Page 163 of Hate to Love You

…And what I’d have to do about it.

Realizing that Cal is staring at me while I continue to silently spiral out of control in my own personal hell, I nod.

“Even with what I’m seeing here, I still don’t think she works with the Irish,” he says as gently as he can manage.

My eyes find his briefly before he respectfully lowers them to the ground.

“And…why is that?” I ask.

“She doesn’t fit the profile, and this isn’t their MO. And frankly, Boss, if she was sent to kill you, she would’ve done it by now. There’s no reason for her to risk exposure by prolonging her time as a mole.”

There’s a slight ringing in my ears and I can feel my heartbeat pounding within my chest.

“But…why then?” I ask, my voice low. “Why target Igor? Or Boris? Or Jacques? Or any of our men?”

Cal shakes his head.

“I don’t have an answer for that. But the Irish aren’t our only enemies. Igor had quite a few, and more than a few jilted mistresses in his past. But this,” he nods, pointing toward the looping video of Abby slipping the drugs into Igor’s drink. “Tells me that this is not her first time doing this. I can promise you that. It’s too smooth.”

He’s right.

The way Abby’s body movements coincide with her hand discreetly waving over Igor’s glass are so discreet, they would be virtually undetectable unless you were specifically looking for them. It’s so smooth, it’s damn near professional.

Abby is a professional…killer? As in, a serial killer?

Immediately my thoughts drift to her husband.

Her conveniently dead husband.

She’d said he “wasn’t a good person,” and nearly admitted to me that he put his hands on her.

“I’m just suggesting that you think on it,” Cal says, clearing his throat. “We’ve been so focused on Cillian, that perhaps we’re trying to see a motive that fits our objective, instead of an objective that fits her motive. Perhaps there’s more to this than you think.”

Looking up at Cal I can see the brave sincerity in his eyes.

He knows that I could break his jaw for saying something bad about Abigail, and yet he’d still say it if it were the truth. That’s just the type of man he is, and has always been. Loyal. Trustworthy. And keenly observant.

And I know that if he truly thought that Abby was a threat, he wouldn’t be telling me to think about it.

…He’d have killed her already.

Chapter Twenty-Four

ABBY

How the hell did this happen?

How did I catch feelings?

Feelings that have pushed past the point of being just attraction. Roman has become more than a mark, and it happened the moment I hesitated.

The moment he felt like home, was the moment my plans changed irrevocably.

I still can’t believe I allowed him under my skin. And not just under my skin, but into the marrow of me so deeply that I lost control, and carved Heather.

And even after being faced with what I’d done, or what I’d tried to do with the resignation letter, he didn’t punish me. Instead, he threw me over his shoulder like a caveman, and took me to his penthouse to fuck me.

And my God did he fuck me well.