Page 102 of Family Bonds- Jarrett & Andi

“Agreed,” Mac said. “But if we believe Jack, there wasn’t much of a threat against Andi anyway. What there was was someone going rogue. Andi was already an adult and didn’t live with her father. Luke was working on something no one knew about. There was nothing in Andi’s life to show she knew a thing about the Dustin Family.”

“I know,” he said. “I ask myself how she can live with this hanging over her head because I’m struggling to.”

“So you don’t believe what Jack has told you about everything?”

“I want to,” he said. “It’s just hard to let go completely. I’ll never let my guard down any more than you. But I also know that you’re in it with me. No one else can know right now.”

“I’ll always have your back,” Mac said. “Hopefully you’ll never need it. But you’ve got Griffin too. If he needs to, he’ll be discreet.”

“I’m running things through my head,” he said.

“You want some of the facial recognition at the docks, right?” Mac asked.

“No one would know,” he said. “It’s an internal security the Bond family has. Griffin puts lots of people’s pictures in there for notification. For law enforcement and business or personal reasons.”

“True,” Mac said.

“But to do it, I’d have to explain why,” he said. “Or give some answer as to why. That is what I’m weighing.”

“Give it a few weeks, but let me know if you do it. Griffin can be trusted.”

“Not a concern,” Jarrett said. “It’s more living with the secret of doing it and not letting Andi know.”

“Sometimes you have to have secrets for someone’sowngood,” Mac said. “Don’t let this mess with your head. Separate your head and your heart no matter how hard it is.”

“Good advice,” he said. “Thanks.”

34

THIS IS SIMPLE

“You’re joking right?” Andi asked Jack later that night. She hadn’t expected he would have called her when she’d been texting him earlier.

He was complaining about the weather getting warm already and missing the snow in Denver. He’d liked it there too and she only wanted to tease him about the better weather here.

The news that he was transferring to Boston in two weeks was a complete shock.

“I’m not,” Jack said. “I told you I was going to look into it. I did. They had an opening now. Who knows if they will again or not anytimesoon?I didn’t want to lose the opportunity.”

She ground her teeth. “You mean the opportunity to keep an eye on me?” she asked. “You keep telling me everything is fine and I’ve got Jarrett now. Or is that the problem? You don’t like that?”

“I’m fine with it,” Jack said.

“Then there is something going on with the Dustin Family and you’re keeping me in the dark like you’ve done before?”

She hated that her voice broke when she asked that question. Even though she accused him of something, she never thought he’d lie to her before and yet he did.

“I didn’t lie to you, Andi. Never. Colleen,” he said. He never called her that. Ever. Not since he put her in the safe house. “I gave my word to you and your father. I’ll do what I need to to protect you, but I won’t lie. If I can’t tell you something, then I’ll tell you that exactly. What you think was a lie was something I didn’t share with you about your father, but it didn’t change the outcome of anything.”

She started to cry. “I’m not Colleen anymore. I never will be. Don’t call me that. Please.”

She heard Jack sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to get you to understand. I’m moving fora number ofreasons and told you them all.”

She wanted to believe him, but the other part of her worried this was going to cause issues in her relationship with Jarrett. Maybe the two men in her life had come to an understanding but putting them this close to each other might break that.

“It’s just so soon. And sudden.”

“I told you I was going to look into it,” Jack argued. “Is Jarrett there?”

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