"Thank God for that," Tess said. "If you're done, I'm still on my way out the door."
"Be careful, Ms. Sherman. I'm not someone you want to irritate."
"And I'm not someone you want to bully," she said, her anger past the point of no return. "Unless you want to deal with the mess of killing me and figuring out a way to keep the people in this town from noticing my disappearance. Because I can guarantee they'll notice and they'll have a lot of questions. Otherwise, I'm going to go on about my daily life and deal with my personal life how I see fit."
"You think I'd just make you disappear?" she asked. "That would be very reckless of me. It's so easy to have an accident in the home these days. Or for rumors to get started that you've been troubled and depressed recently. Everyone would be shocked by your decision to take your own life."
Tess felt the blood drain from her face, and her skin went cold and clammy with fear. She was dealing with forces that were more powerful than she could ever hope to be. She'd never be completely safe as long as she was involved with The Gravediggers.
"Make sure you clean up your brimstone residue before you leave," Tess said, and hurried out the kitchen door to her car.
Her hands shook as she hit the key fob, and they were still shaking as she drove the three blocks to Miller's house. She'd been stupid to think she could have anything permanent with Deacon. This was the world he came from. The world he lived in. And she had been naïve to think he was capable of having anything different.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Deacon had never been so terrified in his life.
He'd faced death dozens of times, sure-looked down the wrong end of a gun a time or two, been stabbed in the kidney with an ice pick, and he'd had an Italian double agent try to slit his throat while she'd ridden him to orgasm. But none of those incidents had inspired the deep, icy fear that had penetrated his being when he'd returned to the funeral home to find that Eve had taken up residence and Tess was nowhere to be found.
When they entered HQ from the tunnel, Eve was sitting at the head of the conference table, her legs crossed. She had a pint of ice cream in her hand and licked the back of the spoon like the damned cat who'd eaten the canary.
"Where's Tess?" he asked, his gaze narrowing on hers.
"Your kitten has claws," Eve said. She put the lid on the ice cream and set it aside. And then she leaned back in the chair and studied him.
"What did you do?" he asked.
"I told her the truth," she said. "You've always been big on wanting to know the truth, Deacon. Why shouldn't she get the same courtesy?"
"There are shades of the truth," he said. "Which ones did you choose to share with her?"
She smiled then and his brothers moved in beside him. He wasn't a hundred percent sure if it was to give him backup or to hold him back if he lost his shit.
"I just told her what she already knows. That you're an exceptional lover . . ."
"And how the hell would you know that?" he asked.
"You forget that you were on surveillance with that Italian agent. She certainly didn't have any complaints. A woman recognizes when another is faking. And she was enjoying every moment up until she tried to kill you."
"You explained that part to Tess?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"She wouldn't let me finish my appraisal of you. She's got quite the temper."
"I know," he said. "It's one of the things I love most about her."
"Love?" she asked. "You think you're capable of love? After the things you've done? The things you've seen?"
"I'm the same man I've always been. I'll make sacrifices that no one else should have to make. And I'll do what's fucking right. Always. That's why you wanted me. And that's what you've gotten. Otherwise you would've let me die."
His heart was hammering in his throat, but he didn't let her see his anger. That wasn't the way to deal with Eve. She shrugged and drummed her nails on the conference table, a habit of hers he always found irritating as hell.
"Where is she?" he asked again.
"I don't know," she answered. "She left."
"What else did you tell her?"
"Only that you were just following orders."
"That's fucking cold," Elias said, shaking his head.
"Is it?" she asked. "Is it cold to expect the best agents in the world to keep their dicks in their pants and do their jobs? To stay focused on saving lives. Do you think you would've put an end to this sooner if you'd been more concerned with finding their headquarters instead of fucking her bed through the floor?"
"You've got her suite of rooms under surveillance?" he asked, fury rising inside him.