Maren nodded. “She passed away when Juni was still a baby. She was hit by a car in a parking garage and the driver got away. I was told it was an accident. But now?”
Obviously, Maren didn’t want to scare Juniper any more than she already was.
Maren bit her bottom lip and shifted her gaze to Kyle. “I was just told that Sean is gone, too.” She looked back at Arden. “I’m sorry for your loss. Truly.”
“Me too. For yours.”
At that moment Arden understood that Maren had not kept Juniper hidden from her out of any sort of malice. “You didn’t know about my brother, did you?”
Maren shook her head and squeezed Juniper. “Not until last night. I swear. I didn’t know who…” She dropped her gaze to her niece, whose attention was still firmly on Camo. “Mira never told me anything about Juni’s father. I didn’t think she’d told anyone.” She closed her eyes as bitter pain crossed her face. “Apparently, that wasn’t the only secret she’d kept from me.” She opened her eyes again and stared into Arden’s.
“Please,” Maren pleaded. “I’m so, so sorry about this, but my niece and I need your help.”
SIX
“Anything.”Kyle felt Arden lift her chin beside him. Her voice was steadier than the rest of her—he could still feel her trembling against his side. “Anything you need, it’s yours.”
“That’s the thing,” Maren said, squeezing the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know what we need. Except protection.”
Charlie spoke first. “I’ll take point.” Her arms were still folded tightly across her chest, her jaw still set. Her voice was pitched at that controlled register she used when she was holding herself together through sheer force of will. Kyle knew that register. He also knew what it meant.
“Charlie—”
“Full detail,” she said. “Shane on rotation.”
“No,” Shane said, which was the first sound he’d made since Maren and Juni walked into the room. He was still looking at the blank wall. He pulled his gaze away from it with effort and looked at Kyle. “I’m taking point.”
“No, you’re not,” Charlie said.
“I am. Sean was my best friend.”
“Mine, too.”
“I grew up with him, King.”
Kyle’s fists closed at his sides. He opened them deliberately. “Both of you stop now, that’s an order. I’m taking point.”
Charlie shook her head as she closed ranks with Shane. “She’s our team’s responsibility.”
“She’sSean’s daughter.” Kyle’s voice didn’t quite come out the way he’d meant it to. He felt Arden’s hand tighten on his forearm and didn’t look at her. “She’s his daughter and she’s sitting in my conference room and I’m not handing her off to anyone?—”
“Handing her off?” Charlie’s voice went very quiet. “Is that what you think this is?”
“That’s not what I?—”
“Because I was on that boat, Kyle.”
Shane put his hand on Charlie’s arm. “Charlie.”
She shook it off. “I was on that boat and I got the team out but I didn’t—” She stopped. Charlie closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, they were level and hard. “I’m taking point.” She turned on Shane, her gaze daring him to say anything.
Shit.
Kyle was looking at two people wearing four years of guilt like armor plating. And they were ready to put it between Juni and anything that came for her.
At the end of the table, Lachlan had not moved. The pen casing was still in his mouth. His sea-colored eyes had shifted, though—they were on Gina now. Gina’s gaze moved from Charlie to Shane to Kyle and back to Lach. She gave him a half-millimeter nod.
Kyle didn’t need to hear what passed between them. He’d worked around those two long enough to know the hell they’d gone through for each other.
