Single Lady Spy 01 - The End of Me

get them out. But was that risking my kids? Did he have them or did my mother or did he have them all? Where had Fitz gotten the private jet? Why was my father in hiding and did my mother know? What did I know for a fact?
    Nothing. Everything was up in the air.
    James might be alive, or not.
    Servario might be the Master Key, or not. My team might be murdered, or not.
    My kids might be safe, or not.
    I might be kept alive, or not.
    Nothing was left , nothing was a guarantee .
    I heard a zipper and opened my eyes. Servario dropped his pants and pulled his shirt off. I closed my eyes, but he didn’t have a shower like I thought he might. He stepped into my tub, pushing me over to a side, to accommodate him.
    The water level rose, nearly touching the top of the tub.
    “What are you doing?” I asked, not raising my voice.
    “I am enjoying my last night with you.”
    My stomach sunk. “You’re going to murder me tomorrow?”
    He didn’t answer me. I opened my eyes, startled by the look on his face.
    “Just promise not to hurt my kids.” The words weren’t a plea. They were a demand. My life for theirs.
    He nodded, “I will guard them with my life.”
    Tears leaked from my eyes, “Why are you doing this?”
    His lip quivered as he mouthed something and I read his lips, “The secret must be kept. There is no price too high. No matter what it is, I will pay it to protect the world from the chaos it could bring.”
    He didn’t speak aloud in his own home? Were we ever safe? He was always mouthing and whispering. He was always silent, unless he was showboating his bad qualities. Then he was loud and slightly demented.
    He turned on the loud jets as he picked up one of my feet and started to rub, “Tell me something you don’t want to.”
    I frowned, barely hearing what he’d said, “I like you. I don’t know why, but when it’s just you and me, and say, some bubbles or a bed, I like you.” I spoke in the same low whisper he did.
    He nodded.
    “Tell me something you don’t want to.”
    He grinned, “I joined the mile-high club with you. I have never had sex on my jets, ever.”
    I laughed silently, still too-near tears for it to not sound like crying, “Didn’t see that coming.”
    “If you could do anything in the world, for the next year, what would it be?”
    I frowned.
    He chuckled murmuring, “Humor me.”
    Arching an eyebrow, I spoke softly, after thinking for only a second, “Take my kids to an ashram in Thailand and learn to be a Yogi. Let them homeschool for the year and run around on a private beach, like Swiss Family Robinson, only the Thai edition. Then I would rent a house in France and I would take them to museums and galleries, and the ruins of France. I would winter in the Alps and ski. And I would probably finish the year off in Australia, or Greece, or somewhere completely different. Maybe on a yacht.” The words each brought a different flash of images , I could imagine every moment . I could see their faces.
    He nodded, “I knew you were high maintenance, deep down.”
    I laughed bitterly, still leaking tears.
    His eyes looked the same as mine, devastated.
    “What about after that? Would you go back to Boston?”
    I searched his face for where it was all going, “You mean if I could and be safe?”
    “Yes.”
    I nodded, “I would. My kids are in an amazing school. They love their friends and sports. They excel in the things they do. I would go back. I would need a different house though, maybe neighborhood. James fucked some of the neighbors as well.”
    He coughed, “That man makes me look like a preacher.”
    I gave him a look, “Yeah, maybe one of the ones who they have to keep moving ‘cause he is always in the paper for bad things.”
    He pinched my toes.
    I pulled back my foot. He grabbed the other one and started to massage it.
    “Evie, if things were different and you were just a girl and I was just a guy, would you go to the Alps with me for Christmas?”
    The question hurt my insides. I shook my head, “No.”
    He nodded, “I see.” He paused, “May I ask why?”
    I blinked a tear down my cheek, “I don’t think I can ever forget the conversation we had on the plane.”
    A soft smile grew on his face, “Fair enough.”
    We lay in silence until, finally, I stood up, dripping water on him, “I need some sleep. Do you have some pajamas I can borrow?”
    He shook his head, “No, you may not wear any.”
    I climbed out and dried myself with, what was