Page 54 of Crossover

“You go east; we’ll go west. Then, we’ll meet at our next planned location,” Red said.

He and I had already mapped out our next two stops so we could meet up again without having to use our phones. Honest to God, I didn’t think we’d need it. But I shouldn’t have underestimated how dangerous Ivy’s stubbornness could be.

As we hustled down the steps and onto the asphalt, Red and I performed visual sweeps. If they had snipers, we were screwed. If they had a team of men, also screwed. Keeping Ivy one step ahead of the CIA was her only chance until we took Daniel down, and she went and risked it with a damn phone call.

“Get in the car,” I snapped to Ivy.

Her eyes darted to her mother, who climbed in with Red, then back to me.

For a second, Ivy had the audacity to freeze.

I glared at her.

“Now’s not the time to prioritize feelings. Get in the fucking car.”

Ivy clenched her jaw, but thankfully, she got in the vehicle.

We peeled out with the smell of burned rubber and, hopefully, no tails on us.

29

IVY

“If you don’t care about your life, at least care enough about your mom’s to be more responsible,” Grayson snarled, his knuckles whitening on the steering wheel as the engine’s growl intensified.

Offense shot through me like an arrow. How dare he?

“You’re lecturing me about being responsible now?” I challenged. “How about making sure the person that you’re assassinating is actually guilty before you kill him?”

I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. Grayson didn’t deserve that. He was just acting on orders, and the Grayson I fell for would never willingly harm an innocent. Daniel was the one who gave the order, who set all this in motion. He was the real villain here.

It’s not like Grayson knewwhohe was killing.

I wish I had the capacity to empathize with what Grayson must be going through, the crushing realization that he’d killed an innocent man. But I didn’t have that in me right now, because it hurt too much. The man I loved was the man who stole everything from me.

So, all I could cope with was holding on to my anger and allowing it to choose Grayson for its bull’s-eye.

It was irrational and unfair, but if I were being brutally honest, maybe I was afraid to let go of this fury toward him. Because if I let go of this anger, if I let myself feel anything else…I was terrified of what might rush in to fill that void.

You can’t still be in love with him.

“If we had to split up, why didn’t you go with my mom? I could have gone with Red.”

Grayson’s jaw clenched. “Because you need to tell me what, exactly, you told Detective Mitchell.”

I hated myself for noticing the way his muscles flexed beneath his shirt.

What is wrong with me?

“I told him Daniel kidnapped me and is now after me and my mom. I asked him to investigate so he could arrest Daniel.”

“Did you tell him about the CIA?”

“I told him I believed he was a leader in the CIA, yes. That he manufactured evidence to make me look like an arms dealer to have an excuse to kill me.”

Grayson licked his lip. “You shouldn’t have done that, Ivy. The CIA needs to contain this.”

My jaw went slack. “You’reprotectingthe organization that is trying to kill me?”