“Noah,” I cautioned as we stepped into the elevator. “You better tell me.”

“Fine, but it’s too late to cancel.” He shrugged. “We’re meeting a reporter from Star Weekly for coffee tomorrow morning.”

I gaped at him. “You can’t be serious.”

He winked at me. “Dead serious.”

I glared at him. “What the hell, Noah. I’m not entrusting this story to a grocery store tabloid. This isn’t some guess about who’s cheating or in rehab scandal. This is serious.”

He laughed softly as he stepped out of the elevator and into the parking garage. “I realize that, but a tabloid will take chances a mainstream news agency won’t. Think of the John Edwards love child scandal.”

“Yes, that’s my point exactly. That was a cheating scandal, involving an illegitimate love child. It belonged on the front page of a tabloid.”

He opened the passenger door of Ryker’s car and I slipped inside. It felt strange using all of Ryker’s things while he was still in Mexico doing God only knows what. I broke down and called him yesterday to listen to his voicemail. Even though it was irrational, I had hoped he’d answer the phone.

He slipped into the driver’s seat and drove out of the parking garage. “Look, I know it’s not ideal, but at least the story will be out in the open. Once they let the cat out of the bag, some independent websites will cover it too, and the networks won’t be able to ignore it. The story will have too much traction, especially with the mountain of evidence Ryker gave you.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” I said, staring at the flickering lights of D.C. illuminating the dark sky. “I just wish we could’ve got it on the front pages of the major D.C. newspapers.”

His jaw clenched as he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “Don’t worry. It will get there. Senator Deveron won’t be doing his backroom deals for much longer.”

I stared at his profile, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. “Why did you get involved with pay-for-hire mercenary work?”

Jarringly silent, Noah’s eyes narrowed and his eyebrows slanted low over his light brown eyes. He seemed to be trying to figure out how to answer my question, but then it hit me. He had no intention of telling me anything about him. I’d spent the last week living in his pocket, and he knew everything about me, and I didn’t know more than a few inconsequential facts about him. I was so tired of all the secrets, lies, and half-truths.

“It pays well, and it’s never boring. Not many people can say the same thing about their jobs,” he finally answered.

“Do you have a family?” I asked.

He white-knuckled the steering wheel. “Nope.”

I chewed my lip, taking in the sharp angles of his profile and his heavily lashed eyes. “Everybody has a family.”

“I don’t,” he snapped, his eyes darkening.

I rolled my eyes. “So you were born in a test tube and raised in an orphanage?”

“Drop it, Hattie,” he growled, his lips thinning. “You know all you need to know about me. We aren’t friends. I’m doing a job.”

My shoulders tensed, and I folded my arms across my body. “Fine. I don’t mind being strangers. We’ll only communicate when absolutely necessary. How does that sound?”

His frown deepened. “Perfect,” he answered without glancing at me.

“Great.” I leaned forward and turned up the volume of the radio.

I stared out the window. Trees lined the street. The yellow glow of lights from the inside the buildings dotted the sidewalk. Couples strolled hand and hand. Laughter floated through the air from the restaurants. Everything looked normal. Simple even. Jealousy ate at my insides. I missed my uncomplicated life where I didn’t have to second-guess everyone and everything.

Noah turned down the volume and pulled the car over to the side of the road. “My job requires anonymity and you’re safer the less you know about me.” He threaded his fingers through his hair. “I shouldn’t have taken this job. I just…” His voice faded, and I didn’t think he’d say anything else. “I don’t know. I wanted to help you. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Okay,” I rasped, forcing a weak smile. From the look on his face, it resembled more of a grimace than a smile.

He gestured to the valet stand on the sidewalk, looking pained. “We’re here. You go ahead. I’ll see you inside in a few minutes. I have to make a call.”

I cracked open the door and slipped one leg out the door. “Wait.” I glanced over my shoulder. “Are you calling Ryker?”

His shoulders hiked up. “Yes.”

I pulled my leg back into the car and closed the door. “I want to talk to him.”

“No.” He leaned over me and opened the door again. “Get out.”

“He’ll want to talk to me too.”

“You can call him after the meeting tomorrow if he gives me the green light.” He shoved me lightly on my shoulder. “Now leave. You’re already five minutes late. Your parents are going to start calling.”

I frowned. “I just want to say hi. That’s it.”

He pointed at the door. “Tomorrow. That’s as good as I can do.”

I rolled my eyes and then my phone rang, as if my parents knew I wanted to back out of dinner. I glanced at the screen. It was my mom. “Fine. See you in a few minutes.”

“Text me if you need anything,” he said as I climbed out of the car. “And don’t leave without me.”

“Yeah. Yeah,” I mumbled, nodding my head. “I won’t go anywhere without you. I know the drill.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hattie

“Hi,” I said as I bent to kiss my mom’s stiff cheek.

My mom smiled tepidly. “It’s good to see you, Hattie. We were beginning to think you weren’t going to show.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” I forced a smile on my face as I unfolded my napkin and arranged it on my lap. “I’m only a couple of minutes late. It took longer than I thought to get here.”

“Don’t pick on her, Elaine,” my dad griped, his eyes narrowing fractionally. “We weren’t waiting more than a couple of minutes. You’re going to scare her away again.”

I glanced back and forth between my mom and dad. Normally, they presented a unified front, but something told me that wasn’t the case right now. The tension between them was palpable.

My mom cocked her perfectly coiffed blonde head to the side. “She should show us the respect we deserve. She disappeared on a road trip without a word. Then, she didn’t bother to come see us for a week after she returned home.”

I tugged on the edge of the sleeve of my silk blouse. It barely covered my burn marks, but wearing a long-sleeved shirt in the middle of the summer would look suspicious. “You’re right. I should’ve stopped by the house, but I’ve been busy.”

My mom’s sculpted eyebrow lifted. “Doing what? You haven’t touched base with your professors in three weeks. You haven’t called Evan. I don’t even know where you’re living. I called Vera, and she hasn’t seen you either.”

The metal legs scraped across the hardwood floor as I slid my chair away from the table and tossed my napkin on the table. Anger lit my veins on fire. How dare she pry into my life? How dare she bring up Evan? “I don’t know why I bothered to come here tonight. For some reason, I keep giving you the benefit of the doubt.” I shook my head. “I should know better by now. I need to stop wasting my time.”

My mom stared down her nose at me. “I could say the same thing verbatim to you.”

I leaned back in my chair. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s time you stopped this nonsense and pulled your life together. You’re all over the place. You got engaged. You dropped out of your master’s program. You terminated your internship. You ended your engagement. You moved in with Vera. You reenrolled in the master’s program. You disappeared on a road trip.” She punctuated each point with a flick of her blood-red fingernails.