Savage Love (Savage Trilogy #3) - Lisa Renee Jones Page 0,33

and today I’m going to do something about it. I arrive at his house with a boxed chocolate cake in hand and the hope that I can get my father to actually come back to life. I check the lock to his door and it’s open. Stepping inside the foyer, I call out “Dad!” but the creak of wood and the whisper of a ceiling fan is all that greets me.

Hurrying through the house the low rumble of his voice has me pausing outside the cracked door of his office to find him behind his desk on his cellphone. “Tonight. No deviation.” He’s silent a moment. “No. This has to happen tonight. You know the orders. They were clear. He can’t be given a chance to leave the country. No. The directive is to do it in DC during the PR stunt. Everyone will be thinking about football.”

My brows furrow. Football? I don’t understand what I’m hearing. Unless, wait. Are the Superbowl winners headed to the White House?

“Do the job,” he growls angrily, and then he hangs up, standing as he does. He grimaces, and leans forward, pressing his hands to his desk, as he draws a deep breath.

Unease rolls through me. Whatever this was I wasn’t supposed to hear it. Whatever this is brings a side of him out I don’t know, but he’s a General. I’m quite aware of how demanding that is, and how hard he must be at times. I back up almost to the living room and call out, “Dad! Dad!” I near the office and he steps into the hallway. His eyes light immediately. “Honey. What are you up to?”

I indicate the box. “Chocolate cake makes everything better. Right?”

He presses fingers to the bridge of his nose and then drops them. “If only that were true.”

“Well we will each eat half and maybe it will be true.”

My eyes open, the light of a new day lifting the darkness in the room to a haze rather than a cloak. Rick is instantly sitting up beside me. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“I had a dream.” I rotate to face him. “No, more of a memory. My mind is trying to tell us something. I’m not sure what it means, but we need to know if someone important died in DC a few weeks after my mother died.” I press my hands to my face. “And Lord help me, let this be a legit mission that somehow exposes Gabriel’s illegal involvement.”

“What else would it be?”

I repeat the incident to him and conclude with, “That was three weeks after my mother died.”

“You’re afraid it’s related to your mother’s death.”

“Yes. What if my mother was killed as payback for something my father did, and he got revenge? We need to know who died that week in DC.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Candace

In response to my fears over my dream and what it tells me about my father’s actions, Rick grabs his cellphone from the nightstand. “I think this was much more likely a part of the black ops program, baby, but I’ll get the team doing some digging.” He punches the call button on his phone to dial Asher. I hang on every word.

When he disconnects, I prod, “Well?”

“He’s looking into it.” He sets his phone aside and takes my hand. “Three weeks after your mother died, Tag wasn’t a part of the picture. Whatever you overheard, was likely a US operation.”

“Will we even know if it was official US business? What if it was just my father seeking revenge?”

“Well fuck, baby. I wouldn’t blame him. I damn sure wouldn’t if it were you. Don’t make this into something it doesn’t have to be.”

“But what if Gabriel knows? What if he can use that to ruin my father?”

“If he knew, he wouldn’t be trying to kill him.”

“But he could use it to ruin my father when he returns, right?”

“You assume he knows. I promise you, baby, they have all kinds of shit on each other. That’s why he wants your father gone.” He kisses me. “We’re going to get him home tonight. Right now, I’m going to make coffee because you like it when I make coffee. Right?”

“No, I don’t. You make it too strong. I’ll make the coffee.”

“Maybe I got better at it?”

“Did you?”

“We can find out.”

“Like I said, I’ll make the coffee.” I throw away the blankets, shove my feet into slippers, and for the first time in years, I head into the kitchen to make coffee while wearing Rick’s T-shirt. Rick doesn’t