Page 21 of Duality

“Oh, that makes me feel better,” Marcus snarked back at me. “The liar says they didn’t, so it must be so.”

“It’s true,” Adrian said evenly, drawing Marcus’s ire. “Nothing she did was a threat to you or SDS.”

“And you know this because you’ve been working with her,” Marcus shot back. “You’re an Archer.”

“Hey,” I cut in. “Adrian has always been loyal to SDS. Obnoxiously so at times. So lay off and accept the fact that sometimes people lie for the right reasons.” I understood his moral code, but the world existed in shades of gray, not black and white.

Whatever icy retort Marcus was about to fire back was blocked when Alexander lifted his hand.

“You could have let them take us out. You have no allegiance to us,” Alexander said. His tone held a thread of hurt, and I reared back at his accusation.

“Never,” I swore.

I could never let them die. The idea of them dead, lying on the morgue tables like Eric and Brittany… I shuddered. I could never do that, and that was before my stupid crushes on them.

Alexander’s eyes glinted at my reaction, looking satisfied, and my eyes narrowed. What was he playing at? Why did he ask that question? What was he looking for?

“That’s not what we do,” Danny answered for me, his tone level, but I could hear the thread of anger. “And I get that you’re pissed”—his eyes swung to Marcus—”but start treating Eve with a little more respect, or you’re not going to like the outcome.”

“We’re getting off track,” I said, holding up a hand to stop Danny from saying anything else. As much as I was hurt by their anger, the truth was, I deserved every bit of it. But for now, we had more important things to do. Like what to do next now that I had burned my life to the ground.

Alexander nodded. “Agreed. Clearly, we have more to discuss later, but for now…” He waved a hand like he was giving me permission, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

“We were not going to let them take you out; not when it was kind of my fault you were caught up in it,” I said, waving the folder that Liam had handed me.

My lieutenants stiffened, and I knew they didn’t like that I was admitting fault, but I had lied to them for so long that I was tired of the lies. In a way, it was freeing to let go of the masks and just be Evelyn Harper, both an executive assistant and the leader of the Archers.

“Liam uncovered some dark web chats between Citadel and the mercenaries that showed up today at the property site. Apparently, Citadel believes that you all lead the Archers.” I pointed at the four of them. “That SDS was your public front, and the Archers was your private company.”

Grace chuckled, and the rest of my lieutenants looked amused. The four men traded baffled looks—eyebrows edging upward, lips parting, as though I’d suddenly switched to a language none of them spoke.

“They think we run the Archers?” Alexander said slowly. “Why? And why does Citadel care?”

I bit my lip as I thought. With the information that Liam had discovered, and based on the last few weeks, I thought I knew why. “My best guess is that this is related to your meeting with Geoff Young.”

Theystill looked confused, but Marcus appeared to have connected the dots first. “Wait, so…” he trailed off.

I nodded. “My best guess is that after you all met with Young, he went to Citadel and told them about your meeting. The hit was put out after his meeting with Citadel. The timeline makes sense.”

“But nothing about that conversation was inflammatory…” Adrian trailed off. “Young brought up the Archers. You all were the ones who exposed that drug ring.”

Izzy nodded. “That was us.”

“So since we didn’t bash the Archers in the meeting, he tried to have us killed? That doesn’t make any sense.” Marcus rolled his eyes, clearly not convinced.

Grace snorted. “In our line of work, we’ve seen hits taken out for a lot less than the whims of a rich man.”

“But why does Citadel care about the Archers?” Alexander asked. Nothing got by this man.

I shared a look with Izzy. “We’ve had several…run-ins with Citadel in the past. They have covered up some nasty crimes for their clients in the past.” I didn’t mention the murders of my people just two weeks ago. Those losses were still too raw, and I don’t know if I could explain how I failed to these men just yet.

Alexander snorted, an uncharacteristic reaction from him. “We’ve heard rumors about that. It doesn’t surprise me.” Sebastian, Marcus, and Adrian nodded in agreement.

“So Geoff Young was upset we didn’t bash the Archers and tattled to Citadel about it, then Hammond and Young decided that meant we led the Archers and needed to be taken out.” Marcus ticked off the facts on his fingers, clearly not convinced.

I shrugged. “The chats that Liam uncovered, plus the timing of the event, leads me to believe that was the case.”

“So what do we do now?” Sebastian practically bounced in his seat, looking giddy despite just learning there was a hit out on his life.