Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
W arrick had three seconds of peace before Dylan and Aiden approached him. “Come on. The guys are meeting in the conference room.”
The plane was enormous. It even had an upstairs. Warrick thought about denying their request, but it would only prolong whatever they thought was torture. Warrick stood up and headed in the opposite direction from where Cassidy had gone. Kids ran around the plane, shrieking with laughter. Parents and friends sat talking. Some were napping. But everyone noticed them walking by as more and more of Cassidy’s friends and family fell into line behind him. They were like one big testosterone progression marching through the plane.
Warrick walked into the conference room and was met with a fist to the face.
“Jace!” Dylan said, clearly surprised at his doctor brother. “What was that for?”
“Bets are flying on the app. Some as early as next week. What the hell have you been doing with my little sister?” Jace’s teeth were clenched and he reached out and dug his thumb into Warrick’s stitched up knife wound.
Warrick grunted. Everything in him wanted to punch Cassidy’s brother out, but he was her brother and he was trying to...
“There!” Jace yelled, pointing to Warrick’s face. “Right there. He really loves her.”
Dylan growled and before Warrick could realize it, Dylan had him in a headlock.
“What happens between me and your sister is none of your business,” Warrick said with annoyance.
“Wrong answer, dude. I thought you were smarter than that,” Kale said, walking into the room completely ignoring the pain the Davies brothers were inflicting.
“Smart? I’m not the one saying dude ,” Warrick snapped back. He’d had enough. He moved and moved quickly. He grabbed Dylan by the back of the neck, rocked back, then flung Dylan over his shoulder and into Jace, sending them both crashing onto the large conference room table.
Aiden smirked and held out his hand for a high-five.
“Enough,” Sebastian snapped. “My wife is here and I won’t have you roughhousing around my baby.”
“You do realize it was my sister who liked to beat the crap out of Ryan and me, right?” Jackson asked.
“It’s because you were so easy to beat, Jackson,” Greer said with a sweet smile.
Warrick looked around the room and realized she was the only woman present. However, there were three princes—Zain, Gabe, and Jameson, the prince by marriage. Warrick looked around more and took in Aiden and another two men talking with Dylan. “You all look military,” Warrick said.
“Walker Greene. Retired DEVGRU.”
“You know me. Kinda. Aiden Creed, retired British SAS. And my brother-in-law,” he said nodding to Dylan, “was Delta Force.”
“I’m Nash Dagher, Rahmi Special Forces.”
“And you all?” Warrick said, pointing to where Jace was standing.
“Wyatt Davies. I own a horse farm and I’m a veterinarian. Then this is Carter Ashton. He also owns a horse farm. And lastly, Landon. He’s a chef, and his brother, Colton, he’s the fire chief.”
“We’re the law enforcement group,” a tall man said who looked very similar to the other man next to him. “I’m Parker, U.S. Marshal. My brother, Porter was with the CIA, having been blackmailed by Naylor for all of a week. And he owns a rodeo farm. Then Matt is the sheriff of Keeneston. Ryan, Jackson, Talon, and Lucas here are all FBI.”
“Don’t forget about me. Deacon McKnight, PI.”
Warrick raised an eyebrow and the group gave Deacon shit for being a private investigator. Somehow, he felt part of the group even as they were teasing him.
“What do you want?” Warrick asked, getting right to the point.
Kale put a hand on Dylan to stop him from talking. “We all care about Cassidy. We want to help.”
Dylan looked at his phone and cursed. “A week! What the hell?”
“What are you talking about?” Warrick finally snapped.
“The betting app, you jackass. Why are the women placing bets that you’ll be engaged to Cassidy within a week?” Dylan growled.
“Betting app?” Warrick was so confused.
“Knock, knock. I’ve been sent to see if I can be of service,” the jacked-up guy they called Father Ben said, coming into the room.
Jace launched himself at Warrick again, and Warrick shoved him aside. “Who the hell are you?”
“Father Ben,” Ben said, holding out his hand as Jace caught his balance. “We met last night?”
“Bullshit.”
“Stop messing with him, Ben,” Greer said with a roll of her eyes. “Father Ben is a priest, but he was a Special Forces priest.”
“Which is why I was called in to make sure no one killed you so that you could get engaged in nine days. Daddy needs a new altar,” Father Ben said with a smirk.
“I’ve entered the Twilight Zone,” Warrick muttered. “But you say Cassidy wants to marry me?”
“Were we this stupid?” Aiden asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Jameson said, trying to hide his smile.
“Do you love her?” Warrick turned to where Jace was now on his feet and reaching out to grab Warrick’s shirt.
“What?”
“Do. You. Love. My. Sister?” Jace asked between clenched teeth as he shook Warrick.
“Yes,” Warrick snapped. He had had enough of over-protective brothers. Had they not seen Cassidy in action? She didn’t need them defending her. She could defend herself. “Not that it’s any of your damned business. Where were you when she was stuck babysitting all the kids? Where were you when she was trapped in Iran with ISIS on her heels? Where were you when she almost died in Crusina? Where were you when she slipped from your reception to cry because she felt no one saw her? I’ll tell you where I was. I was with her, keeping her safe!”
The room was quiet. Jace stood frozen with his hand in Warrick’s shirt.
“Well, I’m putting a hundred on five days,” Sebastian said smoothly from where he sat at the table.
Chaos erupted around him except for Jace and Dylan who looked as if they’d been frozen in place.
“Is that all true?” Dylan asked quietly.
“Yes. You were off playing super soldier and Cassidy was left behind. Again. She always feels as if she’s been left behind. While I understand looking out for your little sister, you all hurt her way more than I ever did or would. I see her. I see her as the brave, intelligent, fierce, funny, and loyal woman she is. Not the little sister who needs to be kept in the dark.”
Jace let go and plopped a hip onto the table. He looked heartbroken. Dylan didn’t look much better. He glanced at Aiden who shrugged as if telling him that Warrick was correct.
Greer cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “I’m very happy Cassidy has found someone willing to fight for her as much as she’s fought for us. We need to talk, Warrick. Not about love, although eleven days would be a great time to propose. But about what we do moving forward.”
Everyone was deferring to her. It must be because she advised the president and her billionaire tech and hotelier husband was the president’s best friend.
“You trusted us and told us the truth about who you are. It’s time we trust you too.” Warrick didn’t speak. Greer would get to her point on her own. “Do you know who I am?”
“Greer Abel. You’re Cassidy’s cousin. But I don’t know which family you belong to.”
“My parents are Cole and Paige Parker. Ryan and Jackson are my brothers. But, before I worked for the president, I was FBI hostage rescue. I saved his ass,” she said gesturing to Sebastian. “Because Dylan and Abby couldn’t.”
Warrick looked to Dylan and then back to Greer.
“Sebastian was taken because of the Panther.” Greer saw Warrick’s reaction to that news. “I see we’re on the same page. Birch activated Dylan and Abby to rescue him, but Abby was pregnant. So I offered to go with Jackson and his team as my backup. What started as a simple mission ended up with me married and with a new job title. A job title that is as fake as the name Warrick Vidar.”
Warrick’s eyebrow rose at that.
Greer smirked. “I see you’re starting to get it. My real job is head of the President’s Guard.”
“There is no President’s Guard,” Warrick said.
Greer smiled. “I know. Nevertheless, I run it at the president’s discretion. I’m the second leader of this off-the-books group that was started as soon as Birch took office. Its mission was to root out and defeat Mollia Domini from the shadows. We played their games, just played better than they did. The group has stuck around to help as needed when a needle could do more harm than a grenade.”
Warrick felt his pulse kick into gear as his mind raced. “It was an off-the-books black ops group that took down Mollia Domini?”
“Yes. And now we have you. You, who lost your family to Mollia Domini. What I don’t like is what you told us. There’s still someone out there who gave information to Naylor about your family. There’s still someone out there trying to turn Cassidy to fill Naylor’s role. That means, while Mollia Domini was run aground, they’re not dead yet.”
“Or they’ve been reincarnated,” Warrick told her.
Greer nodded. “Exactly. Now, do you see why I wanted to call the president?”
Warrick looked around the room and frowned. “What do they have to do with it?”
“Besides Dylan and Abby?” Greer said. “Nothing. However, the deal of relocating the guard to Keeneston and me taking the leadership role was that I wouldn’t hide in my hometown. Everyone here has top-secret clearance and has helped in one way or the other in military or law enforcement missions.”
“It’s very handy to have royalty on your side,” Zain said, looking every inch the prince he was.
“And a soldier with diplomatic immunity,” Nash smirked.
“More like having a wife who makes cool weapons,” Colton teased his brother-in-law.
“You’ve been battling the past on your own. We want to help. We need to help. If there is a new threat out there to freedom, it’s our duty to stop it. What do you say?” Greer asked. “Do we fill the president in or not?”