From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10) - Lexi Blake Page 0,58
his brother.” Mia took a long drink of the rich ruby liquid. “He seems to hate me. I don’t get it. I’m nice to him and everything.”
She hadn’t seen them interact, but she knew Case. Big Tag had called her and a couple of the long-term subs in for a crash course in BDSM with Case. She wasn’t sure why Case Taggart had suddenly needed Master rights at Sanctum, but she’d been game. Anything to help a friend. “I think he’s hurting. Theo wasn’t only his brother. He was Case’s twin. They shared everything. When they graduated from high school, they went straight in the Navy together. They got separated in the beginning but were in the same SEAL training class before the CIA yanked them both and they somehow ended up here.”
She didn’t know the whole story. One day McKay-Taggart had way more employees than it had the day before.
Mia put down her glass. “That’s fascinating. So the Taggart brothers went straight from SEAL training into Agency work? And they talk about it? Shouldn’t that be classified?”
Shit. Was she not supposed to know that stuff? She’d gone to dinner one night with a bunch of the McKay-Taggart crowd and they talked pretty openly. Then of course they probably didn’t think she would mention it to people outside the circle. Maybe they thought she was like Kai and what they said was covered under confidentiality. Charlotte might shoot her. “No, they don’t talk about it and you shouldn’t either. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”
“Why?” Sarah asked. “He’s not a spy now. I personally think way too many things are classified.”
“I don’t think he was ever a spy.” Now that she thought about it, if Charlotte Taggart didn’t want someone to know something, she wouldn’t talk about it. “I think he was always a soldier.”
Mia looked thoughtful for a moment. “And his brother died on a mission? I thought McKay-Taggart worked for businesses. I guess I thought that was things like finding corporate spies. Not many of those in the islands I would think.”
“They work everywhere from what I can tell.” It wasn’t surprising that Mia was interested in Case. He was an amazingly attractive man. Like all the Taggarts, Case was a Viking god. “They do lots of kinds of work. I haven’t heard the story about how Theo died. I only know a job went very wrong.”
“No one wants to talk about it.” Sarah set her glass down. “It hurts too much.”
“I find it interesting that he died on the same island as Senator Hank McDonald. Did y’all see the news on his death? He died on the exact same island and around the same time. I always wondered about the story of his death,” Mia said.
“Are you talking about the dude from Houston? Didn’t he have a heart attack?” Sarah poured herself another glass of wine.
Mia was often interested in politics, but Kori couldn’t help her here. “I have no idea. Once we all realized Theo was gone, I don’t think any of us thought much past him, and Big Tag doesn’t talk about work outside the office. If that’s true then I suspect something was happening and the team was likely working to protect the senator. They do a lot of security details. We’ll never know. That side of the Sanctum world keeps its secrets.”
She couldn’t help but think about Erin. Erin had been there when Theo had died. Kori knew that much. Had she held him as he died? Felt him take his last breath?
She’d run away from Kai today, and now that felt like a cowardly thing to do. Kai was her friend, her best friend really. Erin had lost the man she loved, had a hard road ahead of her, and Kori was sneaking out so she didn’t have to have a difficult conversation with the number one man in her life.
Mia’s eyes narrowed. “But don’t you think…”
Her question was interrupted by a knock on the door.
It was one in the morning. Who the hell would be here at one in the morning?
“I’ll get the bat.” Sarah stood up, slapping her hands together like she’d been waiting for an occasion such as this to kick some ass.
Mia was up on her feet. “Who would come over this late? And what is she planning on doing with that bat? I have a gun if we need one.”
That surprised her. The blonde was bubbly and fluffy and didn’t look like a chick who carried concealed. “How