Then she would make sure Levi Green paid for treating her like a piece of property he could do with as he liked.
She needed to remember that she was alone. She was the only one she could count on.
She walked out the door and didn’t look back.
* * * *
Ezra Fain watched as his wife was walked out of the conference room, four men surrounding her like she was some kind of prisoner.
Levi Green let them escort her out, watched her with deep satisfaction in his gaze. He was taking the prize in the game they’d started long ago. The queen in their chess match.
Ezra’s queen. No. Beck’s. The man he used to be before all of this had started. Before he’d let that fucker ruin everything. Kim Solomon didn’t belong to Ezra Fain. She’d been directly involved in his brother’s death. She’d lied to him, wouldn’t listen to him when he’d begged her not to send Ezra on that mission that had proven to be his brother’s last.
Levi turned and gave him a wink before the door closed behind him.
“I’m going to kill that man,” Ezra vowed.
“I’m going to help you,” Damon promised, his voice low.
In that moment he knew it was about more than the game Levi kept dragging him back into. It was about her. It was about the Kim who’d smiled up at him the day after they’d eloped. The sun had hit her hair and she’d looked like some sunny goddess who’d wound up in his bed, and he’d felt like the king of the world.
He couldn’t let her go, couldn’t leave her in Levi’s hands. Even if it was only to honor the vows they’d made so long ago, he had to save her.
“You have to get that wild look off your face because any second now the head of MI6 is going to walk in, and we need to look good. Shaken, not stirred, if you know what I mean,” Damon whispered. “If they haven’t changed things, the security cameras are to our backs. It’s why I insisted we sit here. But the director will come in to brief us, and he’ll report back to his Agency counterparts. You have to keep your cool. Trust me. I’m not going to let you down, brother.”
Ezra took a deep breath because his boss was right. Damon knew these people because Damon had been MI6 for years. But his impulse was to chase Levi and his men down, throw Kim over his shoulder, and run. Run and never look back. His impulse was to take her away and hide with her. They could find a place where none of the Agency stuff could touch them and start over again. It had always been work that came between them. This time they would be away from the politics and power. This time it would just be them.
It was a stupid thought since Kim thrived on intrigue, but it’s what was going through his head.
The door came open again and sure enough, there was the head of this particular MI6 division looking all professional and very British in his tailored suit. He couldn’t forget the fact that this was the man who’d raided Damon’s club. He’d stormed The Garden looking for Tucker, and he’d taken Jax as leverage to get what he’d wanted.
Rupert Milbern was in his mid-fifties and had the arrogance of a man who knew he controlled as much of his world as he possibly could. His salt and pepper hair was cut in a fashionable style, and there was an expectant look on his face as he entered. “Knight. Mr. Fain, it’s good to see you again, though I must apologize for the circumstances.”
Damon slid his cell phone into his jacket pocket. Ezra hadn’t even realized he’d had it out. If Damon was at all upset, he didn’t show it as he looked to the man who’d taken over the section he’d worked in for years. “Yes, that was a bit of a shock. I thought Mr. Green was still in Agency custody. I didn’t realize he’d been returned to the field. Or did I miss the memo?”
Rupert’s expression turned distinctly superior as he took the seat at the head of the table. He was followed by several men and women who entered and took their places as if getting ready for a long meeting.
He couldn’t fucking sit here. She was being taken away. She was moving further and further from him with every second and they wanted to have a fucking debrief?
This was all part of Levi’s plan.
“You don’t get any memos at all, Damon,” Rupert was saying. “You left. You are a private citizen and lucky we didn’t choose to press charges against you and all your friends for what happened a few weeks ago.”
Damon leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “And you’re lucky I don’t talk to the press about the fact that MI6 knew for years what Hope McDonald was doing and kept their distance because at the end of the day you wanted to know how those experiments worked out.”
A rosy flush went over Rupert’s face. “That’s not true and you know it.”
“Do I? I only know what it looks like to this private citizen. I only know that MI6 raided private property on British soil without any kind of warrant,” Damon shot back. “So I would like for you to explain to me why we’re here, except that little prick of an Agency operative wanted to see if he could get a rise out of my friend. Ezra Fain has been very helpful to British intelligence over the years, so I would like to know why you thought it was a good idea to arrest his wife in front of him.”
Rupert frowned. “I thought they were divorced and had been for a long time.”
“But they were
