Hunter put his hand on her shoulder and turned her toward him. “Look, this isn’t easy, but if you want to keep your career at the Agency, I think this is the best path. You need to confront him.”

Except, at this point, she wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore. Everything she’d thought she understood about her world had been turned upside down. But because of that, this wasn’t the time to make rash decisions. She needed to think logically.

“You’re right.” She would have to buck up and figure out what, if anything, Nick had to do with this.

“When’s the last time you talked to him?”

“It was before the Honduras op. He had to give the ultimate sign-off for me to go, but it was a purely business conversation. No-nonsense. In fact, it’s been like that since the initial explosion of anger after I broke it off.”

“Then the sooner you can connect with him, the better.”

“I know where he likes to hang out after work.”

“Then we’ll check it out.”

She shook her head. “I need to talk to him alone.”

“That’s fine, but wherever you’re going, I’m going with you.”

“All right.” She knew he had a point, but having him involved in the conversation would be a nonstarter.

“Are we going to talk any more about the elephant in the room?” he asked.

She’d wondered how long it would be before he brought that up. She looked at him. “I’m still in the processing phase.”

“I don’t blame you. I know I can never say I’m sorry enough.”

She’d tossed and turned last night, going over every bit of their conversation. Questions still loomed large in her mind. “Was the cheating thing really the only way you thought you could break up with me?”

He rubbed a hand down his face. “I needed a deal breaker, and that’s the only thing I could come up with. I was a little worried you still might forgive me because that’s the type of loving person you are. That’s why I tried to make the story egregious and act like I wasn’t sorry. If I had shown true remorse, I thought that there might be a possibility you would want us to push through it.”

She wondered if he was right. Would she have taken him back? “That confused me so much.” She’d cried herself to sleep so many nights because of his callous attitude. Knowing now that it was all a farce to try to give her what she had thought she wanted more than anything—the job at the Agency—tore her up.