Page 120 of Temporary Vows

I’m glad he can’t tell I’m only half listening or that my mind is stuck on my wife.

Wife.

The word feels strange in my mind. Like something foreign that doesn’t quite belong, yet it does.

Elodie and I are now married.

Night fell just over an hour ago. Salvatore and I have only just gotten a chance to catch up. We’re standing by the water fountain. Far enough from the crowd for privacy but close enough for me to see Elodie talking to my aunt Maureen beneath the gazebo.

Salvatore has important things to tell me, but I can’t stop thinking about how cold Elodie has been toward me all fucking day.

It started with the kiss, the one I gave her after the priest declared us husband and wife.

I kissed my wife, shamelessly eager to feel her lips on mine, but the moment our mouths touched, it felt like kissing a corpse. There was nothing there. No life, no emotion, no trace of the girl I reconnected with mere weeks ago.

Elodie Harper is now Elodie Vale.

She’s acting exactly as she should for a woman in a contracted marriage. I just don’t like it.

I laid the cards on the table. Told her what I wanted, told her what Ididn’twant, and that I could give her everything in this world except love.

So, why the fuck am I bothered by her behavior?

I sensed the change in her the moment she took her first steps down the aisle. It was the stoic expression on her face and the new confidence set in her shoulders. I should commend her; instead, I am here, irritated. Like a child who can’t have his way.

“The tracking code we installed popped an hour ago,” Salvatore continues, snapping my attention fully back to him. “It poppedhere.”

“Here?” I can’t hide my surprise.

He nods. “The plan worked, old friend.”

Salvatore is the kind of friend I would have always invited to my wedding, but he’s also here today because he’s working. The plan he’s referring to was to use the wedding as a trap to lure in the mole. He figured they’d attend the wedding. And if they did, we’d be able to narrow down the list of suspects. Looks like he was right.

“But this bastard is clever,” he continues. “We couldn’t pin down who it was linked to. Looks like a ghost op.”

I bite the inside of my lip. Throughout this whole time, I’ve contemplated who this person could be. More and more, I’m convinced it’s someone close to the family.

The level of complexity and lengths they’ve gone through to conceal themselves is expected from a high-level hacker. But it also suggests they want to remain hidden for other reasons.

“What are your thoughts on that?” I add.

“Most likely the same as yours.” Salvatore stares back at me with narrow assessing eyes.

“That it’s someone close, and they’re worried about what they may have to lose if discovered.”

He folds his arms over his chest. “My experience has taught me that it’s not always an enemy. Sometimes it’s the people you least expect. They’re the ones who get closest to you. They’re the ones with the means to ruin you.”

“That might prove more difficult to unearth than an enemy.”

“It will. Harder to see what’s in front of you. But we’ll do what we have to do to smoke them out.”

Salvatore and I come from different sides of the same coin, but my world is just as cutthroat as his. At any moment, anyone could stab you in the back without a thought. “What happens now?”

“Leave it with me. You have other things to think about.” He rests a hand on my shoulder and motions toward Elodie.

My gaze drifts to her. My aunt must be boring the life out of her, undoubtedly talking about the new Shire horses she just purchased, but Elodie is listening intently.

From here I can’t quite see her expression, but she seems fully engaged, hanging on to every word. Most of us avoid Aunt Maureen because shewilltalk your ear off.