Path Of Hate || Phillip Graves x Reader ||

Chapter 6

A knock at my office door interrupted my work. "Come in."

I was surprised to see it was Farah. "Good morning," she greeted with a smile.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Price wanted to check up on you," she said, setting a laptop on my desk.

Oh, fuck.

"Oh, okay," I replied, nodding as she opened the video call. I was nowhere near ready to lie to Price's face.

"Y/N! How are things on deployment?" Price asked, his usual wink in place.

"Good to see you again, Price," I replied, smiling. "It's going well. Actually, I've made some friends and am handling my duties," I added.

"Good, good. We all miss you here," he said before Soap's voice broke through, "Yeah, Y/N, we miss you! Can't wait to have you back!" Soap shouted before Gaz shoved him aside, grinning and waving at me. I couldn't help but laugh, waving back. Ghost, standing silently in the background, gave a single nod that somehow made me feel...guilty?

"I miss you guys so much. Can't wait to be back."

"Hopefully, you're making useful connections," Price joked.

Yeah, Price—totally making friends. And casually screwing someone we all thought was dead.

"You got it, sir," I replied with a nod.

"All right, see you soon, kid," Price said before ending the call.

Flashback to Las Almas

We were supposed to raid El Sin Nombre's house. Ghost and I took the lead, handling the stealth while Soap and Alejandro infiltrated inside. I moved quickly, taking down guards, each one silent. Ghost matched my pace, but then he grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"Why are you so close with Graves?" he asked.

"Why do you care?" I replied. "You didn't seem to after...what happened the other day." I referenced the kiss. "You could've said something."

"I didn't need to. This is supposed to be professional," he said, his grip tightening.

"Oh, well, kissing me wasn't exactly professional either," I shot back, and he held my wrist tighter.

"Let go of me," I hissed, yanking my arm free.

The earpiece buzzed. "We got El Sin Nombre," came Soap's voice. "It's a she—Valeria."

I knew her. We reached the helicopter, and there she was, Valeria, on her knees, surrendering. She looked up and recognized me instantly.

"Ah, Y/N, good to see you again. Never expected you to downgrade to this little war criminal club," Valeria sneered.

"Valeria, always a pleasure," I said, keeping my tone calm.

The guys looked at us, surprised.

"You two know each other?" asked Soap.

"Yeah, and so do I," added Alejandro.

"Of course you do, pendejo," Valeria muttered.

"We served together," Alejandro explained. "She's ex-military."

Graves chimed in, "And you two?" he asked, looking between me and Valeria.

I held her gaze. "Old friends," I said, watching Valeria smirk.

Throughout the interrogation, Ghost kept glaring, but I didn't care. We had a mission on the oil rig in Chicago, and that's all I focused on—until the betrayal hit.

End Flashback

I was jolted out of my thoughts by the sound of the door opening again. This time, it was Graves.

I felt a surge of anger—anger at him for making me lie, anger at him for complicating everything.

"You don't look too happy, Y/N," he said with that usual smug look.

"Of course not. I had to lie to my entire team to keep your little 'resurrection' under wraps," I replied, getting up and walking over to him.

He eyed me as I closed the distance, watching my every move. But he stayed silent.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" I scoffed.

"I'm not sure how to respond to your tantrums," he teased.

"Fuck you, Phillip," I snapped, then instantly regretted it. This guy had the stamina of a teenager and the maturity of...well, none.

"When?" he smirked. I facepalmed, gesturing for him to leave.

"If you need me, I'm just down the hall," he winked before closing the door.

This guy was driving me insane.