They continued arguing and Ezra realized what Damon was doing. He was giving him cover. Damon was giving him time to think. They couldn’t run off after her. They couldn’t make a scene and start fighting. They needed to look like they accepted the situation, like they weren’t about to start a high-speed chase through the streets of London.
They had to be subtle. They also had to figure out exactly what they were up against.
“I need to see it.” Ezra sat up, his hands on the table like he wasn’t about to draw down on anyone. Because he wasn’t. He couldn’t put a gun to the head of MI6 and force him to turn over Kim’s whereabouts. Levi wouldn’t have told the man the truth anyway. “I need to see the evidence against my ex-wife. A whole lot of the trouble we had was over work, but not the way you think. It was because she always picked work over our marriage. She was an excellent operative, far better than me. I find it very difficult to believe she would commit treason.”
Rupert sighed. “It’s odd. Mr. Green seemed to think you would be satisfied with this outcome. He said you and Ms. Solomon had been at war for years.”
“My war was always with Levi.” His marriage had simply been one of the casualties. He couldn’t forget how she’d listened to Levi, gone over her own husband’s head to send his brother on the mission that had cost him his life. She’d chosen Levi time and time again, and it was finally going to cost her.
So let it. Let her go with him. He won’t really hurt her. He won’t do anything he hasn’t already done to her.
His hands fisted because that was the dark bastard inside him talking, the one every man had somewhere deep down. The one every good man managed to shut up.
If Levi put his hands on her this time, it would be assault. It would be rape, and he wasn’t going to let that happen to any human being, much less one he’d loved more than life itself at one point.
“We’re prepared to give you a briefing on the subject,” Rupert allowed. “But only Mr. Knight. I’m sorry. You no longer work for the Agency, and they’ve been a bit intransigent on this. I believe it might be Mr. Green’s influence. However, given the fact that you have helped us on numerous occasions, if Mr. Knight leaves his notes somewhere on his desk, well, despite our personality clash, I do trust him to a point. I’m sorry things have come to this. We were quite happy with the outcome of the Paris operation.”
He bet they were. And he knew what was happening. Levi had a plan and it included cutting Ezra off from Damon. Damon would stay here and that would leave Ezra alone to chase Levi down, and wouldn’t Levi love that when he had a whole crew with him.
Or he would sit his ass down in the lobby and wait for Damon. Ezra was sure there would be video of him casually sitting while Kim was taken god knew where, and Levi would make sure she saw it. It would be one more way to hurt her, to show her that her ex-husband didn’t care what happened to her. The fucker likely meant to Stockholm syndrome her.
Or he would cut her into little pieces and send them to you.
He had to do something. He couldn’t fucking sit here. He had to get out. Maybe it didn’t matter if he got mowed down by Levi’s army. Maybe that was what he’d been waiting for all these years.
“Ezra, perhaps you’ll wait for me in the lobby,” Damon said gently. “I apologize for dragging you out here. I wouldn’t have if I’d known what was going on. I’m sure Ariel will be done with her meeting soon and she can join you.”
Ariel. He’d forgotten about Ariel. Ariel, who was Kim’s closest friend in the world. Ari, who had never forgotten how to assassinate an asshole.
“This could be a while. Feel free to take the Benz.” Damon handed him the car keys. “I’ll take the Tube back. And then we’ll talk about what to do next. If you don’t mind, could you update my partners on the situation? Let Ian know I’ll call him tonight. And I’m sorry about Solo.”
Damon was telling him what to do next. Call Ian. Take the Benz and the former MI6 sharpshooter and go get his…go get Kim. Not his girl. Not anymore. But she damn straight wasn’t going to be Levi’s victim.
He remembered how to play this game. He sighed and took the keys and gave Damon what he hoped was a sad-sack smile. “Thanks. We’ll see you back at The Garden. I’ll let your wife know you might be late.”
He stood and nodded to Rupert before leaving the conference room. It took everything he had to not run. They might still be in the building. Levi had probably taken her down to the secure parking garage and prepared her for transport.
His heart was racing as he forced himself to casually walk past the reception desk and out into the hall.
He started to move toward the bank of elevators. His security badge wouldn’t get him to the secure garage. He would have to bet on which exit they would take. And he needed to get Ari.
“Hello, Ez,” a cultured British voice said. Ariel stepped up beside him, a smile on her face. “I got a text from Damon. We should go back to The Garden. I’m sure there are a lot of feelings you need to process.”
Though her tone was casual, he could hear the bite
