Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
An hour later, Ty sat next to Lydia on his comfy leather couch as the minutes ticked closer to the time when Will and Mac were able to meet. He opened his laptop on the coffee table. “Are you ready?”
Lydia shook her head as she exhaled an unsteady breath, all but vibrating with nerves. “No.”
He studied her stiff shoulders and her hands clenched tightly together in her lap as she sat ramrod straight. “Lyd.”
She sent him a small smile. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.” Tugging gently on her chin, he pulled her closer, pressing a kiss to her lips. “We can wait. We can tell them we’re back together and leave it at that.”
She shook her head again. “We need to do this. We can’t truly move forward until we do.”
“I agree.” He stroked her cheek, eager to soothe, kissing her again. “I love you, Lyd.”
She sent him another small smile. “I love you, too.”
“Am I calling them?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He sent the video call through.
Seconds later, Mac beamed, looking as gorgeous as always as she waved, sitting next to Will in his hotel room. “Hey, you two.”
Lydia turned up the wattage on her smile. “Hi.”
“Hey, squirt,” Will said as he tossed her an easy wink, looking far more put together than he had when they saw each other last. “Ty, it’s good to see you again, man.”
Ty nodded, immediately picking up on the tension on the other side of the screen, noting Will and Mac’s slightly stiff postures despite their happy greetings. “It’s good to see you, too.”
“So,” Mac said. “When did this happen?” She gestured between the two of them. “I need details.”
“Last night,” Lydia told them. “Ty came over, and we figured stuff out. We’re moving in together.”
Mac’s grin was back as she clasped her hands together. “Yay, guys. I’m so happy for you.”
“Congratulations,” Will added.
“Thanks.” Lydia glanced at Ty before she looked at her family again. “How are things with you two?”
Will and Mac looked at each other.
“We’re enjoying time with the kids,” Mac answered.
Lydia nodded, humming quietly in her throat, clearly not buying their act either. “That’s good.”
Ty studied Will and Mac closer—the way Will was careful to make sure that his shoulder didn’t touch his wife’s, and how Mac’s body was slightly turned away from her husband’s.
They were trying to pull off ‘civil,’ but he’d learned how to read people a long time ago.
There was still plenty of trouble in paradise.
“So, what’s up?” Will asked. “What do you guys want to talk about?”
Lydia snagged Ty’s hand, gripping it tightly. “Uh, we have a few things to tell you.”
Mac’s eyes grew huge. “Are you pregnant? Please, tell me you’re pregnant.”
Lydia’s eyes widened now. “What? No. No, that’s not it. We want to be married first.” She met Ty’s gaze. “Right? You want to be married first?”
He shrugged because he couldn’t care less about what came first. But Lydia was a woman who loved her schedules and timetables. “I’m game for whatever. I just need to be with you.”
“Aw,” Mac said, pressing her hand to her heart.
“But I’m not pregnant,” Lydia reiterated. “We actually want to talk to you guys about our visit this summer.”
Mac’s smile turned into a slight frown. “Okay.”
“Oh God,” Lydia whispered as her pulse pounded in her throat. “I don’t know where to start.”
“I’m former FBI,” Ty chimed in, wanting to move things along and put Lydia out of her misery. They were doing this, so it was time to put it all out on the table. “I handed in my resignation yesterday.”
Will’s gaze sharpened on Ty’s, but he didn’t say anything as Mac’s frown deepened.
“I thought you were a personal trainer,” she said.
Ty nodded. “I have my personal trainer certification. But I’m also an FBI agent. Or I was.”
“The stuff with Monroe House and Richard,” Will said, finally speaking up. “All the bullshit you told me when I said you sounded like a cop.”
Ty nodded, remembering how much he’d wanted to tell Will the truth right then. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you who I was at the time. You were in trouble, and we were on a clock to fix it.”
“I don’t understand,” Will said next.
“As an agent, I worked on undercover operations. Earlier this summer, I was assigned to a new case—a quiet inquiry into some possible improprieties for the Department of Justice. There were questions about a specific politician having connections to organized crime. My job was to find out what was going on.”
Will nodded as he clenched his jaw.
“In order to make that happen,” Ty continued, “I needed some help. I needed a way in, so I could get close to the people whom I was investigating—”
“So you went to my cousin,” Will interrupted, clearly connecting the dots.
Mac frowned again as she shook her head. “I’m not following this conversation.”
Will looked at his wife. “Ty was at the compound investigating my father. And me, I assume.”
Mac’s shocked gaze flew back to the screen. “Is that true?”
Ty nodded as Lydia did, watching as she struggled to keep her tears in check while she blinked rapidly and pressed her lips together.
He gripped her clammy hand tighter in his, wanting to make all of this better for her.
“The Boston field office had information that James and Will had been seen in the company of a man who had ties to the Giordano crime family. As a United States senator and with rumors of a possible presidential run on the horizon, it wasn’t a good look.
Political corruption is a serious offense. ”
Mac’s hot eyes landed on Lydia. “You helped the FBI investigate your cousin? My husband?”
Lydia nodded again as a tear trailed down her cheek. “I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice.”
“I didn’t give her a choice,” Ty admitted, wanting Mac’s anger directed toward him.
“When I approached Lydia, I made it clear that she could either help me and we would control the narrative together or the FBI would find another way in, and she would be left in the dark about what was happening to her family.”
Mac’s frown was back as she looked at Lydia again. “Why didn’t you come to us?”
Lydia shook her head. “I couldn’t.”
“I told her I would arrest her for interference with a federal investigation if she told any of you what was going on,” Ty chimed in again.
Mac shook her head. “I liked you, Ty. I welcomed you into my home.”
He nodded. “I know. And I’m sorry.”
She huffed out a humorless laugh as she glared. “It’s not okay.”
He sighed, not loving anything about their current confess all. “What I’m hoping you can try to understand is that when I was given this assignment, I didn’t know you guys. You were members of the Monroe Political Dynasty. You were names in a dossier and pictures and news articles on the internet.”
Mac swiped at the tears that started trailing down her cheeks.
“But after Lydia agreed to help me, we started spending time together. A lot of time. She became important. All of you became important.”
Mac wiped at another tear. “So it’s real? Your relationship? Or it isn’t?”
He and Lydia looked at each other. “Pretending to be with Lydia was part of the investigation at first. Our ‘serious relationship’ was my ticket onto the compound, but somewhere along the way, it became one hundred percent real.”
“Here,” Will said, handing Mac a tissue.
“Thanks.” She took it and wiped at her nose.
“This case was like nothing I’d ever worked before,” Ty further explained.
“Typically, when I would infiltrate and embed myself into a situation, I was taking down disgusting, dangerous criminals. But that wasn’t any of you.
I fell in love with my cooperator, which is the cardinal sin of undercover work, and in the end, James did nothing wrong.
Will did nothing wrong. Having a problem with gambling sure as hell isn’t a federal crime. ”
Mac plucked up another tissue. “No, it’s not.”
“I promised Lyd that I would take care with all of you. That was one of her conditions for helping me. As information developed, it looked like the FBI was going to do Will dirty, so I did what I could to make sure that didn’t happen by calling in a favor to one of my friends at the DEA.”
Mac looked at Lydia. “You don’t seem to have much to say for yourself.”
Lydia shrugged as another tear escaped. “I can only say that I’m sorry.”
Mac shook her head. “You lied to me, Lydia.”
She nodded. “Over and over again. And I hated every second of it. I was honest when I could be, but it doesn’t change the facts.”
“I put her in a no-win situation,” Ty spoke up again, hating how quiet and vulnerable she sounded.
“Nothing about any of this was easy for Lydia. When I first made contact with her, she told me to fuck off. She fiercely defended James and Will and reminded me on several occasions that they were doing nothing wrong, but I couldn’t tell my FBI case agent to go to the DOJ and say that Lydia Monroe says her family is innocent and have that be even close to enough.
I needed proof, and eventually, that’s exactly what I got. ”
Lydia leaned against him, holding his gaze as more tears pooled in her eyes.
He sent her a smile. “I love Lydia. I wish I could’ve met her in an entirely different way. I hate that I’ve caused her pain—all of you pain.”
Lydia sent him a small smile before she looked at Will and Mac again. “I wanted all of this out on the table. I don’t want any more secrets between us. I don’t ever want to lie to you again.”
Mac swallowed as she shook her head. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with all of this.”
“Take some time and process it,” Ty suggested.
“I need some air.” Mac got up and left the room, leaving Will by himself.
Will sighed as he scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to do with all of this, either.”
“Your dad knows,” Ty told him. “Everyone in your family does. James and Marietta came knocking on my door Friday night, looking for explanations.”
“I’m so sorry, Will,” Lydia said in an unsteady voice as more tears fell.