Targeted Risk (R.I.S.C. #7) - Anna Blakely Page 0,53
that night? Was it because my father was granted a new trial?”
“No.”
Juliet spun on her heels to face him. “That’s it, isn’t it? Your friends in the CIA heard Dad had been released...that he was granted a new trial and might go free.”
“No.”
“They sent you back in, didn’t they? That’s why you were there the night Schreiber broke in. You didn’t just happen to show up at the right time. You were watching me. Waiting until I needed you so you could swoop back into my life to do what? Use me against my father?”
“Goddamnit, no!” Mike stormed across the room to her. “I tried to stay away. God help me, I tried. Not because I wanted to, but because I knew you deserved better than someone like me. Someone who’s lived half his life not knowing who he was going to be from one day to the next.”
His chest heaved and he forced himself to draw in a handful of slow, deep breaths. Juliet just stood there staring at him as if she were trying to figure out what was real and what was total bullshit.
Join the fucking club.
“I told so many lies back then to so many people back then, the truth damn near became unrecognizable. But then I met you, and the truth became so clear. Yes, I used your brother to gain access to your father. Yes, at first, I thought maybe I could do the same with you, but then I got to know you. I fell in love with you. After that, everything I did...everything I’d become was about protecting you.”
Mike blinked against the burning in his eyes. He didn’t even notice the tear that had escaped one of them until he felt it hit his cheek and roll off of his chin.
With an angry swipe of his hand, he wiped his face dry and continued on. Continued fighting for the one and only woman to ever make him see past the bullshit.
She made me want a future.
“The day that FBI prick Fuller came and took you away, I fought with everything I had to get him to see you weren’t like the rest of them. That you weren’t like your father or Ivan, and you knew nothing about your dad’s sex trafficking business. But he wouldn’t listen. Neither would Ben. No one, not the CIA or the FBI, would fucking listen!”
Mike ran a frustrated hand through his hair, grabbing a clump and squeezing. A million little pinpricks of pain spread throughout his scalp before he finally let go.
“I wanted to tell you,” he whispered to her. “I can’t even count the number of times I almost did.”
“Maybe it was all those times we made love?” Her lips formed a sneer. “No, wait. We didn’t make love. We had sex. Hot, sweaty sex that meant absolutely nothing.”
“You’re wrong.” Mike took a step toward her. “I may have lied to you about my name and my job, but I never, ever lied about my feelings for you.”
“I wish I could believe that.” Silver streaks fell down her cheeks, but she wiped them dry.
“Baby, you can.” He closed the distance between them, thankful when she didn’t back away. “Don’t you see? You know everything, now. And we still don’t know who’s after you, which means you still need my protection. We can use this time together to start over.”
“I want to start over!” she yelled, her voice echoing off of the cabin’s thick walls. Then she huffed a breath, almost as if she were laughing at herself. “No, that’s not true. Part of me does want that, which is so fucking stupid. I mean, I find out you’ve been lying to me this entire time, and yet part of me still wants to be with you.”
It wasn’t a declaration of love and forgiveness, but her words still made Mike want to do a fist pump in the air. If there was even a tiny part that still wanted him—and she’d just confessed that there was—that meant he had a chance.
“It’s not stupid, Juliet. You love me. And I love you.”
Her brows turned inward as if she were fighting against herself. Fighting was good. That meant she was considering it, which was a hell of a lot more than he expected. Or deserved.
That’s right, sweetheart. You know I’m right. You just have to let yourself see it.
“I know this won’t happen overnight.” Mike pressed forward. “But I swear to you, if you’ll just stay here with me,