Chapter 4Partners, Not Wives

The next morning, the air in the briefing room was thick enough to choke on.

I was two minutes late. There were six people in the room, making me the seventh. No one was sitting.

Gideon stood at the head of the table, radiating pure violence.

When I walked in, his eyes locked onto mine. "The day you joined my squad, I gave you three ironclad rules. Jax. Recite them."

Jax swallowed hard, looking from me to Gideon. "Uh. Rule one: keep yourself breathing. Rule two: keep your squad breathing. Rule three: no internal sabotage or backstabbing."

Gideon's gaze shifted to the sniper standing next to Jax. "Penalty for breaking rule three?"

"Three thousand push-ups, ten-mile run with an eighty-pound ruck. And a public apology."

Gideon turned his dead eyes back to me. "Raven. Drop."

I planted my boots, totally confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Jax took a step toward me, his face grim. "Look, Raven... I love you like a sister, but what you did crossed the line. You need to apologize to Ruby right now."

The rest of the squad nodded in agreement. I looked at Ruby. She was staring at the floor, hugging her arms around herself.

"You want to play dumb?" Gideon growled. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a folded tissue, and threw it onto the table.

It was the vintage silver locket. Smashed into pieces.

"I gave this to Ruby to keep her safe," Gideon's voice was a lethal whisper. "You couldn't handle that, so you ripped it off her neck and crushed it?"

My eyes widened in absolute horror. "What? No! I didn't touch it!"

I spun toward the girl. "Ruby, tell them! Tell them what actually happened!"

She bit her trembling lip and shook her head, tears spilling over her lashes. "Raven... I didn't want to say anything, but Gideon saw it. If I lie, he'll punish me instead."

"Raven," Jax cut in softly. "We all know you've got feelings for the boss, but going scorched-earth out of jealousy? Over a piece of silver? He just wanted her safe. She's going into the lion's den, for god's sake."

The rest of the team chimed in, their voices a chorus of disappointment and anger.

I stared at Ruby, my mind short-circuiting. I couldn't comprehend how someone could fabricate such a flawless, devastating lie out of thin air.

"Ruby. Look me in the eye." My voice shook with suppressed rage. "Did I do this?"

She let out a choked sob and buried her face in her hands. "Gideon... she didn't mean it, please don't be mad at her."

"Enough!" Gideon roared.

He marched up to me, his chest almost brushing mine. "You make me sick. You have become a liability. You don't deserve the patch on your shoulder."

His eyes were merciless. "Take the punishment and confess, and maybe we let you stay in the unit. Refuse, and I am marching up to Command to have your badge stripped. You're no operator. You're a jealous child."

I shook my head, my eyes burning. We had bled together in war zones. He knew my character down to my bones. But all it took was a few fake tears from Ruby, and suddenly I was a traitor?

"Are you going to apologize?!" he barked.

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper. I kept my eyes locked on Ruby.

After a long, agonizing silence, my voice came out like cracked ice. "I'm sorry."

"Louder!"

"I am sorry!"

"Drop."

I hit the floor. I didn't speak. Three thousand push-ups was torture. Around the two-thousand mark, my triceps started spasming. My pace ground down to a grueling, agonizing crawl.

When the last rep was done, I stood up, strapped on the eighty-pound ruck, and walked out the door. Jax tried to step forward to plead for me, but Gideon shut him down with one terrifying glare.

I hit the asphalt track. Lap after lap.

My vision blurred. My muscles screamed. Right near the finish line, my legs gave out, and I slammed hard into the dirt, tasting blood and gravel.

A shadow fell over me. A suffocating cloud of designer perfume filled my lungs.

"Tsk, tsk. Sorry about that, Raven." Ruby crouched down next to me, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "I just wanted to test how much Gideon really cared about you."

She laughed, a sharp, ugly sound. "Turns out, not much."

I pushed myself up onto my elbows, glaring at her. "Why?" I rasped out. "Why do you all want me to take the deep-cover op? You know it's a death sentence. Arthur wants it, Gideon wants it... he spent all week training you, just to make sure you wouldn't have to go. So I'm just collateral damage?"

I let out a bitter, exhausted laugh. "It's not going to work out the way you think, Ruby."

"Oh, really? Don't think I don't know you stole those sticks. And so what if you've been his partner? Once I'm standing by his side in the field, I'll erase every memory he has of you."

"I'm sure you will," I whispered tiredly. He already loved her. That was a fixed point in the universe.

But my quiet resignation sounded like a challenge to her ears. Her eyes flared with malice. "Don't get cocky, bitch."

Before I could react, she lunged forward, pinning my exhausted arm down. She jammed a small white pill against my lips.

"I just need you to do me one more favor!"

But in a chaotic blur of motion, she suddenly shoved the pill into my palm, grabbed my hand, and forced it to push the pill into her own mouth.

She collapsed backward, clutching her throat. "Raven! Why are you doing this to me?!"

Her eyes were wide with perfectly feigned terror. Heavy boots pounded into the dirt behind me. Gideon flew past me, dropping to his knees and gathering Ruby into his arms. He whipped his head around, his face feral.

"What the hell did you force her to swallow?!"

"Gideon..." Ruby whimpered, her face flushing crimson as she curled into his chest. "I feel so hot. I... I just came down to help her back to the barracks. I brought her medical spray..."

Tears streamed down her cheeks. She looked like a broken angel.

My mind spun. How could someone with this level of psychotic acting ability possibly fail an undercover op in her past life?

Before I could solve the puzzle, Gideon's hand shot out and clamped around my throat, slamming my head back into the dirt.

My airway collapsed. Black spots danced in my vision.

"What. Did. You. Give. Her. Where is the antidote?!"

I tried to peel his iron fingers off, a manic, hysterical laugh bubbling up in my chest. "Ask her! Ask her what she took!"

His eyes were rimmed with red. The absolute disgust radiating from him felt like physical blows. "What the hell did you turn into? Or have you always been this twisted and I was just too blind to see it?"

He kicked me in the ribs, sending me sprawling across the dirt. My body was completely broken from the punishment. I didn't have the strength to lift my arms.

I swallowed the blood pooling in my mouth, forcing myself up on one trembling arm. I looked right at the trembling girl in his arms. "Bravo. I hope you can keep the mask on forever."

"You are beyond saving," Gideon snarled. "I am submitting the paperwork to burn your operative number. I'm reporting every single thing you've done. You are unfit to wear the uniform."

Operative Number: 01467.

It was my father's old call sign. Gideon knew exactly why I fought so hard to inherit it. But right now, blinded by what he thought he saw, he was going to strip me of my legacy.

Panic finally broke through my exhaustion. "I was wrong! Gideon, I admit it, I was wrong, please don't—"

He didn't even look back. He scooped Ruby up and sprinted toward the medical wing.

My vision narrowed to a pinprick, and the darkness finally pulled me under.