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Had Aoife been targeted by the ECD because of her relationship to the current president?
“What about her?”
“I’ve just learned something about Michelle Keegan’s death.”
“Give me five minutes and I’ll call you back.”
He didn’t wait for an affirmative response from me, just disconnected. I knew Davidson would phone. Though he’d tossed Aoife aside in a bid to hit the White House, the man had courted disaster by trying to have a relationship with her period.
He cared.
His care just wasn’t enough, wasn’tworthyof my wife.
A different number phoned me but it was exactly five minutes after Davidson had ended our last call.
“I can speak with more ease now,” he said by way of a greeting. “What do you know about Ellie’s death?”
My brows rose.
Ellie?
“The ECD targeted her. Aoife was also a target. But you knew that already, didn’t you? You’re the reason she had guards.” I tossed that out like it was a lure, and he took the bait.
A hissed breath sounded down the line. “Are you in a private area?”
“Yes. No one can eavesdrop. Do you know why she was targeted?”
“I do.”
The flat answer had me narrowing my eyes. “And you’re not going to tell me?” When I received silence as a reply, I demanded, “Is the threat still active? Is it tied to the more recent threats to her safety?”
Davidson sighed. “It’s complicated.” I was about to call him out on his bullshit, but he said, “The ECD are a complex cell. When Ellie was killed, it triggered a power struggle. For a time, the leader lost power until he consolidated his position.”
“What happened during the power struggle?”
“Someone decided to ensure that my rise to the top went unheeded.”
“So itwasbecause of her ties to you?”
“I loved Michelle, O’Grady. I’d have—” He fell quiet, then he repeated, “I loved her.”
I felt the truth in his words, but it didn’t stop me from pointing out, “She died because of you.”
“She did,” he spat bitterly, “and that was the reason I left her in the first place, to keep her safe. I sacrificed a lifetime with her for nothing. She’d have died either way.”
My brow furrowed. “Explain.”
“I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
“You sure as hell do. I have to tell Aoife this. I have to share the truth with her. I’m not going to withhold this from her.”
“What good will it do to tell her?” Davidson countered.
For four years, I’d lied to her about her mother’s death.
I could feel the sword of Damocles hovering above my head with that one secret alone, never mind this.
For a second, I stared blankly ahead, and as I did, I was taken back in time.
