Page 57 of What Remains

“All hell would break loose,” Gideon finishes for me in understanding.

“So, they’re just positioning all the . . .” Julian clears his throat “. . . puzzle pieces into place.” He lifts his brows, eyes on Dad. “That analogy okay?”

I don’t check Dad’s reaction, too busy processing what this all means. “They want to keep Elaina in the dark, and they’re counting on us to want to do the same to protect her. This is their move, I’m sure of it.”

“I’ll reach out to Sydney.” Carter looks to Dad. “You should talk to Liam. Give him the heads-up Elaina could be in danger. There could be a backup plan to go after her if they think she’ll stop taking her medication, which means they have eyes on her now.”

Dad acknowledges him with a tight nod, curling his hand into a fist on his lap.

The only thing keeping me from losing it about all this is I trust Elaina’s family and Liam’s teammates to keep her safe.

“Camila could also be in danger,” Carter points out another uncomfortable truth. “She’s on an op with her team in Peru, or she’d have helped out here. I’ll give her the heads-up to be on the lookout and up her security.”

“Don’t let her stop taking her medication, either. Remember when she tried a few months ago because of her own case, and⁠—”

“I remember, and I’ll handle it.” Carter removes his mobile from his pocket. “I need to make some calls.” He looks at Zoey. “And you are staying with us. We’ll find Molly together.” He pauses, then adds, “And Diana will be okay with it. You can argue with me, but don’t think about arguing with her.”

“What’s going on?” Julian asks.

Right, we never answered Gideon’s question about this, so now Julian’s throwing it at us.

“Carter’s Zoey’s ex. Well, kind of,” I admit, keeping my voice low as if it’s a secret between us.

Carter ignores what I said and doesn’t wait for Zoey’s confirmation. Instead, he twists around and eyes Easton. “Nash is wrapping up an op in Dublin with Sebastian, which is why they’re both not here.”

I forgot about that. When we went on our trip to Dubai, Sebastian asked to “borrow” Nash for a mission.

“Am I letting Nash know you’re back as my lead pilot?” he asks him.

Easton looks at me before his gaze slides back to Carter. “Yeah, I’m back.”

CHAPTER 19

Gwen

GERMANY-SWITZERLAND BORDER

“Of course I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” My voice trembles over the call with Elaina, but hopefully she doesn’t pick up on that. I needed to hear for myself she’s doing okay. “We’re about to arrive at the hotel now. Just pulled up to the gate.” I swallow. “The trip to Dubai was, well, not what I expected.” That’s putting it mildly. “Consider me happy to be home.” God, I hate lying to her, but she can’t know the truth.

“And you’re really happy to be back because Easton’s op is over, right? I assume he didn’t pull a Jesse-and-Ella and actually marry Zoey.”

Easton glances back at me from the front seat of the SUV, and I could die.

I take the call off the speaker. What was I thinking? Clearly, I was not. Haven’t done too much of that since I was abducted from Dubai.

Easton faces forward as Dad clears his throat, and Natasha pats my leg as if she understands how awkward that was for all of us.

“Dad also told me Easton’s moving back to the hotel. Well, Wyatt told him that, but please tell me it’s true. Because that’s good, right?” I can hear the excitement in her voice, but all it does is worsen my guilt. “I’ve been dying to talk to you since he gave me the news.”

Lying is one of my least favorite things to do on the planet, especially to people I love. “Yes,” I breathe out, my stomach squeezing as the fortified gates part for us to roll through. “He’s back.” I gulp. “I should probably go now, though. We’re here. Just, um, wanted to say hi.”

“You don’t sound as happy as you should be given the news.” She pauses. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Would I lie to you?” I lie.

Please don’t strike me dead, God. I’m sorry.

“Okay, well, something weird is going on here. Please don’t worry about me, though, you know I’ll be fine. Dad is insane about my safety.” The fact she’s trying to protect me from worrying, the guilt is guilting even harder. “Dad won’t give me details, but I assume it’s tied to a case with Bravo Team or something. Lots of extra security. He’s being all weird and cagey. So, I may not get a chance to chat again soon, but I’ll check in when I can. I love you.”