“No.” Colin moved closer. “Voss is too dangerous. The man has been manipulating arms deals, pocketing millions.”
“Which is why I have to stop him, Colin.” Her voice had softened as she looked into his eyes. “I can’t let him get away with it again. Not just because of Mira and Ray. I can’t live with it, knowing I could have done something, but instead I hid away here.”
Colin pressed his lips together. He looked at Gina.
“You knew,” he told Gina. “The second you heard what the attorney needed, you knew Maren was the only one who could do it. You just didn’t want to say it first.”
“This is Maren’s decision, not mine, Colin,” Gina said.
“There has to be another way. You have people who can handle this.”
“He’s too well-connected,” Gina said. “It would bring down wrath on Watchdog that would make Voss’s threat look like a joke. He has to be stopped through the right channels. Mira’s evidence along with Lynn Carr’s testimony will do it.”
“So you’ll protect Lynn, but not Maren.” Dammit, he was this close to?—
“You’ll protect me, Colin,” Maren said softly.
He looked at her.
Her eyes were calm and filled with trust. “You’ll come with me and you’ll make sure nothing happens to me. Then, you’ll get me back here in one piece.”
She means it, he thought.She absolutely believes in me.
Pride and terror fought each other inside him.
He wanted to sayI can’t lose you.I didn’t survive everything that happened to me just to watch you risk your life in San Diego with Dekker God knows where.He wanted to say a lot of things that were true and also completely beside the point, because Maren Walsh had made up her mind, and the reason he loved her was the same reason he couldn’t stop her. She was good and kind and would not let evil stand if she could do something about it. She would step up to protect the ones she loved as well as strangers she’d never meet, just because it was the right thing to do.
He exhaled.
“Okay,” he said, even though it killed him.
She looked relieved.
But then Gina spoke again, and the relief on Maren’s face wavered.
“Maren. Before you agree—you need to know what Mira set up.”
Maren looked at her and nodded.
“Lynn says the package can only be released to Mira Walsh speaking the code word. No biometrics. No fingerprints. No retinal scan. Nothing that would distinguish you from your sister.”
“Because she knew,” Maren said slowly. “She knew I could pass for her if I had to.” Her mouth twisted. “She built this around me without telling me.”
“That’s what itlookslike,” Gina said carefully.
“I know her, Gina. She was my twin. I was the quiet one. She was the one who dragged me to parties and talked me into driving without a license and taught me to surf when I was terrified of the ocean. She pushed me into those things because she always believed I could do it. And I always could.”
Her voice had gone fierce and soft at the same time. “When I really dug in my heels, she’d trick me into it. So yes, Gina, that’s what this is.” She made a fist and tapped it against her chest. “I know it in here.”
Maren blinked back tears. “She knew if she told me she was risking her life to build a case against Voss, I’d try to talk her out of it. But she also knew that if she failed—if she died—I’d be the one to take care of Juni. And she believed I’d be the one who could put an end to Voss. But she thought she had to trick me into it.” A tear slid down Maren’s cheek.
Colin’s heart flooded with love.
I am so completely gone.
“I’m sorry Mira had to lie to you. But I’m more sorry she didn’t know you,” Colin said.
Maren’s head snapped back around to him. “What do you mean?”
