Chapter 1
1
MILA
“Need to see you in my office.”
Rubbing my hand along my forehead, I sighed. I shouldn’t have answered the phone when I saw who it was, but I knew my father well, and if I didn’t answer this time, he’d find a way to make sure I answered the next time. "Why?”
“Isn’t it enough that a father wants to see his daughter?”
Twisting from where I sat on the bed, I looked at the closed door to the bedroom. “I can’t, Dad. I just started a new position.”
“Which is…?” he prodded.
I didn’t want to tell him where I worked or who I worked for, but there was no point in hiding it. My father was Sam Kavanaugh, a respected military general who took an equally high-ranking position in the FBI after he decided to leave his military career. He could get any information on anyone he chose. All he had to do was make a few calls.
“Are you implying you don’t already know where I am and who I’m working for?” I challenged, knowing the answer he likely wouldn’t admit.
“You said you wanted a fresh start, and I respect that.” He paused, and I braced for the guilt trip he was working up to. “I just want to see for myself that you’re doing well.”
And there it was. He was playing dad or at least the dad I knew growing up. He was supportive and loving, encouraging me to reach for the stars. Until those stars were behind the doors of one of the last boy’s only institutions, and then I saw a different side to my father.
One that I hated.
“This is my first assignment with my new team, Dad, and I don’t want to give them any reason to think I’m not fully committed.” Playing on his sense of duty was probably a wasted effort, but I was willing to try anything to avoid a trip back to Washington, DC.
“What’s the assignment?”
“It’s confidential.”
“I don’t need names, Mila.”
His tone told me he was tired of talking and not getting exactly what he wanted. “I’m protecting a witness.”
“Is she allowed to leave the state?”
She.
There it was.
He knew, and he wasn’t attempting to hide the fact that he not only knew but lied about knowing. I could call him on it, but it wouldn’t do me any good. He was a very smart man. He was letting me know without saying directly that there would never be a time that he wouldn’t know exactly where I was and what I was doing.
“Yes,” I replied simply.
“Then I don’t see the problem.” His tone changed to the one I recognized as my superior. “I’ll expect you in my office tomorrow morning, nine o’clock.”
I didn’t have to pull my phone away to see he’d ended the call, but I did anyway. No goodbye, no I love you. Just silence. The days of my father being the father I grew up with were long gone, and I needed to accept that, but it was hard to let go of the man I thought I knew.
With another long sigh, I pulled up my contacts and hit call.
“Mila.”
I wasn’t surprised by the way Jax answered the phone. I’d gotten used to his abruptness over the past month. “I need to go to DC.”
“How long?”
“Probably a couple of days.”
He was silent for a moment, and I wasn’t sure what that meant. I was good at reading people, but without him in front of me, I struggled. “Sure it’s a good idea?”
“No,” I admitted. “But I don’t see a way around it.”
“Beth?”
Inhaling deeply, I once again looked toward the door.
Beth.
My first assignment was one of the most important I’d ever had.
The half sister of one of the biggest drug smugglers on the East Coast and certainly the biggest North Carolina had ever seen was assigned to me.
Years ago, Elite helped the FBI find and eliminate Daniel Sullivan, the man responsible for not only bringing an enormous amount of drugs into North Carolina but also running a prostitution ring that rivaled any I’d ever heard of.
However, they didn’t do it alone.
Beth Sullivan, his half sister, was one of the main reasons they got the information they needed to take him down, but she sacrificed her safety to provide that and had been under Elite’s protection ever since.
More specifically, she was under Striker’s protection.
Right after I started, Max Skinner, who she’d implicated when she turned over evidence, was released from prison. He’d served time because of Beth's information, and suddenly, her safety became a top priority. Striker intended to be her protector as he had been for years, but Jax and Brody had different plans. Striker was their primary tracker, and they needed him to do what he did best in order to locate Skinner before he found Beth, but he couldn’t do that and protect her at the same time, so I was assigned to be her protection. Within hours of learning of Skinner’s release from prison, I moved into her apartment and started the job that could make or break my career with Elite Securities. Not to mention Striker’s opinion of me. He didn’t like me when I was hired, and his opinion hadn’t changed. Keeping Beth safe could prove to him that I’m not a threat to his team but an asset, and I wasn’t willing to do anything to sacrifice that.
But ignoring my father wasn’t an option either. He had a lot of reach, and I had no doubt that reach extended to Elite.
“I can take her with me. It might be a good time to get her out of the state. Skinner’s parole demands he stay in North Carolina.”
Jax hummed. “That actually might be helpful. Striker’s had a hard time focusing, and if we’re going to figure out what the fuck Skinner’s up to, we need Striker’s head in the game.” I waited, assuming he wasn’t done talking. “When do you leave?”
“Today, probably within an hour or two.”
“I’ll need daily updates while you’re gone. As far as you’re concerned, Beth is as much a target in DC as she is here, so don’t let your guard down.”
“Consider it done,” I promised.
He exhaled heavily before continuing. “There a reason you’re still jumping when he issues an order?”
I considered his question but didn’t need to analyze how he knew I would see my father. Much like the man who raised me, Jax Dimarco seemed to know a lot of people and my history without asking me for more than my name. But for some reason, my personal information felt safer in Jax’s hands than it did in my own father’s.
“He’s a powerful man, Jax, you know that. He’ll find a way to get exactly what he wants, and right now, he wants me in his office.”
“People only have the control over us that we give them. When you’re ready to take back your control, we’ll be right behind you.”
A warmth washed over me at the thought of someone being on my side. I’d felt alone for years while I was in the FBI. The only person who ever had my back during that time was Nick while we were on assignment, but that was his job. We needed to protect each other in order to survive.
“As my boss?” For some reason, I really needed to hear his reply.
“As your family,” he answered immediately. “We protect our own in this town, and the day you signed on with us, you became part of the family. Every man and woman in our agency will protect you.”
I chuckled softly. “Even Striker?”
He grunted. “Striker growls a lot, but when push comes to shove, he’ll stand beside you while you take back your power. You two have more in common than you realize, and once he lets go of his past, he’ll see that.”
“You think Beth can help with that?”
It was obvious by the way Striker had protected Beth for years that his feelings for her went well beyond his duty, but as far as I knew, he’d never admitted it to anyone. However, now that I lived with her, I was getting a front-row seat, and neither Beth nor Striker was very good at hiding their feelings for each other.
“I think we’re about to find out.” He said exactly what I’d been feeling while watching them dance around each other. “Text me when you get to DC.”
“Will do,” I replied and dropped the phone onto my lap, but only for a second before standing and making my way to the door.
We needed to get moving, and I had no idea how long Beth would take to pack.
Walking into the kitchen, I saw that she was sitting at the counter, tapping away on the keyboard of her laptop. “We’re going on a trip.”
I wasn’t surprised when her head snapped up. “A trip?”
“Yeah.” I turned and poured myself a cup of coffee from the pot before grabbing the milk from the refrigerator and adding some. “I need to go to DC to see my father. I talked with Jax this morning, and he feels it would be good to get you out of town for a few days.” I blew on my coffee but watched Beth closely for her reaction. “What do you think?”
She appeared hesitant, which I’d expected. “I don’t know, but if everyone thinks it’s best, I guess it’s a good idea.”
I blew on my coffee once more before taking a small sip and placing the cup on the counter. “Have you ever been to Washington?”
“No,” she admitted. “I’ve never been out of North Carolina.”
“Never?” My eyebrows rose. I found that odd, considering Beth’s father and brother, Danny, had a lot of money before their deaths. They’d made most of it illegally, but I assumed that would’ve allowed her some luxuries, like traveling. “How old are you, Beth?”
“Twenty-eight.”
I smiled in an effort to conceal my surprise. Beth seemed a lot younger, but I guess that had more to do with her limited experiences than I’d known. “Okay, well, you definitely deserve this vacation.”
She nodded slowly. “When do we leave?”
“Whenever you’re ready.” Picking up the cup, I took another sip of coffee, satisfied that it was cooler. “How much time do you need to pack?”
“Umm…” She hesitated. “I don’t know. What do I take?”
“We’ll only be gone a few days, and it’ll be casual, so jeans and shirts or whatever you’re comfortable in.”
“Okay.” She gestured toward the hallway. “I’ll go pack now.”
I was starting to feel uneasy about taking her out of town without knowing more about her relationship with Striker. I knew they had feelings for each other—neither had been concealing that—but I never thought anything had come from it. Striker stopped at the apartment last night, and I’d left to take a phone call. When I returned, they were standing close together and Beth was flushed, but as far as I knew, nothing had happened. I needed to be sure before I whisked her away without telling him.
I held up my hand. “Before you do that, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“No, I don’t mind.”
I took another slow sip of coffee and considered my words, but in the end, I decided to just be clear and concise with my question. “What’s your relationship with Striker?”
She slowly closed her laptop and leaned on her elbows. “He’s been my bodyguard since Danny was killed.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Is that all?”
She dropped her hands to her lap. “Yeah.”
“Have you become friends?”
Sadness filled her expression. “No. He’s very serious about doing his job. I’ve always had the feeling he didn’t want to be friends.”
“Hmm…” I lifted my cup and took another drink. She didn’t know. I underestimated her experience because if she had any, she would see the interest in his eyes every time he looked at her. “Has he actually said that?”
“No, but he doesn’t want to protect me anymore.”
My eyebrows drew together. “Why do you think that?”
“Because I have you now.”
She was under the impression Striker decided to step away from protecting her. That was interesting to me, and I wondered if he told her that or she just assumed, but in either case, I intended to clear things up. “You have me because Jax and Brody thought you’d be more comfortable living with a woman, but Striker was not happy we received those orders.”
Her eyes widened. “He wasn’t?”
“No.” I smiled at the combination of surprise and hope flickering through her eyes. “And he doesn’t like me, so that made it worse.”
Her eyebrows drew together. “Why doesn’t he like you?”
I didn’t have a good answer to that question; they were the only things I’d picked up on during the meetings at Elite, but I decided to share my thoughts. “I think he’s had some bad experiences working with women, affecting his ability to trust them. In our business, trusting your team is the key to survival and success.”
“Sometimes I don’t think he thinks much of me either,” she admitted.
I took another drink of my coffee. “Why do you say that?”
She shrugged. “Just a feeling. Like yesterday, I mentioned that I'd been considering getting a job until I found out Max was released from prison.”
“What did he say?”
“He said no.” She wrung her hands together, which I’d noticed over the last week was a sign of nervousness. “He knows my dad left me a lot of money in his will, money that was released to me after Danny died, and he pointed out that I don’t need to work, but I got the feeling it was something more. Like maybe he didn’t think I’d be good at anything.”
I couldn’t speak for Striker, and I didn’t know him as well as I knew the other guys I worked with, but I doubted his not wanting her to work had anything to do with her abilities. “Striker has his reasons for not wanting you to work, and I’d guess that has more to do with you being in the public eye than anything else. It’s harder for us to do our job when you’re easily accessible.” I set my cup on the counter and leaned forward. “I’d bet my paycheck he doesn’t doubt your abilities.” I smiled sympathetically and pointed out what I thought to be true. “That sounds more like your own doubt.” When her eyes dropped, I decided we’d talked about this enough. I didn’t want to make her sad. I wanted her to find her strength and her voice, but that would take time. I had a feeling she spent her whole life being beat down. It would take more than a few conversations for her to build her confidence. “Why don’t you go pack?”
“Okay.” She stood from the stool and lifted her laptop. “Should I bring this?”
“Yeah, and anything else you like to do when you have time alone. I’ll need to meet with my father, so you’ll have to occupy yourself for a few hours, maybe more.”
Beth studied me closely, and I wondered if she saw in me what I was trying to hide. “What does your dad do?”
“He works for the FBI.”
“Are you close to him?”
Anger for who I thought he’d been and who he turned out to be tore through me, and I admitted something to her that I’d never said aloud before. “I hate him.”
Her shoulders dropped, and it seemed some of the weight she was carrying lessened. Maybe hearing someone else voice her thoughts made her feel less guilty about having them. “Guess we have that in common.”
I smiled softly, feeling a connection to her that I hadn’t before. I needed this. I needed to put people into my life who understood me, if for no other reason than to help me find my way back to who I was. “If I had to guess, Beth, I’d say we have more in common than either of us realizes.” She held my stare briefly, and I pointed at the hallway. “Go pack. I’d like to get on the road.”
“Okay,” she agreed and turned toward the hallway.
“Hey, Beth,” I called out.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Pack for a few extra days. We’ll stay until Sunday.” I smiled, and for the first time, I felt more than abhorrence about going. Maybe I could make the most of this trip. It was obvious Beth and I deserved the break from our lives. “Something tells me we both deserve this girls’ trip.”