Page 216 of Allegiance

Elizabeth hugged her child. She needed to because she had just received news that made her sick. Not much horrified her, but this…

This did.

“Thank you,” she said, and then clued them in. It wasn’t often that she discussed her kids, but she trusted The Hunters. “We adopted her a year ago. She’s Ethan and my child. I found her at an orphanage, and we fell in love with her.”

Maura waved at her, and Dolly held up her coloring book to show her what she was doing. It was a coloring book of puppies, and she was so proud of her work.

“Can you tell her that’s beautiful?” Maura asked.

Elizabeth did, and the little girl blew them all a kiss.

It melted many a mercenary heart.

“Okay, I want to steal her,” Rogue said. “She’s beyond precious.”

She stopped that then and there.

“Hey now. That’s my gig,” Elizabeth said, laughing. “No napping my kiddos.”

As if on cue, she looked off the camera to someone else.

When a little boy appeared, she signed to him too. Then, she helped Dolly off of her lap, and they went off together.

Because she knew they were curious, everyone always was, she explained.

“That was DJ. He’s also deaf, and my son with Christopher. His mother was killed by a serial killer, and he was asleep in his bed. It’s the only reason he survived.”

“Jesus,” Zayn muttered. “I don’t want to like you, but you make it damn hard not to.”

She smiled.

“Did you just say you love me? I think you did. Are we besties?” she asked, grinning at him.

He sputtered.

“No freaking way.”

She continued to bust his ass.

“Too late. I’m getting us matching keychains and t-shirts.”

He snorted.

Yeah, no freaking way.

“Okay, we’re clear,” she said.

When the office door closed behind her children, the switch was flipped, and she became a completely different person.

It was time to be the bearer of shitastic news.

“The military made access to three of the locations, Columbia, Venezuela, and Russia, looking for the children. We went with them first, simply because children can’t defend themselves as much as a grown woman.”

They were glad.

They knew time was limited.

“We haven’t gotten access to China, as you can imagine that’s not easy.”