Page 73 of Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad World

And Noah was part of the problem.

It wasn’t a position he was used to being in. Even in high school, he’d been the good kid. The one the principal never called into his office. Somewhere along the line, he’d lost his way.

It’d been a very long day. There had been endless questions—from the police, the DA’s office, and Rochelle. Dinner had consisted of a stale sandwich from the police station vending machine, and he had indigestion from all the lousy coffee he’d drunk while there. He’d had three hours’ sleep, max. Had managed to piss off pretty much everyone he knew. And the day wasn’t over yet.

Rochelle had assembled the team in their open-plan office and was currently pacing at the front of the silent room. Annabelle sat quietly in the corner near the computers. She hadn’t once looked at Noah since he’d returned a few minutesearlier, and his chest was tight and aching from the need to go talk to her. But there wasn’t time. And even if there were, he wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to him.

“You totally stuffed up.”Channeling Marisa Tomei again, Therese folded her arms over her black leather jacket and glared at him.“You broke that girl’s trust. How could you do that? You know how much she depends on you to get her through this, and you left her with Violet. Violet?”She threw up her hands in disgust.“You might as well have left her with The Terminator. All Violet cares about is shooting people.”

Noah couldn’t reply to his ghostly wife, but he hung his head as she shouted at him. He deserved every word.

“You are so damned stubborn,”she raged.“So intent on clinging to a relationship that literally died five years ago that you’re screwing up any future you might have. Are you hoping for a medal for being a martyr to our marriage? A sainthood from the Pope?”

She stood directly in front of him, forcing him to watch Rochelle pace through her translucent form.“You knew she was developing feelings for you, and you were too damn hardheaded to admit you were developing feelings for her too. Now you’ve thrown it all away. Do you even understand how hard it is for her to trust anyone? Yet she trusted you. And what did you do? You told yourself that you were eliminating the threat to her. That you were doing your job. When, really, you were screwing over Annabelle and your boss.”

Therese bent over until she stared him in the eye.“What happened to you? Because this”—she gestured toward him—”isn’t the man I married. Hell, he isn’t even the teen I fell in love with. You’re a coward, Noah Merchant, and I’m ashamed of you.”

She disappeared, leaving her words to resonate within him.

Noah glanced over at Annabelle, who was very deliberately staring at her hands. Therese was right. He hadn’t rushed out with Rodrigo and Abasi to end the threat to Annabelle—although that was definitely part of it. No, he’d gone because deep down he was scared of how fast things were moving with Bella, and he wanted the mission to end before he got in even deeper. He’d destroyed her trust in him and done it because he was a coward. So afraid of being hurt again that he was too terrified to try. He was a sad example for his sons. They would never learn how to live and cope with loss by watching him. He’d let them down.

Let himself down.

At the front of the room, Rochelle stopped pacing and sat on one of the old wooden chairs. She put her hands on her thighs and looked at each of them, her expression inscrutable. Noah had expected anger, disappointment even, but there was no trace of either on her face. His stomach knotted as he watched her.

“I had a long chat with Lake,” she said in a clear, even voice. “And I’ve decided that after this operation, I’m disbanding the Houston branch of Benson Security.”

There was a moment of stunned silence before Evan shot to his feet. “You can’t! I need this. If there’s no Houston office, I go to prison.”

“I’m sorry,” Rochelle said without compassion. “The decision has been made. This is the first and last case for Benson Security USA.”

“Why are you doing this?” Evan wailed as Harris put a hand on his shoulder.

“She’s doing it because we can’t work together,” his brother said softly.

“I can work together,” Evan protested. “I take orders and do my job. Don’t I?”

He suddenly sounded as young as his age, and it made Noah hurt to listen to him.

“Weirdly,” Rochelle said with a humorless smile, “you aren’t the problem.”

“Then why?” Evan demanded. “Is it because Noah, Abasi, and Rodrigo went off on their own last night?” As he stared at the three of them, it was clear he was silently pleading with them to say or do something to change Rochelle’s mind.

There was nothing they could say, and Noah found he could no longer look Evan in the eye. He hung his head in shame.

“It’s about respect,” Katrina murmured. “In a team like this, we need strong leadership. Someone who makes the hard decisions and does what’s best for the rest of us. But to do that, you need the team to allow it. Rochelle doesn’t have that. You can’t work together if you don’t respect the person in charge or have each other’s backs.”

“I get it,” Violet said. “I don’t believe for one second that Abasi, or the triplets, or even Rodrigo would have my back in a crisis. I’m with you, Rochelle. This won’t work. Plus, America is weird and I miss Scotland. I’m only here because the triplets’ mother begged me to keep an eye on them.”

“I’d watch your back,” Evan protested.

“Only if you weren’t distracted at the time,” Violet said. “Or if you and your brothers hadn’t come up with something better to do.” She lifted her chin toward Abasi. “Or if you agreed with the decision in the first place, right?”

“Like you did when Rochelle told you not to shoot at those men in the cars that night?” Abasi said.

“I saved Noah and Annabelle by disobeying that order.”

Abasi shrugged. “Guess the end does justify the means, then.”