Layla gasped at Bryce’s forthright admission. He must have realized that they had him over a barrel, and he wanted to get out his version of the story. This could get really ugly. Fast.

“Tell us about it,” Nick said.

“Layla was my friend. We had each other’s backs. I watched out for her when people got mad about her climbing the ladder so fast. I could tell she was gifted, and I tried to show her the ropes. I stood up for her time and time again.” His voice started to get loud. “And what did I get in return? A big, sharp knife right into my back.”

She held her breath, waiting to hear what he was going to say next.

“Go on,” Nick said. “What did you do, Bryce?”

Bryce straightened up in his seat. “I came up with a strategy to get Layla investigated. I wanted her to feel the heat just like I did. I wanted her to feel that kind of pain.” Then he called her an awful name that made her sick.

“So you created these photos of Layla with Omar Assad?” Frank slid some photographs from the folder in front of Bryce.

He studied them for a moment. “Technically, I didn’t create them, but I hired someone to. I’m good with photo manipulation but not nearly good enough to make it look completely legit like these do.”

“So you wanted to get Layla in trouble?” Frank asked. “Really bad trouble, right? Because you would have known the consequences for this type of activity. If these pictures were true, then it could’ve been catastrophic. Much worse than the consequences for your conduct.”

“After all she did to me? How she destroyed my CIA career? Absolutely.”

“But that’s not the worst of it, is it?” Nick asked. “It gets much worse than that, doesn’t it?”

Bryce shifted in his seat. “When Layla came to me, asking if I was involved in the IG investigation, everything came flooding back. Her betrayal and the end of my Agency career. All those years of blood, sweat, and tears that I spent building up my reputation. And she just threw it all away like I was trash because of some moral high ground she thought she had. So, yeah, when she told me about the cartel attack, I thought I might have a golden opportunity.”

“An opportunity to take her out. Kill her, you mean?” Nick asked.

Bryce’s face turned bright red. “You’re right. I wish the cartel had killed her.”

Nick stood so quickly that his chair was knocked backward across the room. Layla sucked in a breath. She’d never seen Nick this angry.

“Maybe we should take a brief break,” Frank said.