“Spies don’t just get out of the business.” Grant was studying her with calculation. “It’s never that easy.”

A spy. Yes, for all intents and purposes, she’d been a spy. “Nate and I were expected to be in certain circles. Certain wealthy, connected circles. If you lose your wealth, well, to the people who moved in that world, you were dead. They immediately cut you from their lives. To get out of that cover...reports were leaked that Nate was losing his wealth.” Only Nate had wanted to carry things one step further. He’d wanted to sever all ties to his former life. “Then he had the...accident...on his boat.”

“I’ll be damned.” Mac paced to the window. “Is he even dead?”

She wasn’t about to reveal any more intel on Nate. He had a new life somewhere. A new wife. She wasn’t going to draw him back into this nightmare.

“The man on the phone...” Brodie’s voice was low and hard. “He said you killed your father.”

“He’s wrong.”

“Or you’re lying,” he threw right back.

Jennifer flinched, but she’d expected his attack. His rage was palpable. I knew he’d feel betrayed. The last thing she’d wanted to do was hurt him.

“I mean, you’ve lied to me before, right? So how do I know you’re not lying right now?”

Their gazes locked. He was leaning over, so close that she could see the flecks of gold hidden in the green of his eyes.

“Why did you even seek me out?” Brodie demanded. “Are you being stalked or is this some giant setup? Hell...that hit-and-run, the gunshots today—they were aimed at me, not you, weren’t they?”

What? Was Brodie seriously suggesting that she was somehow setting him up to die? She put her hands against his chest and shoved back. “Stop it!” She jumped to her feet.

But Brodie blocked her path before she could storm away. “Why did you come to find me?”

“Because you were the only one I could trust!” Jennifer basically yelled her confession at him. “I’m not in the business any longer. That means I’m pretty much dead and buried to the government contacts I had before. The whole deny-all-knowledge bit, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. And the friends I made back then? When I was the oil magnate’s daughter? How fast do you think they vanished when word got out that the business was broke?”

A muscle jerked in his jaw.

“You saved me before. You risked your life. You showed me that you could handle dangerous situations. I believed that I could trust you.” He hadn’t been working a secret agenda. She had. “When my back was against the wall, I needed someone I could depend on to help me. I thought that person was you.” Her spine straightened. “But I guess I was wrong. I’m sorry I bothered you. You won’t be seeing me again.”

She turned from him and took two steps. Before she could take a third, his arms wrapped around her and he pulled her back against the hard expanse of his chest. “You don’t get to vanish that easily.” His words were a whisper against her ear, and she recognized them for the threat that they were.

Her eyes squeezed shut. “I don’t know anything about your parents’ death. I can’t help you.”

When he turned her in his arms, Jennifer forced her eyes to open.

“What happened to the fifty grand?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did they need the money?”

He could ask those questions all day long, but her answer would still be the same. “I don’t know. I didn’t question your mother. I just gave her the money and left.”

He stared at her as if she were a stranger. I’m not, Brodie, I’m not!

“If I knew, I would tell you. Do you honestly think I’d lie to protect some killer?”

When he didn’t answer but just stared back at her, Jennifer’s eyes darkened even more with her own growing fury. “For years, I worked to protect people. I risked my life to put criminals away—criminals who dealt in arms trades, drugs. I put everything I had into my job.” Until she’d felt there was nothing left of her to give. “I would never protect a killer.”

He had no clue about what her life had been like. By the time he’d burst into that little room, she’d been playing the role of Jennifer Wesley for so long that she didn’t know how to be anyone else. She’d felt hollowed out, empty.

And she’d been moments away from her own death.

Then Brodie had appeared. He’d offered her escape. Life. A second chance.

Behind Brodie, Grant cleared his throat. “You came to McGuire Securities because you had a stalker after you.”

There was no past tense. The guy was still chasing her down. The near death by explosion she’d experienced that morning should be proof of that.

“‘I know,’” Brodie whispered. He shook his head. “That’s what he meant by that picture, right? The guy knows you aren’t really Jennifer Wesley. He knows what you did for the government.”

She was afraid that he did.

Brodie’s hold tightened on her. “He took the picture of you at the ranch years ago. If he was following you then, that maniac could be the one who killed our parents.”

“Brodie, I’m—”

He yanked his hands back, as if she’d burned him. “If he saw you pay them fifty grand, then he could have thought they were working with you. That they were involved in your undercover missions. The hit on them always looked professional.”

Mac swore.

Her gaze flew around the room, and she saw that Davis had frozen—no, his body had frozen, but his eyes were blazing with emotion.

“The man watching you could have killed them because he thought they had intel on you.”

She hated the torment in his voice. “If all of this is true...then why didn’t he come after me sooner? If he wanted me dead for all these years, then why did he wait?”

His eyes glittered. “I guess that’s a question we’ll have to ask the SOB...when we catch him.”

* * *

SHE WAS BACK at the ranch, only this time, Jennifer sure wasn’t feeling like a welcome guest. Grant and his brothers had grilled her for most of the day. She’d told them as much as she could without revealing classified information.

She knew Grant was using some of his government contacts to try and corroborate her story. She’d tried to tell him that he’d get no corroboration. She’d been too deep undercover to have official records at the government agencies.

Denial is the only rule they’ll follow.

Nervous energy hummed through her as she paced in front of the fireplace. Brodie had been so distant with her. And she didn’t blame him. She’d known that when the truth came out, he’d turn from her.

So she’d grabbed tightly to him last night. Taken the pleasure and let the fear go.

That fear was back with a vicious force now.

“I’m heading out.”

She whirled toward him. She hadn’t even heard the guy approach.

“The police are done with their crime scene analysis at the bomb site, and they found nothing.” His hands were clenched at his sides. “I’m going for a look myself. They could have overlooked something, and if they did, I’ll find it.”

Her chin lifted. “I’m coming with you.”

“Jennifer—”

“Give me a weapon, and I can guard your back. I’m far from helpless.”

“I never thought you were. I wouldn’t make that mistake.”

His words dug into her like bullets. “I want to catch this guy just as badly as you do.”

He held her gaze.

“I’m coming with you,” she said again, and, after a hesitation that lasted too long, he finally gave a grim nod.

They didn’t talk on the way to the stables. As soon as she walked in, the scent of fresh hay hit her. The horses neighed at her approach. She brought her mare forward, the same horse she’d ridden before, and the black beauty bumped her nose against Jennifer.

“Lady,” Brodie muttered. “Her name’s Lady. She used to be Ava’s horse, until Ava got so terrified of this place that she couldn’t come home.”

Jennifer stroked Lady’s mane.