Semua Bab A private deal with the billionaire ceo: Bab 51 - Bab 60

I wasn’t sure what I expected when Damon requested to know the mission details, but the moment he asked, both agents exchanged a quick glance. The brunette scanned the corridor, ensuring no one lingered nearby. Only when she seemed satisfied did she lean closer, her voice low enough to barely carry.“We believe we’ve found the location of the double agent who escaped headquarters last month.”Her words made the hairs on my back stand. My chest tightened. Damon flinched at my side. For a moment, the world narrowed to the sound of my heartbeat.The double agent. The one whose betrayal had nearly cost us all.I blinked, stunned. “You’re serious?”The brunette nodded sharply, while the male agent’s expression remained straight like it was carved from stone. Damon’s hand twitched, as though he wanted to reach for me but forced himself not to. His voice, when it came, was steel.“She’s not going.”The words shot out before I could react. My head snapped toward him. “Excuse me?”“You heard m

The forest was wrapped in pale mist when we set out at dawn, our boots pressing quietly into the damp earth. It was so quiet that a single whisper could be heard from miles. Every rustle of leaves, every distant call of a bird seemed louder than it should be, as if nature itself held its breath while we passed.We were heading for the supposed hideout of the double agent, the traitor who had slipped through headquarters’ grasp and humiliated us all. At least, that’s what Halstrom claimed. I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not, but there was no turning back now.Howard walked at the front, broad-shouldered and balanced, every step calculated and precise. His calm presence rippled through the group, but beneath that calm, I noticed the cracks.The rookie, who was barely older than me, kept glancing around like shadows might swallow him whole. His breathing was too loud, his grip on the rifle too tight. Every time a branch snapped under his foot, I saw Howard’s jaw twitch, though h

The night pressed heavily against us as we approached the compound.It loomed in the distance, a squat silhouette of steel and concrete half-buried in the hills, the type of location designed to vanish from maps and memory. Floodlights swept the perimeter in slow arcs, and a faint buzz of generators echoed through the night.We were back at the target's location.Howard should have been here. The thought stung, a wound that hadn’t closed. I could almost hear his voice steadying us, giving us orders with that gravelly edge that somehow grounded everyone. Without him, our steps felt unbalanced, our formation uneven.Natalie led, her movements sharp and efficient, though I could see the stiffness in her shoulders. The rookie followed, too quiet, still trapped in the cage of his guilt. The wounded men, one missing an arm and the other with a chest wound, stayed behind with the reinforcements setting up the perimeter. That left the rest of us, half a team, worn out by blood and exhaustion.

The tension in the infirmary was thick enough to choke on. Natalie’s glare burned into me like she wanted to peel my skin away. Alice stood rigid, still sharp from their argument, and the rookie looked pale and restless. He looked ready to run headfirst into fire. Damon remained between them all, cold authority radiating off him.But the moment didn’t last.The door creaked open, and a woman strode in with the kind of clipped urgency that meant trouble. She wasn’t part of our direct squad, but I recognized her uniform: intelligence. Her hair was pinned back severely, her face tight with restraint, but her eyes were sharp and trained as she went immediately to Damon.“Agent,” she said briskly. But then her words shifted, her tone dropping into something careful. “The guest is refusing to cooperate.”Guest. That was their polite word for prisoner. Her eyes flickered meaningfully at Damon, almost too quick to catch. Almost.I caught it. The way she didn’t outright say double agent, the wa

The note burned a hole in my pocket all night.I barely slept, tossing and turning, my mind replaying the words over and over.Every creak of the compound in the dark made me flinch. Every shadow seemed longer and deeper. When dawn finally came, I looked worse than I had after being shot.And Damon noticed. He always did.“You didn’t sleep,” he said as soon as he caught sight of me at breakfast, his gaze narrowing in that way that made me feel stripped bare. His coffee sat untouched, his focus entirely on me.“I’m fine,” I lied, stabbing at a piece of bread I couldn’t force myself to eat.He didn’t buy it. Of course he didn’t. “You’re twitchy. And pale. What’s going on, Emma?”For half a second, I almost told him about the note. About the words that had carved themselves into my brain. But then the fear slammed into me. Fear that he would take it, hide it, and shut me out again. Damon’s instinct was always to protect, but protection with him often meant control. Locking me out of dange