Caught Between Brothers

Chapter4

Mara’s POV

I was rooted to the spot, trying to understand what had just happened. In my four years of being Miss M, not once has anyone been able to put it together.

I was careful, putting both lives away from each other. Miss M. and Mara never met in the same spot.

At least, not until tonight.

I hated the way it made me feel, like the control I had fought so hard to gain all my life was slipping out of my hands.

Finally getting my limbs to walk, I rushed out of the office, but not without getting the flash drive from the bin.

"Hey!" I yelled just as he stepped out of the building, his men following closely behind. Sebastian halted and turned to look at me, with that mischievous glint in his eyes.

“That was fast,” he murmured.

“Two thousand dollars.”

Sebastian never smiled. There were no pictures of him online without a scowl, not even when his arm candy tagged along with him.

But there he was, right in front of me, the night light dancing in his eyes and his face stretched in a grin.

For a few seconds, my brain stopped working.

"You want me to pay while punishing you?" His eyes were torn between intrigue and frustration.

“Your call.”

“Done. I’ll have the money sitting in your account before you get home. You have less than a week to return with enough information.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“That is my decision to make, Mara. Go home.”

“Stop telling me what to do!” I muttered under my breath, throwing his key card on the floor and strutting out.

I knew his eyes filtered through my body as I walked past him, so I slowed down my steps, taking my time to walk down the steps leading out into the night. I still felt his gaze on the back of my head as I swung my legs over my bike, donned my helmet, and zoomed into the night.

***

He had his men follow me. My eyes scanned my driveway, my posture easy and calm. I busied myself with the handle of my bike as I counted them through my peripheral vision.

Four.

Sebastian had to be f*****g kidding me.

Grateful to be in something more comfortable today, I got on my bike and zoomed out, at intervals checking above my shoulders. They were right on my tail, but it was going to be easy to lose them.

I was riding a bike. There were lanes they couldn’t follow me through.

At a sharp bend, I made my turn, disappearing down a tunnel and emerging at the other side. I wasted no time as I kept on moving, not stopping until I got to my destination.

With my helmet by my side, I walked into the building. The comfort of my leather jacket rubbing against my skin didn’t alleviate the fear eating deep inside me.

I was in the enemy's territory, and even I knew it.

The lady at the reception led me in when I told her he was expecting me. I didn’t blame her when she gave me a cursory glance.

I didn’t fit in here. Everyone around me was dressed in perfectly straightened suits, almost like they followed a particular dressing style.

And I was the opposite, in my skinny jeans, black t-shirt, and leather jacket. I wasn't here to impress.

Xander got to his feet when I strolled into his office. He was exactly as I'd imagined him to be. Sandy blonde hair and icy-blue eyes that looked like he knew more than he let on.

“Miss M!” He sounded genuinely pleased to see me, but I couldn’t allow myself to be fooled. Not by him.

"You can't call me that around here, Mr. Hale," I muttered, sitting on the other end of the desk and crossing one foot above the other. "No one else knows who I am in the whole of New York."

Contracts were usually concluded through my website, so I had no reason to see any of my clients. Sebastian was making me do the very things I'd promised myself I wouldn't do when I started out.

“Tea or coffee?”

“None,” I responded in a clipped tone. I’d done my research before coming here, so I knew Xander wasn’t as nice as he looked. With an affiliation to a drug peddling agency, I could be dead in the blink of an eye.

I needed to play this smoothly if I was going to walk away from it with my head intact.

“I can’t be here for too long.”

He nodded, getting back into his seat. “I got your mail.”

"I need more time. His information was encrypted, and I hadn't prepared for that."

"Fucker!" he swore under his breath. "Of course, what was I thinking? He wouldn't have left it lying right there for whoever wanted to take it."

This man had no idea what he was talking about. But he didn’t have to, as long as it made my being a double agent easier.

I told myself this risk was necessary because something had to foot my college expenses. The two thousand dollars was still sitting in my account as promised, untouched.

“It is the reason I had to come here. I have never had to go back to continue a task for a client. This is strange to me as it is to you, and if we are going to be successful, we are going to have to be on the same page.”

“And hiding behind the screen isn’t going to cut it for me.” Then, I sighed, rubbing at a spot in my head. “Now that I think about it, I think I might take up your offer, but I need something stronger than coffee or tea.”

Xander nodded. “Give me a minute.”

I waited till he was out of the office before connecting his computer with my phone via wifi.