Page 98 of His Coveted Obsession

“I love you, too.”

A knock on the door startled us apart.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

“I have no idea. Go to your room and lock the door. I’ll check who it is.”

Annie left without argument. When her door was shut, I headed to the front door and looked out the peephole to find Sid smiling and standing there, wiggling his fingers at me, as if he could see me.

I turned the three bolts on the door and slid the chain back before opening the door to let Sid in.

“Hi,” I said.

“Tommy. Are you and your sister comfortable?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

He carried a brown paper bag with him straight into the kitchen, and I followed him. He set the bag on the counter and pulled out glass containers full of meals. “Dalton insisted on making you and Annie some home-cooked meals. He was slaving away all morning. He’s such a dad…”

“Wow, that’s so nice of him. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Sid put four containers in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer.

“H-how’s Easton?” I asked.

“Agitated, annoyed, and wouldn’t stop pacing, so Malik and I sent him on a job to get him focused. He was parked out front all night and morning, watching over you.”

“God, I feel so bad. I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

Sid turned, leaned against the counter, and smiled kindly. “I know. Deep down, he knows that, too, but as you’re aware, he doesn’t process things the same way you or I do.”

“Yeah…”

“I offered to bring the meals because I wanted to talk to you about Easton.”

“I’m not leaving him if you’re here to convince me to stay.”

Sid chuckled and pointed at the coffeepot. “May I?”

“Yeah, of course.”

He pulled a mug from the cabinet and poured himself a cup without sugar and cream.

With his mug in hand, he sat at the kitchen table. “Sit, Thomas. Please.”

I sat across from him, my hands under my thighs so he couldn’t see my hands shaking, but his intelligent blue eyes would probably notice, anyway. Killers were intuitive, right? More than I was.

“Even after what you learned last night, you’re going to continue to pursue things with Easton?”

“Yes, but…”

“You’re nervous around him.”

I shrugged and nodded. “A little. Not just around him, but all of you.”

“That’s a reasonable and normal reaction. You’re not the first who’s… not a killer to learn about what we do. My own husband has very high morals. You may wonder what led an FBI agent to join our team. Our government betrayed him. You can’t prosecute those who do the prosecuting, it seems. So many men and women get away with crimes you couldn’t even imagine. As Dante likes to say, it takes darkness to kill the darkness. My own uncle, who was my guardian, did horrible things to me, and I was helpless until I took things into my own hands.”

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