Page 41 of Every Which Way

“We’re family.”

Kenna felt Maizie’s hand on her sleeve. “You left me. You didn’t want to protect me.”

“I died to protect you!”

The outburst made Maizie flinch. Kenna could feel the shift behind her. She just stared at the woman standing in the open door, whose face betrayed nothing of the stress they were all under here. Like she was a spy who could keep her face completely impassive.

If she hadn’t just yelled, Kenna might wonder if she cared at all.

According to the novel,The Constantine Initiative, it was true that Amara had opted to die to keep the family safe. She had faked her own death to return to the company as a double agent. Always working to safeguard the family she’d left behind. But her father had embellished nearly everything he ever wrote.

So how was she supposed to believe this was the first truthful thing he’d ever written?

This woman wanted her showdown. Or reunion.

But Kenna had to get Maizie to the hospital.

She thumbed at the teen over her shoulder. “She needs to be checked out. So talk, Amara. If that’s even your name.”

“No one has called me that in a long time,” the woman said. “I like to hear it. I’ve wanted to see you for a long time, Kenna. To let you know I’m alive.” She looked past Kenna. “And to meet you, Maizie. I hear you are a remarkable young woman.”

“You know,” Kenna said, “when people say stuff like that, it just sounds like a giant red flag. A security breach.”

Amara looked at Kenna. “Leave this alone.” She paused. “Just take care of that woman, the company asset.”

“Roxanne?”

Amara tipped her head to the side. “That’s what she told you her name was?”

“Any information you have that will lead to her would be helpful. But I’m working the missing couple case.” Probably that was what Amara referred to when she’d said, “Leave this alone.” But Kenna was only guessing.

Amara lifted her chin. “I don’t need your help to find them.”

That kind of determination? This wasn’t just a job to her—it was personal. The kind of personal it would be if Kenna lost Maizie today or if anyone she cared about was taken. She’d be all set to burn the world down to get them back. Scorched earth wasn’t just an expression. It would become reality.

“Who is she to you?” Kenna asked. “Because if there wasn’t a personal connection, you wouldn’t care so much, I’m guessing.”

She felt Maizie shift behind her again and then heard the teen whisper, “Hello?”

Kenna figured she’d picked up her phone and was talking to Ramon. She kept her focus on the woman who was supposed to have been her mother. Who had chosen to be dead rather than raise her. Who’d put the fight for the world in front of family.

The choice had already been made, so there was no point berating this woman for it.

But that didn’t mean it hurt any less now than it had every day when she’d been growing up, knowing she had no mother and never would. Seeing other kids with a mom and realizing what she would miss.

Amara finally said, “The missing woman is my daughter.”

“And I’m your niece?” She wanted confirmation. She wanted to hear it from this woman’s mouth even though she already knew the truth.

“And she’s more your sister than anyone has ever been. Or could be.”

Kenna frowned. “What? Her father was Malcom Banbury?”

Maizie gasped.

Amara said, “Perhaps you could tell her what it was like to be raised by him. When I find her, that is.”

“I don’t know what it’s like to have a father.” Kenna shrugged. “He was barely mine.”

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