Page 67 of Never Say Never

I stood up slowly. "It feels like you're still angry at me. You didn't text for weeks."

"Neither did you," he said evenly.

"No, I didn't, but I thought you wouldn't want to speak to me." I stood in front of him. "If I hurt your feelings..."

"Never that," he said, lifting his head in the air as he glared at me. "I don't want to talk about personal things at work."

Seriously, who was this man? It really felt as if someone had come in, plucked Paul up into a spaceship, and gave him a personality transplant. My stomach ached as I realized I missed his easygoing smile, his cool demeanor. The man before me was completely different.

"Take the day off if you need it," I said, evenly. "Maybe you can go visit your sister. You do have a sister, don't you, Paul?"

I'd meant to be coy about it, to do my own research without him beating around the bush or making shit up. I couldn't help myself. He was getting under my skin. I watched as his eyes went from confused to realization. He quickly composed himself.

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"Do you have a sister?"

"Yes, I do," he snapped. "Not related by blood, but an old friend of mine. I've called her my sister since we were kids."

Of course, you have.

No matter how much I tried to dive into Paul's past, it seemed like someone was working hard to make sure everything was in place and accurate. That it was all very neat. My stomach turned. Is he really lying to me? I could no longer tell. His face had fallen expressionless, as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Dismissed," I said as I turned my back on him and ignored that constant ache. "Take all the time you need."

"Thanks."

The door to my office slammed, rattling it. I stared at it for a while, wondering if Paul really could be involved with all the insanity. Once he was gone, I paced back and forth trying to figure out if his story made any sense. I couldn't though. Instead, I groaned and sank back into my office chair.

Focus on work, York. That's all you have to do.

I pulled up my email. There was a hell of a lot to catch up on from the past three weeks. I'd tried to stay on top of it, but I could only do so much locked up in my penthouse with no real access to the work I needed eyes on. I scrolled through them, deleting as quickly as I opened if I didn’t answer them. Until one caught my eye.

Dear Mr. Washington,

You won't back off. We know where your girls go to school. Saint Laurence is vulnerable. Leave the families alone. Resign. If you don't, they will die because of YOU.

Anonymous

A cold sweat broke out over my skin. My heart squeezed. Another threat, this time directed at the only people I loved in this world. My daughters. I shot out of my chair, shut down the computer, and grabbed my things. I had to go get them, discuss things with the school, get some affairs in order, and remind them of their training. My first job was to do anything and everything to protect them. Screw my career.

Nothing else mattered but their safety. I couldn't live without my daughters.

Irritation, uncertainty, rage.

So much fucking anger weighed down on my chest making it hard to breathe. I was angry at myself for slipping up and allowing my emotions to get involved with my boss. I was pissed off at York because why in the hell was he down that alleyway? But above all else, I was furious with my life. I was over pretending to be someone I wasn't.

Pressure built inside of me with every passing second. The turmoil of my emotions didn't calm down. I was gonna combust out of my flesh at this point. I was left stranded in the misery of my own destruction.

B: Need to pull the plug?

My stomach was in permanent knots. I was no closer to answering Benito than I'd been three weeks ago. I was in an endless loop of uncertainty that all stemmed from one man. One asshole who hadn't reached out to me a single time while he was on leave. One man who I couldn't get out of my head no matter what I did.

I grabbed my phone and York's number was pulled up. His questioning earlier only cemented that he now looked at me like a suspect. It shouldn't hurt when it was the truth, but it did. It felt like I had a knife sticking out of the middle of my chest.

Vibrations pulled me out of the vicious cycle that were my thoughts. One glance at my phone, and I knew it was the burner I turned on yesterday. With shit hitting the fan faster everyday, I had to keep a new one on me, changing it out every few days. I made sure only two people had my number. I couldn't have a repeat of last time. Tony shooting York was a worst case scenario. If he'd killed York…

I sat mine down and grabbed the burner just as it stopped ringing. Either Benito or my father needed something. The former was currently texting me on my regular phone, asking me if I was ready to call it quits. I should be. There was nothing left for me to do. The more time I spent in the FBI, the closer I got to being caught.