A Shameless Little LIE by Meli Raine

Author:Meli Raine [Raine, Meli]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Another morning of no coffee scent.

And, as I sit up in bed, my reflexes jerky with surprise, no Silas.

“What?” I gasp, covered in chenille, the burgundy cloth like cold skin against my body. I leap to my feet in a panic, confused and disoriented, trying to reconcile a lack of Silas and a lack of a bed with my half-awake state.

I turn and find a strange man staring at me.

He takes one step, then a second, eyes wide with curiosity, lips parting to speak.

I scream.

He lets me.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” the man says, his voice accented. Something Eastern European, the kind of voice actors in old Dracula movies used to have. It doesn’t calm me.

At all.

“SILAS!” I scream. “DUFF!”

“My name is Romeo Czaky and I work for Drew Foster.”

I stop screaming.

“Romeo?” I squeak. “Your name is Romeo?”

Dark eyes with lashes so plentiful, he looks like he’s wearing eyeliner, probe mine, the eye roll well practiced.

“Yes, Romeo.” The R rolls slightly, enough to sound silky, like a cat’s purr. “It is a common name.”

“You’re–you’re from the agency?”

“I am.”

“Where’s Duff?”

“He had to step out.”

“And Silas?”

“I do not know. I am only scheduled to relieve Duff.” He says the name like the U is pronounced “ew.”

My pulse is beating so hard, it feels like I’m shaking the wall I lean against. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

“I have been here for the last four hours, Ms. Borokov.” Unlike Americans, he says the V like an F. “If I wanted to harm you, I had my chance.”

The calm way he delivers such chilling words has a hypnotic effect on me. He’s right. He could have killed me in my sleep. He didn’t.

Therefore, I trust him.

Strange thought pattern in a functional life, I know.

Dysfunction is all I know. When you live in a dysfunctional system, the dysfunctional is functional.

“Okay. But why am I asleep on the couch?”

“Ah. Duff said you were waiting up for Gentian.”

“He never came here?”

“No.”

“Maybe he’s next door.”

“Ah, no. I can confirm that he is not.”

I frown. “Where is he?”

“I do not know.”

“But you know he’s not next door?”

“I’ve been instructed to give you that information.”

Oh, please. Here we go again.

“What other information can you give me?”

“What do you want to know?”

“All of the information you’re not supposed to give me.”

A sneaky smile appears, only there for a second. Romeo sets his mouth to a firm, tight line. “You know I cannot do that.”

“No. I don’t.”

Surprise flickers in eyes the color of hot chocolate. “You don’t?”

“I know you refuse to tell me. Not that you’re unable to.”

He’s underestimated me. He’s realizing it right now, in real time. My advantage is slim and narrowing by the second. Not an enemy, not an ally, Romeo is just another guy in a suit with defensive training and better electronics than most of the bad guys. He probably served in some country’s military forces, like Drew and Silas, and now he’s doing private security for people like me.

He’s seen and not heard.

Like I’m supposed to be.

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