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)
His sister understood nothing. “They aren’t in the position I’m in.”
“The position you put yourself in,” Papa corrected.
“We don’t know that, Adam,” his mother said. She had a cup of coffee in front of her but her plate was empty. And not because she’d finished. “You promised you would go easy on him. We don’t know what he’s been through.”
“I promised I would do whatever it took to get our son back,” his father replied, and there was a coldness in his tone.
Brianna’s jaw had tightened, and Tristan realized this was an argument they’d had more than once. Way more than once.
He was tearing his family apart. Somehow he’d thought they would simply accept that this was his work. Like the work his fathers had done. They’d been Special Forces. But it wasn’t the same. His fathers had taken leave, and after they’d left the military, even when they’d done intelligence work, they hadn’t iced his mom out. Adam Miles and Jacob Dean had been incredibly present fathers.
How could he ever have a family himself if this was how he handled his work?
“I don’t think this is the way,” his mom said tightly.
He had to fix this. “I don’t know, Mom. I think wrapping me up is a pretty good wake-up call. If I promise I’m not going anywhere, could I get my arms out? I’m really hungry, and it’s been forever since I had some of Papa’s cinnamon rolls.”
His mom looked his way with a watery smile. “Of course.”
Papa didn’t seem as sure.
“Papa, I promise you I’m not going to leave until you’re comfortable. I do not want to cause this tension,” he said. “Bri, I’ll answer all the questions I can. I don’t want you to think the twins will protect you more than I will.”
“I never thought you wouldn’t protect us. I thought you might be willing to sacrifice yourself to do it,” Bri replied. “I know it sounds noble, but there are things we can’t ever give up. Mom and the dads, they don’t get to stop being your parents because you became a CIA operative. I don’t get to stop being your sister. I don’t think Carys gets to stop loving you. She can try, but I think it would be as if she stopped being who she is. Same for Aidan.”
“You’re in over your head, son. There is nothing weak about leaning on your family. I would understand it if you thought we weren’t strong enough,” Papa began.
“It’s not that.” He’d never wanted to admit this, but in the face of the damage his lies had done, the truth was the only way out. “I didn’t want you to know how bad it had gotten. It was my pride.”
His mother’s tears flowed freely now. She put her hands on his cheeks. “There is no place for pride in a family. Not the way you mean it. You say the word pride, but it’s actually ego. I’m begging you to let your love for us win this war that’s going on inside you. And when it comes to Carys and Aidan, baby, if you had gone to Carys and asked if she would rather be protected or trusted and loved and a part of you, I know what she would have said. There are worse things than death, and one of them is thinking our love is worthless.”
Fuck. He felt the tears slip from his eyes. No one could get to him like his mom. She was weird and quirky and comfortable with herself so everyone around her was comfortable too. She was brave and kind and had never once let him down. Oh, she had a big career, and sometimes that had meant she missed a baseball game here and there, but she’d been the strong base on which his life was built. “It’s not, Mom. It’s absolutely the opposite.”
She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “Neither is Carys’s. Baby, you will regret it the rest of your life if you don’t fix this. I know it feels like you have the weight of the whole world on your shoulders. It feels like the damn fate of it all is on you, but it’s not. It doesn’t have to be. You have a team, and you have a family. You have a partner, and you have a woman who would be your wife right this second if you allowed her to be. Think about it. You denied her the right to be beside you while you’re in the toughest fight of your life.”
He’d done so much damage. “How do I fix it?”
His mother was a romance novelist. If anyone would have a game plan, it would be her.
“I’m afraid this conversation is going to have to wait, kid.” Papa stood. “Zach, thanks for coming.”
Tristan looked up, and Captain Zach Reed stood in the dining room beside his dad. He had a duffel slung over his shoulder and a ball cap on his head.