Love & Deception (Agents in Love - Book 1) (28 page)

Then again, Carlie persisted with the
Princess Stephanie lie, so she apparently never planned to tell him
the truth.

Nick took deep, cleansing breaths, fighting
to hold onto his karate training and clear his mind. What he really
wanted to do was shove his fist through the wall. Maybe that would
stop the horrible pain piercing his heart.

She lied. All this time, Paul was right.
Nick let himself believe in her, care for her...love her. Like a
damn fool.

“Shit!” The cleansing breaths weren’t
working, and Nick clenched his hands into tight fists.

Carlie deserved an Academy Award with the
way she’d pulled off the lies about her unhappy marriage and the
baby she lost. He foolishly believed her—every single word. That
same story convinced him she lied now. Bringing Gabi into the
picture to explain the bracelet was the lowest form of low.

He forced in another breath and pulled out
his phone, snapping pictures of the sparkling diamonds from
different angles. Although he’d head to the hotel to look at the
pictures Paul provided, Nick remembered them well. This little
bauble wasn’t a family heirloom from the royals of Maharla. It
looked exactly like a terrorist bracelet.

After hiding everything back in the ‘safe,’
Nick hurried to his hotel. He had to call Paul eventually, but
clung to a hope that he’d remembered wrong. Maybe Carlie’s bracelet
looked nothing like the pictures. If only she were telling the
truth. They could go forward with his plans to leave the country
and live in delirious happiness together.

Shuffling through the different pictures a
few minutes later left no doubt. He compared the third photo to the
snapshots on his phone. It was exactly the same. There was a remote
possibility Ryan’s family shopped at the same stores as the
terrorists for jewelry, but somehow Nick doubted that.

He gritted his teeth and dialed Paul’s
number. Although his heart shattered into a million tiny pieces at
Carlie’s betrayal, he had a job to do and American citizens to
protect.

“Nick?” Surprise was clear in Paul’s voice.
“I didn’t expect to speak with you until President Sharp
returned.”

“We have a complication.” Though his throat
constricted with grief, he forced himself to continue. “I found
what you’re looking for.”

“Really?” Paul sucked in a loud breath. “Did
you stumble upon it, or did the target come clean with you?”

“She showed me. I think it was an accident
on her part. I gave her a present and she wanted to put it in a
safe place. When I asked about that, she had no choice but to show
me.”

“That’s disturbing news, given the other
phone call I received this morning. The agent tailing Muhammad Khan
overheard plans of something happening Thanksgiving weekend.”

Carlie said she was helping Muhammad
Thanksgiving morning, but seemed excited about Donovan and Madeline
coming to visit. What did she plan to do, attack somewhere during
the day and play happy hostess at night?

“I’m sorry, Nick.”

Paul’s voice startled him almost as much as
the apology did. “Why are you sorry?”

“I tried to warn you. I knew you were
falling for the target. It’s happened to us all at some point, but
it really sucks when you learn your trust was put in the wrong
person.”

Nick rubbed his right temple. The dull,
throbbing headache had started shortly after seeing the bracelet,
and struggling to control his emotions didn’t help. “You sound like
this has happened to you before.”

“It has. I had only been an agent at
S.A.T.O. for a year. Surprised it took you so long to have it
happen, actually. It’s hard to work so closely to someone without
feeling something, even if you know better. We’re human, after
all.”

“I always knew the other targets lied to me.
Carlie seemed so sincere. I believed her.”

“That’s what happened to Jason Steele, too.
I felt bad having you take him out, but instead of coming to me
when he found out his target was lying, he helped her.” Paul made a
disgusted noise. “The President almost died because of it. He was a
loose cannon that we couldn’t afford, and the board members
realized we had to change the way S.A.T.O. ran.”

So that was the reason for the changes in
the organization. Nick had guessed as much, but hadn’t dared ask.
“Thanks for telling me. I’ve been frustrated with things since
Jason.”

“I know that, and I’ve been worried about
you. When I saw you getting in too deep with this target, I decided
it would be a good test for you. It would let me know if you were
trustworthy or not.”

“And now?” A thrill of dread went through
Nick, wondering if his life was in danger.

“The people of the United States are
fortunate to have you defending them. You’re a real hero, Nick,
even if they don’t know it.”

It was hard to feel pride while heartbroken
about Carlie. “Thank you, sir.”

“I’ll set up a phone conference with the
President. Knowing Khan has something planned for the holiday
weekend, we can’t wait. I’ll call you with further instructions
soon. For now, keep an eye on things.”

“Do you have any idea what, exactly, Khan
plans?” Nick asked. “Did you ever figure out what that bracelet
does?”

“We have some guesses,” Paul said. “We think
the plan is to disrupt the shipping industry through that part of
the country. Portland has the third largest port in the US. If they
put a stop to that, it will cripple our economy over the long term.
Short term, they can stop our ability to ship food to people.
Portland has ships, trains, air traffic, and trucking all out of
there. It’s a huge key to our supply chain.”

Nick closed his eyes. That would be a
complete disaster. Not many people grew their own food. Without the
shipping industry, Americans couldn’t survive long. Is that truly
what Carlie planned? What irony. She and Muhammad fed homeless
people, all while planning to starve the entire country later.

He was a secret agent, trained to follow
orders and protect Americans. Did he have any right having personal
feelings when his target’s plan would hurt everyone…innocent
children?

“How can they shut it down?” he finally
asked.

“We think the microchips affect computer
systems, either a virus or by taking it over so the terrorists can
control things remotely. It probably isn’t their only weapon, but
will be an effective one.”

Nick wondered what other methods they would
use and to what extent Carlie was involved. Did she make the plans
or just follow orders?

“Don’t let her leave with that bracelet,”
Paul said, breaking into his thoughts. “No matter
what
you
have to do to stop her.”

“Understood, sir. I’ll await further
instructions.”

Nick hung up the phone and stared at the
picture of the terrorist bracelet. How could he face Carlie,
knowing what he knew? Somehow, he had to find the inner strength to
pretend nothing had changed. His first stop had to be the dojo. All
his life karate had given him purpose and balance, and he
desperately needed to find that now.

If he couldn’t control his emotions before
seeing her again, his mission would fail. For the first time in a
week, Nick forced himself to think about what that meant, what was
at risk. His feelings were unimportant in the overall scenario.
Even though he loved Carlie and couldn’t turn that off by snapping
his fingers, he also couldn’t let her harm innocent people.

***

It was a quarter to six when Nick finally
walked into the shop. Carlie let out a sigh of relief at the wide
smile that split his face when he saw her. She grinned in return
and waved. Although she wanted to run and jump into his arms, there
were still a few customers finishing their meals, so she walked
sedately to him.

She took his hand in hers and looked into
his dark eyes. “I’ve been worried about you today. Why didn’t you
text me back?”

“Sorry, my lady. I went for a workout this
morning, and then I had a small catastrophe at the restaurant. By
the time I saw your message, I was already on my way back to
you.”

Relief flooded through her. She’d half
convinced herself Nick was still upset about her keeping Gabi’s
bracelet and not telling him about the money sooner. It was nice to
have a reasonable explanation that had nothing to do with the
strangeness between them earlier. He seemed perfectly normal
now.

“Is everything okay at the restaurant?” she
asked.

“It will be. I’ll have a few more things to
do tomorrow, but there’s nothing for you to worry about.” He
squeezed her hand tightly. “I wanted to make sure I got here before
Shelley left you alone, so I told my manager everything would have
to wait.”

“You take such good care of me.” Carlie
smiled, resisting the urge to kiss him. “I really would be okay by
myself. You don’t have to put your life on hold. I’m great at the
defenses you taught, so you don’t need to worry.”

Nick shrugged. “I can’t help worrying about
you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and we have
to keep you safe. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“Well, lucky for you, we won’t be here too
long tonight. I’ve already cleaned the kitchen except these last
customers’ dishes. I just have to count the cash while Shelley mops
out here and then get a money order mailed out to my business
partner so he can pay the bills.”

Nick glanced at his watch. “The banks are
closed tonight. You can’t get a money order.”

“Shelley went for me earlier. It’s a bit
silly to do business like this. Maybe Bradley could make her an
authorized person on the bank account. Then she could sign checks
for stuff. I didn’t realize how much time he’d be putting into the
business when he agreed to help. I hope I can send him some profits
soon.”

Though she grinned, a crease formed between
Nick’s eyebrows and he didn’t return the smile. “Shelley left you
here alone?”

“Don’t go getting upset with her. I tried to
get a hold of you, but couldn’t.” Although she knew it was
ungrateful, she felt resentful that no one thought she could be by
herself for five minutes. “Shelley didn’t want me alone either, so
I called Muhammad. He picked up the food earlier than usual and
stayed with me until Shelley got back.” She refrained from rolling
her eyes by sheer determination. “Happy now?”

“You were with Muhammad?”

“Yes. He kept me perfectly safe, so there’s
no point in getting angry with me.”

Across the room, Shelley waved to get her
attention and pointed at one of Carlie’s tables. They looked ready
for their check.

“Nick, I don’t know what’s happened to us
today, but there’s a lot of tension. Can we put this on hold and
work things out tonight? I have customers to take care of, but
you’re more important to me than anything else.”

His mouth turned down in a frown. “Am I
really?”

“Of course.”

Hurt and confused, Carlie walked to the
table, forcing a happy smile on her face as she helped the family
settle their bill. They were thrilled with the food and promised to
come back. Normally, that would have made Carlie’s entire night
brighter.

Nick glowering at her from the corner put a
damper on everything. This was a side of him she’d never seen
before. She wished she understood what the problem was.

***

They rode home in silence. Nick knew he
screwed up again. No matter how many times he reminded himself
Carlie was a target and he had to do his job, it didn’t seem to
matter. His feelings got so tangled and confused when he was near
her. After taking the entire day to prepare himself, two seconds in
her company had him feeling hurt and angry all over again and
lashing out.

On top of that, she spent time alone today
with Muhammad. He couldn’t even guess what plans the pair of them
made. They probably laughed at how gullible Nick was the entire
time.

That’s what hurt the most. He thought Carlie
was actually falling in love with him. His feelings for her ran
deeper than anything he’d ever experienced, and she only pretended
to feel the same.

He’d only known her a short time. How could
he care for her so much?

He glanced over. Carlie sat with her arms
crossed over her big brown coat and stared out the passenger
window. Pretty much the same attitude she showed since Shelley left
them alone at the shop.

“You’re awfully quiet over there, hon.” He
couldn’t bring himself to call her ‘my lady’ again. That was a
special name for the woman he loved, but it felt wrong when he’d
said it at the shop. Now he knew the truth—Carlie wasn’t his
lady.

“I’m just thinking. Trying to figure out
what went wrong, actually.” She sighed and turned in the seat to
face him. “What did I do?”

Nick pulled into the driveway and turned off
the car, trying not to let the plaintive note in her voice affect
him. She sounded sad, but it was an act. He couldn’t let himself
forget, not this time. “It’s my fault. You didn’t do anything
wrong.” If she could lie, so could he. “I’ve been trying not to
think about it, but today’s Dad’s birthday. I think that’s why I’m
so sensitive.”

Compassion filled her eyes and she patted
his leg. “I didn’t know. Do you ever think about calling him? Maybe
it could help.”

Although his dad’s birthday was actually in
March, Carlie somehow managed to ask a question that would force
him into sharing more with her. Then again, his true feelings might
put her fears to rest in a way his subpar acting abilities
couldn’t. “He has a new family and no need for me. I don’t want to
talk to him.”

Knowing her usual do-gooder act, he half
expected her to argue, but she surprised him by nodding. “Some
relationships aren’t worth the time.”

He wondered if she were thinking about Ryan,
before reminding himself she was never really married to the
prince.