Final Stand by Lisa Phillips

Author:Lisa Phillips
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cia agent, fbi corruption, christian fiction suspense romance, manhunt for terrorist
Publisher: Lisa Phillips

Chapter 21

Portland, OR. Saturday 2.49a.m.

“He killed his father for you?”

Victoria turned to the door, not finding the person she’d been expecting. The man she wanted to see. Dakota stood there, hands on her hips. She shut the door while Victoria sat in the hospital bed, not moving.

Dakota hauled the chair back a foot and plunked herself down in it. “Well?”

“He told you?”

Dakota said, “I get there was a situation and all. But the man killed his father for you. And you’ve got him in the friend zone over it. Like it was his fault.”

Victoria touched the bandage over her eyebrow and shut her eyes for a second.

“And let me tell you,” Dakota continued, “I know a thing or two about killing fathers—”

“Too soon,” Victoria snapped.

“For who?”

“Uh… how about everyone?” She looked at Dakota with a raised brow.

No one’s father was perfect, but Dakota’s hadn’t just hurt her. He’d also hurt a lot of other people. He’d actually murdered her stepmother in front of her. Yes, he’d been a bad guy, and in resisting arrest and attempting to kill her, she’d been forced to discharge her weapon. She’d killed him. That had literally only been a few months ago.

Dakota shrugged her shoulders. She looked so tense it probably hurt.

Victoria sighed. “He really told you?”

“Pin a man down at two in the morning and interrogate him, things tend to come out of his mouth that he wasn’t intending to say.”

Victoria blinked. “Please tell me this isn’t how you plan on having a good marriage.”

Dakota actually cracked a smile. It was short lived. “He might not walk.” She blew out a breath. “Josh might be paralyzed.”

“What did they say?”

“There’s so much swelling around his spine they literally have no idea. We have to wait and see.”

Victoria wasn’t going to placate her with some pithy comment that sounded nice but didn’t mean anything. Dakota was processing her fear.

By coming in here, mad at Victoria.

Anger was easier to handle than fear.

“Meanwhile you and Mark are banished to the friend zone because, what? He saved you. You should be grateful.”

“You think I’m not?”

“I think you don’t like being vulnerable.” Dakota raised one eyebrow. “Which is why you never told anyone about that. So don’t get all mad because he told me and Talia—”

“Talia knows?” Never mind the fact that this woman was the epitome of that “pot calling the kettle black” saying, telling Victoria that she didn’t like being vulnerable. Like Dakota ever did herself.

Dakota’s lips twitched.

“You shouldn’t find other people’s struggles hilarious. It’s not nice.”

“You know we didn’t give him any choice. Anyway, now it’s out. You can move on and get together.” Dakota shrugged. “You love his dog, apparently. So what’s the problem?”

Victoria glanced at the tiny sink in the corner. The blank gray screen of the TV.

There was so much to say, and yet she was having a hard time voicing any of it. She rested her head back on the pillow and shut her eyes. Maybe she’d be more on her game

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