Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Soothing his ass.
How many women was he going to make cry? His mom. Probably his sister. Definitely his Carys.
“I did what I could do. I’m mostly in Europe or Virginia.”
“Only because you want to be.” Papa took a sip of his coffee.
Coffee smelled good. Not that he could drink some.
How did Carys take her coffee now? She used to love some sweet cream in it. Had she become a hardcore addict like Aidan was? Had long nights at the hospital changed her habits?
“I don’t.” He was going to be as honest with his parents as he could be. The truth was it was time. “You can let me out. I won’t leave.”
“Sure you won’t.” Dad passed Papa the French toast.
It looked tasty. His papa was actually an excellent cook. “I won’t. And I’m kind of hungry.”
“Are you?” Papa asked. “You know what I’ve been hungry for?”
Papa was also the one who would draw this out with sarcasm. Dad would be satisfied he’d gotten Tris here, but Papa would want a pound of flesh. “I’m sure it’s information about what the hell your son thinks he’s doing.”
“I really would like to know, son,” Papa agreed.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be on the outside,” Brianna said quietly.
What was his sister thinking? “Oh, I don’t? I assure you I’ve been on the outside of the most important relationship of my life for years.”
Brianna’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, won’t anyone think about how hard this has been on Tristan? Poor Tris. They shut him out. Except they didn’t. They begged you to come home. Like we begged you. You should know I’m the one who voted against this plan because I think it’s futile. You don’t have any interest in your family. You’ve moved on.”
What the hell was he doing? He was getting defensive when he was the one who’d offended. “That’s not true.”
“You’ve missed every event in the last few years,” Bri accused. “Travis had a kid. You weren’t even around to make fun of him or to welcome Colton into the family. Papa had surgery and you weren’t here.”
“What?”
Papa waved a hand. “It was my gallbladder. I don’t even notice it’s gone. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“It felt like a big deal,” his mother said.
His papa had surgery and he hadn’t even known? Why hadn’t anyone told him? “No one said anything.”
“I didn’t tell anyone because it was a minor surgery, and I’m fine now. I was back in the office a couple of days later.”
What he wasn’t saying was why he’d kept it quiet. He wouldn’t have done it out of vanity. Or because he didn’t want anyone to make a fuss. Papa quite liked a fuss. “You knew Big Tag would force me to come home.”
“I knew he would try, and at the time I didn’t want the answer to the question of how hard you would fight him,” Papa replied. “I didn’t want to know if you would care or not. I’m afraid I’ve been avoiding some truths, too, and that’s on me.”
What had his family been through?
He’d gotten so lost. He’d thought what he was doing was important, and then it was dangerous. He’d thought he was sparing them pain, but he’d caused them more.
“I would have come home, Papa.” Was he speaking the truth? “I don’t know. It would have depended, but you should know I care. I love you. I’m just… I can’t talk about it because it’s classified, but it’s a complicated case.”
“Yes,” Dad said. “Dealing with international arms dealers is complex. It’s even rougher when you’re trying to pose as one to connect some very nasty dots. Do you have any idea where to look for the bombmaker? You didn’t find any intel on his system when you tracked him down?”
Tris felt his jaw drop and knew exactly where to look. “Papa, you can’t hack into the fucking Agency that way. Do you know what they could do to you?”
There was the sound of the doorbell chiming. Dad glanced at his phone and put his napkin on the table. “There he is.”
“What do you think they’re going to do to me?” Papa asked as Dad walked down the hallway.
“Tris, you can’t expect us to sit back and let you ruin your life,” his mom said, tears in her eyes. “You are going to lose them. I know somewhere in your head you’re justifying this behavior by saying you’re protecting them, but it won’t matter in the end.”
“I was trying to protect all of you.” What the hell had they done? “Do you think they can’t ruin Mom’s career if they want to?”
“Why would they want to?” Bri asked. “We have a lot of friends in the intelligence world. You’re pretending we’re on our own. You know the twins have made it plain if we need something, we should come to them. They protect all of us and they don’t have to shove us away.”