“My colleague is the one who shot at you.”
“You were on the same mission.”
He shook his head.
“Brandon was sent to infiltrate the Carlotti family, but he went dark, and I was sent to pull him out.”
I raised my brow. “You’re telling me you couldn’t manage that.”
“If all I needed to do was extract him, that would have happened weeks ago, but I had to preserve the progress we’ve made so far. I tracked him here and then the shooting started.”
“And what happens next?”
Ghost straightened and took on his government-agent persona again. “That depends on you.”
“Does it?”
“You give us Evan and certain information we need, and—”
“We’re not going to become snitches for you. I’m sure you know how my career ended. I’m not exactly the right person to approach to help the government.”
“Look, I don’t know how much I can promise. Your”—he glanced around the room, though I was sure he’d instantly taken everyone in when he entered. His eyes rested for far too long on Jacob—“contact may be able to work something out, but making something this big disappearis above my pay grade.”
I huffed. “I remember when you didn’t think anything was impossible.”
“We’ve both changed a lot since then.”
We had. “About Evan. As much as I’d like to rip the little bastard apart, I know he’s been used by your colleague and by his family. Do you plan to get him help?”
“I promise you he’ll be given the help he needs.”
“I don’t think he’s mentally stable,” Jacob said.
I’d told Jacob to watch and not participate, but I should have known he wasn’t going to listen. The only time he listened to me was when we were naked.
Ghost turned toward him and smiled. “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure…”
I moved between him and Jacob. “Don’t.”
“This all might work out better for you if you only took in ‘clients’ who were able to defend themselves like this one.” He tilted his head toward TJ.
I snarled at him. “Jacob isn’t a client.”
He raised his brows. “Hmm.” Ghost leaned to the side to look around me. “Why are you here?”
I didn’t want Ghost anywhere near Jacob. “He’s—”
“I’m a friend of Grant and his brothers,” Jacob said.
I knew he didn’t want to say the wrong thing, but hearing him refer to me as a friend made my stomach turn. He was so much more than that to me.
“A friend?” Ghost wasn’t stupid enough to believe that.
“He’s mine.”
Rogue whistled, and Rhys shook his head.
“And what do you say to that?” Ghost asked Jacob.