Page 127 of Illicit

“So, I have to know.” Everyone in the room turns toward me. “This is all great. I’m impressed. In awe. But what about Heath Hayes? He’s the reason I investigated Jules Robichaux to begin with.”

Cole stuffs his laptop in a bag and powers down his cell.

“Oh, shit,” Dad mutters. “I know what this means.”

Everyone in the room does the same. I turn to Rocco and frown.

“I’ve never been an agent for this, but this means shit’s about to go off the record.”

Cole looks at my dad. “Are we good to talk here or should we go somewhere else?”

“We’re good,” Dad says.

Cole nods and turns to me. “My wife, Bella, is a baddie—like you—just with more experience under her belt.”

Dad turns to Cole. “Can we just stick to the case here? I’m still coming to terms with today. The thought of Teagan becoming a Bella Carson will push me over the edge.”

“Now I want to meet your wife,” I add.

“Bella used to be MI6,” Cole says.

I’m a journalist. Or that’s what I want to be, since I’m basically unemployed. Now that I agreed to stay, I need to find another job. I’m really good with reporting what’s already happened. I have no desire to be any type of agent—secret or otherwise.

Cole keeps talking. “Now she works for a private organization in the States. Her associates have special and varied skills. Extraction is not normally their thing. They’re usually…” Cole pauses and tips his head, looking for the right word. “Messier. Anyway, I work with her organization from time to time. I need them, they need me—it all evens out in the end.”

I focus on one word that matters in his discourse. “Extraction?”

Cole nods but answers carefully. “Basically.”

The men around the room look mildly impressed. But then again, I think it takes a lot to impress them, whereas it doesn’t take much for me.

But it sure as hell requires details.

“Look, I’m new to this,” I explain. “Don’t assume I can read between the lines. And I don’t want to assume Heath Hayes will soon be a free man if that’s not true. Are you saying your friends are going in to get him?”

Cole narrows his eyes and looks like he’s solving a complicated calculus problem in his head. “I feel like there’s a good chance you’re safe to read between the lines. But when it comes to things like this, nothing is a sure thing. I’ll know more in a few hours.”

My jaw goes slack. I can’t help but gape at the news. “Are you serious? Hours?”

“Like I said, my wife’s associates and I do each other favors. This is a biggie, but I could tell it was important to Rocco when we spoke. I called in the favor. That Nigerian prison was not going to release Mr. Hayes. It just wasn’t going to happen. Even though he was taken advantage of?—”

“Elder fraud,” I butt in. “That’s what I called it in my thesis.”

Cole nods. “See there? A badass in training.”

“Thanks, Cole,” Rocco says from where he stands close behind me. Even though he’s played a part in orchestrating this operation, he never separated himself from me. A lot of that time, he’s touched me in some way. The fact that my dad knows about us, and it’s settled that we’re staying in Miami, I feel a peace I haven’t felt in a long time.

Cole beams. “I’m always happy to visit my weird cousins in Miami. You guys are always an entertaining bunch.”

Dad picks up his things. “Are we done? I need to get back to the hospital. I have the car seat with me.”

I move away from Rocco for the first time since our secret was blown into a million pieces and wrap my arms around my dad. “Thank you.”

He returns my hug with a sigh. “Not sure why you’re thanking me. It seems you didn’t trust me enough to tell me things you should have.”

I press my cheek to his chest. “Thank you for not flipping out worse than you did.”

He presses his lips to the top of my head like he’s done my entire life. “That’s the worst thank you I’ve ever gotten.”

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