Mum admonishes him before looking back to me with a smile. “I knew it. The day you took your first jiu jitsu lesson and kicked your instructor in the crotch, I knew!”
Archer picks up his beer. He was hired onto SIS as an MI6 like Dad and Grandpa before him. He’s in training now. “Well, this is gonna be fun! The whole damn fam in the business.”
“Proud of you, darling.” Dad levels his eyes on me and has his serious-as-hell look about him. He’s not trying to appease my latest whim, he truly believes in me. “I know you’ll give it your all like you do everything.”
Devon shakes his head.
“What?” I snip at him.
Devon is two years older than me—we’re closer in age than he and Archer. Archer has always loved me the way one would love a puppy, because I’m merely a cute little girl in his eyes. But Devon and I were closer in school, competitive with grades and friends and basically everything.
Devon lifts his beer, tips it to me, his words dripping with sarcasm. “Congratulations. The princess has spoken and all approve.”
I roll my eyes because this is nothing new. “Bite me.”
“Devon, stop,” Mum chides but can’t keep the smile off her face. “I’m very proud. You’ll be amazing.”
“Thank you.” I smile at Mum, and it doesn’t matter how old I am, I stick my tongue out at Devon. “See you in class, big brother.”
He grins—a shit-eating one at that. “Always the competitor. I’ll take that challenge, Bella.”
Archer raises his beer. “To Bella.”
Dad picks up his high ball and corrects Archer. “To the Donnellys. May we carry on for generations, serving our country—in secret and with honor. We stick together, always.” He looks to Mum and continues. “You gave me a good lot, love.”
Mum picks up her wine and clicks it to his crystal. “Cheers. Couldn’t be prouder of my family.”
“We’ve already identified Sisson’s and Peterson’s phone. Every other device in the building needs a tracker on it when they walk out of there. If he has one fucking app with the location services on, I want inside it,” Cole growls.
In all the times we worked together, I’m not sure I’ve heard that tone fall from his lips. Cole’s intensity is off the charts.
He’s been barking orders since he stood me up in Crew’s foyer, wiped the tears from my face, told me he loved me, and how he knew I had it in me to handle this. Then he informed me I needed to snap out of it because we had shit to do.
Time is of the essence. Professionally, I know what needs to be done.
But I can’t get the picture out of my head of my brother standing there talking to the people who tried to kill Cole and his family … and me.
Devon.
Yes, we squabbled when we were young, but not as adults. As adults, we were fine—normal. As normal as siblings can be from a family full of secret assets. As many ways as my mind has tried to spin this—to make it not true—I don’t see how it can be any other way.
Cole dragged me back into the control room to find Ozzy simultaneously cleaning my mess off the floor while manning the satellite cameras.
“Who do you know that you can call?” Asa probes. “MI6 keeps their shit tight, no way can we get into their systems, which is why Ozzy couldn’t break his phone. We need to know what cases he’s been on and where he’s been working.”
Cole drags a hand through his hair and doesn’t answer.
Asa keeps on. “You worked that part of the country for years. Surely you have a contact.”
Then, something happens that never happens. My American, Cole Carson, is a lot of things … arrogant, self-centered, brash … yet always in control while working. However, today is a day of firsts because he and I are both teetering on the edge. “The Donnellys are my fucking contacts, Hollingsworth. And Devon is the one who met with the people who have been trying to kill us, blew my house up, and, oh, coinci-fucking-dentally, knew his sister was under my care and protection. So, no, I don’t have any more Brits left in my arsenal besides the one I plan on spending the rest of my fucking life with!”
Papers fly across the room that were fisted in his hand moments ago.
“Fuck!” he bellows, a cherry to top off his very irate sundae.