There was so much pain on his face.

She wouldn’t lie to him—couldn’t lie, not then.

“It’s a fake,” he said again, but this time his gaze flew up to meet hers.

Jennifer shook her head. “No, it’s not.”

Shock came first, then anger. Betrayal. “What is going on?” Brodie demanded.

Seeing that picture, knowing that she’d been tracked to the home of Brodie’s parents, Jennifer just couldn’t keep up the lies. Not when he’d been seconds away from dying. Because he was saving me. “I’m not who you think I am.”

“I’m figuring that out.”

But he was learning the truth...too late.

* * *

FOUR ANGRY MCGUIRE men glared at Jennifer. She was back at the McGuire Securities office. Davis hadn’t seen any sign of the man on the motorcycle. He and Brodie had searched the area, but they’d turned up nothing.

And then they’d taken her in for questioning.

Like I’m the criminal.

Maybe...maybe she was.

Grant McGuire was seated behind his desk. From her research, she already knew he was the eldest McGuire brother. His eyes raked over her, and his face was a stone mask. Grant was the former army ranger. The one who’d first formed McGuire Securities after he’d left the military. From what she’d learned about Grant, the man was a force to be reckoned with and definitely not someone you’d want as an enemy.

It’s a pity he seems to be my enemy now.

Mackenzie “Mac” McGuire stood to the right of Grant. He was the one who’d been in Delta Force. When he spoke, his voice was clipped, hard. He looked like the other McGuires—same green eyes, same handsome but hard features. Same glare at her.

Davis and Brodie were to the left of Grant. Brodie was glaring at her, and Davis, well, he kept casting nervous glances at his twin.

She felt rather nervous when she looked at Brodie, too.

“Ms. Wesley,” Grant’s voice was smooth, totally lacking emotion. “There’s a date and time stamp on this image.”

Yes, unfortunately, there was.

“You visited our parents just days before their death. That was a visit that none of us were aware of.”

That had rather been the point. Secret visits were supposed to be secret.

“Why?” Brodie rasped. “Why did you see them?”

She took a bracing breath. The why was actually easy enough. The rest of the story would be the gut-wrenching part. “Because you saved me.”

His brows shot up. “What?”

“You risked your life to save mine. After what you did for me, did you honestly think I’d walk away without trying to repay you?” I always pay my debts. Her gaze slid to the picture. Brodie’s mother had been a lovely woman. Kind and friendly. And Brodie had gotten his dimples from her.

“How did you even find my mother?” Brodie stalked around the desk and came toward her. “You only had my first name. You wouldn’t have been given clearance to a SEAL’s files.”

“I have more clearance than you know.” Her clearance was a big part of the problem. Her hands tightened around the arms of her chair. “You risked your life for me. I just wanted to...to show you I was grateful. I found your parents. I offered them—”

“Money?” Davis supplied.

“Yes.” Because money had been all that she could offer them. She’d been paid well for the work that she’d done over the years, so she’d wanted to give that money to someone who deserved it.

“How much?” Brodie gritted out.

“Fifty thousand dollars.”

His eyes widened. “And my parents took the money?”

“Not at first.” At first, his mother had been shocked. She’d been adamant that her son had just been doing his job. But... “Something changed. I was only in town for two days. I told her to call me if she changed her mind. I tried to convince her to keep the money. She could use it for the ranch. For her retirement. Something.” And she wouldn’t feel so guilty for the risks Brodie had taken. “An hour before I was scheduled to leave, she called me at my hotel. She wanted the money, but she needed it to be in cash.”

Brodie’s brows climbed. “I’m supposed to believe that?”

“It’s true!”

“My mom didn’t need money! The ranch was fine. My brothers and I—we always sent her money. She wouldn’t take that kind of cash from a stranger.”

A desperate woman will do anything. The last time she’d seen Brodie’s mother, nervous tension had clung to the woman.

“I got her the cash. I delivered it to her at the ranch.” Her gaze slid to the photograph on the desk. “That’s when that image must have been taken. The bag in her hand? That’s what I put the cash in.”

He whirled back toward the photo. Silence filled that room, stretching uncomfortably.

When Jennifer lifted her gaze, she found Grant staring straight at her with an unreadable gaze.

“Do you know who killed our parents?” Grant asked her, his voice quiet.

Jennifer shook her head. “I didn’t even find out they were dead until...until a few months ago.” When her stalker had appeared. When she’d realized there was a very short list of people who could help her, people she could trust.

Brodie had been at the top of that list.

So she’d started researching her onetime hero, and then she’d learned about the tragedy that had wrecked his family.

After she’d given the money to Brodie’s mother, Jennifer had left Austin and been flown straight to Paris. Another assignment waited, and she hadn’t been able to look back.

If she had...could she have changed the fate of Brodie’s parents? Even since seeing that black-and-white photo, a new fear had risen within Jennifer. Had they died because of her? Had she taken danger right to them?

“I didn’t make the connection between their deaths and me,” Jennifer whispered. “Not until I saw the photograph. I didn’t think anyone knew what I’d done. I tried to be so careful.” Her heart hurt in her chest. If she was truly the cause of all the pain that Brodie had been through, when she’d just wanted to help him...

“Why would you need to be careful?” This time, it was Mac who spoke as he stepped forward. He’d been so still before, but she’d been aware of a wild intensity that seemed to cling to him. His eyes—a shade lighter than Brodie’s—narrowed on her. “Who cares if a society princess visits a ranch in Texas? Why would that matter to anyone?”

If she had been just a society princess, then it wouldn’t have mattered. Her gaze sought Brodie’s. This was the moment she’d dreaded. “I’m not who you think I am.”

He closed the distance between them once more and seemed to surround her. “Tell me something I haven’t already figured out.”

He stared at her as if she were a stranger. To him, she probably was.

Sometimes, I feel like a stranger to myself. “When you found me in that little room...when my captors took me, I wasn’t being held because someone wanted to ransom me.” The breath that she inhaled seemed to chill her lungs. “I was being held because someone had found out that I was working undercover for the US government. My cover was blown, and they were going to kill me.”

Brodie shook his head. “No, your father—”

“Nate. Nate Wesley.” She said his name softly as she pictured him in her mind, dressed in his expensive suit, a gold ring flashing on his pinkie finger. Oh, but he’d been perfect in the role of her father. “I’ve never been a society princess, but I was picked to play that part. Just as Nate was picked to play the role of an oil magnate.” She smiled at him, and the smile felt sad on her lips. “All intel isn’t gathered on the battlefield. Sometimes, secrets are shared in boardrooms and ballrooms. A cover was made for me. A cover was made for the man who acted as my father. We were given missions to complete, jobs to do.” And they’d done them. Again and again.

Jennifer nervously wet her lips. “After you rescued me, I had one job to complete in Paris. I did it, and I got out of the business.”