Edge of Betrayal (12 page)

M
ira had always considered Payton a friend. Almost like a father. The idea that he’d lie to her sat in her stomach like a hot coal.

Was she really so gullible that everyone could lie to her and get away with it?

She used Payton’s dog tags to track his location. He was still at work despite the late hour. By the time she marched into his office, a little part of her had died. She knew the truth. Payton had lied to her about her father’s death.

“Where is my father?” she asked as she went through his office door without knocking.

Payton looked up. Even at this hour, his hair was still perfect, his tie in place, and his suit unwrinkled. In spite of his perfect grooming, she could see his fatigue hanging on him. It shadowed his eyes and dragged at his skin, making him look older than he was.

He sat his pen down, lining it up precisely along the notepad in front of him. His gaze slid past her, moving over her head to where Adam stood at her back.

She could feel his bulk there, creating a sort of gravitational pull on her. He’d always had that kind of magnetic energy about him, but she felt it much more now.

She never should have kissed him.

It didn’t matter that it was chaste, or that it had lasted for only a couple of seconds. It had been real. A genuine reaction to the way he made her feel. Denying that he had such power over her would only make it more likely she’d screw up and kiss him again.

Every cell in her body apart from one tiny little square inch of logic left in her brain wanted her to do just that. Only this time with tongue.

Payton stood and buttoned his suit coat. “Mira, what are you doing here so late?”

“You heard my question. Where is Dad?”

Once again, Payton’s gaze moved to Adam.

His deep voice came out quiet but filled with warning. “We know Sage is alive.”

Technically, that wasn’t true, but Adam’s lie had the desired result.

Payton let out a deep breath as if he’d been holding it for weeks. “I’m sorry you had to find out,” he said to Mira. “My hope was that you’d find some peace, some closure.”

She thought she’d been prepared for the truth, but the pain of betrayal lanced through her with surprising force. She swayed against it. Her palms tingled with shock, and her ribs seemed to constrict around her lungs, making it hard to breathe.

Adam’s long fingers wrapped around her arms to steady her. His body moved closer until there was no space left between them and she was leaning on him for support.

How strange it was that Adam was holding her up under the pain of Payton’s betrayal instead of the other way around.

The whole situation left her reeling and struggling to find level emotional ground. She didn’t know what to do next. Didn’t know what to say. Her world was upside down, and everyone she usually turned to in times of crisis was out of reach.

She was on her own. Except for Adam.

“Where is Sage?” he asked, his voice hard.

“In a secure location.”

“Where you held Clay?” she asked.

Payton nodded. “We still don’t know where all of Sage’s lab facilities are. We still don’t have all the research—all the names of those he experimented on.”

“You’re interrogating him,” stated Adam, as if commenting that the sky was blue.

“Daily.”

“He hasn’t said a word, has he?” asked Mira.

“Your father is a stubborn man.”

Adam’s thumb stroked across her arm in a comforting sweep. “He has people on the outside. They’re searching for him. He knows they’ll come and he’ll bide his time until they do.”

“They’ll never find him,” said Payton.

“You don’t know that,” said Mira. “They could be at your secret facility right now, breaking him free. How would you even know?”

His hand jerked toward his phone. The move was tiny, but enough for her to tell that he was definitely connected to the people who held her father.

Maybe she should hack into his phone and find out what she could for herself. She sure as hell couldn’t trust him to tell her the truth. Not anymore.

“The holding facility is secure,” said Payton. “You have my word.”

“Which is worth less than a bucket of spit.” What would her father do to her if he was free? As a kid, she used to resist his attempts to test her. She’d fake ignorance or fail on purpose, just to piss him off. That’s when he’d bring in the other kids from the lab and hurt them in front of her until she did as he wanted.

What would he do now that she’d lied to him, stolen precious data, and ruined his plans? Who would he hurt now to gain her compliance?

Her voice shook. “You should have killed him. You have no idea what he’s capable of.”

Payton eased down into his chair, moving with an uncharacteristic frailty. “Sadly, I do. That’s why I had to let him live. He’s hurt so many people. It’s my duty to find as many of them as I can and try to help them. What I need to know is locked in his head. All that’s left is finding a way to extract it.”

“He’ll never talk,” said Adam. “Not so long as he knows his people are alive and working on a rescue.”

“Then I’ll tell him they’re dead. Give me enough details to make it believable.”

“He won’t ever believe you,” said Mira. “He’s convinced that his control over his subordinates is absolute. Even if you tell him that some of them are dead, you have no way of knowing how many people he controls.” She pulled in a deep breath and prayed she wasn’t making a huge mistake. She doubted her ability to sway her father to do the right thing, but she was smart. She might be able to gain some bit of information that someone who didn’t know him as well couldn’t. “But he knows he has no control over me. Let me meet with him. Talk to him.”

“No,” said both Payton and Adam at the same time.

She could feel Adam’s growl at her back. “You’re not getting anywhere near that monster. I’ve seen what he’s willing to do to you.”

The bullet scar along her ribs burned.

Payton glanced up at Adam. “Maybe she’s right. Maybe she can get information out of him that none of us have been able to pry free.”

“It’s worth a shot,” said Mira.

Adam stepped around to face her. “I won’t let you put yourself within his grasp again.”

“It’s the only way. We need to find his labs. The trigger phrases he used to control his subjects are still out there. If someone were to get his hands on them . . .”

Payton’s fatigue seemed to vanish in a flash. Cunning brilliance brightened his eyes, and Mira swore she could see the pieces of some puzzle click into place inside his mind. She had no idea what it was he seemed to have figured out, but he was pleased.

His voice came through, calm and cool. “Adam, if you’re so worried about Mira’s safety, you can go with her.”

“If I see that man again, I’m going to want to kill him,” said Adam.

“You won’t be allowed to go anywhere near him armed.”

“I don’t need a gun to kill. You know that.” Adam tilted his head, staring at Payton. “Maybe that’s what you want.”

“If I wanted Sage dead, he’d be that way.”

As much as she hated her father, she didn’t like to picture him dead. All this talk of killing was making her stomach turn. She needed to move forward and figure out what to do with the information she now had.

“Why did you lie to me?” asked Mira. “Why not just tell me he was still alive?”

“Because I wanted your nightmare to be over. I’ve spent years trying to set things right, trying to undo some of the damage I’ve caused. I thought that it would be easiest for you if you thought he was dead.”

“Did you ever stop to think how it would feel to know you lied to me?” she asked. “I trusted you. You were the closest thing to a real father I’ve ever had. Your betrayal of my trust hurts far more than the bullet my own father put in me.”

As she said the words, the truth in them broke free. Payton had hurt her. Badly. She’d always seen him as an ally, and now he was just one more man willing to use her to get what he wanted.

The only solace she could find was that they both wanted the same thing: the location of the labs where her father hid his research and any information they could find to help those he’d damaged.

“I’m going to see him,” she told Payton. “You have twenty-four hours to make it happen, or I find my own way.”

He nodded slowly. “I understand. You’ll have your meeting.”

“I will be there as well,” said Adam. “She’s not going anywhere alone with either you or Sage.”

Payton’s face was stoic, but his posture seemed to relax. Mira couldn’t help but think that she’d somehow just given him exactly what he wanted.

*   *   *

Adam trailed behind Mira, unsure what to do. It was clear to him that she was upset, emotional, and shaken, but those weren’t the kinds of problems he knew how to solve.

He followed her to her office, slipping in behind her through the door without an invitation.

She stopped, turned, and looked up at him. “What?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“No, I mean what do you want?”

To comfort her, but he didn’t dare say that. “You just found out your father is alive. I thought you might want to talk about it.”

She closed her eyes, and for a brief second, he thought she might actually accept his offer to help. Instead, she straightened her spine and squared her shoulders. “Talking isn’t going to change anything. All I need to concentrate on now is being strong enough to get through seeing him again.”

“Payton wanted the meeting,” he said, feeling obligated to share his conclusion.

“I thought so, too. But why?”

Adam took her question as enough of an invitation to invade her private office space. It wasn’t the warm welcome he would have liked, but it was as close as a man like him was going to get.

He slipped past her and took a seat in the guest chair at her desk. “My guess is that Payton thinks your father might tell you something he wouldn’t tell anyone else.”

“I haven’t taken any interrogation training yet. I have no idea where to even begin prying information out of him.”

“You don’t need to know a thing. If Payton is right and Sage will give you information, then he’ll do it because you’re his daughter, not because you’re skilled with a set of thumbscrews.”

She eased into her chair as if she were made of glass and afraid she’d shatter.

Adam’s fingers ached to reach out for her, but he kept them curled tightly around the arms of the chair.

“I just don’t know anymore, Adam. I keep thinking I finally have a grip on my life, and then everything spins upside down and I’m left reeling.” Her gaze met his, and he swore he could sense how hard she fought back her tears. “My father is alive. How could I not have known that? How could I not have suspected?”

“Payton is a skilled liar. There’s no shame in being fooled.”

“The way you fooled me? Am I really just that gullible?”

“You know how to trust. It’s a rare and beautiful thing. You shouldn’t let me, Payton, your father, or anyone else steal that from you.”

She rubbed her eyes as if a headache was forming. All Adam could think about was where and how he could touch her to ease her suffering.

“Does your head hurt?” he asked.

“A little.”

“You haven’t had much sleep, and you’ve had too much stress.”

Her rubbing motion stopped and she peeked at him through her fingers. “Same goes for you. Doesn’t seem to be getting you down.”

“I could make up one of the beds in the on-call room.”

“Thanks, but I couldn’t sleep, anyway.”

“Do you want me to drive you home?” he asked.

She looked at him for an extended moment, and he couldn’t figure out what was going on inside her head. It both puzzled and intrigued him.

When she finally spoke, the last thing he expected to hear was, “Maybe I don’t belong in the field if I can’t even tell when someone is lying to me.”

“That’s why you have a partner.”

She stared again, and this time he stopped trying to guess what she’d say and simply enjoyed her undivided attention.

“Have you lied to me since Bella assigned us as partners?” she asked.

“No. I tried to shoo you away from my house, but I wouldn’t consider that a lie.”

“Would you tell me if you had lied?”

“No.”

“Well, at least that’s the truth.”

He needed to find a way to prove to her that he was being honest. The only thing he could think of was to tell her something he didn’t want her to know—something private.

He pondered the idea for less than three seconds before he decided that the risk was worth the reward.

“I want to touch you,” he admitted. “All the time.”

She lifted her head, her eyes wide with shock.

“I want to be close to you, to know you’re safe. I want to make your pain go away.”

“What?”

He couldn’t tell if his attempt to reach out was working, but he’d gone too far to turn back now. “You make me want things I’ve never cared about before.”

Her response was slow, giving him plenty of time to squirm. “Like what?”

“The ability to travel back in time, for starters.”

She straightened, giving him her absolute attention. “To do what?”

“Kill your father. Before I met you. Before he used me to hurt you.”

She swallowed, but she was still with him. She hadn’t cringed or shied away from the violence of his words. “But then you would have never found out about your brother.”

“I would have found another way.”

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.

“So you’ll know I’m capable of honesty. I understand it won’t change what I did to you, but it might change how you see me in the future.”

“Why do you care?”

He opened his mouth, but there were too many thoughts for any one of them to come out. They all clumped together in a confusing mass that silenced him.

“Adam?” she asked again, her voice quieter now. “Do you care how Bella sees you?”

“No, so long as she knows I’m capable of doing my job.”

“Payton?”

“No, so long as he knows I will kill him if he hurts you.”

“Uh. Okay. Not exactly what I expected, but I can run with that.” She covered the back of his hand with hers. “If you don’t care much about how they see you, then why do you care what I think about you?”