Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
W arrick took Cassidy’s hand in his as they walked toward their cottage. Cassidy’s mind seemed to be elsewhere so he stayed quiet as they walked. His mind was also wandering to Nicholas Houser. Who was he? Why did he come to the embassy? Was he the one who killed his parents?
Warrick opened the door for Cassidy and walked into the most delicious smelling house he’d ever been in. “What smells so good?”
“My cousin Landon is a chef. I kind of destroyed dinner so he brought me something on his way to his restaurant. But, I’m too nervous to eat. We need to talk. Is now okay?”
Warrick experienced fear for the first time in a very long time. Was he losing Cassidy? He wasn’t one for long-term relationships, but even he knew the ‘we need to talk’ line was never good. “Of course. You can talk to me about anything.” He watched Cassidy pace and it became harder and harder to stay calm.
“It’s about family dinner.”
“Why is everyone freaking out over family dinner? It’s with your family. A family who loves you. Right?”
Cassidy nodded. “Yes, they love me. Maybe a little too much. See the cousins—”
“I know about the cousin thing. I know about the knives, the shooting, and the hand-to-hand.”
Cassidy nodded again, her fingers entwining nervously as she stopped in front of him. “Right. But that’s the physical stuff. I wasn’t worried about you handling that.”
Strangely, that made Warrick feel very proud. It was a great compliment from Cassidy.
“See, family dinner is more than that. It’s a declaration,” Cassidy went on to say.
“Declaration of what?” Warrick had had family dinners all the time growing up and he didn’t know why this one was so different once you took away the combat portion.
Cassidy swallowed hard and then looked right at him. “Declaration of my feelings for you. That they’re not casual. That I feel so strongly about you and our relationship that I’m bringing you into the family. If you don’t go running, screaming, or crying after dealing with the guys, it’s your declaration that you want to join us too.”
“You’re making it sound like a marriage,” Warrick said with a little chuckle. Not that he minded. He’d been in love with Cassidy for years. He’d just never allowed himself to believe for one moment he’d ever be able to marry her. Revenge had been on his mind, not happily ever after.
Her face went pale. “It’s exactly what it’s like,” she said, her voice clearly affected by nerves. “You don’t bring a date home unless you think they’re the one .”
Warrick stopped breathing. Was she saying what he thought she was? “Are you nervous right now because I’m not the one or because I am the one ?”
Warrick knew the moment of his life was here. This answer would change the course of his life going forward.
Cassidy took a deep breath, looked him in the eyes and said, “Because I think you are my one and only and I’m nervous you don’t feel the same about me.”
Warrick reacted immediately. He pulled her to him and kissed her. He didn’t know how to put into words what he was feeling, only that he was so overwhelmed with emotion and love for the woman in his arms that all he could do was show her.
His mind raced to love, marriage, and family. While he was still driven to get to the bottom of who killed his parents, he was seeing it now as closure instead of his entire future. Cassidy was his future. Love was his future. Not revenge.
“I love you so much, Cassidy,” he told her between kisses. “Let me show you how much. I’m better with actions than words.”
And then he did. He kissed her entire body. He loved her with his fingers, his mouth, and his body. He chanted his love for her as she cried out his name over and over again.
Warrick slowly slid his arm out from under Cassidy’s head. They’d made love, eaten dinner, and made love again. He felt free. The first time in a decade he had something to look forward to. Marriage? Could he do it? What kind of husband would he be? What kind of father would he be?
Those thoughts had kept him up most of the night, but it also gave him an idea. If he wanted that life with Cassidy, then he needed to make her safe. The way to do that seemed to be to find out who killed his parents.
Warrick reached for his cell phone and pulled up Kale’s number.
I need you to do something for me.
Kale wrote back instantly: I’m not going to family dinner with you.
Warrick smiled. It was strange how he suddenly found himself with friends. They work out with him. They were helping him find his parents’ killers. They were looking out for Cassidy. It was yet another path to a future he never knew he wanted. I need you to start a rumor in the right places that Warren Hawkins is alive.
Not to quote Alex, but dude? Kale wrote.
Warrick grinned at that. It’s the best way to guarantee the person behind this shows up. If we are right, and Nicholas was there when my parents were killed and in the alley when they tried to take Cassidy, he would do anything to get me and Cassidy at the same place.
Warrick watched the bubble pop up and then go back down. Kale was obviously thinking. Or talking to Delaney. He noticed that Kale and Delaney were a partnership and regularly discussed what each other thought.
Okay, but on one condition.
What’s that? Warrick asked.
We read in Birch. I can have it whispered about that you’re a special guest of the president. Otherwise, I can’t think of a reason for you to be there. Let’s also see who approaches Birch with the knowledge of you being his surprise guest before it’s made public .
I’ll agree as soon as I hear from Greer. Warrick wanted all the information before he made his move.
You won’t have to wait long. She’s on her way home. Let’s all meet at Mo’s in two hours.
“What’s going on?” Cassidy muttered as she rolled over and flung an arm across his chest.
“I had an idea to run by Kale. Also, Greer is on her way back. We’re meeting at Mo’s in two hours.” Warrick set down his phone and pulled Cassidy closer to him. He loved the feel of her small body pressed against his.
“Mmm,” Cassidy murmured before placing her lips on his chest and slowly kissing a path up to his lips. “Two hours might be cutting it close, but I think we can make it.”
Warrick groaned when Cassidy’s lips met his. She was his perfect equal in every way. In battle and in love. She threw her leg over his hip and he didn’t know what he ever did to deserve having her love. She reached to the nightstand, grabbed a condom, and rolled it on him. When she rose up on her knees and sank down on him, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven. Warrick placed his hands on Cassidy’s hips and let her take the lead, racing them both toward the finish line.
Warrick and Cassidy walked into the conference room at Mo and Dani’s two hours later. This room and this embassy were starting to feel like home. It wasn’t anything like the embassies he’d grown up in. This one was much more a family home, but it brought back memories from his childhood nevertheless. It was surprising to find that the memories were happy ones now.
The last moments of his parents’ lives had been playing on a loop in his mind for years. Now he was remembering the good things, the happy memories. Running into his father’s office as a little boy and his father scooping him up and placing him on his lap for the duration of a meeting. Sitting in the kitchen as the chef and his mother worked to prepare a dinner menu for an embassy dinner and his mother having him taste everything as her helper. He’d been her official taste tester until he left for college.
He remembered the nights when they watched movies, when they decorated the family tree for Christmas, and when they debated policy. Even as a teen, his parents listened to his point of view, pushed him to look at all angles, and supported his beliefs, even if they weren’t the same as theirs.
All these memories were flooding back to him as he took what was becoming “his” seat in the conference room at the Rahmi embassy in the middle of a horse farm in the small town of Keeneston.
“Hey,” Warrick whispered to Cassidy at the sound of people walking down the hall toward them. “How did Mo get this designated as an embassy? Shouldn’t he be in D.C.?”
“There’s one in D.C. and in New York City where Ari stays for her meetings at the UN,” Cassidy told him. “But Mo got this designated because he hosts so many political meetings here. Presidents, royals, prime ministers... they come here way more than the D.C. embassy. It puts everyone at ease and makes negotiations a little more laid back. Leaders also get my grandmother’s pie when they come here, so I’m pretty sure his application was sent in with an apple pie under it and was quickly rubber-stamped.”
“What was rubber-stamped?” Ari asked as she and Jameson joined them along with Kale and Delaney.
“Your embassy application if you sent it in with my grandmother’s pie,” Cassidy told her.
“Not if , Dad totally sent it in with a pie. We’re not stupid. We also come with news,” Ari told them.
“What news?” Greer asked as she joined them.
“Jameson’s old boss did a little snooping. I’ll let you tell them,” Ari said to her husband as her face suddenly lost all color and she power walked out of the room.
Jameson started to explain that his old boss, Joseph, played golf with a retired State Department higher up.
Warrick wondered if he needed to chase after Ari to see if she was okay, but when Jameson didn’t seem worried, Warrick guessed he didn’t need to be either. He glanced at Cassidy who was looking at Greer as if they were having a silent conversation, not listening to Jameson at all.
Then suddenly their phones were out. Warrick glanced at the screen and saw it was an app called The Blossom Café Betting App . “Am I missing something?” Warrick whispered to Cassidy.
She was about to say more, but Ari walked back into the room sipping a ginger ale and looking much better. Ari walked over to Jameson and took his hand in hers. “So,” Ari said with a happy smile, “I’m guessing from the notifications from the betting app that you all figured it out.”
“Figured what out?” Warrick asked Cassidy.
“For a spy you don’t notice things very well,” Cassidy teased him.
“I’m not a spy. I’m a soldier.”
“Bruh,” Kale said, shaking his head. “I’m a soldier and I guessed, but the ginger ale is confirmation.”
“Confirmation of what?” Warrick was so confused.
Ari, looking so incredibly happy, beamed at him. “That Jameson and I will be parents in seven months.”
Warrick saw everyone jump up to congratulate the couple. Warrick hung back, letting their longtime friends hug and congratulate them. Ari and Jameson glowed with love. Warrick looked at Cassidy and found her looking at him with a smile, but it was her eyes that caught his attention. They had that same glow to them. How did he get so damn lucky?
“Enough about us,” Jameson said after all the baby talk started to quiet down. “The point I was getting at is that Nicholas’s old boss hired him at the State Department because he was ordered to do so by former Secretary of State Sandra Cummings. She had done all the intake work and just handed him the folder and told him what Nicholas’s job would be. When he asked about background clearance and investigation, she told them it was done and in the file. The only thing in the file was a signed statement that he was cleared for top secret work. No accompanying reports, statements, or so on.”
“It keeps going back to Sandra Cummings,” Warrick said of the corrupt former secretary of state.
“And this is where I come in,” Greer told the group. “The reason I was called to the White House is that several of the potential presidential candidates are being threatened with either blackmail or with their lives. The threats are being delivered digitally. But when traced, they go back to several nonfriendly countries.”
“Why would that impact who killed my parents?” Warrick asked.
“Because, a name has come up.” Greer turned when she heard people walking down the hall. Elizabeth, Dalton, Valeria, and Grant walked in to join them.
“What’s up, boss lady?” Grant asked, taking a seat at the table.
“Threats against some of the potential presidential candidates have been made and a name has come up. A name of a person who has been quiet for many years,” Greer told them.
“Who?” Elizabeth asked what Warrick was wondering.
“Thurmond Culpepper.”
Warrick felt his world shift. “But he’s locked up in jail for his work with Mollia Domini, isn’t he? The coward turned against them and Sandra Cummings to save his ass, then he tried to rewrite history with his tell-all book.”
“Let’s just say, the language used in the threats sounds very similar to Thurmond’s book.” Greer handed the threats to Dalton as he and Elizabeth read through them. “They do,” Dalton said with a frown, pushing the papers to Warrick.
Warrick read through them. He didn’t know Thurmond so he couldn’t say if they came from him or not. “Why don’t we ask him?” Warrick said. “You could get me a visit with him.”
Greer nodded. “You and Dalton can go talk to him.”
“Wait,” Delaney said, stopping them. “Let me look into Thurmond’s prison communication first. If you visit, it’ll tip Thurmond off that we’re onto him and he could warn whoever is behind this. And, if it’s not Thurmond, we’ve also tipped our hand. We don’t want the person or persons behind this to know that Warren Hawkins is alive and we don’t want them to know we’re onto this new shadow group.”
“Good point,” Warrick told her. “Can you hack them so there’s no trail?”
“Dude,” Delaney said, sounding insulted. “Dammit,” she cursed.
“I told you, it’s contagious,” Kale said with a laugh.
“What this is telling us, and why Birch called me, is if this is true, there’s a new shadow group out there that’s a threat to the world. I think we’re getting enough information trickling in that it’s a real possibility,” Greer told them. “So, I’ve come to ask you, Warrick, can we read Birch in?”
“Yes, but there can be no evidence of it,” Warrick told her.
“No problem. Now, survive family dinner so you can help save the world.” Greer smiled at him sweetly and Warrick laughed.
“I’m not worried about family dinner.” Warrick was actually looking forward to it.
“Bless your heart,” Greer said, shaking her head.
“I’m not worried either,” Cassidy said, smiling at him with full confidence. “You might want to tell your brothers to be careful.”
“Ooh, do I detect a side bet?” Greer asked. “I got twenty on Jackson kicking Warrick’s ass.”
Warrick laughed at the expression on Dalton’s and Grant’s faces.
“Can we come to family dinner? I like kicking ass,” Valeria asked.
“Sure,” Greer answered.
“Yeah, grandma always makes more than enough,” Cassidy told them. “And you’ll witness my boyfriend kicking my family’s collective butt.”
“I love you so much right now,” Warrick said, surprising everyone by kissing Cassidy right there in the middle of a roomful of people.
“Twenty dollars on Sunday,” Greer said suddenly.
“Oh, no. I’m going on Saturday. If he survives family dinner. Dylan is out to prove Warrick’s not strong enough for Cassidy,” Kale told her as they placed bets on their phones.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Warrick asked Cassidy.
“Yes, pumpkin?”
“Is it okay for me to beat the crap out of your brother?”
“Only if you love me.” Cassidy winked at him as the meeting broke apart.