CHAPTER THIRTEEN #2
“I’m good, thanks.” She moved into the room a few feet.
“My daughter needs to be in school, and I have a classroom full of kids who need me.” Eddie opened his mouth, and she held up her hand.
“Hear me out. What if I agree to have one of you guys at the school, maybe standing guard out front of whatever you think is best? We can still come back here each evening, though I’d prefer to be in our own home.
I just don’t want my daughter being scared anymore, and the longer she’s missing school, and dance lessons, and playing with her friends, the more out of sorts her life becomes. She—we—need our routine.”
Everyone looked at Eddie.
“Why are you all looking at him?” She jammed her hands on her hips. “I am Isabella’s mother, and I am the one who wants what’s best for her.”
“You’re not the only one who wants that.” Eddie understood her frustration at the upheaval this caused them. “We all want what’s best for both of you, and that means keeping you here and keeping you alive.”
“Eddie, you can’t expect us to hide out here forever,” she said. “We have a life, and we need to get back to it.”
He moved to stand right in front of her.
“Even if it means getting you and your daughter killed?” Eddie regretted the words the second they flew from his mouth.
She stuttered back a step, as if he’d struck her.
“Knock it off, Eddie.” Viking sat forward, ready to spring into action.
His teammate knew he would never hurt an innocent, but Viking was especially sensitive to any perceived threat of a man bullying a woman.
His wife, Marigold, had been horribly abused by her ex, who ended up in prison for what he’d done to her.
But not until after Viking unleashed the killer inside him and beat the guy to a bloody pulp.
Eddie sighed. “Lucia, I—”
“Would you guys excuse us?” Cole stood from behind the desk and looked at his team watching this drama play out before them.
They all got up and silently left the room, giving Eddie some pretty pointed stink-eyes along the way.
Cole walked over and shut the door behind them.
“Lucia, please have a seat.” He held his hand out toward one of the couched. “You, too, Eddie.”
Eddie sat on one end of the couch. Lucia hesitated, then sat on the opposite end.
Cole moved from behind the desk and settled onto the other couch so he was facing them.
“Lucia, I know this is a difficult situation for you and your little girl,” Cole said.
“But you need to understand something. Our team deals with this type of stuff all the time, and we are really good at what we do. In this case, that includes keeping you, your daughter, and anyone else Munoz targets safe.” He paused and looked from her to Eddie.
“Look, I’m not going to presume to tell you two how to live your lives, but you guys need to figure out a way to resolve whatever is going on between you. ”
Eddie had shared some of his and Lucia’s story with Cole, but no nitty-gritty details. Though with the depth of background checks that had been done on him before he joined Dark Ops, his boss probably knew everything, including the color underwear he was wearing the day he reported to boot camp.
“I’m sorry, Cole. I don’t mean to be a pain about all of this.” She gave Eddie a sideways glance. “I really just want what’s best for my daughter.”
“You can trust Eddie and the rest of our team to do what’s right for you and Isabella.
So I’m going to leave you two here to figure things out.
” Cole pushed up from the sofa. “The team will go along with whatever plan you and Eddie can agree upon. But understand this, Lucia.” She tilted her head way back to look up at him.
“If the only way to keep you and your daughter safe is to lock the two of you in a room, we will do it.”
With those heavy words hanging in the air, he stepped around the coffee table, walked into the hallway, and quietly shut the door behind him.
“He’s a very intimidating man,” Lucia said.
“He can be,” Eddie said. “He’s right, ya know. You can trust me.”
“Yeah, I know.” She sounded almost pissed off about it.
“Do you want to start, or should I?” he asked.
“I’ll go first.” She rubbed her hands over her thighs. A classic stall maneuver while she gathered her thoughts. “The other night, when we were talking by the pool, you said I broke your heart.” She turned her head to look at him. “Well, you broke mine, too, Eddie.”
Okay, getting right to it.
The sadness in her big brown eyes was mixed with righteous anger.
“I am so sorry, Lucia. I was an idiot. I should’ve talked to you before just taking off.” He’d been a fucking coward, afraid of what she might tell him.
All of those years lost to anger and hurt, all because of a misunderstanding.
“I won’t argue with that.” One corner of her luscious mouth lifted.
“Seriously, I really am sorry.” He moved to sit on the edge of the coffee table in front of her, framing her knees between his. “I let my pride and ego get in the way, and I ended up losing the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
“Yeah, right.” She scoffed. “Like I’m supposed to believe that all this time, you’ve never been with any other women?” She rolled her eyes. “Please.”
“That’s not what I said.” He leaned closer and rested his forearms on his thighs. “What I said was, I lost the only woman I’ve ever loved.” He emphasized the last word to ensure there was no confusion.
Her head tilted to one side, and her skeptical gaze traveled over his face, weighing the truth of his declaration.
“I’ve spent the past seventeen-plus years taking on the most dangerous assignments in an effort to forget you. But it didn’t work.” Eddie cupped one side of her face with his hand and brushed his thumb over her soft cheek. “Lucia, you have always been—and always will be—my one and only true love.”
For years, he’d intentionally put himself in dangerous situations that demanded his full and complete concentration, thinking that would scrub her from his mind and heart. But all that time he’d been lying to himself.
She was part of him, and nothing and no one would ever change that.
“Eddie, I’m not—” She removed his hand from her face and held it in her lap.
“It’s okay, Lucia.” He slid his hand from hers and sat back. “I don’t expect anything from you. I just wanted you to know the truth.”
His heart physically ached. Even after all these years apart, he’d foolishly held out a glimmer of hope that they would find their way back to each other.
“Eddie—”
There was a light knock knock knock on the door before Boone stuck his head in.
“I’m sorry to interrupt.” He stepped into the room, holding his cowboy hat in one hand. “Luna was able to trace the van to a rental office over in San Benito. Calliope is driving Lucas to the regional airport where the helo is located. So Cole wants us to head over to the rental place.”
Eddie stood and started toward the door.
“Eddie,” Lucia called out.
He stopped and looked back at her. “Yeah?”
“This conversation isn’t over.” She walked up to him. “You’ve said what you needed to say. When you get back, it’s my turn.” She gave Lucas a tight-lipped smile and left the two men standing there.
They watched her disappear around the corner at the end of the long hallway.
“What did you do now?” Boone pushed his hat down on his head.
“I told her I still love her.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“And?”
“And … nothing.” He stepped past him and started toward the front door.
“Ouch.” To his credit, his friend dropped the subject.
“I’ll drive.” Eddie grabbed a key fob from where they kept them in a fancy bowl on a table in the wide foyer.
He swung open the large cantilever-style door, and they jogged down the steps and climbed into one of the remaining three rental SUVs.
Eddie was typically a social guy—he loved to joke around with his family and friends and just generally have a good time.
After all, he’d spent over three years living his life as someone else.
Someone far darker than him. Someone he disliked immensely, all to get the job done.
But right now, he was pondering his conversation with Lucia, and the silence in the car was nearly deafening as the rugged landscape whizzed by outside.
After about ten minutes, Boone finally broke the silence.
“Give her time, man,” he said. “She’s dealing with some pretty heavy shit right now.”
“Yeah, heavy shit that I brought into her life.” Fucking Munoz.