That was such a cop-out answer, and the man damn well knew it.
Knowing the debate was going nowhere, Shadow turned and walked back inside the apartment. Okay, so she may have stormed a bit, but dammit, she wasmad.
This whole thing started because of the time and effort she’d put into trying to link Stanton to her mother’s death. While it may have admittedly gone off the rails far sooner than she’d expected—mainly because Stanton had clearly recognized her without her having realized it when she’d been stalking him in Ohio—but still.
She was my mom. I’m the one who watched her die. I’m the one who sat in that house, crying and terrified that the man who’d done it would come back and kill me, too.
The bastard may have let her live that night, but Shadow knew to her soul that he was the one behind the recent attempts on her life. And the only reason he’d want her dead now was if he was afraid of the world learning the truth about who and what he really was.
And that meant she couldn’t give up. Not now. Not until he was either rotting in prison or buried six feet under.
I’ll take six feet under for a thousand, please.
“I understand your frustration with having to stay behind.” Her father joined her in the kitchen. “Trust me, I’d enjoy a few minutes with that bastard Reiner, myself.”
“It’s your team, remember?” Shadow opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. “You’re the boss. You can do whatever you want.”
“You’re right. I am, and I can.” There was a slight bite in her father’s tone. “And what I wanted more than revenge was to be here, with you. To see you with my own eyes, and to know that you were safe.”
Shadow’s watery gaze lifted to his from the across the island. “He killed her, Dad. Stanton killed Mom, and now he’s tried to kill me.”
“I know.”
“We have to stop him.”
“And we will. But what I can’t do…” His voice thickened before he gave a quick clearing of his throat. “What Iwon’tdo is let my anger and grief for what happened to your mother all those years ago put you in harm’s way.”
The man who’d raised her the very best way he knew how rounded the island’s edge. Her father came to a stop inches from where she stood.
“Your mother was my whole world, Alice.” He used her given name. “And then she gave me you, and that world was forever changed. I was devastated when I got the call that your mother was gone.” Unshed tears filled the man’s sincere gaze. “My heart felt as though it had been ripped right out of my chest. She was my soul mate. My other half.” Her father swallowed hard. “I didn’t know how to live the rest of my life without her. Part of me didn’t want to even try. But I had to go on because I had you. And you needed me then, more than ever before.”
“Dad…”
“Raising you has been my greatest accomplishment, sweet girl. I may have made a lot of mistakes along the way, but you are the very best part of me. So you can be upset at me if you want, but if anything were to ever happen to you…” His typically strong voice cracked. “That’s the one thing I don’t think I’d be able to survive.”
Well, crap.
Shadow took a step forward, feeling like the most ungrateful daughter on the face of the planet. Suddenly wanting nothing more than to wrap her arms around the best dad a girl could ever have, she took a step forward and lifted her arms. But just as she moved, the apartment’s landline phone began to ring, taking both her and her father off guard.
“Do you think it’s them?” she asked, referring to the team.
But her father shook his head as he walked out of the kitchen to the living room end table where the phone sat waiting. “They’d call my cell.” He reached down and tapped a button, putting the call on speaker so they both could hear. “Yes?”
“Mr. Cavanagh?” A young man’s voice came through the speaker.
“This is he.”
Shadow immediately recognized the alias as one her father had used during his days with MI6. Apparently, he’d also used it when signing the apartment’s lease so the space would be safe from anyone trying to find the person or persons hiding out under the team’s protection.
It’s me. That person is me.
“Mr. Cavanagh, this is Darren from building security. I just wanted to let you know the fire department sent over a couple of guys to check out that gas leak you reported. They’re on their way up to your apartment now.”
“Gas leak?” Shadow didn’t bother keeping her voice low.
Her father frowned as he let the other man know, “I’m afraid there’s been some mistake. No one here reported a gas leak.”
A slight pause ensued as Darren presumably processed the information he’d just been given. “Really?” The young man sounded genuinely surprised. “That’s weird because those guys seemed quite sure thatyouwere the one who called nine-one-one.”
