control of my life. Also, I'm nervous about introducing you to Aidyn as his father."
He nodded. "I'm sorry, too. Same. I'm trying so hard not to be angry about not knowing Aidyn was born. I've been fighting the feeling of all that I missed and being pissed at you and myself. We both screwed up, Bridget."
"I know. I should have given you my name and I shouldn’t have been afraid of being played. But I did look for you under the name you’d given me." He didn’t say anything understanding her thinking. She picked at a piece of invisible lint on her thigh then turned to face him. "What do you do exactly?" Her hand waved around as if taking in the entire plane. "As in a job. Clearly nasty men are after you by proxy. You have a private plane. A compound and money. Sophie only told me security. This is far from security."
Her voice shook a bit and he felt sorry for her. It was a lot to take in. "We are security but on a different level than bodyguards or building security. GHOST is an elite civilian special forces team. We’re hired by the government for tasks they can’t do. Not everything we do is completely legal. But we get our assignments through our contact in the State Department and often work with a military contact who reports to the State contact. Sometimes because of them and sometimes not, we usually have good luck getting local law enforcement to work with us when they realize we're there to help them. We sometimes have civilian clients, too. Our clients pay top dollar because what we do is dangerous and off the books, if you will."
He watched her closely and she swallowed a lump in her throat as she nodded slowly and looked at that stubborn piece of lint on her thigh.
"Look, we live in the compound because it's safe there. Some of my team members live in their own houses not far away and have security in place. It's even more so now that children are involved. We have resources, money and connections. That doesn't mean we aren't put in positions, such as this, where someone wants to make us pay. We'll get to the bottom of this though so we can all feel safe again. But I can tell you this. There is not one of my teammates that wouldn't drop whatever they are doing to help another out. That includes Sophie and Jax. Dedication is key and we are all dedicated."
His phone pinged a text around the same time as Bridget's. They both reached for their phones and he saw a text from Gaige. A picture of Gaige, Sophie and baby Tate filled his screen. They looked blissfully happy.
He chuckled as he looked at this picture and swallowed the anger that tried to rise again that he would never have a picture like this of him, Bridget and Aidyn.
"Tate is fitting for his name. Sophie told me if it had been a girl they'd have named her Kate."
"Yeah. The best way to remember someone you love that is gone is to name the person you love more than life after them. They continue to live on that way."
"Yeah. Aidyn is named after my grandfather."
He turned to stare into her gorgeous green eyes. In this light they looked like the new grass in the summer. So pure and bright and absolutely stunning with the backdrop of her fiery red hair.
"That's nice." He inhaled deeply and let it out slowly.
Bridget reached over and took his hand in hers. "Aidyn's middle name is Robert." She swallowed. "I thought that was your name."
His eyes watered and he closed them and lay his head against the headrest. A tear slowly slid down his left cheek and he angrily swiped at it, then he told himself to get some rest, he was as emotional as a teenage girl.
31
Pulling into the driveway of the compound was a huge surprise. First of all, the word compound sounded like an Army barracks with bland gray walls. This was a gorgeous southern mansion with all its opulence and charm.
Axel turned right at the top of the driveway and hit a garage door button which opened a door which wasn't a garage at all. He entered, closed the door with the same button on his visor, and they descended to a lower level, the drive circling around down not one but two levels below ground.
At the bottom