Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
CALLUM
Parker lay sprawled on her back in our bed. If not for the gentle rise and fall of her chest beneath the duvet, and the tiny whiffling snore I’d never take for granted ever again, I’d have almost thought we’d been too late. She’d barely moved in the past twenty-four hours, and her already fair skin was so pale. She’d been medically cleared, but both she and the doctor had warned me she’d be crashing hard to sleep off the rest of the drugs and the fibro flare. Still, it was hard not to feel like I was sitting vigil as I waited for her to wake up.
Falkor lay with his head on his paws at the foot of the bed. She’d already been out by the time Saoirse had brought him home, and he’d immediately taken position as sentry and hadn’t left her side. His dedication made my chest ache. He’d done his best to protect her. We all had. And we’d failed.
Sure, we’d gotten her back. But if we’d been any later… If we’d gone to the other location… If her kidnappers had managed to make their rendezvous point… Fifteen years of seeing the worst of humanity fueled the nightmares scrolling through my mind, even while I was awake.
She’s here. She’s safe. We made sure of it.
But for how long?
I hadn’t been able to keep my promise to protect her. I’d sworn to her parents that I’d keep her safe, and I’d failed at that, too. Now that she was back, now that she was recovering, would she decide it wasn’t worth it? That I wasn’t worth it?
The thought of her leaving—of losing her—hollowed out my chest until it ached. She’d brought me back to life, made me feel again, and I didn’t know if I could go back to the shell I used to be before her. But I could hardly blame her if she left. Not after what she’d been through.
The rhythm of her breathing changed, and her fingers twitched against the pillow. Was she finally waking up? Would she still want me when she did?
Her eyes fluttered open. For one heart-wrenching moment, I saw confusion and fear etched on her face. Then she spotted me, and her expression relaxed, her lips curving into a sleepy smile.
“Hey.” Her voice was rough with sleep.
“Hey yourself.”
Falkor whined and inched toward her in a belly crawl.
The moment she spotted him, she shoved herself upright and opened her arms. “My boy! My brave floof!”
The dog pressed against her, melting with joy and adoration. Parker held him tight, gently running her hand over the shaved spot on his shoulder where a neat row of stitches was the only remaining sign of his ordeal. “You were such a good boy. Such a good boy. I missed you.”
“Saoirse says he’ll make a full recovery. The gash wasn’t deep. But no bracing on that shoulder until he’s cleared.”
As Falkor’s tail thumped steadily against the duvet, Parker pressed her cheek to his head. “How long was I out?”
“Almost twenty-four hours. Here.” I handed her a glass of water from the nightstand.
She drained it down in only a few gulps. And no wonder. She had to be dehydrated.
I took the glass back. “How are you feeling?”
“Little bit fuzzy still, but better.” She straightened enough to meet my gaze. “Thank you for finding me.”
Her gratitude hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. “I’m sorry I let them get close enough to take you in the first place.”
She caught my hand and squeezed hard. “Don’t. You didn’t let them do anything. The only thing that matters is that you found me.”
I brushed my lips over her knuckles, savoring the warmth of her skin. She was here. She was safe. I’d just have to keep reminding myself for a while.
I folded her hand gently between both of mine. “There’s… quite a crowd waiting out in the lounge. Your parents flew in while you were sleeping. The team is here, too. Everyone’s worried about you.”
Her big brown eyes widened. “Oh. That’s… a lot.”
“I can send them all away if you’re not up for it.” It might take the entire team to force her parents to vacate, but my allegiance was to this woman right here.
“No, I know I need to catch up on what’s happening. I just… need a bit to feel human again. And, please God, a shower.”
“That can absolutely be arranged.”
She started with yoga, which took somewhat longer than usual because she kept stopping to snuggle Falkor, who needed his own reassurance that she was okay. I didn’t push. She’d get out there in her own time.
She took her time in the shower, standing beneath the spray until I was worried she’d fallen asleep again. But when she emerged, she was far more clear-eyed than she had been before, and color had come back to her cheeks. I thought taking time to do her hair and put on a little makeup was wholly unnecessary, but she pointed out that the more normal she looked, the less her parents would freak out. In theory.
I didn’t think a little mascara was going to do a damned thing to mitigate her parents’ reactions, but if she felt more armored up with cosmetics, who was I to stop her?
Once she’d dressed, we headed for the lounge, looking like we were in our own military formation, with Falkor on one side and me on the other, in case she needed support. She was moving slower than usual, but she was under her own steam, and now that she’d been awake a bit, she didn’t seem to be dragging under the fibro fog.
The moment we entered the room, her parents surged to their feet. Parker’s mother made a choked noise and rushed forward to embrace her. “Oh, baby girl.”
“I’m okay, Mama. I promise.” Her voice was muffled against her mother’s shoulder.
The rest of the team hung back, giving them space for their reunion. Alex sat at his laptop, still running operations, his fingers flying over the keys as he monitored multiple screens of the mobile command center he’d set up in the dining room. Finn lounged against the wall near the window, keeping watch, while Ewan had positioned himself in the corner that gave him the best view of both exits. Jade occupied the chair nearest the door. All of them had taken tactical positions without discussion—some habits died hard. Even now, hours after the immediate danger had passed, they maintained their guard, a unit protecting one of their own. And there was no question they considered Parker one of theirs, even without her connection to me.
The positioning wasn’t lost on her father, whose gaze had lingered on each of them, clearly recognizing the military precision of their arrangement. He might not approve of his daughter being here, but even he had to see she wasn’t unprotected.
I moved toward the kitchen because, after all the hours of sitting, I needed to do something. “Tea? You need to eat something, too.”
Parker lowered herself to the sofa. “Tea and toast would be great. Thanks.” Falkor leapt up beside her, laying his head in her lap.
I put on the kettle and prepped her mug, keeping one ear on the murmur of voices in case Parker needed me.
“—absolutely no reason you shouldn’t come home with us right now.” Her father’s deeper voice carried.
My hands clenched on the edge of the counter. But this wasn’t my fight. Not unless she wanted me to intervene.
“Daddy, I am home.” Her easy, unperturbed answer loosened something in my chest. She still considered this home. Or did she mean Scotland in general?
“Parker Lawrence, you were kidnapped. It’s clearly not safe?—”
“Mr. Lawrence,” Alex interrupted, “if I may? We’ve made some progress while Parker was sleeping that you need to hear.”
I returned with her tea, fixed exactly as she liked it, and a plate of toast. She caught my hand and squeezed it in silent thanks.
Her mother’s sharp gaze caught the gesture, but she remained focused on Alex. “What kind of progress?”
I settled on the arm of the sofa, close enough to touch but giving her space as we all waited for Alex.
Abandoning his array of screens, he moved in front of the fireplace, automatically falling into a formal stance for reporting. “The information Parker gave us about the 4 AM contact was crucial. We coordinated with local authorities to set up a sting operation and caught the Aberdeen operative who’d been tasked with helping move her.”
Parker blinked. “You ran a sting operation while I was sleeping?”
Alex’s lips twitched. “We had a busy night. Anyway, it turned out she’d been documenting everything as insurance against her own organization. She’s been embezzling funds and was paranoid about eventual betrayal. That documentation was a goldmine. Detailed financial records going back five years. Internal communications. Evidence of other operations. Names, dates, account numbers—everything we needed.”
Mr. Lawrence narrowed his gaze. “Everything you needed for what? What exactly have you done with this information?”
Alex’s smile was justifiably self-satisfied. “The money’s gone. Their operational accounts, their slush funds, their reserves—all of it.”
From his position by the window, Finn grinned. “Amazing what you can do when you have access to their internal network.”
“Gone? Gone where?” Parker asked.
“An array of charities around the world supporting literacy and women’s rights. Plus a significant donation made to the local animal shelter here in Glenlaig, after being filtered through several shell corporations.”
“So you’ve gone and stirred up the hornet’s nest. How does that help anything?” Mr. Lawrence demanded.
“The operative in Aberdeen had already set up what we call a dead man’s switch—a failsafe that would expose everything if anything happened to her. I’ve improved it. Any attempt at retaliation now triggers full exposure of their entire operation to all relevant governmental authorities, as well as some competing factions who will take a dim view of many of the tactics they employed.”
Jade leaned forward. “My contacts confirm the organization is in chaos. Their leadership is scrambling, their operations are frozen, and their people are scattering. There’s so much blame being thrown around right now, they don’t know which way is up.”
“So… what does all that mean?” Parker asked.
I gently settled a hand on her shoulder. “We can’t eliminate all risk, but we’ve made you too expensive—and too dangerous—a target now.” It didn’t feel like nearly enough, but it was what we could manage.
She covered my hand with hers, and some of the tension bled from my shoulders. But I still had to give her the out if she wanted it. “If you want to go back to the States with your parents, after everything that’s happened… I’d absolutely understand.”
Those gorgeous brown eyes narrowed as she looked up at me. “Callum Quinn, you noble idiot. Of course, I’m not going anywhere. You need me.”
It was the God’s honest truth. The steel in her tone made something warm bloom in my chest. God, how I loved this woman.
“I do at that,” I managed. “More to the point, I love you.”
Her lips quirked. “I know.”
Both her parents sat dumbfounded.
“Your team did… all of that?” her mother asked.
“Aye,” I confirmed. “I told you. We’re verra, verra good at what we do.”
Mr. Lawrence was staring at his daughter. “You’re not coming home, are you, Pumpkin?”
Parker smiled up at me. “Tennessee isn’t home anymore.”