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“I hired some people to help my mom escape from prison.”

“Who?”

She told me about the plan, Leo Rossi, and his restaurant in Boston. I’d add him to my to-do list.

I couldn’t believe my woman had the courage to hire criminals to extract her mother.

“Don’t go through with it. Give me their names.”

“I paid them a lot of money.”

“Lily Pad, this extraction spells trouble. There are cameras everywhere that can spot these men. If they’re caught, they’ll point the finger at you. Your mom will get additional time for escaping, and you’ll also be convicted.” Based on what Vanessahad told me, these men hadn’t given her a detailed, minute-by-minute plan. But she wouldn’t have known to ask for that. “Not to mention, if something goes wrong, she could die.”

Dread overcame her face. “She shouldn’t be in there. She’s been waiting for her freedom for years.”

“Let me handle this. I need you to trust me, okay?”

She looked at me with so much trust and nodded. “Would you listen to me if I said no?”

“Not if I know you’ll be in danger.”

“Your mom is wrong.”

“About what?”

“That your wife is calling the shots.”

The definitions of a girlfriend and a wife were blurring into one another. I didn’t mind at all. Right now, they were the same.

“She’s not wrong.” I smiled. “My wife can do whatever she wants as long as she’s not in danger.” I tapped her nose. “I’ve been dwelling in this dark world for a long time. The plan has holes. I care about you, and I don’t want anything to happen to you or your mother.”

“Okay.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

ATTIKUS

Dinner with Vanessawas the best thing that happened today. It seemed like everything that occurred outside of this house was chaos,and everything inside calmed my soul.

After dinner, she returned to her studio while I entered my office and logged into the conference call with the boys. Forrest, Arrow, and Royce couldn’t make it as they were traveling.

“You okay?” Remington asked. “Your group text sounded urgent.”

“I think the CIA is involved with The Trogyn,” I said.

“What makes you say that?” Orion asked. “I’ve got contacts there. I can look into it deeper.”

I told them about Ryan Evans (the Maui attacker), Sam Thornton (the driver who crashed the car that killed Emmanuel), and Paul Exinor (the man sent to kill Sam). All were CIA agents.

“That’s interesting,” Grayson said. “We need to protect Paul, or they’ll kill him too.”

“He’s currently in a private room at the hospital,” I told them.

“Why don’t we move him to Forrest’s clinic?” Orion suggested. “It’s safer there.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” I agreed.

“I’m sending him a text now,” Remi said.