Mine to Protect (Mine 6)

This is the bastard who hurt Zoe so badly. This is the guy who broke her heart.

Wasn’t a broken hand the least the guy should expect in the way of payback?

“Tom?” Zoe took a step toward the other man, then stopped.

Tom strolled into the room, then paused to shut the door behind him. “Hello, Zoe. It’s been a long time.” He pulled a small black box from his coat pocket. “I like privacy,” he said. “And while you both did pass the security search, I want to make absolutely sure that neither of you managed to smuggle in a listening device.”

Victor didn’t let his expression alter.

“There.” Tom pressed a button on the box he held. “Now, we don’t have to worry about anyone overhearing our conversation, do we?”

Audio jammer. Victor knew exactly what that little box was.

Tom paced toward Zoe. His gaze locked on her face. “How is it possible,” he asked her, “that you’ve grown even more beautiful?”

The asshole was not flirting with her. Victor took an aggressive step toward the lawyer. “I didn’t come here to talk to some middle man.”

Very slowly, Tom’s gaze left Zoe and drifted over to Victor. That faint smile—that annoyingly smug one—curved his lips. “Ah…so that’s the way this scene was supposed to play out, hmmm? I have to confess, I was curious. Especially after I saw you talking with Roy at the police station. I wondered just what plan you might be spinning.”

Victor’s hands had clenched into fists. He hated this jerk. “You’re not the kind of guy who gives orders. You take them. Just like you’ve been taking them from Luther Bates. How many years have you been on his payroll? Five? Six? I would’ve thought that you’d be tired of being Luther’s errand boy by now.”

Because he was watching so closely, Victor saw the way Tom’s eyelids jerked at his jab. He’d figured a guy like Tom would have one big, overinflated ego, and an ego like that could be his downfall.

“Zoe…” Tom sighed out of her name. “I’ve tried to reach you many times over the years. Tried to talk to you again. I have so many regrets.”

Oh, hell, no, the guy wasn’t about to try to stir up that particular part of their past, was he?

Tom side-stepped so that he could stare at Zoe. “I’ve missed you.”

She didn’t say a word.

Victor focused on breathing, slowly and easily, and keeping his control. This little meeting was important. Too important to let his emotions rule. “I want to talk to your boss.”

“I thought you just said my boss was Luther Bates,” Tom murmured. “In case you didn’t realize, he’s still in prison. For the moment, anyway. If you want to talk with him, visit him there.”

For the moment, anyway.

“I’m so curious about what plan you have going on here.” Tom motioned toward them. “You bring her in here and—what? You act as if you’re selling her out? That is what my client is accused of doing, correct? You think that Roy Duncan was going to trade Zoe for the two million dollar bounty that’s on her head.”

The guy was so damn controlled and cold. Emotion only flared in Tom when he looked directly at Zoe.

“He wasn’t just doing it for the money,” Zoe said, her voice husky. “A woman named Michelle Lane is missing. She was part of the deal. Roy said that if he brought me in, Michelle would be set free.”

A faint furrow appeared between Tom’s perfect brows. The guy’s whole face was too sickeningly perfect. He needed a broken nose. Something to make him look more human. Victor would be happy to oblige the broken nose need.

“Michelle Lane?” Tom repeated as his brows furrowed even more. “Can’t say I know that name. Why was she important for a trade? Is she a cop, too?”

Tread fucking carefully. Victor was afraid they’d already revealed too much.

“She was my friend. Is my friend,” Zoe said, voice still soft. “And I want her back.”

Tom laughed and the sound was bitter. Angry. “Oh, Zoe, you and I both know that you don’t have real friends. You have people who want to use you. And you—because you are too damn good—you let us all do our worst.”

She retreated a step.

“Take for instance…this man at your side.” Disgust curled Tom’s lips. “I imagine he’s lied to you over and over, ever since the first moment he walked into your life.”

Fucking hell.

“No.” Her voice wasn’t so soft any longer. “He hasn’t. What he’s done…Victor has saved my ass—over and over—since the first moment he walked into my life.”

Tom’s cheeks flushed. “He’s worse than I am.”

“No!” Now she was almost yelling. “Victor is nothing like you! Victor is good. He’s a decent man who wants to help the world. He wants—”

“To use you.” Tom spoke with devastating finality. “That’s what he wanted from the moment he met you. Hell, even before you actually met. He’d been having secret meetings with your father for weeks. Did you know that? Did you know that Victor is the agent who has met privately with your father the most? He’s the person who has visited Luther in prison the most since your father’s incarceration.”

Victor risked a quick glance at Zoe. She was shaking her head.

“Yes,” Tom said. “It’s true. An easy enough fact to check out—his visits are in the prison records. If you’d bothered to visit your father, you could have seen those records for yourself. But…” Now he walked toward the desk that waited on the right. He put the jammer down when he opened the desk. Pulled out a manila file. “I took the liberty of making copies for you during my last visit. Take a peek. Victor is Luther’s most regular visitor.”

She lurched toward the desk. Victor stood there, frozen, wondering just how much Tom could know—and how much damage the guy was about to do.

To Victor.

To Zoe.

To the trust that he’d worked so hard to build.

Zoe’s hands were shaking when she reached for the file. But she didn’t open it. Instead, she shoved it back across the table at Tom. “I don’t need to see the records. Victor is an FBI agent. Of course, he visited Luther. He was working Luther’s case when he first met me. He was—”

“Using you,” Tom cut in sadly. “All along. He was using you, and you didn’t see it.”

She flinched.

“Shut the fuck up,” Victor said, his voice low and deadly quiet.

“No.” Tom didn’t even glance his way. His focus was on Zoe. “I’m sorry this has happened to you—again—but you can’t trust Victor. You don’t know him. Not really. He’s just some street kid who still belongs in the gutter. A punk who will use anyone and anything to get what he wants—”

Victor lunged for the guy. He shoved Tom back against the desk and drew back his fist, ready to strike.

But Tom laughed. “See what I mean?” he asked Zoe. “Is this what an FBI agent is really supposed to do? Or is this what a street fighter would do? A man who would fight anyone, anytime, if the price was right. A man who nearly killed one of his opponents.” His gaze drifted to Victor’s poised fist. “With his bare hands.”

Zoe hurried toward them. Her fingers curled around Victor’s arm. “Don’t. I get that it’s tempting. Trust me, I get it, but don’t. I think the guy wants you to hit him.”

Yeah, Victor suspected that. The problem was that he wanted to punch Tom, too. And if they both wanted it…

“I didn’t fake how I felt,” Tom suddenly burst out. “I never faked that. When I said I loved you, Zoe, that emotion was real.”

Her fingers tightened on Victor’s arm. “Let him go.”

“I wanted to marry you,” Tom continued, a bit of spittle flying from his mouth. Not so controlled now. “I didn’t think you’d actually walk. I mean…who walks from that much power?”

“I do.” Her simple reply.

Victor lowered his hand. He also let go of Tom and took a step back. The better to remove himself from temptation.

Zoe’s chin lifted a

s she faced off against her ex-lover. “You see? Victor is the better man here. He’s decent and kind and he wants to put the criminals away, not help them. He is nothing like you.” She looked up at Victor, giving him that look that made him think…Shit, she does trust me. She stares at me like I’m a good man.

He felt like hell.

“Let’s get out of here. He doesn’t know anything about Michelle. Like you said, he’s the middle man. He’s not worth our time.” She tugged on his hand and they headed toward the door.

They’d taken about five steps when…

“Elizabeth Ward.” Tom said the name with relish.

Victor’s spine stiffened.

“Does that name ring a bell for you, Zoe?” Tom pushed.

She glanced over her shoulder. “You know it does. When I was taken…the first damn time…she was there. Luther put a hit on Elizabeth. Her mother—she was his lawyer once, too. Only he had her killed.” Her voice hardened as she warned, “Better watch yourself, Tom, because Luther doesn’t have a good track record with attorneys.”

And, once more, she started for the door.

“Elizabeth’s mother was Luther’s lover, too,” Tom said.

She stumbled.

“You didn’t know that, but your FBI agent, he did. He knew a lot. So many secrets…and he’s been keeping them all from you.”

She cast a quick, worried glance Victor’s way.

He reached for the door. “Screw him, baby. It’s time to go.” Because this was not going down the way he needed. He strode into the hallway, pulling her with him. If they got a little farther away, that jammer wouldn’t work any longer and his team would be able to pick up on the conversation again. Provided, of course, that the jammer had the short transmission distance he hoped…

“Victor knew.” Tom had followed them. “Luther told me that Victor knew.”

Zoe stopped in the middle of the narrow hallway. She turned to face Tom.

“Your FBI Special Agent knew that Luther was involved with that woman and even more—”

“Don’t listen to him, Zoe,” Victor interrupted, aware that he was sounding desperate. He had to refocus them all. Get the attention back on Michelle. The case. “The guy is a criminal. He’s probably behind Michelle’s abduction. I mean, shit, he’s here, isn’t he? And he was the one at the police station. How the hell did he even become Roy’s attorney?”

“Victor knew—” Tom began and Victor couldn’t hold back. He couldn’t stop. There was no way he could let the guy say what would come next. Because maybe the listening device he wore was working again. And if Tom spilled this news, he would bring hell falling down on Elizabeth Ward.