Unmasking the Mercenary by Jennifer Morey Read Free Book Online

market?”
    “The same reason I was outside of it,” Rem said before she could reply.
    “I doubt it’s the same.”
    “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Your popularity is growing. Haven’t you noticed?”
    Ammar’s expression tightened and he turned that anger on to Haley. “Who sent you here?”
    “Wouldn’t you love to know,” Rem taunted. Haley looked at him. She could speak for herself, did he know that?
    “So you’ve teamed up with her, then?” Ammar asked, but didn’t wait for a response. “Or is there another reason you brought her here—” he gestured toward Rem’s villa “—to your private compound?”
    Rem didn’t comment, but Haley was sure he knew as well as she did why Ammar had pointed this out. Rem had saved her from Ammar’s men, and then he’d taken her home with him, a beautiful woman who might need protection.
    “Yes.” Ammar sounded complacent. “If you only wanted to question her, you could have done that at the doctor’s clinic. Instead, you do what you always do. You intervene where you should not. It is your only weakness, my friend. One that will bring you death.”
    “I’m not your friend.”
    “You forget how well I know you.”
    Rem cocked his head as though inwardly scoffing.
    “What does she know?” Ammar asked, taunting. “About you, that is.”
    Haley wished she could see Rem’s face.
    “I think you’ve worn out your welcome,” he said.
    Rem’s guard stepped closer, weapon ready. The men hovering near the car stepped forward, stopping when Ammar held up his hand, his gaze never leaving Rem.
    “Is it worth that much to you?” Ammar pressed. “Her life?”
    Rem said nothing.
    Ammar looked at Haley and then back at Rem. “It wasn’t once.”
    Still, Rem didn’t respond, but Haley sensed his angry energy. What did Ammar mean? What was their history? Did it involve another woman?
    “I grow tired of these games,” Ammar said. “Leave her alone, one moment, I will kill her. Leave with her and never show your face to me again, I will not harm her.”
    With that, he turned and walked back to the waiting car, climbing into the back and closing the door. His men followed. Tinted windows hid them from view.
    When Rem turned and came back to the SUV, Haley saw the fury etching his features.
    “Close the gate,” he ordered the guard, who immediately went to comply.
    Instead of getting into the SUV, Rem passed it and headed toward the villa.
    Slamming the passenger door shut, Haley followed. “What are you doing?” she called to his back, trotting to catch up.
    He didn’t acknowledge her. Anxiety unnerved her. She followed him back into the villa. He went to the dining room table and braced his hands on the back of a chair, looking as though he were about to pick it up and hurl it across the room.
    Haley left the front door open and stopped next to him. “What was that all about?”
    He turned his head, angled with the way he leaned on the chair, eyes shadowed and feral.
    “How do you know him?” she asked.
    Pushing off the chair so that it rocked off balance, he turned as he straightened. She should run now. The door was open. The keys were still in the SUV. But the gate was shut.
    She stiffened when he moved toward her. Sensing he deliberately crowded her, she lifted her chin and met his eyes despite the instinct telling her to get away from him.
    His anger smoothed and resignation took its place. “I should have killed him the first time I saw him.”
    “Why didn’t you?”
    He absorbed her face with those icy blue eyes and took his time replying. “We can’t stay here anymore.”
    Alarm zapped her as he headed for his bedroom. “We?” She went to stand in the doorway of his room, where he gathered his belongings and shoved them into a duffel bag. “I thought you were taking me to the airport.”
    “Change of plans,” he said matter-of-factly, and without looking at her. “You’re coming with me now.”
    What? “No, I’m not. You said