The door shut softly behind her, with the faintest of clicks. She stood in front of Trace’s desk and braced her hands on the surface. Part of her didn’t want to know the truth. Part of her wanted to pretend everything was okay.
But hiding does no good.
She straightened her shoulders and turned around to face him. “I met Drake Archer today.”
Trace gazed back at her. His blue eyes were unreadable.
“He told me…he said that he’d been one of my guards, back when I was in New York.” She shook her head. “Tell me he’s wrong.” Did it sound like she was begging? Skye was very afraid that it did.
Because she was begging, and it felt as if her heart was breaking.
But Trace didn’t tell her anything. He just kept looking back at her.
“Trace.”
“For a time, Drake did watch you.”
No, no, no. “Why?”
“Because I wanted to keep you safe.” The words were said softly, but she saw his hands clench into fists.
“You didn’t even talk to me for ten years! You left me, you joined the military. You vanished from my life, until I came looking for you—”
“That’s not true. You already know I came to see you dance in New York.” A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I could never stay away from you.”
She whirled away. Her movements were jerky as she headed toward the massive window on the right side of his desk.
His desk. She looked down and saw the framed photograph there. The only photograph.
One of her. Smiling.
He’d taken that while they were in the Keys.
Pain rose and threatened to choke her. “How long did Drake Archer watch me?”
“Three months.”
Her eyes closed. “Then you sent someone else, right? You kept sending someone, to watch—” Skye broke off. She started to laugh then, but the sound was brittle. “Oh, dear God, that’s why you looked so shocked when I came to your office that first time.” She forced herself to turn back and stare at him, even though looking into his glittering stare just seemed to hurt her more. “When I came to you and said, ‘Someone’s watching me,’ your whole body stiffened.” She hadn’t put the pieces together then, how could she? “You thought that I’d found out about your guards, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t have guards on you then,” he snapped out the words from behind clenched teeth. “Maybe if I had, then you would’ve been safe. That bastard doctor would never have gotten so close.”
Her lips parted but she had no words. He hadn’t just said that. He couldn’t have.
“I have enemies.” He took a step toward her. When she stiffened, he froze. “Dangerous enemies who would like nothing better than to hurt me. But you see, for some men, just hurting isn’t enough. They like to destroy people. Wreck them completely.”
She was as frozen as he was. The ice was back, thicker than ever.
“Do you know what would destroy me?” Trace asked her.
Skye wasn’t sure if anything could.
“If someone hurt you, if someone killed you, that would f**king end me.”
Tears stung her eyes. “So you put guards on me—”
“I’ve killed, Skye. For my country. For you.” His shoulders rolled back, and he gestured to his plush office. “You think this place didn’t come at a price? It’s built on secrets. I learned plenty on a battlefield of blood and death. I learned to hunt my enemy, any place, any time. And I learned that, sometimes, you even have to be willing to fight the people who are closest to you…because those people can be the most dangerous.”
“I’m sick of secrets.” Her voice was thick with tears that she wouldn’t shed. “You should’ve told me. It was my life. Mine!”
“And what did you want me to do? To take you off the stage, away from the lights you loved, and tell you that my enemies might be after you? That there could be a man out there who wanted to hurt you, torture you, because of something I’d done?”
“I never loved the lights.” The words were a whispered confession.
He frowned, then Trace gave a hard, negative shake of his head. “I put protection on you until the threat was gone. I just wanted you safe.”
He wasn’t getting it. “You’re talking about my life.”
“I’m talking about the thing that matters most to me!” Trace leapt forward. His hands caught her shoulders. “I didn’t want you afraid. Not of me, not of the men that could come after you. I made a mistake. A stupid mistake, and I put you on their radar.”
“What mistake?”
His gaze held hers. “I took you with me. Fuck me, I took you.”
That made no sense to her. It didn’t—
“Your picture. I needed it, Skye. I needed you. But I should have left you behind, because by taking it, they knew my weakness. They knew that hurting you would break me.”
“Who is ‘they’?”
His fingers tightened on her.
“Stop it!” Skye yelled at him. “Stop keeping me in the dark and just tell me! Why do you think I can’t handle this? I survived a freak who kept me locked in a basement without food for days. I survived.”
His lashes lowered, concealing his eyes. “Some were traitors to our country. I worked Black Ops, Skye. It’s off the books, things too classified for most people to ever know.”
“I’m not most people. I’m the woman you kept in a cage, only I didn’t even know it.”
He flinched. She’d hurt him. In that moment, Skye actually thought…good. Now he felt some of the pain that was ripping her apart.
It didn’t seem fair that she should be the only one who felt as if her heart were being torn out. “How many guards?”
“Does it matter?”
He still wasn’t telling her.
“How long? Months? Years?”
His hands shoved into his pockets, but he didn’t back away from her. “Only when I received intel to indicate that you might be in danger.”
He’d taken her choice away. By not telling her… “Just what did they watch?” All of her personal moments? Her failures? Her successes? Her intimate time with friends…with lovers? Had eyes been on her then?
“They watched enough to make sure you weren’t going to be hurt. When the threats were gone, they pulled back.”
Fury seemed to choke her. “You should have told me.”