39. Gwen
Gwen
Frustrated, I set Jerry on the couch in between Mya and myself, then stretch out my legs that I had curled under me while working.
We played musical suites and relocated to Mya and Oliver’s after the storm that is Carter left.
Jesse and Easton raced out shortly after to find Griffin, hoping to enlist his help in confronting Carter to remind him we don’t have evidence that his mother-in-law is guilty.
Dad, Natasha, and Gray went to make the uncomfortable call to Grandpa to let him know what’s going on.
I’m content to hide out with Mya and Oliver until further notice. I might even Irish my coffee soon.
“Ow, ow, ow.” Mya leans back on the couch next to me, a hand under the curve of her bump as she closes one eye and winces.
Oliver materializes before us and kneels before her. “You okay?”
She smiles and brings his hand to her side. “Our baby is moving and elbowing me in the ribs.”
“If I could take the elbows for you, you know I would.” Oliver leans forward and rests his forehead against her belly, and it’s such a sweet moment I almost forget why we’re really here.
“I’m just going to . . .” I angle my head to the door. “Be right back.” I hop up to my feet and leave before either can object.
I only make it a few doors down in the hall before I spot Dad solo’ing it my way.
He stops in front of me and folds his arms, casually leaning his shoulder against the wall. “How are you holding up, baby girl?”
The man loves to sweetly ruin “baby girl” for all future men who might call me that.
Who am I kidding? There’s only one guy I see in my future.
“I’m okay, but also not a baby,” I remind him, and he mimics my signature eye roll, throwing a slight guffaw under his breath along with it like I’ve been known to do. “Did you already talk to Grandpa?”
“We did.”
I arch my brow. “And?”
“Not sure how to put this without pissing off Carter.”
I poke Dad’s chest. “Lucky for you, I’m not him.” I smirk and let my grin sit there for a few seconds until some of the ice in his expression dissolves.
“He thinks Carter’s just being hypersensitive and hyper paranoid about Susan Mackenzie.”
And here I thought I was the hyper one about pretty much everything.
“Dad believes he wants to blame Susan and push her away before she can do the same to him.”
Two things hit me at once with what he said. For starters, I’ve so rarely ever heard my father embrace Natasha’s father as “Dad,” and it’s sweet to hear. And secondly, I can so relate to the push people away before they hurt you part. Didn’t I just admit to Easton I suffer from such a problem?
“Is that Grandpa’s professional opinion, or his fatherly one?”
Dad shrugs. “A little of both.”
“Huh.” I chew on my lip, thinking. “You’d think he’d like to embrace any ammo he can get to take down an opponent.” My voice softens as I add, “Which makes me want to vote for Grandpa that much more.”
“Might even earn my vote, too.” He winks.
“Is he worried about his election chances because of this?”
“Nope.” He shakes his head. “He stands by our teams and every decision he and President Bennett have made over the years. The only reason he doesn’t want the truth to come out is to protect us.”
“So, what does Grandpa think we should do next?”
“Keep an open mind. While we’re waiting for those AI plane crash videos to analyze, we should look back over those 2011 files and see if we missed anything.”
“Carter texted Zoey that list of possible MI6 operatives, but we got distracted.” Fake plane crashes and all.
“Julian and his team are searching for your rig where it pinged, right?”
“Yup, he should be calling any minute.”
“Good.” He unfolds his arms and stands tall. “I’ll ask Jesse and Griffin to help with the case files. Griffin was on the op with Carter and at the embassy bombing in the U.A.E., so maybe he’ll pick up on something we missed. And Jesse ties us to Zoey because they both hunted The Chechen.”
“If Carter’s wrong about Susan, then his original guess could still be true—that Zoey’s at the heart of this somehow, and we’re all caught in the crossfire.”
“Possibly,” he huffs out.
I frown. “What are we missing here?”
“Knowing that is more than half the battle.” He shoots me a lopsided smile. “All we can be certain of is we’ll do whatever it takes to protect our people.”
My gaze flies up to his eyes as an idea hits me. “And I think I know how we can keep everyone safe.”
His brows pinch as he waits for me to continue. “How do we do that?”
I shut my eyes, knowing he won’t like this part. “I just have to fall on the sword and take the blame myself to protect the teams and Grandpa.” I peek out of one eye, worried at how unhinged he looks. “You know, Han Solo it.”