I didn’t know what game we were playing. I didn’t have all of the money. Servario had kept it in trust mostly, invested for me. Either way, James was playing at something else. Something was up. Something Servario wasn’t seeing. I shook my head, "He's betrayed you, Servario. He used Roxy to try to kill you and tried to use you to lure the Master Key. You can't leave me with him."
James' eyes darted at me. He swung his leg, striking me in the face. I fell back, hearing a crunching sound in my nose. The blood gush was instant. I moaned but pressed my hand against it as I pointed at James, "I saw it in his eyes just there. He has betrayed you again. There is something he isn’t telling you."
James looked at me, "Face it, Evie. No one cares what you have to say. You'd do anything to save your skin."
Servario's eyes darted between us. "I'm tired of this." He gave me a subtle lip twitch of a grin, "Go easy on her, James. She is the mother of your children."
James laughed and gave me a sideways look, "She does look pretty, bleeding like that, doesn’t she?" Servario ignored him, waving and walking from the massive doors, "Take care, Evie."
I wasn’t certain it was part of the plan or if he had just betrayed me. His acting was amazing and he was a very straightforward man, or I was a blind woman. We had discussed it but the feeling of him leaving me was worse than I had imagined it would be. I had to do my damnedest to not cry when I thought about it. I gave James a desperate look, "James, please don’t hurt me. I don’t even know why you care if I live or die."
He grabbed me by the hair, lifting me into the air almost, "I just want my money, Evie."
I shook my head, "I don’t have it, I swear I don’t. Servario never gave it to me. He gave me a small amount to buy a house. That’s it."
It wasn’t exactly a lie.
He tossed me back to the ground, kicking again but in the stomach instead of the face. I grunted, pressing my face into the hard floor and realizing there was no way Servario was coming back.
He grabbed my face, "Where is it?"
I winced, "It's in Servario's trust. He has it in trust."
His grip on my hair didn’t relent, "You f**king bitch. You're such shit in the sack, you couldn’t even use your pu**y to get our money from a guy who could't care less about it?"
I sobbed, "Please, stop. I don’t have it. You betrayed him, what did you think was going to happen?" Weak and sad Evie was such an easy act. I sniffled and blubbered and let him believe he had the upper hand. I was convinced of it.
He dragged me to my feet, pulling me to the doors, "Well, I guess we will go to where he is going. I was going to head straight to Croatia with you, but maybe Mary can get the truth out of you."
His guards opened the doors for him. He dragged me to the parking lot and tossed me into a black car. He climbed in next to me. My blood had started to thicken and coat my face. A guard got into the front seat and the driver pulled away. I could see two cars following us. It almost made me excited as I imagined at least one was my real ride.
James relaxed into the seat. He started looking like old James again. I took my chance to get some answers. I looked down at my feet, "How long did you f**k Luce for?"
He chuckled, "Caught that one, did ya? Were you in the hotel room when I went to see her? My informant told me she was alone and that the man she had been with was out. I guess it doesn’t matter. Luce and I worked together for about a month or so. She was new to CI and worked under me in Turkey, in more than one way."
I shook my head, "Did you ever love me?"
I turned my head a little to see his eyes. He shook his head, "Let's not do this, Evie."
I started to cry, ashamed of the fact the tears were real, "What about the kids?"
His eyes hardened, "I have always seen you as part of my cover."
There was no answer to that. We were part of his cover. He never loved any of us. I nodded, "Fair enough. Where are we going?"
He nodded, "I'm taking you to the place Servario is going. He and I are going to have another little chat about that money, before I drop you off with the people who want you. I think Mary being there might help sway him and I know he is on his way to see her."
My insides tightened. Servario never told me we were leaving Rome, but I could see the city was far behind us. Was this Servario's plan? Is that why he told James I had the money? I knew I wasn’t going to get any answers unless I pressed James, but I had to be nonchalant about it.
I gave James a confused look as the words 'want you' floated about in my mind next to the possibilities. "Okay, but where are we going? Who would want me?"
He laughed, "Well, you are supposed to go to someone who wants you, but I am taking you to see someone else first. Trust me, you won't float her boat, so to speak, of the person we are going to see first." He looked out the window laughing some more, "This person has a thing for Asian girls so you're safe. Middle-aged women who have been ridden hard already aren’t really the type I normally help smuggle abroad or into hotel rooms."
My hate for him burned. I wanted to kill him then and there, but I realized suddenly, who he was talking about. I nodded, "Good to know." He was taking me to MI6.
He smiled, "Don’t get too excited. It doesn’t mean you won't be used nicely. The first place has a lot of guards who probably aren’t picky about where they put it. But the second place, oh Evie, let me tell you, you are really going to hate the second place. Servario must have really hated you. He's asked that you go to live a long life in the place he's going, Evie. It’s a gift to your father for murdering his."
My mouth hung open. I had no response for what he was saying. He nodded, "The second person we are meeting owns a few places; I think you'll fit in nicely."
Shit. I was going to a brothel owned by someone not good and Servario intended to rescue me from there? I was getting confused.
He smiled, and suddenly I couldn’t see the man I married, "Don’t look so sad. You'll be making many men happy every day of your life and the happier you make them, the longer you live."
I watched his face for the truth, "Why did you double-cross Servario? Why didn’t you just stay working with him?"
"I wasn't there to work with him, I was there to find out if he was the Master Key."
I sighed, "I really thought he had shot you. I thought I was rid of you forever."
He laughed and I could see the pride all over his face. "Evie, he is a bad man. He always has been. The day you shot me in the knees, he messaged me from Roxy's phone and told me that I was to put on some Kevlar and blood bags and he was going to try to talk you out of shooting me. He said he would shoot me in the chest and fly off. He was keeping his contacts in CI in check, hoping to convince you, once and for all, that you could trust him."
I snorted, "I am an idiot. You're right." I looked back at him, "How long have you been this double agent? Were you always Servario's employee or CI's? Who did you double-cross?" I asked it like I was mystified at how he had been able to pull it all off, reverent of him.
His chest swelled again, "I have never been CI's man. I'm surprised your father never figured it out. And as far Servario was concerned, I was always there for the Burrow. My people sent me there to find it. Mel had come upon some information regarding the Burrow, of course she didn’t know it. She had been working a security detail on a scientist who was making some kind of weapon-control system that was so long range and intelligent that war would be over before it even started. Anyway, one night she is drugged and the scientist is found dead. His work is gone. She transports his dead body and it goes mysteriously missing the next day. When she told me the story, she was baffled, but I knew instantly. The only thing caught on her surveillance was Servario. It seemed as if he had come and stolen the weapon. Of course CI was desperate for it to be found. Everyone assumed Servario had taken it; he swears to this day that when he got there, everything was already gone. He had been just one step behind the Master Key. After that, I made sure I was seeing Roxy, convincing her to run away with me. It was easy—she was so in love with Servario and he treated her so badly that her loyalty had waned."
I sat very still as he gloated. He was such a prideful man that he truly didn’t see how much he was leaking.
He rubbed his eyes, "Anyway, Roxy told me she had overheard Servario making inquiries into the Burrow. I told her to record every person he met with. We got lucky about a month later when he met with your father—your long-dead father. CI thought I was their man so they put me on it, because I knew your father well. Servario assumed I was in with him to find the Burrow, but all along I've been on one team that no one knows about." His eyes gleamed.
I frowned, "Are you the Master Key?"
He chuckled, "Oh, Evie. If I were the Master Key, I wouldn’t care about the paltry sum of money Servario still holds. I would have sold the weapons and be living on my very own private island."
"That is so evil. How can you think that selling the weapons is a good idea?"
He scoffed, "Everyone either wants to sell it or wants to keep it all to themselves. Don’t kid yourself. There are no martyrs in our world."
I nodded, "Why did Servario forgive you for betraying him with Roxy?"
He sneered, "What makes you think he's forgiven me? The only reason I'm alive is I have protection from someone far scarier than Gustavo Servario."
I swallowed hard, "I don’t even know you, James. I never have, have I?"
He shook his head, "Enough about me. I want to know why Servario cared so much about f**king you? When I went rogue, he went on a mission to bargain you into his bed. I have never seen him do that before. I want to know what's so special about you."
I laughed bitterly, "You and me both."