Page 76 of Harmless Secrets
He nodded. “Just leaves. Tells me to take care of our daughter and walks away.”
“You’re a dumbass. So dumb, that I can’t believe I’m going to help you.”
“What the hell do you mean?”
Sean sighed. “You didn’t last in the Company, so you might not understand what this means. For someone like Alicia, this is…”
“What?”
“A lot of us don’t have a family like the Hughes. The UK has more of them in the business basically because many of them, like the Hughes, date back several hundred years. They have been serving God and country from the moment they are born. It’s expected of them, bred into the bones in a way. But being in the business like this makes you very close knit. I never saw anyone who cared more about his family than her father. He adored her. With the death of his wife, Walter became fanatical, a bit warped. He obsessed about Alicia’s safety.”
“So, he pulls her into the business?” Devon snorted. “Talk about warped.”
“With years of service, no matter what Walter did, Alicia was always going to be in some kind of danger. It wasn’t as bad as he probably thought it was, but dangerous all the same. The one thing he left her was her ability to fight off any attack. He also taught her to be a bit autocratic. She truly believed she was better at handling the situation than you were. So, just as her father had taught her, she took charge.”
He closed his eyes and tried not to see Millicent standing there with her gun trained on Alicia. When he opened his eyes, Devon found Sean giving him a sympathetic look.
“And almost got herself killed in the process.”
“Yep. Just like he did all those years ago when he started searching for the traitor. When he found out it was the niece he had helped raise, it was probably a big blow. Instead of turning her in, I bet he had set some meeting with her to get her to surrender. It’s probably why she killed him.”
“And she was within seconds of killing Ali.”
“That close?”
He swallowed trying to force the bile down. “She had a gun pointed at her and was ready to shoot again when I shot her.”
Sean shook his head. “That girl was always pushing the envelope. Like when she went looking for you without an assignment.”
“I can’t complain about that one.”
Sean chuckled. “Of course. But, you aren’t looking closely enough at this letter. Spies give away a lot of things. They give people their money, their peace of mind…even their souls to get the job done. We hardly ever give our trust.”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck, for being a genius, you are damned stupid.”
Devon continued to study Kaheaku wondering if he could take the man. He was pissing him off and right now, Devon needed to expend that anger. Knowing Kaheaku’s background, there was a good chance Devon would get his ass kicked instead.
“Well, shit, Stryker. You’re in love with her. Can’t you figure it out? For someone in our business, trusting is harder than loving. She trusts you. Naming you as the father of her child and leaving Bridget in your care shows just how much she does trust you. Probably the first person in a really long time. Don’t fuck it up, or you might just leave her completely lost to men.”
Kaheaku didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he turned and walked away, leaving Devon alone to his thoughts. Just outside of the door his family milled. He knew that Dee was ready to know everything and right now. She never had much patience when it came to things like that. And, he could call Micah his family. He knew that no matter what, he could trust the man.
And then there was Bridget. The daughter he hadn’t known a couple weeks ago. After the last few days, he couldn’t think of living a life without her or her mother in it.
Ali. The woman made him insane. He did all kinds of things the wrong way when she was around. He slept with a woman he barely knew that night in Vegas. Just a few days, and he knew her inside and out. A backbone of steel and an attitude to go with it, hid a vulnerability that touched something deep inside of him he thought he’d lost. She made him so damned angry, but one look from her and his knees when weak.
And he didn’t want to live without her.
He stood and went over to the wall safe behind the books. He moved them aside and opened it. There were papers sitting inside of it, important things like a will and the trust fund he set up for Alana—that one was a secret because Micah would be pissed. He pushed those aside and found the velvet ring box. He pulled it out and opened it.
Sparkling there in the middle of red satin was his grandmother’s engagement ring. She had left it to him with a note that he was to stop planning life and live it. Even all those years ago, his grandmother knew him. Thankfully, his mother had hidden it from his father or he probably would have never gotten it.
Devon drew in a deep breath and closed the box. The decision was definitely made and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
Thirty minutes later, Alicia still didn’t have her emotions under control. She knew it all didn’t have to do with what went on between Devon and her.
No, this was a cathartic release she needed. Since her father’s death, her life had spiraled out of control. She had held it together for herself, then for Bridget. She’d played the good spy. Knowing that the girl she played with growing up had caused all this pain was a bit too much to take—even for a master spy’s daughter.