Chapter 43
Nina
My parents left me a million dollars. The first thing I thought of was all the help I could hire for Nana Sue.
With that kind of money, I could pay for a decent care facility, but I couldn’t bring myself to risk her being treated poorly while the funds rapidly depleted. At least with a home nurse, I could trust the quality of care, and I’d only have to pay for help when I wasn’t home.
“Nina, breathe,” Austin’s voice cut through the chaos in my head.
I sucked in a deep breath and promptly choked on my spit.
When the coughing subsided, I looked at the paperwork on the table. “Is that what all that is?” I needed to focus on something not money.
“Yes. Like everything else, we’ll make copies. You’ll be able to keep the originals once we’ve processed them.”
“Processed them?”
“Chances are the only prints we’ll find are from your parents, but there might be others, like from the lawyer or banker who processed the paperwork.”
“Why would that matter?”
Austin looked around the table before nodding to John.
“Nina, it’s possible one of the people who helped your parents set up their accounts could be involved in their disappearance and death.”
Right. Because my life was one seriously fucked up spy movie now, and lawyers and bankers plotted to kill CIA officers.
It was all too much. My chest rose and fell too fast to be normal or healthy.
“I need some air,” I said, standing.
Austin and John stood with me. “We’ll walk you out the back. Jay?”
“On your six.”
Austin leaned down and whispered, “That means he’ll follow us and make sure we’re safe.”
How can we not be? I didn’t bother asking; not only would I probably not understand, but I didn’t really want to know what might go wrong.
The cool June breeze brushed my face as I inhaled deeply. Needing something to focus on, I stared at the half moon in the bright evening sky.
“Do you want to walk, or just breathe in the fresh air?” John asked.
“This is fine.” Too afraid of what might be hiding in the shadows, I hadn’t stepped more than two feet from the door.
When I shivered, Austin wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
John and Austin left me alone with my thoughts, despite standing on either side of me.
Only the last thing I needed was to be left alone with the chaos swirling around in my mind.
I’d gone most of my life, twenty-six—twenty-seven—years, without knowing my parent’s names or even my real fucking birthday and in the last few days I’d gained so much information that I thought my head might literally explode.
Or maybe my heart would stop from the shock.
Or maybe the bad guys would kill me before the shock could.