Charade: Relentless Pursuit

By Delta James

A skilled undercover agent and a brilliant hacker find themselves entangled in a high-stakes operation, to take down a powerful criminal organization. Mia and Carter are no strangers to each other having had a brief affair two years earlier. The spark between them had never truly been extinguished. 

 

Carter, a seasoned and enigmatic undercover operative known for his impeccable skills, teams up with Mia Kelly, a brilliant and reclusive hacker with a shadowy past. As they work together to dismantle the sinister network, the fine line between duty and desire becomes increasingly blurred, putting them both to the test in a heart-pounding battle for justice and love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Delta James
• Release date: Sep 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223515555

Delta James

If you're looking for paranormal, dark and contemporary western erotic romance, you've found your new favorite author!Alpha heroes find real love with feisty heroines in Delta James' sinfully sultry romances. Welcome to a world where true love conquers all and good triumphs over evil! Delta's stories are filled with erotic encounters of romance and discipline.Delta is always happy to hear from her readers and responds personally. Reach out today!EMAIL - [e-mail] page - https://www.facebook.com/DeltaJamesAuthorFB reader group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/348982795738444BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/profile/delta-james

Book preview

PROLOGUE

FLETCH

To Each and Every Thing There is a Season.

CHAPTER 1

MIA

Ballycastle, Ireland

URGENT! We need you. I wouldn’t contact you unless it was absolutely necessary. Carter’s gone dark, and we haven’t heard from him in over a week. Please contact me.

Mia Kelly stared at the text for the longest time, a flood of emotions sweeping through her. She put her phone face down on the desk beside her.

Carter Hall had been the very reason she left London and Claire. Claire. She and Claire had been the best of friends and partners—not romantically, but in every other way. Then along came Ryland Fletcher and Silver Arrow Security. The next thing she knew, Claire was madly in love with Fletch, and everyone had expected her and Carter to follow suit. Everyone, including Mia.

But it hadn’t worked out that way. She and Carter had had a brief, tumultuous affair. But it had ended and staying at Silver Arrow, seeing Carter day in and day out and seeing how over-the-moon Claire was had begun to take its toll. Mia had tried to make it work—both with Carter and with working at Silver Arrow and seeing Claire, but she couldn’t do it. Maybe that made her a bad person, and a worse friend, but she’d done what she felt she had to do. Even now, thinking of Carter made her stomach do flip-flops, and not in a good way.

So, in order to save her friendship with Claire and her own peace of mind, Mia had walked away. She’d been offered several jobs, including one with Cerberus, but she turned them all down. If she worked for someone else, she might run into Carter or the happy couple. She really was happy for Claire. Really, but she deserved to find her own… she paused, thinking. She deserved to find her own peace, if not happiness, and that couldn’t be found in London.

Two years ago, needing that escape, Mia sold her home in Chelsea and moved back to the county of her birth, Antrim. In the small seaside town of Ballycastle, Mia had found an abandoned chapel overlooking the sea and the ruins of Kinbane Castle. She spent more than a year, and far more money than she should have done converting it into a home for herself, complete with her own satellite system providing her with the broadband she needed for her business as an online hacker known simply as the Banshee. The name seemed appropriate at the time, and whether she was a black hat or white hat hacker was open to interpretation. Other than emails and the occasional meet up with Claire, she hadn’t seen or talked to anyone at Silver Arrow nor did she want to.

She glowered at the phone. Whatever that debacle was, it had nothing to do with her. Silver Arrow was a major player in the international world of security, intelligence, and information. Fletch had plenty of people to help find Carter.

He didn’t need her.

Shaking her head to clear it of the ghosts of memories from her time with Carter, she refused to pick the phone up or even flip it over. No, better to look at the purple, swirl case she’d purchased for her phone. She needed to get back to her current job—the job that paid her bills and allowed her to live, according to Claire, like a hermit.

Although she resented that term. She wasn’t a hermit. She didn’t like that word. No, Mia was a recluse—an eccentric recluse.

She nodded to herself and began typing resolutely on her keyboard. Recluse. That was much better.

Two Years Ago

You want to tell me what that email was about? asked Fletch, when he cornered her in Silver Arrow’s corporate offices.

She was so hoping she could just send the email and finish the last few items she was working on quietly and without a lot of drama. Then she could collect her things and get out. Her home in Chelsea had sold far more quickly than she had ever imagined, and for more money than she’d hoped. She’d secured a flat in Belfast on a month-to-month tenancy. She wasn’t sure precisely where she wanted to settle but felt her Irish roots calling to her.

It was no good tap-dancing with Fletch; he was far too astute.

I would think it was pretty self-explanatory. I’m leaving. I should be wrapped up with everything in ten days or less and would like to leave once that’s done.

And before Carter returns from Rome.

Oh, is Carter in Rome? I wasn’t aware.

The hell you weren’t. Look Mia, I don’t know what happened between you and Carter that made you end things, and frankly neither does he, but your personal lives are not my business. You’re one hell of a techie, and I don’t want to lose you.

The fact that Carter says he doesn’t understand is telling, but as you said, it’s none of your business. Mia