Chapter Six #3
“He’s dead, you know. They’re all dead. You don’t have to prove anything to your grandfather or your father.”
The silence felt like a threat.
“Yes, believe me I understand my father is dead and you’re currently celebrating with the man who started that line of dominoes that ended in my father dying,” Manny pointed out.
“Your dad was trying to steal another doctor’s work. He was literally in league with the bad guys.” It was useless, but he felt the desperate need to point out the truth. “It was a rogue CIA agent who killed him, not Ian.”
“It’s Ian now, is it? Has he brought you in?
Made you one of his boys?” Manny asked. “I wonder how much truth he’s told you.
I wonder if I know more than you do. Wouldn’t that be delicious?
Or perhaps we know the same, but my timing is so much better than yours.
I was going to, perhaps, come up with some surprise for Tasha and her new husband, but I think I should let things play out.
I think they’ll hurt you far more than I can, and then perhaps you’ll be willing to talk to me.
Perhaps you’ll be able to see the light when you realize how much this one has betrayed you and for how long she’s been doing it.
Tell Taggart if this one fails, I’ll send another.
Or don’t tell him. I suspect your life would seem easier without your whore’s pimp around all the time. ”
He hung up.
How the fuck had he gotten the number? Despite what he’d said, this wasn’t a phone he’d gone to the local strip mall to sign a contract on. It was straight from his agency. No one except the people he gave the number to should be able to figure it out.
So it was people from his team, including Tim and Joseph and the support staff, and Kenzie Taggart.
She was the only one outside of his highly vetted group who had the number.
It was precisely how she’d gotten hold of him and sent him to Wales.
He’d been the one to tip her off as to where Zach and Devi were hiding.
Now he wondered who he’d dealt with. Did Kala have his number? Probably. Kenzie would have passed it around if she thought it was good intel.
“Hey, they’re dancing. Like everyone, and the song’s slow, so I was thinking… What happened?” Kenzie pulled her hand away. She’d seemed to be ready to touch him but then he’d turned and she’d seen the look on his face.
The one he always got when he talked to Manny.
She’d gone stiff. He didn’t want to talk about this.
He needed to think. It wouldn’t be the first time Manny had dangled some truth in front of him.
Manny had ruined and wrecked every relationship he had in some way.
Small injections of poison that over time killed the trust between Ben and… everyone.
“Just work,” he said and took her hand. If he started asking questions, she would want to know why. “Joseph. I updated him on the assassin situation. He’s looking into a couple of groups she could belong to. He’ll send us what he finds in the morning, but for now, I’d love to dance with you.”
Her shoulders came down and a brilliant smile crossed her face. “I was hoping you would say that.”
He led her back into the ballroom, his mind working overtime.
* * * *
Kenzie brought out the shoes Tasha was changing into in anticipation of her leaving for Loa Mali. The small jet was ready to take her and her brand-new hubs to the island paradise for days of sex and beach walking and dinners for two.
She wouldn’t be surprised at all if Tasha had a baby in the next year or two.
“Are we not going to talk about it?” Kala stood at the doorway to the bridal suite, her arms crossed over her chest.
Devi moved in, taking a look at the hem of Tasha’s sleeves.
The honeymoon dress was perfectly tailored and sweetly sexy.
If Dare didn’t do her sister in the limo, she would be shocked.
“Which it are we talking about? The way Chloe Lodge stared at Seth like he was a piece of cake and she’d been on a no-sugar diet for years?
Or the way Nate managed to save the punch bowl when Daisy nearly took a header into it? ”
“I do believe she’s talking about Ben.” Lou sat on the sofa, a glass of wine in her hand. “She’s been worried about him all night.”
Well, of course her twin was worried. And she knew exactly what was going through Kala’s mind. “She thinks he’s here for revenge.”
The truth was Kenzie was a little worried about that, too.
“I don’t know if he’s here for revenge.” Kala paced. It was a thing she’d done since childhood. When she was worried, her feet started to move.
And Kenzie tended to get still. “But you’re worried about his intentions.”
“I think we fucked him over. We didn’t mean to. Well, Kenzie didn’t mean to,” Kala admitted. “I only know that he didn’t call right after he found out the truth. He waited weeks. I know what I would have done with those weeks if I felt betrayed.”
Her twin would have used that time to plot an elaborate revenge, but then she sometimes did that for fun. Ben wasn’t Kala.
“He needed time to process.” It had been awful waiting around, watching her phone, hoping he would call.
She’d spent days wondering if she’d made the wrong choice.
She’d told Kala it was time to let Ben know.
Her father and mother had given her the go.
Even her Agency handlers had agreed it was time for Ben Parker to know he was dealing with twins.
“I should have waited. I should have done it when we weren’t working. ”
Kala’s brows rose. “I’m the one who went to get you. I could have sent Lou.”
Lou’s head shook. “I was busy trying to ensure there was no way Huisman got hold of that sex tape. Not that it wasn’t beautiful.
And Kenz, your butt looked great. Seriously, nice glute work.
But she really couldn’t have sent me and by that time Tim knew, so it would have been weird to be like ‘hey, Tim, your best friend in the world is dating a woman who happens to be a twin, and could you not mention that to him?’”
Put like that she was right. They’d been in a corner and there had only been one way out. Her twin was pragmatic, but Kenzie could own up to her mistakes. “I should have stayed and talked to him. I could have made my way back. He would have taken care of me.”
“We don’t know that,” Kala replied. “I saw him. He was pissed.”
What he’d been was emotional. They’d genuinely thought they were dying and then they weren’t and he was faced with the fact that the woman he’d clung to in what he believed were his last moments of life had been lying to him the whole time.
Would she have forgiven him instantly? Probably, but she was pretty sure Ben hadn’t grown up on rom coms and epic romances that played out in front of him.
“He was rightfully upset.” Tasha allowed Devi to adjust the cuff of her sleeve.
Her eldest sister had handled the whole day with beauty and grace, but that was Tash.
She would never be in this position. Well, not exactly this position.
She’d lied to Dare but not for as long, and it wasn’t like she’d had a secret twin who pretended to be her some of the time.
“We’re spies,” Kala argued. “It wasn’t like he walked up and told us who he was.”
Lou sent her a look.
Kala sighed. “I get it, but I also don’t.
Apparently that doesn’t mean anything and I am supposed to be supportive.
But I can’t not point out the fact that Ben showed up without a call and suddenly everything is okay except he’s bad at hiding his true feelings because I watch him when he’s watching you. ”
“He looks like he wants to eat her up,” Devi pointed out as she stepped back, obviously happy with her work.
“He also looks like a dude who’s trying something, if you know what I mean,” Kala said.
“No one knows what you mean, sweetie.” Her mom walked in, stopping to stare at Tash for a moment. She’d been crying off and on all day, but her mom cried pretty, offering her emotions to her family without reserve. “You look beautiful.”
“She does.” Aunt Chelsea was with her. “She’s so beautiful, and Dare looked amazing.
I’m so happy for you, sweetie.” She moved in, hugging Tasha before she stepped back.
“You’re going to have a fabulous time in Loa Mali.
” She moved over to stand next to Kala. “You know this is what you could have had.”
Kala had gotten married in a small ceremony that had come together in three weeks, unlike the year it had taken to put together Tasha’s extravaganza.
“I could have had weeks of sitting around picking flowers and having Devi poke me with needles only for it to all culminate in a bunch of people watching me? Pass.”
Aunt Chelsea sighed. “Put like that, I would pass, too. So are we warning Kenzie that the hot Canadian is probably here for revenge and possibly working with the enemy?”
“He is not.” No matter what reason he was here, he wasn’t working with Huisman. “I know that asshole tried to put the idea in everyone’s head, but he’s not. Ben would never help Manny.”
“I know you think you know him,” Chelsea began.
“Dare knows him,” Tasha added. “Dare’s known him for a long time and he believes in Ben.”
“He thinks Ben’s come here for purely nice purposes?” Her mother’s question held a bit of challenge.
Tasha’s lips pursed. “He thinks Ben needs time to come to terms with things. Unfortunately, he’s not going to get much.”
“He’s had weeks,” Kala pointed out. “Weeks where he ignored her. He never called. He showed up, and I know it was romantic and shit, but it’s also convenient since we’ve got all the data unlocked now.
The meeting is tomorrow. We knew CSIS was sending someone.
We didn’t know who. One would think Ben could give us a heads up. ”