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“Are they pressuring you to come back?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
Noah was quiet for a moment. “You’ve given them enough of your life. Lucia would be devastated if you left again.”
Rafe paused midstep. “I would never do that to her. I promise. My days of disappearing are over.”
Suddenly realizing just how loud he was talking, Rafe paused, glancing into the kitchen and then behind him into the living room. Diana liked to burrow into the cushions of the couch while watching TV and sometimes fell asleep there. He shouldn’t be talking about disappearing so cavalierly when she could overhear. His shoulders dropped in relief when he didn’t see her. She was probably taking a shower. He walked down the hall to his office.
“Good. You’re an important part of this family. Izzy is going to need her uncle around to help keep her safe. Especially if she grows up anything like her mother and her aunt JJ.”
Rafe snorted and pushed open the door to his office. Immediately, all his senses went on alert.
Someone had been in here.
“Hold on, Noah. I need to check my files.” He put the phone on mute.
Rafe glanced around, noting that nothing was out of place. He shook off the weird feeling. None of his alarms had been triggered, and he’d know if someone had entered or left the apartment. He just wasn’t used to having another person in his house. It would take some getting used to, having a feminine scent lingering all around.
He pressed against the painting that hid his safe. After entering the code, he started pulling out the files. He had information saved on a thumb drive, but there were certain things he also kept in printed copies. He knew how digital data could be corrupted. After glancing through quickly, he didn’t see anything relevant. Closing the
safe, he stood and took the phone off mute.
“Nothing. I’ve got nothing on him, but that doesn’t mean he’s clean. I can do some digging if you want.”
“Let’s do that. If we’re going to bring someone new on board, I need to make sure they’re safe to have around the girls.”
Rafe instantly moved the task to the top of his priority list. Anyone who would have that much access to his sister and his niece would have to pass muster with him first.
Rafe walked down the hallway, wondering in earnest where Diana was. She’d been cleaning up after breakfast when he’d left.
It was kind of pathetic, actually, that he missed her. He’d only been gone two hours. He shook his head.
“I hear you. You know I don’t want anyone who isn’t trustworthy near Lucia and Izzy either.”
Noah chuckled. “Why do you think I called you? You’re the only one in the universe who might be as overprotective of them as I am.” He paused. “You know if the FBI is giving you trouble, you can tell me, right?”
Rafe clutched the phone tighter. “It’s all good. You don’t need to make any enemies on my behalf.”
Noah paused. “I will if necessary.”
chapter twelve
Diana had already mapped the hallway. She knew exactly where the floor creaked. She knew exactly what would make a sound. First rule when you were following a known killer down the hallway while he was having a conversation he obviously did not want you to hear—discretion.
On tiptoes, she crept toward his office door.
But what doesn’t he want you to hear? Honestly, it could be anything. It could be his doctor. It could be some ex. Oh shit. Did he have children?
Hello, focus.
She leaned closer and realized it was someone from Blake Security on the phone. They wanted him to check files on someone. Why was he the one checking files?
Wasn’t that what Matthias was for? She’d never seen a hacker with such defined muscles before in her life. The guy was smoking hot. Yes, but why does he have the same tattoos as Noah and Rafe? Why did no one else at the party have them?
Never mind all that. His sole purpose was to look things up, right? They’d all been teasing him at the party. If he could find anything on anyone, why was he calling Rafe?
“Yeah, I’d say take him on, but on a probationary period. No access to anything. Biometrics in the house, obviously. We’ll only give him access in certain areas and limit his exposure to the baby until we dig deeper and he’s seen the shrink. I mean, the guy is ex-ORUS, and given our recent experience, he’s an unknown quantity.”
