Page 17 of Leading Conviction

“Yeah, I… I helped your dad save the world.”

It was a lie, but the truth was something that even he wished he didn’t know. A child, especiallyEagle’schild, never needed to learn it.

“Cool.” The kid grinned at him, showing off two big front teeth and a missing molar on the bottom right.

“Wait…” Hannah whispered, her voice pitched higher. “Ifyou’realive—”

“No,” Hawk interrupted her, vaguely breaking it to her that Eagle didn’t make it. “I’m sorry.”

Her eyes dropped to the ground, but not before he saw that flicker of hope snuff out entirely.

Did she love him, too? How did I miss that?

A far-off siren accompanied by hurried footsteps stiffened Hawk’s spine with panic. He twisted woodenly to face the sound, but Draco’s deep voice announced his entrance, making Hawk relax a fraction.

“It’s me,” Draco reassured, allowing Hawk to lower his already raised gun. “But the cops are coming. There’s a gathering outside down the street and I don’t know Spanish, but I know the wordpolicíaisn’t going to end well for us.”

The kid’s tanned face paled and he sought his mother’s with a questioning glance.

“Mom, should we go—”

“Sí.Get your bag,avecito.”

“Shit,” Tommy cursed and turned out of her grip. Hawk’s brow rose as he waited for Hannah to light into the kid for cursing, but she just rolled her eyes.

“You know the rules,mijo. No complaining until we’re on the road. Now,ándale. We have to go.”

Tommy groaned, but double-timed it to his room.

“I’ll move the car closer,” Draco mentioned before disappearing as he shut the front door.

Hawk was left with a dead body behind him, and the woman he killed for in front of him. He wasn’t sure which one he dreaded dealing with more.

The sirens seemed to get closer, snapping them both into survival mode.

“Why are you here, Hawk?” Hannah whispered harshly. Her tone made him jerk back before answering.

“I came to save you.”

“Saveme?” She snorted. “¡Que rico!How rich. Well, I’ve been saved. You can go now. Tommy and I have been doing just fine by ourselves the past nine years, no thanks to yourboss—”

“Myboss?”

“—so if you don’t mind, see yourself out sowecan get the hell out of here. Or be here when thepolicíaarrive, I don’t care. Good luck figuring out what to say about your boss’s dead hitman, though.”

Stunned by her response, Hawk stood dumbly and watched as she spun away from him and crossed the living room with purpose.

She gathered her sketchbook, paintbrushes, and paint bottles from around the room without skipping a beat. Once she’d finished, she reached behind a side table to grab a hidden duffel bag and stuffed the items inside the already packed bag.

She’s been on the run.

He’d suspected it since he’d seen the General’s surveillance photo. But seeing her going through the motions of someone who’d been living this life for too damn long made his chest ache, and suddenly the need to comfort her was all-consuming.

“Hannah, take a breath and listen to me.”

He followed her into the living room where he gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him. There was a dead body in her kitchen and she was obviously ready to flee for her life, but the panic he would’ve expected on anyone else’s face, wasn’t on Hannah’s. Focus smoothed the faint beginnings of worry lines on her forehead, and she only looked annoyed that he’d stopped her.

But she didn’t shrug out of his hold, which was a win in his book.