Page 46 of Shadow Sabotage
“Controlling?”
“I was going to say overly invested in your love life.” He flashed a grin before turning serious again. “But your family is different from mine. So warm and loving. Connected. And with your background in SAR, I don’t understand why they’d laugh about you taking the liaison position.”
“Well, they did.” My cheeks turned red just remembering it.
His voice softened. “People underestimate you all the time, don’t they?”
“Most people. Not everyone.” Rhett and Cole never had. Neither had Cheyenne. That was probably why they were my three favorite people on earth.
His jaw tightened. “I know I said this earlier, but I’m sorry I was one of them.”
I waved him off. “You didn’t know me. Is it irritating when a stranger underestimates me? Sure. But I get it. I’m a woman. I’m blonde, and for some reason, peoplestillthink blondes aredumb. I’m also short. That’s three immediate strikes against me. I get it. The only thing that really hurts is when it’s someone who actually knows me.”
“Like your parents.”
“Exactly.”
He shook his head, with a strange smile on his face. “I get that, too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Why do you think I’m at DCI?”
“What do you mean?”
He wadded up his napkin and tossed it onto the table. “Dad worked his way up to SAC—Special Agent in Charge—of the New York field office. He was a big deal.”
“Apparently so,” I said, impressed.
“When he retired, he moved to Jackson. Started a private security firm.”
I whistled. “So he’s making the big bucks providing security for the celebrities that flock there every summer.”
“Oh yeah. So much money that even my mom keeps trying to use me as an excuse to get close to him again.” He rolled his eyes. “But anyway, when I decided to leave the NYPD, I applied for a position there first. He turned me down.”
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I have a bachelor’s in criminal justice. Graduated with a 4.0. Made detective in just eighteen months—”
“Whoa,” I said, my eyes wide. Eighteen months was exceptional in a competitive place like the NYPD.
“Thanks.” He flashed another quick grin. “But even after eight years of experience in New York, my own father still rejected my application to work with him. Said it wasn’t enough.”
The injustice of it pissed me off. How could his father not see what was right in front of his eyes? Not just Vance’s merit as alaw enforcement officer, but the fact that he was working his ass off trying to earn a relationship with his dad—something that should have been his all along.
“Why are you even still trying?” I blurted out. “He sounds like a total ass.”
He took a deep breath. “It’s complicated.”
“Maybe it shouldn’t be.”
“You think I should stop?” Those piercing blue eyes of his focused on me, waiting for an answer. His intensity made me feel like everything was hanging in the balance.
Part of me knew that it was a bad idea to give life-changing advice to someone you barely knew. But I didn’t have it in me to hold back.
“Yeah, I do,” I said firmly. “You’ve made it clear you want a relationship with him, but it seems like he keeps blowing you off. That sucks. You shouldn’t have to fight for it. Maybe if you stop, he’ll realize what he’s missing out on.”
He took in my words, revealing nothing as he contemplated them. “I have no idea why I told you all of this,” he finally said.
