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After a few minutes of silence, he clears his throat and speaks once more.
“So. Do you want to start? Because I have so many questions.”
Pinching my nose, I’m surprised it took him this long to ask. “We should maybe sit on the sofa.”
We set our plates in the sink and make our way to the living room, the aroma of fresh coffee wafting through the air.
“So. Kore, huh?”
I bore my eyes into his. “Aye.”
“Are you going to elaborate, or should I keep up with my questions?” He lifts an eyebrow, silently waiting for me to continue.
My chest rises as I take a deep breath in preparation for my reply. “Aye. I’m Kore. After your sister was drugged and killed, I knew that nothing would ever be the same again. Like you, I was devastated and felt as though my whole world had come crashing down.” I pause, looking at him. “Your father called me for the first time when I had already left the U.K. He suspected that some people close to him were involved in trafficking young women and needed my help gathering some information. I just couldn’t say no. Collecting information is my job, after all.” I’m waiting for any sign from him, but he’s waiting for me to continue. “So I dug around and found who was behind it. The job was beyond my capabilities at the time, so we concluded that the optimal resolution was for me to slowly feed you the necessary information anonymously.” Without moving a muscle, he remains completely attentive to my every word, which encourages me to keep going. “After a while, he reached out to me and informed me that two nieces of the mafia Don had been kidnapped, and he had reason to believe they were sold in a different country.”
“Emilie.”
“Aye. That’s how I met Riccardo.” I shift in my seat. “As soon as I had all the necessary information and received confirmation that they were in France, Riccardo arrived and immediately deployed his team to rescue them. I went with them.” I pause, remembering that day like it was yesterday. “The sight of women in such a state of brokenness was something I had never encountered until that moment. While Emilie survived, some of the other victims were not as lucky. Her sister’s escape is nothing short of miraculous, and I’m still trying to understand how it even happened.” Crossing my hands over my knees, I continue, “It wasn’t until a few months ago that we finally learned the identity of the sellers, though we already knew who they had been sold to. From that point on, I made it my mission. I had to do everything in my power to help these women and save them from the same fate as your sister and Emilie.” I pinch my nose, trying to dissipate the migraine nagging me. “Your father and I discussed it for a long time, going back and forth on the topic. He was clearly unhappy, but he knew there was nothing he could do to change my mind.” Saying that is an understatement. Caleb’s protectiveness was always a mystery to me. I understand why now. He wanted me safe. Helping him behind a screen and going on the field are two different things, and he was not ready for me to be mixed with that. I guess he saw me grow during all these years. We are a team. I’ll never say that to him, but I love that old man.
“That’s why you had to train with Tim,” he says, nodding in understanding. I can practically hear the gears turning in his brain.
“Aye. I knew from the start that you had sent men to watch over me, and it didn’t come as a surprise when I found out Tim was one of them. So, when he introduced himself to me and told me that Cal sent him to train me, I said nothing for a few weeks. He saved me multiple times. That’s when he made the decision to never let me out of his sight.” He nods in understanding. We had this conversation regarding Tim, but maybe now he understands a bit more about my relationship with him.
“How was Tim able to keep contact with us in Linlithgow and be in the hangar?”
“The guards worked in shifts, which allowed us to have him on the outside to keep contact with you and to join us when I needed him to. The fact that Jonas had been undercover for the last several months made the entire process run smoothly.” As he puts the pieces all together, he nods in understanding.
“So, Tim has been juggling working between us both this whole time?”
“He has. He was by my side when we rescued Em, refusing to let me face the danger alone. So, I decided to create a team a bit like yours. Two, actually. Most of them are from Scotland. Some of my French team stayed in France because they have families, which is totally understandable. The people on the team that you’ve met are from here, as you probably noticed with their accents. That’s why it has been easier for me to keep an eye on what is happening here.”
“I won’t ask how you got the information, but why did you send me details about people targeting to kill me?” He shifts on the sofa, trying to find a comfortable position.
“Because even if I hated you, I never once wanted you dead.” As I anticipate his next question, I take a sip of my chai to gather my thoughts.
“How? How did you do it? Some messages came in when you were with me. How is it possible?”
After hearing his question, a smirk forms on my face because, seriously, he should know me by now. “It was either me, planned in advance, or Cailean sending you the information. The plan was meticulously crafted to ensure that no one would suspect me.”
“Simple as that?”
“Simple as that,” I repeat.
With a sigh, he releases the breath he had been holding, “I never wanted you to be part of that.” I’m about to speak, but he cuts me off, “Let me finish. I’ve never wanted you to be part of that. All I ever wanted was for you to be safe. But you’ve accomplished so much, and I cannot express enough how proud I am of you. I know for a fact now that I was wrong thinking you couldn’t handle it. And I’ve never been happier to be wrong about something,” he finishes with a smirk. “Okay, so what now?”
I leave my spot and make my way over to sit next to him. “Now? Now, we continue on. Just because Fusco is gone, it doesn’t mean that the drug and sex trade has disappeared. Something bigger is coming. So we continue what we’re doing. As a team.”
“A team?” he says, the corners of his mouth turning up in a grin. “Does that mean you’re staying here?” I feel his warm breath on my skin as he leans in, his fingers grazing my face.
“Like I have any other choice. Don’t pretend I have a say in the matter as if you’d actually let me leave.”
His grin spreads from ear to ear as he leans in close to my lips. “You’re right, baby. You don’t have a choice. You could go anywhere, but I’ll always be there to bring you back. You’re mine as much as I’m yours. I refuse to spend another day without you.” His lips barely brush against mine, leaving me wanting more. As he takes my hand in his, his lips deepen the kiss, and I feel a small, cool object slide onto my finger. My breath catches as I break the kiss and stare at my hand.
“What is this?” The surprise is evident in my voice. The gold ring glints in the light, drawing my attention to the deep green emerald at its centre, reminding me of his eyes. The same style I had shown him years ago.
“That, Tink, is a ring. I’m not a romantic kind of guy. It was bound to happen, and you knew it. You belong to me, and I want nothing more than for you to be my wife.” The peppery taste of his kisses lingers on my lips.
“So, I don’t have any say in the matter?” His kisses make my heart race, and my breathing becomes shallow.
