“You still think you have an inside mole, don’t you, Marsten?”
“I do. And until I can prove it, I have to keep a lid on certain things. Between us, my superiors think the same thing which is why we’ve taken some of the measures that we have to keep some evidence undiscoverable, if you catch my drift?”
“I caught it and now I’m tossing it back at you. I’m not a patsy and I won’t be made one either. Not by you, and not by the Feds. If I’m being set up to take the fall, I’m dragging you down to Hell with me.”
“What makes you think you’re being set up, Nova?” he asks, seeming to be confused about why I’m feeling that way. “Your name hasn’t been brought into anything. I’ve kept my lips sealed that we’re working together on this case.”
Shaking my head at his stupidity, I spit out, “You’re more naive than I thought you were, Marsten. Do you honestly think that Governor MacDougal hasn’t told your people that he’s hired the Kings to locate his missing daughter? Your mole isn’t a lower level employee, they don’t have the strings to pull. You’re feeding them all the information they need to frame us. The question remains, what for?”
“Jennings has a brother, we haven’t been able to uncover his identity, that information in his jacket… it’s been blacked out,” Marsten mumbles, understanding starting to dawn on him. “Shit. I have to go, Nova. I need to do some digging.”
“You’re being watched, Marsten,” I remind him. “It may be better if I have Booker check this out. It’ll keep you clean and won’t trigger any alarms.”
“You’re right. My log in can be traced no matter where I sign in from. If I am being watched, as we suspect I am, they can get into my feed and see what information I’ve been researching,” he concludes. “Nova, we may be fucked.”
“We’re not,” I declare, pulling out my phone and texting Booker. “My brothers and I will take it from here.”
I know for a fact that our phones are traceless and undecipherable, so I’m comfortable giving him all the data I have at my fingertips. I lay out our suspicions and ask him to tread lightly and cover his tracks. I receive a thumbs up emoji in response and shake my head. He must be tied to his desktop and deep in the dark web to give me such a simple, unremarkable comment.
“He’s on it,” I inform Marsten. “Go home and have Christmas with your family. I’m going to go inside and salvage as much of this day as I can. This is not what I had in mind for the girls when it came to giving them their first holiday.”
“Nova,” he calls at my retreating back. When I turn around to face him, he says, “I still want to work with you on this. I won’t feed my commanders with any documented information that’ll put them on the right track, I’ll give them false intel. It may end my career, but I want to catch this piece of shit and any of his accomplices. Even if one of them is a man who thinks he’s untouchable because he carries a badge and a gun.”
I nod my head before heading into the house, leading him to believe that I’ll be telling him everything I learn withoutreservation. But until he’s cleared by Booker, I won’t be sharing the important shit. Like him, I’ll be feeding the narrative I want to be spread. He may not be dirty, but until I know that with certainty, he won’t be brought into the fold.
When I make it inside, I’m met with laughter from both the girls and my brothers which eases some of my pent up tension. I was halfway expecting the girls to be hiding out in their rooms, so this is a pleasant surprise. Walking into the kitchen, I notice my brothers are settled around the kitchen table and the girls leaning against the island, munching on cinnamon rolls.
“Did y’all save any for me?” I ask as I round the island that sits in the middle of the kitchen and lean in between Freyja and Chaney looking for food as my stomach rumbles from the cinnamon-y aroma wafting through the air. “Those smell amazing.” Freyja gives me a shy smile before reaching into the microwave and pulling out a plate that’s covered with aluminum foil. “Ah, you do love me,” I tease, reaching out and taking it from her before heading over and joining my brothers.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
FREYJA
My cheeks heat from his compliment. If I were to look into a mirror, I’m sure they’d be a crimson shade of red. The recipe didn’t take as long to put together as I thought it would, so I was able to feed the masses before a riot broke out—as they playfully threatened to do as I blended the ingredients together in the mixer.
I giggle to myself as I watch the men devour their breakfast. It feels so good to watch something I made bring a smile to others’ faces. Cooking has always relaxed me and this time isn’t any different.
Glancing up, I notice that even though Nova has a smile on his face, it’s fake. The skin around his eyes is tight and crinkly, a true interpretation of how he’s feeling. He’s hiding something from all of us in order to make our day better and not blemish it by what my father did. I wish he didn’t think he had to do that, but I can understand why he is so I don’t point it out to my sister or his friends. Instead, I let him have his way but vow to myself that I’ll corner him and ask about it later.
When breakfast is concluded, the men say their goodbyes and Nova leads me and Chaney into the living room. I walked past this room on my way to the kitchen earlier, but I was distracted and didn’t pay attention to the stacks of presents underneath it. A gasp leaves my lips when I notice that there’s so many of them I’m having a hard time counting them all.
It looks like the Hallmark channel, one of mynewfavorite stations I’ve found and have been binging, has come to our house and decorated.
“What’s all this?” Chaney asks, glancing over at Nova.
“This,” he says, spreading his arms out wide, “is Christmas, ladies.”
“Are you sure, Nova? I’ve seen this on television, but this… it doesn’t happen for us,” she declares.
“It does now,” he vehemently states. “I didn’t go out and buy unnecessary things for you two. Christmas isn’t about the gifts you receive, it’s about unity, compassion, and spending time with family, but you girls, y’all didn’t have anything and I wanted to show you that the world isn’t like what your father told you it was. I didn’t have to punch my way through the store, I didn’t have to steal to provide. I didn’t wrestle anybody for food, and one day, when you both are ready, I’ll take you out and show you how it really is out there.”
“I’m not going,” I assure them. “There’s no way you’re getting me back in that thing,” I say, pointing out the window where his truck sits.
“I promise you, one day, you’ll get used to it,” Nova encourages. “We can start off slow, drive around the property.”
“You’re always saying ‘one day’, Nova, but I’m here to tell you, nothing about that death trap is something I can get used to,” I avow. “I have zero interest in even trying.”
