I see Agent Walker position himself at the doorway, possibly to get in between the two men should they find themselves in another scuffle.
I can feel everyone’s eyes on me but I’m stuck on what Gabe is trying to say.
I feel my own anger rise, not even knowing the reason why yet.
“I lied.” Gabe shakes his head, eyes shut. “About everything. Noah had no clue you were here.”
My breath stills, coming out in a painful gasp.
He can’t possibly be saying what I think he’s saying.
“Two years ago, when we received intel that there might be a mole in the bureau and specifically in our team, Noah was one of the suspects. He was the lead agent in our investigation and when he was assigned the case, information started leaking. Knowing Noah, I was sure it couldn’t be him but I couldn’t give him a heads up. Instead, I had both your names planted in our servers to flag any correspondence and intercept a possible threat in an attempt to clear his name.”
Gabe starts pacing back and forth, a hand shoving through his hair.
“That day I came to your house? There was a text message that was flagged in the system with your name, address, and picture, Ria. A single message came with it.”
“What?” I breathe out, not wanting but needing to know.
“Get the girl. Kill the agent.”
I shoot to my feet and my stomach plummets.
“I knew I had to get you out of there, but there was protocol I had to follow. I wasn’t the only one who saw the flagged message. The director saw it too. Within an hour, he had arranged a safe house and transport to get you out. But under one condition: Noah couldn’t know. He was still under suspicion and deep undercover at the assignment. Then when I got to your house, you were frantic. You were crying and begging me to call Noah, but I couldn’t do that without going against orders and putting Noah and you in more danger. The only thing I could do was to lie, to get you out of that house. I told you he knew—that he orchestrated the whole thing. When I told you to write that letter saying you were leaving, it was for Noah’s benefit as much as it was for whoever was going to come into your house.”
The note.
The fake one I was told to address to Noah, where I wrote that I was leaving him.
My breaths come in gulps and I have to sit back down to ease the panic building.
Before I can even blink, Noah crosses the room to me. He kneels and places his hands on mine.
The heat of his touch burns and I rip my hands out from under his. He falls back like I’ve struck him and I struggle to make sense of the guilt I feel at causing him that pain.
I’msupposedto be angry with him, right?
I ignore Noah’s tearful gaze as I look back at Gabe to continue.
“Then when we got here and you said you were pregnant, things had escalated in our investigation. Noah was cleared but we were still struggling to find out who it was in our team that was feeding Sotnas and his cartel with intel. We couldn’t pull him without alerting whoever it was and we knew that if Noah found out you were pregnant, he would—”
I’m shaking my head in a desperate attempt to understand all this.
“Leave the job and come find me?”
Gabe sighs. “Yes. But that would put you in even more danger, so I made the decision to keep lying to you. To both of you. I told you he knew but he had a job to do. And I only pretended to help Noah find you.”
Noah jumps to his feet and starts towards Gabe.
Agent Walker places himself between them, a hand to Noah’s chest.
“Easy, Agent Thomas. Let’s not do that again.”
“Fuck you! All of you!”
“Noah…” It’s a mere whisper but he hears it. His eyes lock with mine. His face is wet with tears and his eyes dance around my face like a mad man. “I want to hear the rest of it.”
Gabe takes a half step towards me and I know what he’s going to say before he even does.