She visibly cringed, and I clocked every tremble of her body while taking a beat and a breath to recalibrate from the mere mention of that man’s name.
“Anyway, um ... being pregnant, though, that’s why I stopped performing. That’s why I started this story, right?”
I gave her a small smile, nodding, when in reality the mere idea Mitch had ever been near her in the past had me wanting to swallow cyanide. Or maybe forcing Mitch to take it.No, shit, what am I thinking? Reed’s right, that’s too humane.Mitch needed a much uglier and more painful death for his third andfinaltime dying.
“I told myself it’d be temporary until Chase was two or three, but then life happened and I just never went back. But maybe one day I’ll play again. That’s why I have so many, um—”
“Everything okay?” Ryder cut her off, killing my chance at learning why she had so many of something.
My guess? Lace. But how that related to playing the piano, I had no clue.
“You haven’t done what I told you,” Ryder grunted before we could answer him, pointing to my side as if I didn’t know my left from my right.
“You’re starting to love this Delta One thing a little too much.” I tried to pull off my typical joking tone, but to be honest, I was pissed.
Pissed at Ryder for coming in and interrupting us.
Pissed at Mitch for hurting her.
And pissed at myself, knowing that even if I kept letting my guard down around her, it’d never stay down for good.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Alejandro
By the time I’d removed the heavy weight of my vest, cleaned up the wound, and redressed it, Reed had returned, and Ryder had already synced his laptop to the TV screen in the den back by the primary bedroom.
Audrey was on the couch with a mug in hand, steam swirling out of it. More than likely tea, not coffee, unless she was like me and could have caffeine any hour of the day and still pass out five minutes later.
“You good?” Reed asked me, and all I could do was nod as Ryder connected the incoming call from an unknown number.
Wyatt and his wife, Natasha, appeared on the TV screen, sitting at a desk somewhere. Probably at the Pentagon or Langley.
“Welcome to my place.” Wyatt leaned back in his desk chair. “Good to see you safely made it there.”
“Thanks to your better half, we did.” Ryder locked his arms over his chest, tipping his head in thanks to Natasha.
“I won’t argue with you there. I’m bloody lucky to have her.” Wyatt still had his British accent even though he’d moved to the States several decades ago.
Natasha nudged him in the side while turning her attention on Audrey. “You hear from Beau yet?”
“He sent his deputies to Audrey’s to confirm whether or not her ring was taken.” Ryder opened his palms, revealing that they were empty. “Looks like we both have one half of the key now.”
“Shit.” Natasha pivoted, eyes back to Audrey now. “Sorry, I should have opened with asking how you’re doing. I can’t imagine.”
“My son’s okay, and we’re all okay, so I’m focusing on that. Trying to keep my eye on the positives so I don’t drown in worry.” Her voice was hoarse, and I wanted to go to her, but I kept my ass parked at a distance.
Ryder did what I wished I could do, sitting beside her. He didn’t say anything, just rested his hand on her knee.
“You can sleep sound there, I promise you. We’ve got the entire state lit up with layered surveillance,” Wyatt said. “And there are about five hundred ways someone would trip the security system around my cabin or Maddox’s place,” he went on, as if realizing she’d yet to buy the safety he was trying to sell, “and no one is getting through a single one of them without us knowing.”
I had to assume that was a slight exaggeration on Wyatt’s part, but I’d heard rumors about how overprotective he was of his cyber-genius daughter, Gwen, and his younger daughter, Emory, so maybe not.
Audrey brought the mug to her lips but didn’t drink. Her fingers stayed wrapped around it, her gaze somewhere far off, as if she were trying to see through the layers of betrayal fogging up her life. “Okay, um, thank you.” She set the mug on the table and sat back.
“We’ve got you.” Natasha folded her arms on the desk like this was another briefing, not a nighttime drop-in at their vacation home. “Before you arrived, I sent someone over I trust with our daughters’ lives to stock up the place with a week’s worth of food. Clean sheets and all that.”
“Thank you,” Ryder responded as Reed circled the couch, his hand resting on his sidearm like it was his security blanket. Knowing thatman, he slept with his piece. “What about our request to protect our families?”
