Page 16 of Crossover

“She won’t believe that.”

“I’ll make her believe it,” I pleaded. “Give me a pen and paper.” My voice was trembling now, too.

“You and I both know she’s not going to believe anoteyou write.”

“Then, let me call her.”Please, please, let me save her.“I won’t say anything to tip her off. All I care about is saving her.”

I blinked back tears, waiting for him to agree, but he remained silent while a look of pity flashed through his features.

“Then, you come up with an idea,” I begged. “Anything. I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt her.”

“That ship has sailed, Ivy.”

The knife in my diaphragm twisted.

“You could save her if you wanted to.” I glared at him. “You’rechoosingto kill us both. Why?”

Daniel’s sigh hinted at impatience now as he checked the time.

“You expect me to believe this is all because I was poking into my dad’s death?”

He shrugged. “I never intended for it to come to this.” But his tone was void of emotion or remorse, more likewhat a bummer that my original plan backfired, and now, it’s snowballed.

He scratched his temple with the gun’s barrel. I willed it to explode into his skull, but I wasn’t that lucky.

And now that I thought about it—now that I wasn’t momentarily consumed with the revelation my father was murdered—what was Daniel’s role in that whole weapons thing to begin with? He was CIA. If my dad had stumbled onto a massive weapons ring and had tried to help law enforcement, why would the CIA want tostophim? Whykillhim?

Dad wasn’t a threat to this country; he was a threat to Vosch. Vosch, who Daniel and Grayson were supposed to kill in that garage. Vosch, who suspiciously evaded that assassination. Almost like…

He was tipped off.

“You’re working for Vosch. That’s what this is really about!”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

He cocked his head. “Vosch is more powerful than you can imagine. He doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“So, you’re just his puppet then? Doing his dirty work?”

“You have no idea the position I’m in. He threatened my family, my son in particular. What choice did I have?”

“This is you protecting your family?”

“You think this was easy for me? I never wanted it to come to this. But your father left me no choice when he refused to back down. So, yes, I had to protect my family, no matter the cost, because as I said, Vosch is a powerful man.”

“Sure. Tell yourself you’re being noble here, a good old family guy. Tell me, does your family know you spent two years sleeping with another woman just to keep tabs on some guy for Vosch?”

His lips thinned. “You think if you were given the same ultimatum, you would have chosen differently?”

“There is nothing anyone could say to make me help Vosch and his criminal enterprise.”

“That’s what everyone thinks. Until it happens to them. But once he hurts someone you love…trust me, sweetheart, your tune would change.”

“It wouldn’t.”

“You have no idea what he’s capable of! What he did to my son…” He shook his head. “There’s no limit to what a father will do to protect his child.”