Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“She claims she’s working for an interested party,” he explained.
That got Charlie’s gaze up. “A relative? I didn’t think Sasha had any family left.”
“I didn’t either. She swears whoever she works for isn’t going to show up and claim Tasha.”
Charlie’s lips quirked up. “Tasha?”
He shrugged. “It’s easier to say than Natasha. I’m thinking mob.”
“Of course you are. You know I’ve had Dusan looking into this. He found no connections at all.” Charlie looked back to the screen as she talked about her cousin, who happened to run the Denisovitch syndicate. “He looked into who sold out Sasha and killed his wife when she went looking for him. He believes that was all SVR. He didn’t find any mob connections at all, and yes, I believe he would have told me if his group had been hired to do it.”
SVR was the shiny new name for the KGB, but that was all window dressing. They were the same old intelligence agency. Ruthless. Cutthroat. Willing to slice off an arm to protect the body. “They don’t need to bring in the mob. They can kill fine on their own.”
“This woman knows what she’s doing.” Charlie clicked through the documents. “Solo sent me some good shit, but this is superlative. The records she found show a perfect through line. You can see where they changed her name.”
Kelsey Owens had included photos and medical records to prove Natasha Smirnova was Natasha Federova. Adam and Chelsea had authenticated the documents and photos.
“Yes, I’m worried she’s too good.”
“I might say the same, but Solo found a lot of this, too, and we’ve verified it. No, you’re looking for a way out. Your paranoia is stirring up a storm in that head of yours.” She closed the laptop and reached out to put a hand over his. “That magnificent brain of yours is going through every possible rotten scenario. Tell me the worst one you’ve come up with.”
“We adopt her and she’s so fucked up it fucks up our kids,” he offered. There were no lies between him and his wife. He didn’t prevaricate or try to hide the dark parts of his soul. What he’d found was they could get through almost anything if they were honest and open about what bothered them. Charlie talked to him when motherhood felt like a chain around her, and he got her through the hard moments so they could enjoy the happy ones.
“We can do that all on our own,” Charlie said. “Try again.”
He wasn’t sure what his wife was looking for, but he had a whole list to run down. “Okay, our kids are a nightmare, and they traumatize her further.”
“The girls are awesome, and they’ll be delighted to have a sister,” Charlie countered. “Try again.”
Fuck. She was going to force him to look deep. “What if I can’t love her the way I love my own kids?”
Her expression softened, and she moved to ease herself onto his lap. “You have the biggest heart in the world, Ian Taggart. There’s a place for everyone who deserves it in there. All you have to do is be patient, and I think you’ll find that loving a child is the easy part. Here is the only question that matters. Are we the best family for her?”
“I already have Mitch working with Adam and Chelsea to make sure everything is legal,” he admitted, wrapping his arm around her. “Well, as legal as this adoption can be. I’m worried about whoever this client of Kelsey’s is though.”
Charlie leaned her head against his shoulder. “Yeah, that’s my big worry too. We’ll love her and someone will come to take her away from us. But it’s not a reason to sit back and leave her on her own.”
He already knew what he would do. “If anyone shows up, I’ll fight.”
“I know you will, baby, and that’s merely one of the reasons you’re an excellent father,” she said with a sigh.
He loved these moments when he could sit here and be with her, breathe this woman in. “I’m only a father because you wanted kids.”
She snorted, a sound he still found magical. “Sure, because you weren’t a caretaker before. You didn’t change the course of your life and form a whole company to give your family and friends a place to be, a job to do. You’ve been a father since you were a kid. It’s who you are deep inside, and this will be no different.”
He let his hand start to drift up to her breast because she was getting way too serious for him. “Oh, it’ll be different. Tash will probably be easier to deal with than Liam was after he got blown up and had to go on the run. Whiny Irishman.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are a great dad, and if you honka honka me right now you’re going to ruin this shirt because my milk came in and there’s a ton of it, buddy.”