Page 122 of Illicit

“Why Teagan?” King asks.

Cole turns to me. “They don’t know?”

“They don’t know what?”

We all turn to the door. Tim stands there staring at us.

“Well, hello, gramps!” Cole bellows. “Congratulations. I hear she’s a beauty. I love babies.”

“Thanks.” Tim frowns and turns to his daughter. “What are you doing here?”

Teagan is standing close to me. No matter how much I want to, we’re not touching. Tim’s reaction is to her being here, not to her being here with me.

Yet.

Brax, Micah, and King all look as perplexed as Tim. I’m about to open my mouth to explain before Cole demands the podium like he usually does, but Teagan speaks first.

“So, do you remember how I was volunteering for A Life for Justice? Well, one of my cases crossed paths with Rocco’s. That was before either of us moved. When we realized we both had the same goal, we teamed up.”

“Teamed up,” Micah echoes in a way that makes me want to punch him in the face. “They sure did.”

“When did this happen?” Tim demands. “And why didn’t I know about it before now?”

“Not too long ago,” I offer. “You’ve been busy with Sammie.”

Proving he can’t keep his mouth shut for long, Carson jumps in. “Your daughter is fan-fucking-tastic at what she does. Not only has she cracked an international human trafficking ring, it opened the doors to a drug distribution pipeline that spans so far and wide, it has my supervisors sporting wood.” He looks at Teagan. “Sorry, but it’s true.”

“It’s fine,” Teagan says.

Tim doesn’t think about the human trafficking or the international drug ring, and keeps his attention focused on his daughter. “I thought you were just working on cold cases.”

Teagan bites her lip and shrugs. “That’s true. This is a case where a man has been imprisoned for something he was tricked into doing. An elderly gentleman.”

“In a Nigerian prison,” Cole adds and stresses the word Nigerian for effect. “And not a good one. But really, are any of them good? I’ve located him, by the way. You’re welcome.”

Teagan’s eyes widen.

“Exactly,” Cole agrees and points to Teagan. “And I hear you are the badass who went undercover to lead us to where we are now.”

Tim gapes. His happy aura from becoming a grandfather flies out the window. He holds a hand out low and glares at me. “So, let me get this straight. You took my daughter undercover to locate an elderly man in Nigeria because it’s tied to your case?”

“No way,” I answer with a partial lie. “We stumbled upon each other. The first time was all on her. I was doing surveillance on the target and saw Teagan. I moved in when I realized it was her so she wasn’t doing this by herself. There was some car trouble and then a little break in. Look, it doesn’t matter how we got here. The rest fell into place.”

“I’d say so,” Micah mutters.

King nods like he’s seen the light. “Now it’s all coming together.”

Tim explodes. “A break in?!”

“Dad, I swear, I was fine. That wasn’t a big deal. Nothing was taken.” Teagan takes a step toward Tim and tries to calm him down. “Since then, Rocco and I have worked together.”

Brax lets out an audible exhale.

Seriously, when the fuck did Brax start breathing so loud?

Either these men are always this dramatic, or Tim doesn’t notice because he’s too focused on his daughter. “Why am I just learning about this?”

“I’m just putting it out there, we’re just finding out about this too,” Brax states.

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