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Of course he did. And she’d been just a job.
Ignoring the hurt of that revelation, she asked, “What kind of undercover work?”
“I run a crew of Harley-riding operatives. They do some down-and-dirty special ops work as bikers, usually infiltrating biker gangs involved in smuggling, gun running or drug operations.”
“Sounds fun.”
He laughed. “It can be an adventure, but also dangerous. And in my line of work and the things I’ve done both in the military and in my special ops work over the years, I’ve made a lot of enemies. It caused me to cut ties with my family—with your mother—because I didn’t want anyone using her—or you—to get to me.”
She stared at him, at this man who looked so hard. Could he have that much of a soft side? “You cut yourself off from us to keep us safe?”
“I tried to. I stayed in touch with Carla to the best of my ability so I could make sure you both were taken care of. Our parents died. She had no one to take care of her and didn’t exactly do the best job taking care of herself. And then you came along, so I had to make plans for your well-being, but I couldn’t play an active role in your life. I’m sorry for that, but it was necessary.”
“The money for the shop. That was you?”
He didn’t say anything.
All this time she thought the only family she had was her flighty, undependable mother.
She had an uncle. And as she looked at his face, she could see the resemblance between him and her mother. The eyes were the same color, the chin the same. They could even have the same smile, except that Grange had yet to offer one up.
“So what does all this mean? Do you think someone connected my mother to you and kidnapped her? Is that why you sent Jed out to watch over me?”
“Yes. And yes.”
At least he wasn’t bullshitting her, pretending to be someone he wasn’t.
“Why didn’t Jed just tell me right off who he was?”
“Because that wasn’t his assignment. We didn’t know for sure if someone would come after you, and I didn’t want to scare you. My intent was for you to never know about me unless absolutely necessary. Until the attacks started up, until someone broke into your apartment with the intent to kidnap you or possibly hurt you, Jed’s assignment was to watch over you. If we could have found your mother and no one came after you, you would have never known about me.”
And Jed would have disappeared in a puff of smoke after that.
Way to go, Elena. She’d guarded her heart so carefully all these years, never letting anyone get close. Then the one guy . . .
She could sure pick them, couldn’t she?
“You ready to go inside? We can talk more with the team about strategy.”
She wasn’t ready to face Jed, but she needed to find her mother. “Sure.”
Grange held out his hand. She took it.
“I have an uncle.”
For the first time, he cracked a smile. And there it was. Her mom had that exact same lopsided half smile. Her heart tugged.
“You do. I’ve always been here for you, Elena. I always will be.”
She missed her mother, and for the first time realized how serious this all was. She nodded and they went back inside. The smell of bacon made her stomach rumble. She followed the scent and saw Jed in the kitchen fixing breakfast. Pete had disappeared again.
“Smells good,” Grange said. “I’m going to go check in at headquarters, see what’s going on with the current missions. Don’t eat it all before I get back.”
“No guarantees, General.” Jed was working busily in the kitchen and didn’t bother looking up. He had a pan of bacon going, one with eggs, and another with pancakes. The toaster flipped out four slices. He grabbed them, slathered them with butter and threw them on a stack, flipped the pancakes, turned the bacon and stirred the eggs.
“I thought you said you couldn’t cook.”
He didn’t meet her gaze as she stepped fully into the kitchen. “I might have exaggerated that part.”
