AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s quite an understatement,” Pharaoh said as everyone walked into the small, beachfront bungalow.
The windows were all open and a warm sea breeze blew inside as Ryland studied the man who left his life ten years ago. Hell, he didn’t even know how to refer to him anymore. Dad? Father? Cross? The man was a virtual stranger. He also possessed a cool, calculating air that instantly put Ryland on guard.
Cross Mills wasn’t the man he remembered. The one who regaled him with adventurous tales about being a SEAL. The one who taught him how to swim. The one who tucked him and Addie into bed when their mother was somewhere in Europe stealing some trinket.
Confusion swelled up inside him as he tried to come to terms with the situation. Ryland needed answers, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to hear what he wanted.
Cross led them over to the living room area and tossed some pillows aside to give them extra space to sit on the worn couch. “Sorry, but there isn’t a lot of room.” Harper made her way around the scarred coffee table to sit, but immediately stood again when nobody else joined her. “Please, sit, Miss—”
“Grant. Harper Grant.”
“Right. Ryland’s neighbor, I presume.”
“You’re the one who called and warned me. Didn’t you?” Ryland eyed his father closely, and Cross nodded. “I don’t understand. How the hell could you let us believe you were dead for the past ten years?”
Cross let out a resigned sigh. “I’m sorry, Ryland. Truly, I am. But an opportunity presented itself and I didn’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice,” Ryland snapped.
Cross studied his son. “There were so many times I wondered if I’d made the right decision. How I wish I could’ve been there when they pinned that Trident pin on you. You have no idea how proud I was.”
Ignoring the emotions his father’s words stirred, Ryland clamped his teeth together. It was so easy to say all that now, but the truth was he’d made a conscious decision to leave them. To disappear from their lives. And that hurt. “They gave us your ashes,” Ryland gritted out.
“I know. I’m sorry.” Cross raked a hand through his thick, sun-bleached hair which was so very much like his son’s.
“Why did you do it?” He could feel his team’s support as they all waited for an answer.
“I think that’s a conversation for you and I to have later, in private. Right now, you need to understand what’s happening.”
“Yeah, please,” Saint said. “That would be nice.”
“Did The Agency set us up to fail?” Pharaoh asked, crossing his large forearms. “Did they call for our termination?”
“It looks that way.”
“Why?” Bruja asked.
Cross shrugged a shoulder. “I can’t answer your questions. But I can tell you The Agency isn’t what you think it is.”
“Meaning what?” Banshee asked.
“Meaning they aren’t the good guys. They are, in fact, very bad and extremely dangerous.”
“How do you know?” Ryland asked, brow furrowed. “And why the hell should we believe anything you say?”
“You can believe whatever you want, but they lied to you. And to me. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure they implode because of it.”
“Ok, let’s start simple. Who the hell is The Agency exactly?” Pharaoh asked.
“A highly secret group with ties to the government. That’s all I know.”
“Then how do you know they’re the bad guys?” Ryland pressed.
“They turned on you, their own team, didn’t they?”
Although he had a point, Ryland couldn’t fully believe the words coming out of his father’s mouth. He had too many questions and way too many suspicions.
“What happened on that op?” Pharaoh asked, gray eyes stormy. “You’re the one who gave us the mission parameters and then changed them at the last minute,Merlin.”
