Page 32 of Undercover Savior

My eyes flooded with tears, something that was rare for me.

“Come and sit.”

I let him lead me to a sofa and pull me down beside him. “I have a few things to tell you.”

“A few?” I said in a raised voice.

“Yes. Well, a couple, at least.”

I wriggled my hand from between his. “I was thinking it was a higher number.”

“I’m not sure where to start.”

“How about with who you really are?”

He turned his body to face me and reached for my hand. “Please,” he said when I moved it out of his grasp.

His eyes bored into mine. “My name is David Evans.” He paused as though he expected it to mean something to me. When my eyes scrunched and I shook my head, he continued.

“What I told you about who I work for was the truth?—”

“You didn’t tell me. You said that a decent reporter would be able to figure it out. Maybe not those exact words, but close.”

“Sounds like me,” he muttered. “I work for SIS, and as I’m sure you gathered, I am an assassin.”

My eyes opened wide, and I gasped. “An assassin?”

“Yes, but I am on the side of the good guys.” He added something under his breath that I didn’t catch, but I also didn’t ask him to repeat it.

“What else?”

“I am, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, the Duke of Ashcroft.”

“The duke?”

“That’s right. Given my, err, line of work, it’s been necessary that I maintain a certain anonymity.”

“You’re a duke.”

“Yes. Of Ashcroft—the castle and estate of the same name.”

“So, why…?” My mind raced, answering my own question.

“There’s more.”

I nodded and averted my gaze. “Of course there is.”

“A few years ago—actually longer than that—over twenty years ago, my family spent a year living in Ballater, outside?—”

“I know where Ballater is. I grew up…”Twenty years ago?His family spent a year there? “My God. You’re…”

“From what I remember, and that’s everything from that year of my life, you called me Davy.”

“Davy?” The name was barely a whisper on my lips.

“Yes, Sully.”

My eyes darted between his until I finally squeezed them shut.

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