Chapter Thirty-Two
Now
As I rode the elevator back upstairs, I thought about the conversation I’d just had with my best friend — a woman I once thought I knew everything about, from her deepest secrets right down to her favorite shade of nail polish. I knew now, I couldn’t have been more wrong about that assumption.
I’d climbed from the car clutching Agent Gallagher’s business card in one hand, feeling more than a little shell shocked at the fact that I, Lux Kincaid — sunny Georgia girl and all round believer in the good things in life — had just had a conversation with a federal agent about a secret human trafficking ring on the Upper East Side, potentially involving people who had the power to wipe me off the face of the earth with a single phone call.
I’d leaned against the car for some time, lost in my thoughts and half-listening to Agent Gallagher bark orders into his cellphone, until I felt Fae settle in next to me. Her hipbone pressed against mine, our elbows and shoulder blades bumped lightly. Glancing over at her, I’d seen an unfamiliar look in her eyes — it took me a minute to recognize it as worry.
“Are you mad?” she whispered.
“What?” My brow furrowed in confusion.
“I didn’t tell you about any of this.”
I looked over at her. “About your double life?” I smiled faintly. “No, I’m not mad. If you didn’t tell me, I’m guessing you have a pretty good reason.”
She nodded. “Remember that night at the bar a few weeks ago, when Simon said he’d always wanted to know someone in the Witness Protection Program?” Her voice was hesitant and hushed.
I felt my eyes widen.
“Surprise,” she muttered weakly.
“Jesus,” I whispered, my mind whirling with possibilities. “I know you probably can’t tell me much, but I have to know… Are you safe, at least?”
She nodded. “For now, I’m safe enough.”
“You’re hiding from someone,” I guessed.
Fae looked over at me for a moment, her eyes intense and sad. “My husband.”
I felt my eyes well with tears as I leaned over and wrapped my arms around her. “Oh, Fae. I’m sorry, love.”
“It was a long time ago,” she whispered into my neck, her arms coming up to return my embrace. “I’m fine.”
The threads of sadness and regret interwoven in her tone said otherwise, but I didn’t push her.
“No wonder you never date,” I murmured.
Fae laughed lightly and squeezed me tighter until Agent Gallagher ended his phone call and leaned out the open window.
“Alright, ladies, time to break up your little love-fest. It’s four in the morning — I’m beat. I want to get home.”
Fae sighed as she detached from me and turned to face the undeniably handsome, undeniably rude agent. “You could at least ask nicely, Conor,” she muttered.
“It’s Agent Gallagher to you, sweetheart.”
“Lux gets to call you Conor and I don’t?” Fae’s face morphed into a scowl. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Lux is about to hand me a promotion on a silver platter by helping me bring down a group of criminals the Bureau has been after for years,” he said, smiling for the first time since we’d met. Though handsome even with his typical glower, Conor’s entire face lit up when he grinned. If he’d show off that set of pearly whites a little more often, he’d have women lined up around the block for him. “You, on the other hand…” He looked Fae up and down. “Only ever come to me for favors or when things in your life need fixing.”
“You’re an asshole.” Fae’s eyes shot daggers at him.
“Well, you’re an entitled princess.” Conor didn’t attempt to conceal his look of dislike.
They glared at each other for so long, I began to think they’d forgotten my existence entirely. Wondering what could’ve happened between them to brew a relationship of such anger and animosity, I cleared my throat lightly and took a step in the direction of the elevator. “Well, then, I’m gonna go…”
In sync, their heads swiveled toward me.