Capture Me: The Complete Trilogy

Chapter 17-2

I spend the rest of the evening functioning on autopilot. Esguerra and I have another late-night call with Asia, so I tie Yulia up in my office, letting her read while I take care of business. She’s unusually wary around me, watching me like I might attack her at any moment, and her fear adds to the rage bubbling deep within my chest. It takes everything I have to hand her a book and walk out of the room without grabbing her and demanding answers.

Without resorting to violence that I can’t and won’t use on her.

As I listen to our Malaysian suppliers argue over the quality of the latest batch of plastic explosives, I try to keep my thoughts from straying to my captive, but it’s impossible. Now that the idea is lodged in my mind, I can’t push it away.

A lover. A man Yulia cares about and wants to protect.

The mere thought of that fills me with murderous fury. Who is he? Another operative from her agency? Someone she met during her training, perhaps? It’s not out of the question. She would’ve been very young when she met him, but girls that age fall in love all the time. He could’ve been another trainee, someone she felt close to because they shared the same experiences. Or he might’ve been older—an instructor or an already-trained agent. Kirill couldn’t have been the only one who noticed the ugly duckling blossoming into a swan.

The more I think about it, the more likely it seems. They could’ve met during her training and continued their romance later on. Just because Yulia’s job involved getting close to men for information doesn’t mean she couldn’t have had a genuine relationship on the side. And if she did have one, another agent would’ve been the most logical choice for a lover. Someone from her organization would’ve understood her profession, forgiven her for doing what she had to do.

Accepted that she let me f**k her while she was in love with him.

The pencil I’ve been toying with during the call snaps in my hands, the crack startlingly loud in the pause during the conversation. Esguerra lifts his eyebrows, shooting me a cool glance, and I force my hands to unclench from the broken pieces of the pencil.

I can’t give in to this anger. I can’t allow myself to lose control. I need to figure out a new strategy, something that doesn’t rely on Yulia ultimately trusting me.

If I’m right about her lover, she’ll never give me the answers I seek.

She’ll protect her agency because he’s part of it.