Page 17 of Ex-SEAL Bad Boy

Every endeavor I’ve been involved with, any challenge I’ve set for myself, from child prodigy to football star to Navy SEAL, requires focus.

Romantic relationships, even true friendships, can interfere with that focus.

That was the thing about Liam. Somehow, he made me better, he helped me focus by keeping me grounded. He didn’t let me get in my head.

Of course, I’ve slept around, but none of them really meant anything. They were merely conquests. Additional achievements to add to my wall.

Except for Sophia.

I’m sure part of it is the emotional connection with her being Liam’s sister – and I have the sinking feeling this is going to get really awkward really soon – but there is something more, something deeper.

As much as I want her to help me on this job, given her aversion to anything having to do with the Blackwood family, that would prove difficult, if not impossible.

This whole operation is shady as hell anyway, even if it is ultimately in the best interest of the child. Asking her to participate would only reinforce her opinion that the Blackwoods are bad news.

My agreement to go along with my parents on this will no doubt negatively affect her opinion of me as well.

There has to be some way of showing her that this is actually a good thing and that the child will be happier and healthier with his or her biological dad.

I plan to do more research on Harrison Whitmore III to ensure that he will be a good father and not some kind of monster.

The more information I can present to Sophia to show that participating in this plan is a chance for the Blackwoods to do good for a change, and at the same time give her a little walking around money.

Unfortunately, knowing what I do about her, she likely is a firm believer in the Shakespeare admonition from Much Ado About Nothing, “They that touch pitch will be defiled.”

I will find a way to make her understand.

8

SOPHIA

It’s out there.

I’m convinced of it.

I stand on a rise overlooking the ocean. The lights of Virginia Beach twinkling like Christmas lights several miles away. There is just a hint of a chill in the normally sultry air. It’s a beautiful evening.

The “it” I refer to is theEsmeralda del Mar,orEmerald of the Sea.

When I was in elementary school, my teacher told the class a tale of a Spanish galleon that sank in a storm in 1577, not far offthe coast. It was supposedly filled with treasure from the West Indies, gold and precious jewels, and was following the East Coast before turning east toward Spain.

I’ve never been able to find it on any maps of local shipwrecks, but I am sure it’s out there somewhere.

I suppose the reason that I’m so invested in the truth of this story is that it is a perfect metaphor for my life. The way it’s always been.

Everything, it seems, has always been so close, but just out of reach.

Take my brother. I love Liam, and he loves me, no one could ask for a better big brother. But with the four-year difference between us and the fact that he was a guy, he never really got me or understood what I was going through.

In high school, I worked so hard to get straight-As. My goal was to be class valedictorian. My folks were so proud of me. When it came down to myself and another girl, the plan was to make us co-valedictorians, which would have been fine with me.

One week before graduation, the school board came back with a decision that there could only be one valedictorian. The girl was chosen ahead of me because she worked with some sea turtle rescue program, and they gave her credit for that.

Now, I have a guy that makes me feel valued, and that changed my whole opinion about him. Only, maybe he’s not really the guy I think he is.

I’ll soon find out.

That’s why I’m here.

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