Stef turned back. “I did. But I also came because at some point in the last few years, you became my brother, and I don’t want to lose you.” He turned. “Hey, Nell. I came by to say hello.”
“Hi, Stef.” Nell walked in, waving behind her. She stopped when she saw him and her purse dropped to the floor. “Henry? Henry, are you all right? Did Stef say something?”
“I’m fine. Why.”
“Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry.” She rushed to him and threw her arms around him.
There was no way he wouldn’t take that. It was too good to be close to her. He was always close to her, and the week since they’d last been together had been one long walk in the desert. He held her tight and didn’t even care that tears had blurred his eyes when Stef had made it plain he belonged in Bliss.
He wasn’t sure he’d ever truly belonged anywhere.
“Is the baby all right?” Henry managed to ask.
Nell pulled back and then gasped as she seemed to come to a revelation. “Oh, Henry. I didn’t think about the fact that you would be worried. The baby is fine. I should have thought about how you would feel.”
“It’s okay. You needed time. I’m going to respect that, but I would like it if you would text me when you get out next time.”
“You can come.” Nell straightened her skirt and walked back to grab her bag. “I’m sorry I was so emotional today. You’re the baby’s father. Unless you’re planning to leave, and then I would prefer you weren’t in our lives at all.”
She’d gone cold fast, and that made him ache because Nell wasn’t cold. Not ever. Even her anger was a warm thing that proved her rage came from a place of caring. But there was a harmful indifference moving her now.
“I told you I don’t want to leave.”
“I wasn’t sure since the reason for you to be here is gone now,” she replied.
“What does that mean?”
“Do you honestly think the Agency doesn’t know?” Nell asked. “If the cartel knows, I would suspect the Agency knows. They might already have someone here watching you.”
It wasn’t anything he hadn’t thought about. The trouble was he couldn’t be sure how long the Agency had known, so he didn’t know how far back to look. “That is a possibility. If I was running an op on a wayward agent, I would send in someone long term. An operative who could get close to the agent. But Nell, I don’t want to leave. If they come for me, they come for me. If they do, you have to let them take me.”
That seemed to stop her for a moment. “What will they do to you?”
He wasn’t going into this with her. “It doesn’t matter. If I tell you to run, go to Stef’s. He’ll protect you. You let them take me. No arguments. If they come in the front, you walk out the back, go to Seth’s, and call Stef. He knows what to do.”
“Maybe you should run.”
“If they know about me, they know about you. Running would only leave you unprotected. And honestly, I don’t want to run. I ran from them and found this place. I don’t want to leave Bliss. If you can’t forgive me, I’ll rent a cabin of my own and I’ll find work, but I have no intentions of leaving Bliss. I’ll admit I thought about the fact that I might not be a good father, that maybe I should let you find someone who knows how to be a dad.”
She turned and walked into the kitchen, but not before he caught a sheen of tears in her eyes. “I think you’ll be a good father.” She picked up the kettle and started to fill it. “So you came here to get away from the Agency and the cartel, but you decided you liked it?”
“I came here because I fell in love with you.” He was tired. A weariness threatened to overtake him, but he couldn’t exactly go to bed. He didn’t have one anymore. “I’ve got some research to do. I’ll be at my computer if you need me.”
Nell looked back at him. “Research?”
“Seth and I have been trying to piece together what happened after I left.”
“What happened with the cartel you were watching?”
He nodded. “After I left there was a bunch of fallout. Apparently some money and a shipment went missing and that started a mini war inside the organization.” He probably shouldn’t talk about this, but she looked interested. It was the most eye contact they’d had in days. “After the fallout cleared, the cartel in Colombia started working with one in Mexico.”
“I thought they were always at war.”
“No, it’s actually often very businesslike. Don’t get me wrong. There was bloodshed, but the man who runs the Jalisco cartel obviously wanted the infrastructure associated with the weakened Colombian cartel. The trouble is the same man who took over now has a connection to someone I used to work with.”
“Another operative?”
“She was a trainee at the time.” His heart twisted at the thought of Kayla Summers. “She was one of my worst mistakes. Not because she was bad. She was excellent, but…” The last thing he needed was for her to find out how ruthless he could be. “You don’t need to hear this. Uhm, I can go work at Seth’s if you would rather be alone.”
She seemed to think about it for a moment. “Are you worried she’s in trouble?”
“Yes. I don’t like the pattern I’m seeing, and I don’t like what I’ve found out about the man who took over my job. I fear he’s manipulating the situation, and now he’s got Kayla involved, and weirdly enough, a Hollywood action star.”
Nell’s chin came
