Page 109 of Crossover

I understood why Ivy had been lured there. But why Vosch?

“If you were working with Vosch, why didheshow up to the garage? If you were under his thumb, didn’t you warn him about the termination?”

Something flickered through his face—frustration mixed with anger. And that’s when the last pieces clicked together.

“You waited to tell him until he was already there,” I realized. “Because you wanted him to get killed.”

“Of course I did. I didn’t want to be under his thumb. The other three CIA attempts, I tipped him off too soon. This time, I waited until he was already in the garage before warning him.”

So, Vosch would be dead, problem solved.

“Why tell him at all? Why not just let the CIA kill him and end all your problems?”

“Contingency plan. If he survived and found out I knew about the assassination plan and hadn’t warned him, he’d know I was working against him. It was safer to claim I had only found out about it when it was already going down.”

“Perfect scenario for you since both he and Ivy would’ve been killed. Because, even if Vosch was dead, Ivy’s nagging pressure on the cops might end with you behind bars. Not to mention disgraced.”

It was all pathetically clear now—how Vosch had managed to turn him and the lengths Daniel had gone to in order to protect his family.

“Did you think I’d shoot Ivy in that garage?” I asked.

“I knew Vosch would kill anyone who showed up at that meeting,” Daniel clarified.

“And just in case they didn’t, you had the bomb. A fail-safe for both Ivy and Vosch,” I continued. “Was the plan to take me out, too?”

This was the first time Daniel looked hurt. “Of course not. My goal wasn’t to kill you, Grayson, but if everything went to hell, the bomb was another contingency.”

“Which might very well have killed me.”

“If it was me or your family, which would you choose?” he questioned.

I’d always find a way to protect my family, but I’d never knowingly kill aninnocentperson to do it; I’d go after the people responsible for putting us in that position.

Daniel, on the other hand—my hero and mentor—was willing to sacrifice me at the altar. My intestines twisted with repulsion.

“You want to talk about family now?” I asked. “When your team broke into Hunter’s house, you didn’t just risk Ivy’s life. You riskedmyfamily’s life to protect yours.”

“You would have done the same.”

“No.” I shook my head. “That’s where we’re different.”

I’d never endanger Daniel’s family’s lives like that.

I don’t know why I thought I would get resolution, talking with Daniel, but it felt like the opposite. The man that I knew—the one with honor and dignity—was gone, and in his place was an imposter with justifications for everything he had done.

Killing Ivy’s father and destroying her heart, only to try and kill her too—they were the worst crimes he committed. But there was one other crime that was just as atrocious.

“Why did you sendmeto kill Ivy’s father?” I asked.

Daniel stared at me.

“You know my past,” I continued. “The reason I got into this profession was becausemyfather had been murdered.”

I could still picture the day I’d confided all this to Daniel and how, for the first time since my father’s death, I’d finally sobbed about it. To everyone else, I had shrouded my vulnerability and pain behind a veil of anger. Keeping it hidden from my family, not wanting to add to their own suffering. My mother’s anguish and my brothers’ broken spirits were already too much to bear.

My voice cracked as I continued, “You knew my history, and yet you used me to murder someone else’s innocent father.” The lump in my throat grew, threatening to choke me with pain. I refused to let Daniel see me suffer, though—he no longer deserved my vulnerability. “Out of anyone you could have sent, why did you send me?”

No matter how much time passed or how many people might offer their forgiveness, the guilt of taking an innocent life would haunt me forever.

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