Page 9 of Dichotomy

I pulled out my own phone and hit Danny’s number.

“What’s up?” he greeted. “I’m reading over your report on the feds now.”

“Reading over my shoulder, he means.” Grace’s faint voice came through on the phone, and I grinned.

“It’s about that. They’re likely going to have me under surveillance for at least the next few weeks, so tell Grace she’ll have to pull me off of missions for the time being.”

“You’re on speaker now, so she heard you,” Danny said.

“Got it, boss,” Grace said. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll handle it. We’re going to ground anyway, so we’ll only have emergency cases.”

I bit my lip. The problem with our kind of work was that they were usually all emergency cases. How many people were going to suffer because we had to go to ground?

“Marcus brought up a good point, too, that I can’t stay at Miracle like I have been,” I said, referencing the code name we had for my manor house.

“Oh, he did, did he?” Danny’s voice was playful.

I groaned. Danny had been very firmly ‘team guys’ from the beginning. Truthfully, I figured he was glad for the extra eyes on me. He had taken what happened to me in high school hard and had been my constant protector since. He was probably grateful to know they were looking out for me.

“Yes, he did. So I was hoping you or someone could go to Miracle and pack up some of my stuff and bring it over to my apartment. Enough stuff for the next few weeks, at least, and my tablet and laptop and all my files on the dining room table.”

“Yep, I’ll head there now,” Danny said, and I could hear rustling over the phone, then the jangle of keys.

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

“Of course. Talk to you later.”

I hung up and turned my focus to the pile of files on my desk. Losing myself in my work, I quickly sorted the files in order of priority. Small-time jobs like installing a basic security system were sorted into one pile, while others that would require more extensive consultations were sorted into another pile. Citadel’s clients were jumping to us left and right. There were some client names that I shoved to the end of the pile, familiar with them from an Archer mission. Those clients I wanted to vet a bit more before we accepted them to SDS. I didn’t want their rot to taint SDS or the guys. Maybe it was overprotective, but they had already gone above and beyond for me, so I could spend a few extra hours vetting if that was what it took to keep them unscathed from this whole thing.

“Hey, sorry, I got caught up on some calls and didn’t realize how late it had gotten.”

My head shot up. Marcus stood at my desk. I had been so immersed in my work I hadn’t heard his door open. Sebastian’s and Alexander’s doors were shut, and their lights were turned off. When had they left? How had I not seen them?

“It’s okay,” I said, rubbing my burning eyes. “I also got caught up.” I looked at my watch. It was closer to 7 p.m. now.

“Ready to go?”

“Let me just grab my bag.” I placed the last few files in their appropriate piles and then grabbed my bag.

Marcus placed a hand on my back, guiding me to the elevator. I soaked in the warmth of his hand. We were still on shaky ground. I liked Marcus, but he had been a dick when he’d first found out about my betrayal. Okay, he was justified in being a dick, but he had taken his sweet time in pulling the stick out of his ass. So I was making him work for it a bit.

As we rode the elevator down, he kept his hand on my back, rubbing it in soft circles. “So, how was your day?” he asked, a small smirk on his face.

I laughed. “Insane. But I guess I didn’t expect anything different.”

“It’ll slow down in a few weeks,” he said. “Although, then something new will probably pop up.”

“Shhh, don’t jinx us,” I said, patting his arm. “I, personally, am looking forward to taking a vacation.”

“I don’t think you’ve taken a vacation once in the six years you’ve worked here.”

I groaned. “No, and I need one.”

“Once we deal with all of this, we’ll take you away. The four of us haven’t been on a vacation in too long either.”

“You visited your parents in Italy a few years ago, right?”

The three brothers’ parents had retired to Italy and were world travelers now. The brothers had flown to Italy a few Christmases ago to spend a week with their parents.