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A Beautiful Lie Tara Sivec 43460K 2023-08-31

Milo told her to relax as he got up from the couch to take a frozen pizza out of the oven She opened the drawer of the table next to the couch to pull out the remote to the TV As she picked it up, she noticed a blue matchbook with the name "Occidental El Embajador" etched on it in silver She had been in the sao and it had been empty, save for the remote She pulled the matches out and turned the open with the move on the inside It was for two days ago

Milo walked back into the room and stopped when he saas in her hand

"Hey, where did these come from?" Parker asked curiously

Milo smiled and hurried over to take them out of her hand and push them into the pocket of his pants

"Oh, just froo"

Milo had sed the subject back to Parker’s trip and her photography, the otten

Until now

Parker had been young and new to the CIA at the time She had no reason to question her boyfriend, of one year, about whether or not he’d been lying

The sight of a blueout under a pile of papers on Fernandez’s desk was too much of a coincidence to her

Garrett listened as Parker retold the story of the day she came home from her first mission and watched her frantically type away on the keyboard

"He told me it was a club he’d been to, and the way he said it made me just assume it was someplace the two of you had been," Parker said as she waited for the website hits to pull up

"I’ve never heard of it before It’s definitely not a place I ever ith him"

The only hit was a hotel an hour outside of Punta Cana, where they were currently located She clicked on it

"Maybe that place has a club inside it," Garrett suggested as he looked over her shoulder, grasping at straws He didn’t want his best friend to be guilty of so That wasn’t the point of the trip They were there to find out why he died, not to accuse hi else entirely

Parker didn’t see a listing for a club anywhere on the website and a quick call to the hotel confirhly threea club, not that big of a deal in the grand sche its way into his mind as much as he tried to avoid it

"It doesn’t explain why he had a book of h And according to his military records, he was never sent to the Doed "It’s probably just a coincidence"

Parker was getting frustrated with Garrett’s nonchalance about the entire thing She narrowed her eyes and glared at him as he casually walked to the side table and picked up the remote for the TV

"Jesus, Garrett You don’t find it a little suspect that Milo had matches from a place seven years before he supposedly first went there?" Parker asked as she tapped away at the keys

Garrett huffed in annoyance and tossed the remote back onto the table where it landed with a clatter He stalked over to his bag at the foot of the bed and began yanking things out of it roughly just to give hi to do

"The matches Milo had listed a date and time on the He met someone here in the Dominican I know he did," Parker said as she turned fro

Garrett would have known if Milo ever went to the Dominican As his superior for most of their career, he was privy to all of the missions he was sent on And as his friend, Milo confided in hilanced quickly at Parker as she stared at hi He’d failed towith his fiancé and how distant they’d becoht in the eye and lied to hi about this situation pissed Garrett off and made him feel like he didn’t have any control When he was on a e He led his tea into Now the rug was being pulled out from under Garrett with every turn It frustrated him, pissed him off, and made him want to lash out Unfortunately, Parker was the only one there to take the brunt of it

Garrett picked up his e he had so heavier within reach to throw

He faced Parker with his hands on his hips, the fury rolling off of hi a few problems, you’ve suddenly decided to turn thison you? Dig up some dirt on him to make yourself feel better?" Garrett said heatedly "All of a sudden you want to otten who he was to us? Just a few short months of doubt and you’re ready to turn hi at Garrett with a complete look of shock on her face She knew frooing to be a strain on hi attitude and eradual and didn’t happen all at once This was the first tiht not have been everything they thought he was Parker kneas a hard pill to s, but she’d had ti thrown at Garrett all at once, so she tried to keep her frustration with hiht now," Parker said, standing up fro to turn Milo into the enemy You don’t knows got worse, but once he started, he couldn’t stop He watched Parker walk across the rooret were suddenly tooaway at the friendship he’d had for al hi between Parker and hi Garrett in two

"Oh, I know you plenty, sweetheart Is uilty conscience about what you did in the pool today?" he said icily

The sound of the slap across his face echoed in the roo with his cheek He reached up to rub the sting fro he deserved the pain and retted the words as soon as they left his et it all out, and Parker was the only one there to listen

"About whatI did?" Parker repeated with an angry whisper as she stood a foot away frorily at her sides She was shaking with fury and her throat was closing up with the burn of unshed tears

"I get that you’re angry, and you’re confused, but don’t youdare put the blame for what happened today at the pool all on me You were just as much of an equal participant as I was I auilty for what happened today, even if you are"

Garrett kept his head down, refusing to look at Parker He could hear the hurt and anguish in her voice, and it tore his heart to shreds knowing he was the one who put it there She was right Hewas feeling guilty for betraying his friend and for thinking just for a moment that Milo was this totally different person who had secrets and lies that Garrett knew nothing about He was taking it out on Parker and he had no right to do that

"I am here for one reason and for one reason only," Parker continued angrily "And that is to find out the truth Good or bad You want to pretend like nothing happened today at the pool or last night in bed, fine You want to lookto you and it was all part of the shoere putting on for the President, go for it But if that’s how you want to play it, then e’re finished with this mission, you stay the fuck away from me," Parker told him with a sob in her voice

Garrett closed his eyes as Parker bumped her shoulder into his while she hurriedly walked past him He jumped when he heard the door to their suite sla of Garrett’s secure cell phone several minutes later pulled him out of his stupor as he quickly pulled it to his ear to answer it

"McCarthy," he barked