“Yeah, that’s what I’m suggesting.” He stopped in front of me. “If that’s what you want, of course.”
“First, Seraphina offers me the dream idea of us all living down the street from one another. Now you’re suggesting offering Trevor the chance to do something that I know will fulfill him, and ...thistoo?”
“I’m saying that one thing I’ve learned since meeting Seraphina is that the sky’s the limit on what we can have if we believe it’s possible.”
He opened his arms, and I accepted the offer and hugged him.
“Well, you’re going to make an excellent father one day,” I said against his chest.
“And speaking of dads . . .”
My heart flatlined at that. “Yeah?” I lifted my chin to look up at him.
“You’re never going to ask me to confront and forgive him, are you?” His brows slanted. “Because if I face that man, I’ll probably clock him across the jaw.”
I laugh-cried. “I might pay good money to see that.” I let the moment sit between us for a second before sighing. “No, I think we leave him in the past, where he wants to stay.” I swallowed. “And since you were kind enough to FaceTime my mom this week and virtually meet her and forgive her—motivating me to also forgive her—I think that’s enough forgiveness for now.”
“You can’t forgive someone who doesn’t even think they were wrong.” He paused. “That goes for Rhett, too.” He let go of me. “I don’t know how I feel about him continuing to do the whole living thing.”
I pulled away, curious where he was going with this.
“Chandler got what he needed from him. Maybe Rhett should do what he had his girlfriend threaten Beth he’d do to her? A slip on wet concrete. A blown fuse. A glitch in the cameras to hide the truth of what happened.”
He gave me his back and went over and set his hands on the spines of the books on a shelf, hanging his head.
“Will Hobbs pulled off some wild shit while in a black site himself. Echo Team put him down, but ... can we really take the risk that someone like Rhett won’t do the same?”
“So that’s what this is.” My eyes drifted to the ceiling. “You’re asking me to green-light an execution.”
He pushed away from the bookshelf, returning his attention to me.
“I’m asking to send a dead man back to his grave.” His jaw clenched, eyes on me. “To protect you. Chase. Protect our future kids.” His gaze dropped to my stomach as if he knew one day I might have more, and with his best friend. “That neighborhood dream of ours ...” His words trailed off, emotion catching in his throat.
The knock on the door yanked me out of the morally gray zone Ryder had just dragged me into. Had he forgotten he was talking to me, not Hollis?
I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or theoverinoverwhelmedabout all this as Alejandro joined us.
He shut the door, eyes sharp on Ryder. “You talk about it yet?”
Just like that, I was being asked to approve both a murder and a move all before breakfast. “Does Trevor know about this?”
“No, he doesn’t need this decision on his shoulders.” Alejandro approached me. “But I did mention the idea of working with us.” He took my hand inside his big one, standing next to us. “POTUS agreed to have a team on standby for us like that. Three other guys, a new unit, and they don’t have to be Delta.”
This was all moving so fast.
“I’d love for y’all to work together. You did a great job last time.” I forced a smile, still uneasy over the other part of this conversation.
“Take your time and think about what else I asked you. Though the sooner, the better. I’d like to get this wrapped up so we can focus on moving you to South Carolina.” Ryder lifted his chin Alejandro’s way. “Seems to me you have some moving to do yourself.” He patted my shoulder. “I’ll leave you two to chat.” He left without another word and closed the door behind him.
“I don’t want you getting blood on your hands.” I pulled my hand free of his to rest it on his chest.
“If I promise blood won’t literally end up on my hands or Ryder’s?”
Yeah, I read between the lines on that one.
“What’d Trevor say about the job offer?”
“On board. He said he already got your okay about operating in Queenstown.” He smiled. “You plan on taking that piano out of storage and playing again?”
