Love & Compromise (Agents in Love Book 3) Read online

  “Now, now, let’s calm down.” The panic in Victor’s voice was apparent. “Why don’t we eat these fancy chocolates you brought and call a truce.”

  “I’m not going to pretend we’re friends,” Carter said, voice growly. “You better not be lying. I’m so done with you. If a video turns up, I won’t hesitate to take you out.”

  “I swear there isn’t a video.”

  The sound of a package being opened and plastic rattling filled the room, followed by the sound of chewing.

  “These are good,” Victor said. “Settle down and try one. Let’s be civil.”

  “Civil?” Carter laughed, a bitter, frightening sound. “I hope you choke on those damn chocolates and die. Say hello to Ross Jenkins when you see him in hell.”

  Carter’s footsteps crossed back to the doorway. It creaked open and slammed shut, and then the footsteps faded down the hallway.

  Jenessa twisted her neck to look at Kole, wondering what they should do now. What had Carter meant by his parting words? Was Ross Jenkins the man he killed?

  Suddenly, a loud thump sounded through the room and the distinct gasping sounds of someone choking followed. As though Carter had somehow made it happen, it sounded as though Victor really choked on the candy.

  If Victor was tied to Ross’s death somehow, they needed to question him. That couldn’t happen if he died.

  Jenessa pushed away from Kole, grabbing at the curtains to try and shove them out of her way.

  His arms circled her from behind and held her hands pinned at her sides. “Stop.”

  She shook her head violently, yanking away from him. “Victor’s choking!”

  Giving one last jerk of her body, Jenessa ripped from Kole’s grasp and tore her way from behind the curtains.

  Victor lay on the ground in front of his desk, face down.

  Jenessa rushed to him, pulling with all her strength to turn the somewhat portly man over.

  His eyes bulged in their sockets and his face had turned blue. He wasn’t getting air, but opening his mouth didn’t reveal any chocolate stuck in his throat. Did he need the Heimlich maneuver or CPR? Jenessa checked at his neck for a pulse. Nothing.

  Running through very old CPR training in her mind, she looked back to where Kole had finally exited the curtains. “Call 9-1-1.”

  She plugged Victor’s nose and tilted his head backward, hoping she remembered how to properly open his airway.

  “Nessa, wait!” Kole ordered.

  Ignoring him, she leaned down, preparing to issue a rescue breath.

  The second her lips touched Victor’s, Kole’s body barreled into her, shoving her away from the man. Despite the fact that she had barely contacted Victor, her lips flared with a sudden burning sensation.

  “Look at his fingers and lips,” Kole ordered. “He didn’t choke. There was something in that chocolate. Did you touch him?”

  Jenessa blinked back sudden tears from the burning pain and nodded. “A little. My lips burn.”

  “They burn?”

  She nodded. “It feels like they have acid on them.”

  “Shit!” Without a further word, Kole scooped her into his arms and rushed from the room, running down the hall into a nearby bathroom.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “We have to get it off your skin.” He dumped her unceremoniously into the bathtub, turned on the faucet, and pulled the lever for the shower.

  Cold water doused Jenessa and she shrieked with surprise.

  “Turn your face toward the water,” Kole ordered. “The faster we rinse it off, the better.”

  She did as he asked, even though the water burned her lips more as it rushed over her face. As the water warmed up, the pain became unbearable.

  “Please, Kole. Turn it off,” she begged.

  He descended on her with a washcloth, getting it wet and then pressing it against her lips. “We have to make sure it’s all gone. Your lips are already peeling. I’m hoping whatever it was, you didn’t get a lot on you. It killed Victor in seconds. I don’t want to take any chances here. We have to get it all rinsed away.”

  Knowing he was right, Jenessa turned her face back toward the stream of the shower and allowed it to soak through the washcloth and over her burning skin. She kept her lips closed, hoping nothing got in her mouth.

  Victor was already dead in the few seconds it took her to reach him. Whatever had been in the chocolates worked fast. She should be okay, thanks to Kole being more observant than her and his quick thinking.

  Kole sat on the closed lid of the toilet, leaning over into the water and softly stroking her soaked hair. “I need to call the police. Since no one’s screaming out in the hallway, I’m guessing no one discovered Victor’s body, but we need to report it. Are you going to be okay by yourself?”

  The extreme burning sensation was slowly fading, so Jenessa nodded. She removed the cloth. “What are you going to tell the cops? I mean about Carter?”

  Kole closed his eyes, a crease from stress forming between his brows. “What can I do? He’s my brother, but you heard what he said. He killed Ross Jenkins and we know he gave Victor that chocolate. He must have poisoned it somehow.”

  Jenessa knew he was right. Carter was the killer, and likely the person passing information to Paul Billings. She had suspected Caleb Harrington, thinking Paul would like to have a future president at his beck and call. She never imagined the one he had on the hook was Carter.

  “What do you think your father will say?” she asked softly. “And what about S.A.T.O.? If they know we’re on to Carter, Paul might try something worse. Shouldn’t we keep this quiet so we can get more information from your brother? We can always turn him over to the cops later, once we get the information we need.”

  Kole’s dark brown eyes felt like they were boring holes into her. “You think we should lie?”

  She nodded, though he didn’t look happy. “At least for now. Just until we figure out what’s really going on. Carter might have information we need, and we can’t get it if he knows we suspect him.”

  Kole ran a hand through his damp hair. “I knew my brother was a cheater and a jerk, but I never expected this.”

  Jenessa reached out of the tub, resting her hand against Kole’s knee. “How could you suspect him? He’s your brother.”

  “You’re right, though. We shouldn’t let him know that we know. Not yet. Let’s tell the cops we were sneaking off, looking for a private place to be together. When we went into the room, we were getting undressed when you spotted Victor and tried to give him mouth to mouth. I stopped you and put you in the tub.”

  “Sounds good. Get our clothes out from behind the curtain and scatter them around the room. Also, I know you won’t want to do this, but you need to take Victor’s computer out to your car before the cops get here.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You want me to steal the computer.”

  She nodded. “I can’t get into it remotely if there isn’t an internet connection. We need to find out what Victor was blackmailing your brother with and what else the man was doing. That computer’s important.”

  Kole stared at the floor, looking mulish. She thought he would refuse, but finally he nodded. “I’ll get it first, then call the cops.”

  Relieved, she replaced the washcloth over her lips, feeling the burning start again as the water splashed onto them.

  “I’ll get you an ambulance and to the hospital as fast as I can,” he said, standing up. “Sit tight. I promised not to let anything happen to you. I won’t let Carter hurt you. No matter what I have to do to stop him.”

  Chapter 12

  Kole stood uncertainly outside the curtain blocking Jenessa’s hospital bed in the emergency room. They hadn’t exactly had a chance to talk about the blazing kiss they’d shared right before hacking into Victor’s computer. Now, with everything that happened, he wondered how he should act.

  Was that a one-time thing or did she expect more? Most confusingly, what did he want? Al
l Kole knew for certain at this moment was everything he thought he knew had blown up in the last few hours.

  Now, he’d given Jenessa a real kiss and she hadn’t pulled away, which might be a good thing. However, the fact that his brother was a murderer put a huge kink in everything Kole thought he’d come to Washington to accomplish.

  He tried to remember everything Carter said to Victor. It had sounded like Victor might have forced Carter into killing Ross Jenkins. Carter had mentioned blackmail. Then again, no one forced him to give poisoned chocolates to Victor... did they?

  A nurse gave him a kind smile as she exited Jenessa’s room.

  Before the curtain closed back around her, Jenessa’s eyes locked onto his. “Kole?” she called. “How long have you been standing there?”

  Deciding that was as good as an invitation, Kole ducked through the curtain.

  Jenessa looked small and scared, sitting in the middle of the hospital bed. Something thick and white covered her lips, and it was impossible to see the final damage. Someone had washed the smeared mascara from her face, leaving her appearing younger and more vulnerable.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “The burning stopped,” she said. “The doctor said you saved me by your quick thinking with the shower. It peeled off the first couple layers of skin, but you likely stopped the poison from penetrating too far. He said within a few days I should be good as new.”

  The tight tension that had vibrated throughout Kole’s body since scooping Jenessa off the office floor finally broke, and he sagged with relief. “You’re really okay?”

  She nodded, and then patted the side of the bed next to her. “Sit with me. They’re getting my discharge papers ready, but it’ll still be a while.”

  Kole hurried to obey, pulling the curtain closed tight and crossing toward her. He sat gingerly next to her, half afraid he might do something to cause the horrible burning sensation she’d suffered to return.

  Her hand slipped into his, and Jenessa let out a soft sigh. “This is not how I expected today to turn out.”

  He nodded and squeezed her hand tightly for a few moments. “I’m still having a hard time taking it all in. Now that I know you’re going to be okay, I sort of feel numb.”

  “Did you talk to the cops?” she asked softly. “I’m hoping you stuck to what we said before calling them. It’s what I told them.”

  “I stuck to the story,” he assured her. “And I got the computer. I’m still not sure we’re doing the right thing. We should have turned Carter in.”

  “I know that’s bothering you,” she said. “Just remember, we’re here to do a job and find the truth. We aren’t going to stop investigating. And it did sound like his actions weren’t entirely voluntary.”

  “Let’s not talk about it here.” Kole lifted her hand to his mouth and gave her palm a soft kiss.

  Jenessa’s fingers splayed against his face, and she pulled her hand from his grasp to cup his cheek. “Are you holding up okay? Everyone’s been fussing over me, but I’ve been worried about you.”

  Kole considered her question. His brother was a murderer. Could he ever be okay again? His entire view of the world had taken a huge hit. Sure, Carter had always been competitive with Kole, causing their relationship to not be as close as some siblings. But even when Carter slept with Clarissa and broke Kole’s heart, he’d always believed Carter was basically a good person. This new knowledge was so far out of the realm of what Kole had ever considered possible that it was a challenge to keep a grip on reality.

  Finally, he shook his head. “I’m not okay, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

  Jenessa pressed her lips together as though thinking but then winced.

  “Still hurts when you press on it?” he asked.

  “A bit. I guess we can’t do any more kissing for a while.” She flashed a wink, making Kole uncertain whether she wanted to kiss him more on a personal level or meant as part of their job.

  He should man up and ask her what she wanted, but perhaps his mental state wasn’t in the best shape to consider Jenessa as more than a coworker at this point. He’d suffered such a shock tonight, and Kole feared he’d make a rash decision out of a need for comfort.

  A tap sounded on the wall outside the curtain and then it whooshed open. The same smiling nurse walked in, paperwork in hand. “I have your discharge information, Miss Fleming.”

  Kole hopped off the bed, knowing he shouldn’t let himself feel guilty for getting caught sitting so close to Jenessa. People thought he was her boyfriend. He should be holding a vigil at her bedside. However, knowing the two of them faced an awkward conversation about their blazing hot kiss, he couldn’t help but feel he shouldn’t be playing the role of her boyfriend—even if a large part of him wanted to.

  The nurse turned to face him. “I understand she’ll be staying with you, Mr. Sharp?”

  Kole nodded.

  “Then these are for you.” She handed him a packet of papers. “That explains what she needs to do the next couple days. Keep applying the salve every two hours, drink plenty of liquids, and get a lot of rest. Nothing too strenuous for the next few days while she clears out any remaining toxins from her bloodstream.” She handed a clipboard to Jenessa. “If you’ll just sign these, we can get you out of here and back home.”

  Kole glanced at the paperwork, knowing he would read it in detail later to make sure Jenessa’s recovery went smoothly. One burning question had to be answered now. “Did they figure out what did this to her? What was on Victor’s mouth?”

  The nurse shrugged. “It’ll take a few days for a full tox panel from the shavings we took. I’m sure the autopsy of the victim will give even more answers. For now, we’re going on the assumption that it is acid mixed with some form of poison, based on what it did. No one in the hospital has seen anything like this before, so we only have guesses until the reports come back.”

  Frowning, Kole glanced at Jenessa. “Are you sure she’s safe to go home? Victor died so quickly. If something happens...” He trailed off, not wanting to scare Jenessa. Still, he might not be able to help her if the poison was simply taking a longer time to affect her because she’d had such a small dose.

  To his relief, the nurse gave him a kind smile. “Don’t worry, sir. She’s going to be fine. The initial labs we got back are all negative. We think your quick thinking in putting her under water stopped the poison from absorbing into her skin, so it was only the effects of the acid contact we had to deal with. She’ll recover, but if you have any concerns, the doctor put his cell number at the bottom of the discharge papers.”

  It made sense that she’d be fine if the poison didn’t have time to absorb into her bloodstream, and Kole breathed a little easier. After all, Jenessa had merely contacted the substance second hand, not eaten it like Victor.

  “We’re supposed to go on a trip with my parents this weekend,” he told the nurse. “Do you think she’ll be up to that?”

  She quirked an eyebrow. “Visiting Camp David?”

  Of course, his parents’ fondness of the retreat was well known after so many years in office. Kole nodded.

  “From what I’ve heard about that place, I’m sure she’ll be able to relax and take it easy,” the nurse replied. “She’ll be fine.”

  “Okay then.” He turned his attention back to Jenessa. “Sign those papers, beautiful, and let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Jenessa lay in the huge bed in her borrowed room at Kole’s house, watching as he fussed about everything. It touched her how he wanted to make things perfect and take care of her, but she wished he’d settle down.

  “Kole, I’m going to be fine. Stop worrying so much.”

  He set a large plastic mug with a bendable straw on the bedside table. “They said you need to drink a lot of liquid to get any toxins out. I just want to make sure you have everything within reach. I know we have to go with Mom and Dad on that trip, but I want you staying in bed and resting all day tomorrow.”
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  “I’m going to be fine,” she repeated. Truthfully, her lips still hurt, especially if she bumped them together. The salve the hospital provided her with did help, but unfortunately hadn’t performed a miracle and made her lips ready to kiss Kole right away.

  Then again, he seemed a bit distant and preoccupied. She was sure it had to do with discovering Carter was a murderer and not that he was upset about their kiss, but even if she hadn’t become injured, she imagined Kole wouldn’t want to kiss her more tonight.

  “Do you want to talk about your brother?” she asked.

  Kole froze from his fussing, slowly turning his head to look at her. “I’m not sure what to say about that situation.”

  She knew she needed to tread lightly. While Kole’s initial reaction had been to turn Carter in, blood ties ran deep. Jenessa guessed Kole was on his way to denying Carter’s guilt to himself, finding ways to justify and explain it away. Or at least trying to. Kole was a straight shooter from everything Jenessa had learned while working together. In the end, he’d do the right thing and investigate his brother.

  Deciding to throw him a lifeline and not make him face the awful truth yet, she settled back against her pillow and closed her eyes. “He said something about blackmail. I think we need to consider that and find out what happened before we decide our next course of action.”

  The loud whoosh of Kole expelling his breath all at once told Jenessa she’d relieved some of his anxiety. He wanted there to be a reason Carter killed someone, and he hoped it was a good one. It wouldn’t excuse the crime, but at least Kole could cling to a bit of hope tonight and not have his entire view of his family wrecked.

  Yet.

  “I’ve been thinking about the blackmail, too,” he said, confirming her suspicions. “I was afraid to look at it too closely, not wanting to fool myself into deciding he was justified. Regardless of why he did it, we know he killed Ross Jenkins and poisoned Victor. He has to pay for that, but I’d like to think my brother isn’t a killer under normal circumstances.”