Dead End. Lisa Phillips

she didn’t say, that it had been more than one traumatic experience back-to-back. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe away the panic the way her counselor had taught her, reciting prime numbers in her head.

      Sienna cut in, “Twenty-four, sixty-two. Three hundred and fourteen.” A smile infected Sienna’s voice.

      Nina shoved her away. “You’re making me lose count on purpose.”

      Sienna chuckled. “Want some breakfast?”

      “Not really.” Nina settled back on the bed. “I’m ready to get out of here.”

      “Already told the doctor that.” Sienna knew how she felt about hospitals, mostly because it was the exact same way Sienna felt. In fact, did anyone seriously like being stuck in a bed getting poked and prodded? “He said you should be able to go home this morning.”

      “Great.”

      “So.” Sienna dragged the word out. “How are you doing?”

      “Sore.”

      Her friend’s lips twitched. “I meant about Wyatt.”

      “I know what you meant.” Sienna hadn’t hidden her desire to see her friends get together, despite Nina explaining that was impossible.

      Was she even ready to talk about the man who had unexpectedly entered her life at possibly the worst moment? “There’s no point in talking about it. It’s not going to work. Not when I have all this hanging over my head. I have to find the evidence that proves Mr. Thomas was my mother’s murderer, and I have to do it before fall semester starts.”

      Sienna gasped. “You got that job?”

      Nina nodded. “They called the day before yesterday.”

      “And you didn’t text me right away?”

      “You were at the doctor. Whatever that was about, I didn’t want to disturb you.” Especially not when it was only a voice mail to say they’d loved her at the interview and wanted her to come in and sign papers.

      “But this is huge! Teaching economics at the community college. You’ll be here. Settled.”

      “I know.”

      “I told you that master’s degree would come in handy.”

      Nina shook her head, smiling. It had been a lot of work, but a student visa had given her a great cover as a CIA agent.

      Sienna’s eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed. “I get to have you here. Auntie Nina, full time.”

      “Aunt—”

      “I’m pregnant. That’s what the appointment was.”

      “Well, I thought so. I just didn’t want to say anything.” Nina grabbed Sienna’s hands and held them tight. Her best friend since third grade, her CIA coworker, her family. There was nothing she’d experienced in decades that Sienna hadn’t been a part of. “A baby?”

      Sienna nodded, her face stretched wide in a smile. “Don’t say anything to anyone. I haven’t told Parker yet. Things have been a little busy, and I want to find the right moment.”

      Nina pulled her friend in for a hug. “I’m glad you’re happy.”

      Sienna leaned back. “But you’re not, and yet you think somehow that’s fine. Because it’s not, Nina. You can have what I have, and not when Mr. Thomas has been caught. Now.”

      She shook her head. “You think he’s going to let me be happy? He tried to take me from my apartment. He—” Her voice cracked. Nina swallowed. Blow after blow, not knowing when it would stop and he would drag her off to dump her body in a shallow grave. That would have destroyed Sienna.

      “Nina—”

      “I think you should go home. I’ll call a cab when it’s time to leave.”

      “Why are you doing this?”

      Sienna didn’t understand, and likely the damage was already done. There wasn’t an inch of her life that didn’t have Sienna as part of it. Mr. Thomas wouldn’t hesitate to use that against Nina. And now with Sienna pregnant on top of everything?

      “Call Parker. I’m sure he’ll pick you up.”

      “I drove my car here.” Sienna looked like she was about to cry. It was a kick in the stomach when Nina wanted nothing more than to spend the morning with her best friend thinking up possible baby names.

      Nina clenched her stomach and looked her friend in the eye. “Please go. I’ll be fine.”

      Because if Sienna was here when Mr. Thomas came around again, she wouldn’t be able to guarantee her friend’s safety.

      Sienna didn’t move. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. Why you’re pushing me away all of a sudden.” She got up. “I know. And if anything happens to you, I’m going to kill Mr. Thomas myself.”

      Nina didn’t smile. “I don’t doubt it.”

      Sienna grabbed her purse and swept out of the room, probably fighting tears. Because Nina was doing the same thing. When the door shut behind her friend, Nina let them come. With tears streaming down her face, she cried out all the fear she’d ever felt for her friend and the worry she had over Sienna’s future. And then she prayed.

      Everything was finally going right for her friend. Sienna had survived a dangerous career as a CIA agent, amnesia, a fight to the death with bad guys prepared to kill her and a sniper shot to the shoulder. Now she was married and pregnant. Sienna’s life had to be safeguarded. Even if that meant Nina was completely alone for the rest of her life. At least she would know Sienna was safe and happy.

      The doctor strode in, took one look at her and said, “Uh...”

      She waved off his concern and blubbered through the entire exit procedure. When he left her to get dressed in the fresh clothes Sienna had brought her, Nina cried through that, too.

      She wasn’t under any illusions that Sienna believed she could do this alone. Nina knew it would be the hardest thing she ever faced. Mr. Thomas was going to come back for her again. Because there was no way Nina was going to give up this fight.

      And neither would he.

      That was why she couldn’t rely on Wyatt either. She wasn’t going to be party to another death. Nina didn’t need that on her conscience. Besides, why would Wyatt want someone like her? Nina wasn’t a catch. She was a thirtysomething retired CIA agent starting her life over from scratch. All she really had was a bank account—money her parents had left her, plus what she’d earned in the last ten years when she’d had extremely low overhead, sharing a condo with Sienna.

      Dollars didn’t give her worth, she knew that. But Nina didn’t know how to be normal, or how to be around anyone but Sienna. She was getting used to Parker’s being part of their lives, but Wyatt was a people person. Nina was only a “Sienna” person. She had been for as long as she could remember. The rest of her life she didn’t want to remember—she just wanted to be free of it.

      Wyatt would expect more of her. And when this business with Mr. Thomas didn’t wrap itself up nice and neatly, he would be disappointed.

      Nina pulled the shirt on over her sore body and winced. A knock on the door brought her head around. “Come in.”

      The door opened and Wyatt entered. Nina let go of the breath she’d been holding and grabbed her purse.

      “There’s no rush. I parked as close as I could to the door without getting in trouble.”

      “Sorry?”

      Wyatt frowned. “Sienna didn’t tell you?”

      She shook her head. “Tell me what?”

      “She asked me to pick you up, said she had something to do this morning.”