"Your sister."
Kinsley and I froze, staring at each other. Though my heart beat thickly in my ears, I asked calmly, "What did she want?"
"She asked if I knew where you were."
Kinsley scooted off the couch to sit on the floor with Finn. "I didn't realize you two were even friends."
"That's the weirdest part; we're not. I don't know where she got my cell number."
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a careful breath so I wouldn't blow up on Brenda. Clearly, she had no idea what sort of trap she'd walked into. "What did you tell her?"
"That the last time I heard, you were in Boston with Kinsley. I didn't feel right telling her you were both here when I don't particularly know her."
Kinsley patted Brenda's knee. "You did the right thing. You didn't say anything about you and Danny being here, did you?"
Brenda shifted around. "Well, I figured it wasn't a secret we were visiting Chester, but I said nothing about being in this house with your baby."
"Goddammit." I got to my feet, rushing into the kitchen to find the nearest guard. "Mike, we need the safe house in Cambridge readied, and we need to get Danny, Brenda, and Finn there ASAP. Then we need extraction to Boston for Kinsley and myself."
"What the hell?" Kinsley asked, coming into the kitchen.
"If Anna knows anyone is in Chester instead of Bristol or Boston, it makes for a highly volatile situation. I need them to go into hiding until this is finished."
Kinsley was already shaking her head. "Danny will never agree to that."
"That's his choice to make, but my son will not be a sitting duck."
"I don't want him by himself with a bunch of guards, even if he knows them all."
Brenda entered the kitchen. "I'm sorry, I thought telling her you weren't here would be enough. I'll do whatever it takes to keep Finn safe, and Danny agreed to say he had a family emergency so he can stay with us. He doesn't want me to do this alone."
"Great. Mike? Now."
Everything should have been settled, but I felt an undeniable sense of impending doom.
46
Burke
Sitting in the living room area of the safe house, I watched Kinsley move around the kitchen. My protective instincts never actually went away, but there was a buzzing at the base of my skull warning me to safeguard her at all costs. God sent Kinsley to me in my darkest hours to bathe me in sunlight like the angel I knew her to be. So how did I solve our problems without harming her, without letting others touch her? It was a double-edged sword; I knew she needed to be the one to have the meeting at Algonquin, but I also knew how much pain it would bring her to face those men. Depravity festered in their souls, and I would give anything to keep it from rubbing off on her. I knew something about it myself; how easily I might have succumbed to the devil within if not for my wife. Though I would gladly walk through the very pits of hell for Kinsley and Finn, I no longer felt as if I were the devil incarnate.
Carson knew what he was doing, that much was clear. Whether Anna had been a willing accomplice all her life or if he somehow played on her emotions in the past year didn't matter. He'd used her for his gain, and now she was a deadly opponent. She also bore a target on her forehead, but it remained to be seen if she was aware of it or not. If she didn't call Logan back, I didn't have a clue how we would deal with her. I wouldn't even be surprised to find she'd left the country, hiding like a coward and doing Carson's dirty work from afar.
"Stop staring and come eat."
Blinking, I brought Kinsley's smiling face into focus. "Sorry, lost in thought."
She cupped my cheek. "Let's talk about it over dinner."
I followed her to the bistro table and picked up my fork once we were seated across from each other. "Thanks for doing this. I'll take breakfast duty and dishes."
"It's not a problem, Burke."
"I never want you to serve me, mo grá."
"Making a meal for my husband once in a while is hardly serving him."
"Maybe not, but thank you just the same." I picked up her hand. "I'm so worried about everything right now."
