Strategic Maneuvers - Jemma Westbrook Page 0,61

them in a way that used to chafe.

The thought of having someone at his side he could trust seemed impossible given the secrets he held.

Until he met Mona.

Pierce tried to pull her along with him to the front of the room where his chair sat.

Instead she held fast, her fingers squeezing tight as she instead pulled him with her toward the chairs where his employees sat. She leaned into his ear. “Right now it’s not you and them.” Mona’s pale blue eyes stayed on his. “It’s all of us together.” She went to the seat she usually occupied and pulled him down into the one next to her.

She scooted her chair around, angling it in his direction. The rest of Intel immediately did the same, with Heidi, Harlow, Eva, and the newer recruits circling. As the rest of the men from Rogue and Shadow filed in they joined the group, pulling chairs into empty pockets until everyone was in a tight circle with him at the center.

And Mona close at his side.

“What’s going on?” Dutch leaned in from where he sat behind Harlow, resting his hands on her shoulders.

Pierce glanced Mona’s way.

She barely dipped her head in a nod.

He looked over the faces surrounding him. Men he’d known since his days in the military. Men he’d trusted with the safety of others without blinking an eye.

“I’ve been keeping a secret from all of you.” He cleared his throat. “I know what Anthony Sanders is here for.”

“You’re shitting me.” Zeke snorted out a bitter breath. “Fucking figures.”

Mona shoved a finger Zeke’s way. “Shut it.”

Zeke lifted a brow but went silent.

“I have a niece.” Pierce started to reach one hand into his pocket but before he could Mona’s hand slipped into his, holding tight. “I should say Anthony and I share a niece.”

He laid out the good, the bad, the ugly, and the foolish of his life, avoiding the eyes around him as he spoke, knowing there would be judgment in their gazes.

The more he explained, the more clear his shortcomings became.

How foolish he’d been to think hiding Amelia away would work. How negligent he’d been by refusing to consider it was his past arriving in Alaska to wreak havoc.

“Where is she now?” Harlow was the first one to speak up when he finished.

“Close by.” It’s why Alaskan Security was where it was.

Because Alaska was the best place to disappear. It’s where he sent Helen and Amelia and where he’d gone the second his time in the military was served.

When he thought he’d finally learned how to be a better man.

Shawn glanced around the room. “Who’s watching her?”

“A team of six men who’ve been with her since she relocated.” It was still painful, even after all these years, to acknowledge the full extent of his father’s selfishness. “I was put in charge of her trust. It was one of the conditions of my willingness to disappear.”

“So lemme get this straight.” Heidi’s brows were tight together. “Your parents were pissed that you killed the guy who killed your sister, so they basically paid to keep you from getting in trouble for it and then handed over your niece and her trust to make you both go away.”

“You would be amazed what the wealthy do to protect their way of life, Ms. Rucker.” He’d seen children with special needs disappear. Adults suffering from mental illness gone and never mentioned again. “Money fixes many perceived problems.”

“Did they not want her money though? It had to be a shit ton.”

“Shit ton is relative.” Amelia’s trust was sizable when she was young.

Now it was worth three times as much, even after years of private security and living expenses. It was one of his top priorities. Making sure she would be taken care of forever.

Have the world at her feet.

“So...” Zeke squinted at Pierce. “You’re about to tell a teenager her whole life’s been a lie and she’s actually rich as shit.” He snorted a little laugh. “That should go well.”

CHAPTER 18

“I SAY WE go get her.” Shawn looked at the men around him. “Right?”

“I think it’s our only choice.” Zeke scooted closer. “We sure as hell can’t leave her out there. Even with a team following her. If they’re not close enough to be there the second things get bad then they might as well not be there at all.”

“They are in the house next door.” Pierce pointed to the spot on the screen depicting a road map of Fairbanks. “They occupy it around the clock.”

“Shit can