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He pushed his fingers through his hair and avoided my gaze. “It says: ‘We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and rebelled; we have turned away from Your commands and laws.’”

“What the heck does that mean?” Nothing good, I presumed, based on the way he was still refusing to look at me.

“I don’t know. My best guess it’s connected to the letter I received a couple of weeks ago.”

That letter had arrived by mail the day Slash and I returned from an assignment in the British Virgin Islands. It contained five words and no signature.

I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

Slash had followed protocol and turned the letter over to the NSA. They’d tried unsuccessfully to track it down, but other than keeping a close eye on our mail, there wasn’t much more they could do about it.

“Did you show the Secret Service agents?” I asked.

He remained silent.

I crossed my arms and stared at him, not letting him off the hook. “Slash, why didn’t you show them?”

“Because they can’t help me with this,” he said quietly.

“What’sthis?” This conversation was not going the way I expected it should between two people who were engaged. Why was he being so evasive and ambiguous with his answers? This was me he was talking to—his fiancée—not some stranger.

“I’m going to find out,” he said.

There it was again. He was answering my questions, but he’d told me exactly nothing. I pressed on, more determined. “Why would someone want you to come home? Or, more specifically, to Italy.”

His expression turned thoughtful. “I don’t know.”

“So, are you?” I paused, disconcerted at the thought. “You know, going home?”

He took me by the shoulders, looking into my eyes. “Iamhome. I’m not going anywhere.”

Relief swept through me, but also concern. Someone seemed intent on escalating this situation...whatever this situation was. Slash knew more than he was telling me, but he was either unwilling or unable to share. I felt conflicted between confronting him about it and understanding that, given the secrecy of his job in various intelligence agencies, as well as a former member of the Vatican intelligencesodalitium pianum—a group that didn’t officially exist—he might not be able to tell me.

Ever.

I wasn’t sure how that made me feel. Upset, yes, but also angry that someone would go to such lengths to torment him in this way. What could possibly be the point of dragging him back into his old life—a life he told me he’d left behind?

For now, there was little more I could do except support him. I just hoped we’d figure it out. Soon.

Chapter Six

Slash

“Your father doesn’t like me.”

Lexi raised her head from his bare chest, her hair brushing against his stomach. This was his favorite time of the day—just the two of them alone, in perfect sync, holding each other. She looked at him thoughtfully. He knew she was trying to choose the right words. Any number of wild things came out of Lexi’s mouth on a daily basis, but she was careful and deliberate when it counted, one of the things he loved best about her.

“He likes you just fine. He’s just not sure he likes youwithme.”

“Great.” He blew out a breath, put a hand across his forehead.

Her hazel eyes filled with sympathy. “Give him time. He’s still in the alpha-male-I’m-protecting-my-only-daughter mode.”

“Things were progressing, and then those damn fireworks.”

“Those weren’t your fault.”

“I know. But that hardly matters at this point.”