Page 155 of A Second Dawn
Our eyes meet and don’t let go.
An odd sensation washes over me. It’s like a clash of worlds, a collision of opposing forces that shouldn’t align. Yet, there’s that recognition again that defies logic, that unsettling familiarity I can’t ignore. As much as I’d like to dismiss it, it appears our souls do recognize each other, even if our personalities vehemently disagree. It wasn’t a fluke yesterday. Though I wish it was.
Unwavering, his stare remains on me. In his gaze, I catch a glimpse of a journey that’s wildly different from my own. It’s a reminder that individual lives are painted with different brushes and colors. I catch glimpses of struggles that I’ll never comprehend, battles fought on a field I’ve never set foot on. It’s unsettling to witness the vulnerability he lets slip through the cracks of his guarded facade.
The emotions within him play out in his eyes and strangely, I seem to hold the key to understanding every single one of them. They’re like a turbulent storm, a mix of defiance and bewilderment. I can almost taste the clash between his instinct to distance himself, or better still, kill me off, and the undeniable pull toward each other.
It’s a struggle that mirrors my own… my resistance to accepting a connection that shouldn’t exist, yet stubbornly persists.
“How did you find Ella in Halifax?” I ask, breaking the silence between us.
It’s a question that’s been plaguing me ever since he turned up in Canada.
It’s also the perfect topic to distract me from my disturbing emotions. Not disturbing because they’re sexual. Far from it. I’m not in the least attracted to De Marco.
If he’s the other missing part of my soul, shouldn’t my reaction be similar to what I had with Ella? It’s clearly not, so why am I troubled? Maybe it’s because my emotions lean toward empathy. And I don’t want to feel that for a man I swore to loathe.
My eyes remain laser-sharp on him. “We were careful about what we put on the Freemont server. It can’t have been through there,” I say, trying to open up a conversation.
It catches everyone’s attention, and the girls fall quiet.
Ella turns in De Marco’s arm to look at him. A smile tugs at his lips, but he suppresses it.
“Youwerecareful… and clever with what you wanted me to believe. But you were no match for my hackers. There’s a reason I only employ the best.”
He sounds cocky as hell, but why sugar-coat the truth? I imagine he pays a pretty dime for their services. So why not gloat?
“How then?” I ask again, my eyes narrowing with suspicion.
“You don’t have a mole, if that’s what you’re worried about.” De Marco reads me correctly. Guess I’m not the only one who has a guidebook to the other’s emotions.
“Your mistake was to underestimate me, Burg. Did you really think you could hide the one person who means most to me? That I would give up on finding her? Never.”
I remain quiet, waiting for him to elaborate, but he seems to have no intention of getting into details.
“I’d like to know too,” Ella chimes in. “How did you find me?”
Both mine and De Marco’s gazes go to her. His softens, and he strokes her cheek tenderly.
Argh!
He’s rubbing it in now.
“My team left no stone unturned,” he says to Ella. “They monitored the business and private communications of every single Freemont employee even remotely associated with your case.
“All it took was one minor slip up, and it all unravelled from there. In fact, that minor slip up involved you.” He pointedly looks at me.
Me?
No, that can’t be! I’ve been extra careful at all times. I rack my brain to recall what I could have done to give Ella away.
My gaze goes to her. She looks as confused as I feel.
“The little banter between Marni Rodriguez and you gave us the opening we were waiting for. Your answer to an innocent question from the person assigned to pick up Ella from the cruise ship brought down Fremont’s deception.”
What banter?
I’m not moving anymore, my body rock solid with tension. What did I say to Marni that gave the game away?