Page 21 of What Doesn't Kill You…

He rubbed at the sore spot.

"I'm getting there," he told her before taking a breath. "Okay, so the thing is, my editor isn't really my editor anymore, he's just an old friend. I asked him to contact Lake because I was desperate. I needed help and couldn't afford to pay for it. I've sunk everything I own into this trip." He waved a hand around the room. "You're looking at my savings. I even sold my car to finance this chance to take Damien down." He looked skyward, seeing only the white ceiling fan. "I parted ways with my paper a year ago after they told me I was too obsessed with this story. I don't have a publisher waiting to run this back home. I don't have any more money to throw at investigating Damien. This is it. My last stand. If I don't get him now, I'll have to give up, because I've pretty much bankrupted myself to bring that bastard down."

"We're stuffed," Violet said as she paced the length of the living and dining area.

To say she wasn't too happy with Max was to put it mildly. Fricking amateurs. Rochelle had screwed up on this one. Not only hadn't the client been properly vetted, but she'd let him go into the field, where he’d promptly blown the op because the target knew him. Benson Security should have gone to Wedding Island without Max and brought back the information he needed. They were experienced in covert operations, while Max played with words for a living.

"We aren't stuffed," Max said, like he knew anything at all about running an op. "Damien thinks we're here for a wedding, so we go ahead as planned. Nothing's changed. His partner is still due to visit the island, which means we still have a chance to find out his identity. Violet told him she booked the trip and I had nothing to do with it. Why wouldn't he believe her?"

How could someone so pretty be so dumb?

“Max, you left a trail of emails when you arranged a wedding with the resort. It isn’t going to take him long to find out you were the one who planned this trip.” Violet stopped pacing right beside him, to ensure she had his complete attention. "On top of that, he knows you once tried to tell the world he’s a criminal, so why the hell would you get married on his island? He is definitely going to be suspicious about why you’re really here."

"If I were him," Rodrigo said. "I'd postpone the meeting with my partner until you were married and gone."

The words made Max jerk back as though he'd been struck. He seemed to deflate and slump in his chair.

"Damn it, I blew it, didn't I?" he said.

"Aye," Violet replied before anyone could console him. He needed the truth, not to be mollycoddled. "You let obsession blind you. It's a rookie mistake. In situations like this it's best to be cold, methodical, and thorough. You don't want your prey to see you coming."

Rodrigo huffed out a breath. "Apart from the fact she makes us sound crazy, she's not wrong. Damien knows you're coming for him now, which means you've lost any advantage you might have had."

"So, what do we do?" Max spread his hands wide. "Please tell me this can be salvaged because I wasn't exaggerating when I said that everything I own is wrapped up in this story. If I don't get it, I'm screwed. Worse, he gets to carry on doing what he's doing, and I can’t stomach that."

"Neither can I," Katrina said softly before turning to Rodrigo. "You've got the most experience with this sort of thing, what do we do?"

"We carry on as planned," Rodrigo said. "And hope our covers stand up to his scrutiny. Have to say though, if I were him, I'd be boosting my security just in case you proved to be a threat."

Violet had to agree. "We need to get eyes and ears in his house so we know what he's doing," she said.

"Definitely." Rodrigo nodded. "That's got to be our first priority. Maybe Abasi can plant some listening devices, assuming he gets himself hired on as staff. In the meantime, we get Evan to prod at the resort's online security, see if he can infiltrate the system. At least Damien doesn't know about Abasi or Evan, so we have that going for us."

"Evan has to shore up our cover identities first," Katrina reminded him.

"Yeah." Rodrigo shook his head. "I need to fill Rochelle in about all of this, see what she thinks."

Max slumped further into his chair. "She's gonna tell Lake about the newspaper story being fake, isn't she?"

Rodrigo cocked his head and stared at Max.

"I figured." Max nodded. "Lake Benson isn't going to be happy."

"Not with you, no," Rodrigo said.

"None of us are happy with you," Violet said as she stalked past the table.

Not only had he blown the op, but there was no newspaper eagerly waiting for the story, which meant the full press coverage Rochelle hoped would save the team wasn't coming. Max's behavior had not only jeopardized his own plan, but it’d also made it that much harder for Benson Security to get their work visas renewed.

"I'm sorry," Max said again, looking at each of them in turn. "I got blinded by obsession and made some bad decisions. I don't know what I was thinking. Hell, I wasn't thinking at all."

That didn't make Violet any less furious. "Do you have anything else you need to tell us? Anymore secrets you're hiding from the team who are literally risking their lives to help you? If you do, speak up now."

"No. There's nothing else."

"If I find out…" Violet said.

He held up his hands in surrender. "I promise, there's nothing else. I screwed up. Let me fix this. Tell me what I need to do to make it right."