CHAPTER FORTY
Titan Group’s US headquarters, situated in Northern Virginia, was very different from its headquarters in the Middle East. Both areas had pockets of immense wealth, but Abu Dhabi’s was far vaster and more apparent. The US headquarters was an obvious fortress. Their offices in Abu Dhabi were surreptitiously hidden inside a luxury hotel skyscraper—two, actually, both towers connected by sky bridges every few floors.
But the offices were nearly interchangeable. Both war rooms contained imposing conference tables and high-tech communications equipment. Parker’s US-based tech lair was similar to Abu Dhabi’s nerve center, where Amanda and Shah held court.
Angela seemed at home in the conference room and spent the afternoon arranging for her necessities, clothes,identification, and whatever else she deemed necessary. Sawyer had felt far less comfortable. Sure, he had access to whatever he needed, but the longer he stayed in the US without an agenda, the longer he felt the pull to escape.
He wandered to Angela’s conference room. The door was ajar. He knocked and stepped in. She was on the phone but beckoned him in, whispering, “Give me a minute.”
He walked to the windows. Everything was so green here. He hadn’t realized that green trees and bushy shrubbery could make him nostalgic.
“I’m glad you’re starting to feel better—uh-huh.” Angela laughed. “All right. I know. I’ll check in later.” She hung up, still smiling in a way that made Sawyer feel like he was intruding. “That was Chelsea.”
“You didn’t have to get off the phone for me.”
Angela’s eyes twinkled. “We were done.”
“Why do you look like that?” He studied her expression. She needed time off to relax with her girlfriends. Angela spent most of her time in the office, where she was surrounded by friends. Not like her current gig, stuck with him. Working ops could be lonely. “You need time off.”
“No, I’m fine. I was just checking in on her. She was feeling a little headachey and pukey.”
“Chelsea? Or Amanda? I thought Amanda was sick before we left?”
“Yup. Guess it’s going around.”
“Maybe Titan should invest in masks and hand sanitizer.” It wasn’t like Chelsea or Amanda to orbit their coworkers when sick.
“They’re not contagious.” Angela shrugged and wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Nothing a little ginger ale and crackers won’t fix.”
Something in Angela’s expression wasn’t the least bit concerned about her friend being ill for several weeks. Then again, Sawyer couldn’t stand hospitals or doctors. He wasn’t a germophobe, but why tempt fate? It would be better for both women to be out of the office, recovering, than to spread the flu. A noncontagious flu . The thought stopped him cold. “What kind of sick?”
Angela shrugged and returned to her phone. “Something they picked up, I guess.”
Sawyer didn’t remember Amanda coughing and sneezing, but he did remember a few queasy looks.
“They’re both sick?”
“Think so.” Angela’s evasion said far more than her denials.
“Are one of them—” Cold needles crawled up his spine. “Is one of them pregnant?”
Surprised, Angela peered over her phone. “What would make you think that?”
His eyebrows arched. “Someone’s having a kid?”
“I didn’t say that,” she added too quickly.
No. She wouldn’t because people didn’t talk about pregnancies in the first trimester. Penny had made him keep his mouth shut when they first found out. Not that it made a difference on their last day. Sawyer had walked out of a labor room and into the maternity floor’s waiting room filled with family. He’d never been more alone. Ruined for life.
Angela moved to his side. “Sawyer?”
His heartbeat thudded. “You should tell me.”
“They both are,” she whispered, scrutinizing his expression. Worry pinched in her eyes.
The answer hit him like a punch. He swallowed hard and forced a grin. “That’s really great. Exciting news.” So many things could go wrong. Chelsea and Amanda pregnant simultaneously? Double the trouble. Sawyer crossed his arms over his galloping heart as though he could rein in his worries.
“Sawyer.” Her hand rested on his bicep. Concern darkened her beautiful eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
He wanted to run away—or, better, shake Hagan and Liam to remind them of all that could go wrong. But it wasn’t as if Liam hadn’t already started a family. “Don’t be, Ange. It’s great news.” He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to tamp down his own worry. “I can be happy for my friends without…” He gestured blankly. Without what—freaking out? Recalling the day Penny and William died? He would always remember that day.
Time healed. What a fucking cliché. But it had. Life had moved forward. Still, cold panic nestled in his chest.
Angela squeezed his arm. “I should’ve thought—”
“Tiptoeing around me doesn’t change anything.” Her palm was so warm. Sawyer needed more of her touch. If only they could be alone. He didn’t need to share feelings or talk. Sawyer wanted to curl against Angela and breathe easier because she was in his life.
Jared threw the conference room door wide open and strode in. His laser gaze landed on Angela’s hand grasping Sawyer’s bicep. “Everything okay in here?”
Angela jerked away. “Yeah. I—” She took another step back. “Making sure everything is okay with his arm.”
“Right.” Jared snorted. “He was shot in the other arm.”
She glared.
Sawyer rubbed the well-healing wound, which didn’t hurt unless he messed with it. The dull bite of pain was nice. He gave the muscle a quick squeeze to clear his head.
“I have some news.” Jared pulled up a chair. “It answers a few questions but—” He gave Angela an apologetic glance. “It’s a little personal too.” He nodded to Sawyer. “You want him to go?”
“About me?” she asked.
Boss Man lifted his shoulders. “Yeah.”
“What kind of personal?”
“About the ex.”
Sawyer didn’t want to leave. He didn’t think Paul Bane would be a problem anymore, but damn if he wasn’t sick and tired of hearing about that guy. “I’ll give you a few minutes,” Sawyer offered.
“No,” she said, stopping him. “You can hear whatever Jared knows.”
Angela took a seat. Sawyer posted against the wall across from her.
“The ex…” Jared cleared his throat. “You’re probably better off without him.”
“You already know that I’m aware of that.”
“He was seeing someone.” Jared paused as though Angela might react.
She looked unfazed. “I know there were women.” She smiled tightly. “One of the things I discovered the day he proposed.”
Jared assessed her again and continued, “There was one he’d recently met.” His jaw ticked. Sawyer sensed the mutual desire to kick Paul’s ass to kingdom come. The two men exchanged looks. Jared continued, “The woman he was bedding was a mole.”
“Wait—what?”
“Your mother didn’t directly give away your location in Abu Dhabi and in North Carolina. Paul did. During pillow talk.”
Stunned, Angela remained still as a statue. Then her head tipped back. “That fucking asshole.” She gaped like she couldn’t believe how stupid Paul had been. “Well, he can kiss his senatorial campaign goodbye.”
Jared looked to Sawyer to make sense of Angela’s reaction. He didn’t know what to say. That wasn’t the first thing he would’ve considered.
“Does my mother know?” she demanded.
“I think she’s finding out right about now also.”
Angela pushed from the chair and stomped toward the window.
“Angela?” Jared pushed out of his chair. “You okay? You need anything?”
She stared at the same trees that had left Sawyer mesmerized. “I need a break.” Slowly, she turned around. “I want to get out of here.”
“Parker is working on a safe house you can stay in until the trial. But it will be a few hours.”
She shook her head. “No, not a safe house. Something different. And really, I don’t even need a safe house if no one tells Paul where I am.” Her lips pursed. “Maybe my parents’ house in Pennsylvania…? No. I don’t want to see them and their performative bullshit.”
Jared’s brow furrowed. “Like a stay at a resort? With spas and stuff.”
“No. Something real. With pictures on the walls and leftovers in the fridge.”
Jared faltered.
“Does anyone on your local team have a family?”
“No…”
“Do they have relatives that live nearby? Maybe I could borrow their house and just sit in it for a few hours—”
“Angela, you still have a target on your back. We can’t—”
“Don’t you get it? I want to pretend my life is normal for one minute!”
Sawyer had never heard her shout or even seen her lose her cool. Angela was too controlled. Jared eyed Sawyer as though he should know what to do. He didn’t.
“I just got a puppy,” Jared offered.
Sawyer almost laughed.
“A bulldog. Cute as hell. Gnaws on steel.”
Fat tears welled in Angela’s eyes. “What’s its name?”
“Thelma,” Jared answered, unsure how to handle the situation.
The tears rolled down Angela’s cheeks. Sawyer didn’t have a clue what to do.
“I think I need more than a puppy.” She swiped at the tears and returned to the window.
Jared beckoned Sawyer. “Take your girl and the dog—”
“She’s not my girl.”
“Shut up for a second and listen,” Jared growled. “And go visit your family’s place. Take a minute, say hello to your folks, and then put them up someplace nice. Like a resort with a spa. Tell them it’s a work thing. Titan will foot the bill. Then let Angela sit in your house with its leftovers and laundry or whatever and hold on to Thelma.”
“I—”
“Have you ever seen her cry and shout like that before?”
“No,” he admitted. Not two minutes ago, Sawyer wanted to be alone with Angela. To curl up with her, just the two of them. Now Boss Man was suggesting that kind of privacy. Sawyer ran a hand over his face. He and Angela had crossed too many lines, and throwing them into the place where he grew up would only entangle them further.
Jared inched closer. “She’s been shot at— on two different continents . Her family is a piece of work. The ex is a piece of shit. Hell, she lived in a cage for years. Take Angela home and let her soak up normal.”
Take her home . Sawyer wanted to run away with her and pretend. His heart would break when their time-blocked romance ended anyway. Funny how guarding his heart was the reason he avoided relationships to begin with. Never once had he been tempted to fall in love again. Yet here he was.
Jared glared. “I’m not asking, Sawyer.”
He studied Angela at the window. “She’s not going to say yes.”
“Make it happen,” Jared demanded under his breath and then left Sawyer to figure out the hard part.
He ran a hand over his face again and approached Angela as though she might be a bear. “Hey—I’ll be back in a second.”
She jumped as though she’d forgotten he was there. “I’m fine.” Angela sniffed, still staring out the window. “Really.”
That didn’t ring true. He stepped into the hall and called his mother. “Hey, Ma.”
“I wasn’t expecting your call today—Sawyer’s on the phone,” she called to his dad. “Give me a second. Dad’s coming.” She put it on speakerphone. “How are you?”
“Good.”
“You don’t usually call weekday mornings.”
“I’m nearby and thought I’d—”
“Nearby? You are? I didn’t know you were in the US. Can we see you?”
“Actually…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought I could swing by.”
“You don’t have to ask. Show up, son,” his dad announced as though referring to high school football tryouts.
Sawyer paused. He wasn’t going to hide Angela in the car, and his parents would never leave for a resort in general, much less if he was in town. “I have someone with me.”
“That’s fine. Bring whomever.”
“She’s having a hell of a hard time and needs a break.”
“What better place than out in the middle of nowhere with us?” his mother asked.
Sawyer chuckled. As if his family could have had any other reaction. If Angela needed a taste of hunky-dory ordinary, she would find it in the house he grew up in. “We might have a dog with us.”
“I love dogs,” Mom added.
“A puppy.”
“Even better.”
Sawyer dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling. He couldn’t remember what pictures were in their home. He almost asked if they could take down anything with Penny in it. And it killed him that he couldn’t recall if they had already. More than ten years had passed. Still, his mother had lots of framed pictures and photos stuck around the house. There was a one hundred percent chance that his high school years—with Penny center stage—would be somewhere on the walls. “All right. We’ll be there tonight.”