a family planning clinic brochure he’s perusing when I knock on his office door. Since it’s the same family clinic he requested me to hack into while on bereavement leave almost a year ago, I dither the reason for my visit for the umpteenth time the past four weeks. I understand the pain you experience when the woman you love leaves you, but I can only imagine how bad it feels to discover a receipt in her name at a clinic known for abortions.
I can’t get over the fact Melody cheated on me, but the disbelieving gasp that left Alex’s mouth when I confirmed an R. Myers had attended her appointment at Westminster Family Planning Clinic two months after they separated made me realize it could have been much worse. Melody destroyed us, but Regan destroyed something of Alex’s he can never get back. That’s a fierce burn for any man to digest.
When Alex arches his brow, prompting me that I’m the one interrupting him, not the other way around, I grind out the first excuse that pops into my head. “That report you wanted on Colt Enterprises has been uploaded to the Bureau’s servers.”
He slouches low into his chair. “Anything I need to be aware of?”
I shake my head before spinning on my heels and stalking back to my desk. Today isn’t the first time I’ve tried to come clean about my connection with Ophelia Petretti. My first attempt was the morning after I discovered Olivia Wilde, once an informant for Tobias, is Ophelia Petretti, Isaac Holt’s supposed ‘deceased’ girlfriend. Alex was adamant if it wouldn’t grant him an arrest warrant for Isaac, he wasn’t interested in anything I had to say.
He’s always been a hard-ass, but it’s grown substantially worse the morning he, Isabelle, and I had an unintended strategy meeting in the conference room at HQ. He has his sights set on one man, making him not only blind to how dangerous revenge is, but he also has no clue to the rift it’s causing his team and family. I doubt he’s even aware how deeply undercover Grayson went weeks ago. That’s how far his head is up his own ass.
I’ve only just reached my desk when Alex whizzes by. “I’ll be back in around an hour. Keep an eye on things for me until then.” I glance behind my shoulder, certain he’s talking to someone else.
When I fail to find anyone around me, I stray my eyes to his. “Me?”
“Keep playing the dumb card, Brandon. You have everyone here fooled.” Alex shoves the pamphlet for the family planning clinic into his pocket before shifting on his feet to face me, placing on his jacket at the same time. “Except me.” His words are projected at me, but his eyes reveal the real recipient of his scorn. He’s doubting no one but himself right now. He’s wearing the same look now he had last month when I told him Westminster didn’t lodge electronic documentation on the procedures their patients have. “I want Isaac’s movement sheets logged before I return.”
Stealing my chance to say they’re already uploaded, he leaves HQ. I slump into my chair before firing up my computer so I can sort through the information I was working on before my real job overtook my pretend one. There are so many threads Grayson and I are picking at, my head feels overloaded. It also feels empty. Don’t ask me how you can have two contradicting responses. I’m just telling you how it is. My fuck-up with Olivia, sorry, correction, Ophelia, almost cost me my career before I joined the Bureau. However, it was nothing compared to what it cost me personally. She’s the reason Melody and I haven’t spoken in years.
I’ve always been pissed that Melody wouldn’t give me the chance to explain myself, but when I sat down and truly looked at the facts, I understood her hesitation. The way Olivia tried to manipulate me should have disclosed her true entity long before Isabelle did, but I brushed off her nastiness as a consequence of grief.
Even to this date, details are sketchy, but one fact has never altered. I met Olivia the night her brother was abducted. Tobias needed the man assigned to Olivia’s watch on the ground. Since I wasn’t yet qualified for field service, I volunteered to babysit an alleged ‘harmless’ informant.
When Olivia was made aware of the reason for the change-up, she was clearly emotional. Since it was the anniversary of Joey’s