Chapter 31

Dalton

I wasn’t expecting her to tell me that things weren’t okay. Knowing that Rex was there, because he was in between jobs right now, soothed the panic that would have built had she been entirely on her own.

“Dev, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“I…I’ve got something I need to tell you,” she confessed. “I should have told you this long before now.”

“What is it?”

“You’re not going to like it. I don’t want secrets between us. Not like this,” she rambled on. “A gift or some other kind of surprise is one thing—”

“Devolin,” I snapped. “I need you to focus.” Some of the guys were heading toward the helicopter and Preacher was finishing up with fueling the LongRanger. Preacher, our pilot, and I went a long way. Back to Kandahar to be exact, when he did supply drops. He now ran a charter and tour business out of Houston.

“It’s about this mission, Dalton,” she said.

Somehow, I knew what she was about to tell me. Hell, I’d found out during our twenty-minute drive to Albert J. Ellis, where we caught our first flight. Therefore, I told her as much. “I know.”

“Huh?”

I sighed. “I know, babe.” Then I continued, “I called Wentworth to give him a SITREP; a situation report. He came right out and said that he knew his niece would come through for him.”

I heard her gasp. “He did?”

“Imagine my surprise. The man refused to tell me who’d referred him,” I explained. “It’s not every day that a Canadian diplomat reaches out to some small American security firm, Devolin.”

“You’re not mad?” she squeaked.

Had I said no, I’d have been lying. At first, I’d been pissed off. Theo and Brycen both made me see reason pretty quickly though. Shane, too. Hell, everyone who’d had a hand in Morgan’s rescue jumped to defend my woman.

“I was.” I paused. “But I’m not now.”

I heard her relieved exhale over the line. “Please know that I never meant to hold out on you like that for this long,” she said. “I just—”

“I get it.”

“I asked him not to tell you,” she admitted. “I wanted to let you know on my own. Fuck…” I could hear what sounded like her hand smacking against her forehead. “I planned to tell you that day at Theo’s when I went to find you. Afterward, time got away from me. From us. We talked about so much. I got caught up in us. I should have… There’s no excuse, Kip. I’m sor—”

Her words warmed me, despite feeling her guilt radiating through the line.

“Sweetheart—”

“He’s not a good man, Dalton,” she whispered. “But he’s family, and Nadia’s a nice woman. Young. She’s a few years older than me, but she didn’t deserve what’s happened to her. I regretted sending him to you almost right away.”

I felt my brows knit together and curiosity got the better of me. “Then why’d you do it?”

“Because I knew you’d do everything you could to make sure she was safe.” Her voice cracked. “My skills with computers aren’t a secret in my family. When Uncle Max called to see if I could look into things, I knew I needed someone I could trust to help. I found out a lot of things, that both shocked me and didn’t, about both Max and Scott. That’s why I came to you. That’s why I said yes to working with you and the guys. I needed to make sure that I didn’t fuck up by sending him your way and that you’d be the one to pay for my stupidity.”

“You’re not stupid.” I was firm about it, too.

“I needed to keep you safe. Even if I couldn’t have you, I had to keep you safe.” Her voice shook, and I could tell that she was crying.

It killed me not to be there to console her. “Babe…” my voice trailed as I tried to find the right words.

“Now that I have you, I don’t want to lose you, Kip.” Her breath hitched. “I—”

That’s when I knew it was time to address my earlier concerns.

“Devolin, listen to me,” I said with determination. “You’re not going to lose me. I’m not losing anyone on this team, and that includes you. There’s a lot going on, and emotions are running high right now. Thank you for telling me. This is why you were acting weird after your panic attack earlier, isn’t it?”

“Uh…yeah.”

Brycen clapped me on the back as he passed me and got into the bird. I was the only one aside from Preacher, who was running through his pre-flight checklist, left to board.

“Right. Okay.” I sighed. “Sweetheart, I have to go.”

“It’s okay,” she sniffled.

“Will you be alright?” I needed to know that her head was in the game.

“I’m fine. Go, baby,” she said, the smile back in her voice. “I don’t want the guys waiting because of me.”

Smiling too, I said, “I’ll call again when we land next. Until then, promise me something.”

“Anything,” she breathed through the line.

“Get your head back in the game, baby,” I told her as the prop motor started up. “Because we’re going in hot, and I’m not planning on wasting time to get back to you.”

“O-okay, Kip.”

“Hey, D!” Theo yelled over the noise.

“Gotta go, babe,” I said. “Love you.” Then I hung up.