Brodie took a step toward him. Jennifer put her hand on Brodie’s arm, stopping him. Her gaze stayed focused on Nate. “Talk to me,” Jennifer told him. “Tell me how things got so twisted.”

Nate shook his head.

“You’re supposed to be married. You and Shelly...you were going to start a new life together. Settle down, forget everything that had passed before. You were going to be free. We both were.” Shelly had been one of their government handlers. She’d wanted out, too, and she’d retired from the business with Nate. Jennifer had thought those two were really in love.

His jaw hardened. “I’m not talking about Shelly.”

That knot in her stomach got worse. “What happened?”

No answer.

“Nate!” She wanted to grab him. Shake him. “Why would you sell me out?” Then she remembered what he’d said to her in that parking garage. I won’t die for you. “He came after you,” she whispered. “Did he come to kill you? Is that what happened? Did he track you down and try to kill you first?”

His eyelids flickered, and Jennifer knew she was right.

“It’s someone we put away, isn’t it? He blamed you, just like he blamed me. Only...he came after you first.”

Nate turned his attention to the shut office door. “The cop isn’t going to do anything to me.”

Her head tilted. “Where is Shelly?”

He flinched.

“Nate...where’s Shelly?”

The door opened. She turned her head. Saw a tall, broad-shouldered man with sandy-blond hair follow Sullivan into the room. A badge was clipped to the man’s belt. The guy took one look at the scene before him and froze.

“Please, please tell me there’s a reason that man is handcuffed.”

But Nate wasn’t looking his way. Nate’s head had sagged forward. “Shelly’s gone.”

Chill bumps rose on Jennifer’s arms.

“He wanted me to suffer. Said I deserved it because of what I’d done.” Nate’s breath heaved out. “There was a fire...”

Her hands gripped his shoulders. “Nate, you should have contacted me!”

He shook his head. “She was gone in an instant, and he said I’d be next...if I didn’t give him you.”

Her hands tightened on him. She needed him to look up at her. “That’s how he knew I was in New Orleans. You told him I was down there.”

“What is going on?” The detective demanded.

Jennifer’s gaze jerked toward him.

“This man—” Brodie glared at Nate “—is working with a killer. The man who set that Mustang to blow, the man who torched the Montgomery stables.”

Nate started to laugh. “The man who is going to kill Jennifer.”

Jennifer backed away from him.

“The hell he is,” Brodie said, voice lethal.

Nate cocked his head as he seemed to study Brodie. “Is your family worth her life? Because that’s what the choice is going to be. He won’t stop.”

“Who is he?” Jennifer asked. “Give me his name.”

Nate laughed. “You don’t even remember him. Neither did I at first. All the people we worked to put away, and he’s the one who comes gunning for us? Sure never saw that coming, not until it was too late.”

She needed the guy’s name. “His voice was familiar.”

“I think he was falling for you,” Nate said, nodding a bit. “Maybe that’s why he went off the deep end. He thought you were perfect...that you were going to be his...and then he realized you were stealing his secrets.”

Jennifer stiffened. And the pieces clicked for her. Because there had been only one man that she’d walked the line with during her years as an agent. One man that she’d thought, Maybe he’s innocent, but then the evidence had shown just how guilty he really was. Just how evil. Her blinders had come off just in time. “Stephen?” She barely breathed the name. Stephen Brushard.

Nate laughed again. “I’m dead now. You realize that, right?”

“Okay,” the detective barked, and he strode forward with sudden aggression. “We’re taking this downtown. We’re talking murders...espionage... This is going downtown.”

Brodie caught Jennifer’s arm. “Who’s Stephen?”

She opened her mouth to reply—

But Nate beat her to the punch. “Rich boy, psychotic killer.”

Jennifer wet her lips. “He was...he was the first case I worked. I was so scared. Didn’t even think I could pull off being...her.”

Brodie frowned at that.

“Stephen Brushard was an American businessman with suspected ties to the Russian mob. It was believed that he was providing them with drugs, with weapons, but on paper he seemed so clean.” On paper and in person. He’d been so charming, so caring. She’d never had a man like him show any interest in her. As Jenny Belmont, no one had been interested in anything about her.

Stephen had been different. He’d been her assignment, but Jennifer knew he’d become more. She’d even gone to Nate in those early days and told him that she thought they were after the wrong guy. Stephen had to be innocent.

No one’s innocent. Nate’s reply had been flat. You’ll learn that truth soon enough.

And with Stephen, she had.

“They always do look good on paper,” Nate muttered. “That’s what covers are for. Then you rip past those lies and you see that no one has clean hands. They’re all stained with blood.”

She pulled in a quick breath and kept her focus on Brodie. “Stephen took an interest in me. I...I got access to his computer. Personal files.” That was when she’d learned the truth about him. She’d actually thought those files might exonerate him, but...they’d just nailed the coffin shut on his case. She’d learned about the monster hiding behind the man’s face. “I found out about an upcoming drop. I tipped off our handlers, and Stephen was caught in the act.” And Prince Charming had been locked up.

Nate yanked at his cuffs once more. “Prisons in Russia aren’t exactly known as paradise.”

The US agents had been working with their Russian counterparts. The bust had gone down so easily—almost too easily. And she’d been out of the country even before the bust had been made. “Stephen shouldn’t have known I was the one involved.” They’d been so careful. Her gaze slid back toward Nate. “We both should have been covered.”

Nate shrugged—or shrugged as much as he could in those cuffs. “The guy was smart. He put the puzzle pieces together... Guess he had plenty of time to figure things out while he was rotting in that Russian cell.”

And now Stephen wanted her to suffer, just as he had.

“Our cover is blown,” Nate said grimly. “And even my supposed death couldn’t stop him from finding me.”

But it should have stopped Stephen. With his “death,” Nate had more protection than she’d been given. A new name, a new identity. Yet Stephen had found him. How? Did Stephen have government contacts? Sources that had turned on her and Nate?

Grant and Sullivan had been watching the interrogation in silence, but now Grant stepped forward. A frown had pulled his brows low. “You said you called him,” Grant said, “and we found your smashed phone right outside of the parking garage.”

Nate swallowed. “Stephen told me to get rid of the phone and wait for him.”

Grant’s eyes narrowed on the man. “But you have his number. You called him.” A brief pause. “And you’re going to do it again.”

Frantically, Nate shook his head. “No way, that’s not happening. You think I’m going to set that guy up? After what he did to Shelly?”

“You should do it because of what he did to Shelly,” Jennifer nearly yelled at him. “Stephen has to be stopped!”

“Downtown,” Detective Shayne Townsend muttered again. “We are taking this mess downtown. Where are the handcuff keys?”

“He’s not leaving,” Brodie said, voice lethal, “not until he makes that call.” He stalked toward Nate, leaned forward until they were eye level. “You think this Stephen Brushard is scary? Wait until you have me and all of my brothers gunning for you.”