Break the Day - Lara Adrian Page 0,72

I could’ve trusted her to keep it a secret. But to do that, I would’ve had to break my trust with you. With Lucan and my teammates. I would’ve had to choose.”

Sterling Chase leaned back in his chair, a solemnity in his face and in his tone. “That’s a lot for anyone to ask of one of us.”

“Yes, sir.” Rafe exhaled a heavy sigh. “But it shouldn’t have been for me.”

He reached for the buckle on his weapons belt and unfastened it. Then he carefully laid it atop the patrol plans on his commander’s desk.

“The Order has been my life from the time I was born. It’s my family, as important to me as my mother and father. My teammates, my commanders, everyone in the Order. I would lay down my life for any one of you, any day of the week. But I’m in love with Devony Winters. She’s my mate by blood.” He swore softly and shook his head. “She’s everything that matters to me.”

It was the truth.

He’d come back from Montreal with vengeance burning a hole in his belly. He’d thought going after Opus Nostrum—destroying them single-handedly—was the one thing he wanted more than anything else. He thought retribution was all he was living for.

Now, he wanted something else even more.

Devony’s forgiveness.

He wanted her future, with him at her side.

And he wasn’t going to let another second pass without going after her.

“You know, you can’t take back what you’ve done, son.” Chase gave him a sympathetic look. “Someday, I’ll tell you all the ways I fucked up with Tavia. I know my friend Dante’s got plenty of similar stories where your mother, Tess, is concerned.”

“But Tavia forgave you. My mother forgave my father,” Rafe said, finding some hope in those truths. “That’s all I want from Devony, too. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make things right between us. But first I need to find out if she’ll have me.”

And to do that, he needed to get his ass on a flight to London as soon as possible.

The commander sat forward, his fingers steepled in front of him. “I had a feeling you were going to say that. And that’s why I put Mathias Rowan’s return trip to London on standby this afternoon. He’s waiting for you in the war room.”

Rafe didn’t even try to curb the grin that broke over his face. He reached for the elder warrior’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “Thank you, sir.”

Chase gave him a tight nod. Then he slid the weapons belt back toward Rafe. “You keep this. I’m not about to let one of my best warriors go that easily.”

Rafe put the belt back around his hips and fastened it, giving his commander a nod of gratitude.

Then he left the room in a flash of motion to go catch his waiting ride to London.

CHAPTER 27

Propping her elbows on the desk in her father’s office, Devony held the sides of her head in her splayed fingers and blew out a tired sigh.

Her temples throbbed. Her eyeballs felt seared to a crisp after several hours of obsessive—albeit fruitless—searching for answers about the photograph she’d found.

Or, rather, the photograph her father had left for her to find.

Because there could be no doubt about that. There was no other reason for him to secret something like that inside an instrument no one else would give a second look.

She picked up the printed picture and stared at it for what had to be the hundredth time since she took it out of the envelope. No matter how many times she stared at it, the image continued to confuse her.

It was a printed copy of a candid photograph, snapped at some type of social gathering. Within the crowd of people stood three men: her brother, Harrison; business tycoon Reginald Crowe; and another man snapped just as he’d begun to turn his face away from the camera.

Devony recognized Crowe. Anyone would. One of the wealthiest men in the world, he had also been one of the most dangerous, as it turned out. Earlier this year, he had led Opus Nostrum’s effort to plant an ultraviolet bomb at a Global Nations Council peace summit. He would have gotten away with it, had it not been for the Order.

And now she recalled that among her father’s research at the Back Bay brownstone were port logs dating back as far as two years ago concerning shipment activities for Crowe Industries. Her father had been scrutinizing