Page 70 of Cage

Leaning in close, I put my mouth near her ear and work on breaking the clasp at the same time. “Don’t say a word. I’ll explain everything in a minute.”

When I pull the necklace away from her, she gasps and looks from it to me, confused. I hold up my finger, signaling for one moment before I disappear from the kitchen to put this fucking thing in a secure spot. Once I confirm with a sensor that there is some sort of bug inside the charm, I put it in one of my safes that blocks any and all signals. Then I go back out to find Ember.

She’s still in the same spot, her eyebrows drawn together like she doesn’t know what to do.

“Baby, we need to talk.”

“What’s wrong?” she asks frantically. “What happened? Why did you take my necklace?”

I reach out and pick her up, then set her on the counter, bracketing her thighs with my hands. “I think we might have found the threat, and it’s not what we were expecting. Has your father talked about running for office lately?”

Ember goes stiff and stares at me, her eyes sparkling with so much fear that I want to put my fist through a fucking brick wall. “He was talking to someone on the phone about it recently. He didn’t know I overheard him. I don’t know who he was talking to.”

“Do you know a woman by the name of Ruth Boyle?”

“What? Why are you asking me this stuff, Cage? What’s going on?” She tries to push me away and slide off the counter, but I don’t let her. I’m not letting her go anywhere. She stays right here with me.

“Is your dad in a relationship with Ruth?”

I stare at her, waiting for any answer she’ll give me. I don’t really need confirmation, but the fact that Ruth fucking played me is making me question myself.

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s never been something that’s been said outright. I know they work together. What does Ruth have to do with this? How do you know her?”

This time, I step back and run a hand through my hair. “Ruth is one of our handlers at the CIA. I’ve worked with her for years. She’s the one who asked me to take you on as a client as a favor to her.”

Ember nods. “That makes sense. My father probably asked her for help when he got the threat. She’s probably one of the few people he trusts.”

“Baby,” I say, almost pleading. Fuck. I’m about to break my Little girl’s heart. “I think your father and Ruth sent you here to spy on us to get information to sway the upcoming election in his favor. The necklace your father gave you is bugged.”

21

EMBER

The room is spinning.

Nope. No, it’s not.

That’s not what’s happening at all.

It’s my world that’s spinning, and I’m pretty sure it’s about to implode.

“What are you saying? Are you saying my father used me as a pawn?”

Cage moves toward me again, but I hold up my hands, not wanting him to touch me right now. The only thing I want is answers.

“I can’t say that for certain. It’s what it appears to be, firefly,” he replies quietly. “I’m so fucking sorry, baby. I wish I had different information, but something wasn’t sitting right with me, so I had Cassian looking into it.”

“Can I see what he found?”

He stills for a second before letting out a sigh. “Baby…”

“I have a right to see it. If my… if my father used me to spy on you, I have a right to see everything.” My bottom lip trembles. I’m barely keeping it together. He’s got to have it wrong. My dad said we were going to have a fresh start. That we would bea family. He wouldn’t have said it if he didn’t mean it, right? “Please, Daddy. I need to see it.”

Cage clenches his jaw but nods and pulls me off the counter, then carries me on his hip through the house. “I’ll get you dressed. After that, we’ll go to the main house. I want to give Cass the necklace so he can figure out what kind of device it is.”

My grip on Cage is so tight that it’s probably hurting him, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he takes me into his room and sets me on the bed, then goes about finding clothes for me.

“You’re still in trouble for getting out of bed,” he mutters. “We’ll be finishing that conversation later.”

---