Page 61 of Tactical Lies

“Told you, it’s all in the choice. You pick a winner, and you win, you pick a loser, and you lose. Simple as that.”

Those words clicked something into place inside her.

You picked a loser, and you lost.

Picking Toby had been the wrong choice. Not because he was a bad man, he wasn't, not at all. He was just bad for her. The wrong choice for her.

If you’d asked her a month ago if picking Connor was the right choice or wrong, she would have readily said it was the wrong one.

But that would have been a lie.

Because Connor was never the wrong choice for her.

He was always the right one.

You picked a winner, and you won.

Becca was well and truly ready to do some winning for a change.

Chapter

Fifteen

August 22nd

8:36 P.M.

Something was different about Becca.

Connor couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was, but something had changed while they spent the day out in the woods.

Fresh air and sunshine were food for the soul.

That’s what his mom used to say to him and his brothers when they hit those preteen years and started wanting to spend more time inside playing video games than they did outside riding bikes and playing.

At the time, he’d groaned and grumbled, as had the rest of his brothers, they wanted to do what their friends were doing, but their mom was tough. Tough but loving and always fair. She insisted that growing boys needed fresh air and sunshine to grow their souls just as much as they needed copious amounts of food to grow their bodies.

In the end, they always had fun after they finished complaining about how unfair life was and how Mom didn't understand that they weren't little kids anymore.

Thirteen had been too young to lose her.

Too young for him to realize the gifts she was giving them.

Too young to realize just what a great mom she was and how lucky he was to have her.

Sorry, Mom. I hope you know that even though the guys and I were so angry with you for getting married again so soon after Dad died, it was only because we didn't understand and not that we didn't love you. We did. We loved you a lot. So much.

Enough that none of us will ever stop fighting to prove you were innocent, that you never betrayed your husband, his team, or your country. No matter the cost, we owe you that for how we treated you and how we behaved those last six months.

“Connor?”

Blinking, he saw that Becca was looking over at him, concern on her face, and he realized he’d been standing at the sink, a plate in his hand, under the running water, lost in thought.

Was he really willing to prove his mother and stepfather’s innocence no matter the cost, even if that cost was Becca’s life?

Mom wouldn't want that.

She loved Becca like another daughter, and she’d always known he was going to make her his wife one day. It was going to happen a whole lot later than he’d originally planned, but ever since they talked on the bridge that afternoon, Connor had found a certainness settling inside him.

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