leaving as fast as possible. He wanted answers and he wanted them now, but most of all, he wanted