Page 64 of Witness Security Breach

We have the flash drive with hard evidence on you and your friends.

Want to trade? Or do you want to go to prison?

“That’ll get Walsh’s attention,” Aiden said. No need to rush the ask. Walsh was willing to pay millions to torture Edgar. They had time to play their hand the proper way, but not much. “Now we wait.” He glanced at the clock. “We’ve got a couple of hours until dinner. I’m going to get some shut-eye.”

Charlie removed her wig and the tomato-red shirt. “Can we talk?”

“Nothing else to say. We covered it last night.” He tugged off his boots and sighed in relief. “I’ve been pushing for over thirty hours and it’s been a tough day. I just want to take a nap. We can talk over dinner if necessary. Okay?”

Charlie hung her head. “Sure.” She went to the bathroom and closed the door.

The shower started.

Aiden lay down, facing a wall and nightstand, fully dressed, and stared at the clock. He knew he needed to sleep, but he was restless and edgy. Too amped up to close his eyes or to relax.

His thoughts were a whirlwind and his emotions were all over the place before Charlie had kissed him in the market, and at the moment, they threatened to call the shots, but he refused to let them mess with his head.

Flopping onto his back, he stared at the ceiling. The curtains were too thin. The room was too bright. The sun was too hot. The room was too stuffy.

He looked back at the clock on the nightstand. Charlie had been in there a long time. She’d taken five minutes last night and now had been in the bathroom for close to thirty.

It wasn’t his business. She wasn’t his business. If she wanted to spend three hours in the bathroom, that was her prerogative. Have at it. Use all the hot water. I don’t care.

Going on close to an hour, he admitted he was getting worried. Tempted even to knock on the door and ask if she needed anything. But nope.

He. Would. Not.

Finally, the water stopped; movement in the bathroom. He rolled onto his side, ensuring his back would be to her when she came out.

The door opened. Aiden shut his eyes, stilled his body, pretending to be asleep.

Charlie padded around the foot of the bed. Based on the sound, she was barefoot.

The mattress sank as she sat and lay down. His pulse skyrocketed, but he forced himself to take slow, even breaths. Forced himself not to move beyond the rise and fall of his chest.

“Aiden? Are you awake?”

It crossed his mind not to respond, to keep feigning sleep, but pretending for years that he wasn’t in love with her and that whomever she slept with didn’t bother him had only made things worse—throwing gasoline on the fire that had torched their friendship.

“I’m up,” he said, letting every drop of irritation that he felt leak into his tone.

The mattress shook as she scooted closer and clasped his arm. “Aiden. Please. Look at me.”

But he couldn’t. Listening was one thing, but he didn’t have the strength to look at her and keep a rein on his emotions.

“I lied—” Charlie’s voice was soft, quiet “—when I said I think of you as a brother.”

Tell him something he didn’t know.

“I’m sorry I slept with Nick,” she said. “It wasn’t fair to you.”

No, it wasn’t, but he was guilty of a far greater wrong by not telling her that he loved her and not telling Nick to back off.

“If I could undo it, I would,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about getting under my skin. You already are.”

A flutter of hope beat inside him. Was she saying what he longed to hear?

Confessions were dangerous; they exposed a person, made them vulnerable.