AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I frowned. “Did he not recruit her because she was his kid?”
Ezra shrugged. “I don’t think that was the issue. He mentioned it to me once or twice, but she wasn’t active in our social circles. Or maybe it was because she was adopted. To be frank, there are some that could have been tapped but they moved away. The Standish heir is one of them. The other is the Grayson heir. They weren’t raised here…”
I sighed. Some families did pull away, whether through circumstance or choice. “So he didn’t recruit Emersyn, and Adam kept him from recruiting me—you both did,” I added the last amendment because Ezra had gone to protect Adam, who was protecting me. “What does this have to do with the new threat?”
“When we found out who he was,” Ezra said, his gaze going distant, “I saw a way out. I thought it would be done, you know. Finished. We had his identity. We could kill him and free ourselves. Only he has a lot more control and reach than we knew…”
“And he’s Milo and Emersyn’s biological father.”
“Yes.” A single syllable. “That—it helps that neither seems particularly interested in him.”
“Is he threatening me?” Because I didn’t want to have to tell Milo that.
Ezra grimaced. “Not directly, though it’s been suggested that Adam’s absence has left a gap to be filled and he finds your dedication entertaining.”
“A bodyguard wouldn’t prevent blackmail. So far, his every move has been to curry favor with Emersyn and Milo. Although Milo doesn’t trust him.” That wasn’t revealing a secret. Pretty Boy made no pretense of his disdain and dislike, not to mention distrust, where Julius King was concerned.
“He’s not the only powerful man we know,” Ezra said. “My father isn’t pleased with your moves lately. Harper Reed is out there. Then there’s Hamilton and Jason. The Adleys and the Cliftons. There’s a power vacuum left by the Sharpes.”
That, I was aware of.
“And you’re a loose cannon,” Ezra said with so much exasperation, it made me smile. “It’s not funny, Kotyonok. It’s dangerous. Keeping you safe for the last twelve years—that’s been Adam’s driving force…”
His driving force? Twelve years.
That was when their attitudes changed. They’d grown colder. More remote. Pushing me away even while trying to micromanage my every choice.
“I could slug you both,” I muttered.
“Because we protected you?” He narrowed his eyes.
“Because you punished me while protecting me—” I shook my head. “Dammit, Ezra. You two have taken so many risks and you expect me to stand behind everyone and stay out of it.”
“Yes,” he said, squeezing my hand then catching my free one so he could hold them both. “Ineedyou to be safe. You—I have no regrets for those choices.” As intense about it as he sounded, I didn’t think that was the whole truth. At the same time…
“What are you doing that has you so worried?” Because that was what it came down to, right? “Or should I ask what he has you doing that you’re so worried?”
“Don’t ask me.” He stroked his thumbs over the backs of my hand. “I can’t tell you. I won’t. I sent Karagiani because he protected you before; he’ll protect you now. If I can’t be there and if something happens with—well, with anyone else. If we aren’t there, he will be. You can’t take risks with yourself.”
I didn’t snort because I read the fear in his eyes. Fear he was desperately trying to cover up again. “I’ll keep him on, but he’s not to report anything to you.”
“He doesn’t.” Oh, he didn’t like that. “He didn’t the first time either.” Absolutely disgruntled. “That’s fine…your safety is worth my ignorance.”
Rolling my eyes would be out of place, so I just returned the squeeze to his hands. “How can we help you?” Because, like him or not, Milo would want to be a part of this. He needed to be. His father had been his enemy longer than he’d been ours. “How can I help you?”
“Leave Hardigan? Go to Europe? Just—run away from all of this?” He made a face. “I’d invite you to my island again, even though you already told me no.”
Something had happened that night when he came to the apartment. Something that drove him to push me and then… “Ezra, if I thought it would truly help, I’d consider it.”
“Consider.” He scoffed and shook his head again. “You won’t run. It’s not in you to run away, no matter how much safer it might be. You are always putting yourself out there—disappearing on me and then showing up somewhere so much more dangerous.”
“I’m fine,” I reminded him. “Going to the Vandals was the right thing to do. They needed to know where Emersyn was and what her uncle was doing.” They needed to know so they could act.
“Then you methim.”
“Yes. I did.”
He stared at me for a long while. “I’m never going to like it.”
