Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
He wasn’t sure he could kill her at all. Even knowing what she’d done, he could still see the child she’d been.
“What happened, Jules?” The question came out on a wistful tone, and he realized if he could see the child she’d been, the boy who’d loved his sister was still in there, too.
Her expression softened. “Life, I suppose. It wasn’t one thing, really. It was a gradual opening of my eyes to the fact that the world isn’t salvageable. It isn’t. It’s always been run this way, and it always will be. It is better to be one of them than one of the sheep they lead to slaughter. You know there is good work to be done here, too. When you’re high up in the organization you get to choose.”
He understood what she meant. “You get to play God.”
“Isn’t that what you do every day? Isn’t that what the Agency does when they send you out to do what you do? How many times have you made the call in the field to save someone or blow them away? You’re not that different from me, Drake. You simply are less honest about what you do.”
He could at least be honest with her. “I’m going to have to bring you in.”
She sat back, a smirk hitting lips he didn’t recognize. “I’d love to see you try. I’m not alone. You think you’re safe because you think you’re in your world. In Mom’s world. But the truth of the matter is, you’re in mine. Don’t worry. I have no need to take you out. You are my brother, and I love you.”
“I doubt that.”
A brow rose over her eyes. “You think I’m incapable of love?”
“I know what you did to our mother was cruel.”
Her eyes flared. “What you did to her was cruel. What Kyle did to her was cruel.” She took a long breath and seemed to come to some decision as she relaxed. “But I also understand that the day Kyle tried to kill me was a confusing one. My fiancé has a naïve soul, but we’re going to work it out because we were meant to be together.”
He felt a momentary sympathy for her. “Julia, he hates you.”
She seemed to consider the notion for a moment. “What is hate? It’s the strongest emotion on earth besides love. He’s confused and I lied to him, so he’s punishing me but playing around with sad little girls who have daddy issues. Now that Mae Beatrice Vaughn is out of the picture, we can have this out. I accept the wrongs I did to him. I even accept that he might have thought I was going to kill him. He should have had more faith in us, but we were young. We’re going to be stronger this time.”
There was a piece of his soul that felt sorry for her because she really did need help. He leaned over, his voice going quiet. “You need to leave Kyle alone. Nothing good is going to come of going after him. Let me take you in. I have contacts. I can get you the help you need.”
For a moment, she paled and stared as though that had been the last thing she’d expected from him. Then she flushed, anger obviously replacing her shock. Her eyes narrowed. “The only help I needed was loyalty from you, but I can see I’m not going to get it.” She stood, clutching her designer bag. “It’s time for you to ask some questions. My organization has a lot of pull with politicians. Perhaps it’s time you figure out I’m not the only one in our family who can be swayed by practicality. Tell Kyle I’m coming for him and if he wants to keep this between the two of us, he’ll stay far away from that little bitch of his. If he brings her back into this, I’ll consider everyone in his life fair game. I’ll take them out one by one until he decides to honor the vows he made to me. Do you understand?”
He stood, ready to finish this. “I…”
He felt something hard at the back of his spine. “Mr. Radcliffe, I think you should sit down now. We wouldn’t want to cause a scene, would we?”
“No, of course not.” He held his hands at his sides and realized there were several sets of eyes on him. All male. All brawny and likely armed. She’d brought her own army. “I was going to give my sister a hug.”
“Somehow I doubt that, Drake, and I know you won’t believe it, but it makes me sad.” She didn’t move an inch toward him. “I don’t know what you’re working on but make sure you stay far away from me and mine. Don’t think for a second I’m the only person who worked for both the Agency and The Consortium. I assure you I wasn’t and I’m not. My group has eyes everywhere, and we’ll figure out what’s going on with you sooner or later. Tell Kyle he should answer when I call. I get impatient. He knows I can lash out when I’m impatient, and if I can’t lash out at him…”