Page 26 of His Reluctant Savior

We hugged again, and he ran off to play. The pain suddenly gut-wrenched me, and I struggled to stand. I needed to come back to him alive. I couldn’t have Owen lose another father.

After we said our goodbyes, Sid left them with a special phone before we headed back to his farmhouse.

“Are you okay?” Sid asked after our silent car ride back to his farm home. He pulled into the garage, and we both got out.

I shook my head finally. “Not really. What if I don’t come back to him?”

Sid unlocked the front door, and we stepped inside. “You will.”

“How can you say that?”

“I’llmake sure of it.”

“Jesus… Why, Sid? Why are you going out of your fucking way for me, someone you haven’t known since we were kids?”

He turned to face me with broad arms folded on his chest. “I already told you why.”

“Yes, you told me why. Still… you’re a damn killer. Killers don’t have empathy. Killers don’t care about the people they once knew way back when they were boys. Killers…”

I sighed and rubbed my face as the emotion kept a stranglehold on me, unable to shake the fear of leaving Owen behind. Maybe if I hadn’t lost my husband, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Owen was in good hands, and I had plans for someone to take care of him should I die, but still… If I do get killed, would he ever be safe?

Sid grabbed me by my shoulders and shoved me against the front door. It brought me back to that day in high school when he pushed me against the lockers. This time, he didn’t smell like fabric softener, but a richness like amber and whiskey poured off him. It was as masculine as he was. Shit, I hated how my body responded to him, even back then.

“This killer does. Granted, I don’t care about many people, but I was forced into a world I didn’t fucking ask for, and if I had chosen that other path, I would’ve been killed. Yes, I stayed on as a killer. It’s all I fucking know, Boy Scout. But I don’t kill indiscriminately, and killing isn’t my main job. Some in my family kill and don’t care. Some of them don’t know the meaning of remorse, but I promise you, they, too, were made that way. They didn’t choose this life. No one is born to be an assassin. My working partner and friend doesn’t care as long as we’re paid, and as long as no children are involved. His lover, who also works withus, is a literal psychopath. The word empathy doesn’t exist in his vocabulary, nor does it in my apprentice. As someone who jointly owns our organization, I get to pick and choose what assignment I take, especially for my specialty, dealing in politics. My actions could affect this country.”

“But…”

“No more buts. I made a choice. This isn’t just for you, Dalton, but for me. I owe this to myself, too. It gives me a chance to right some wrongs from when I was young… not just toward you, but toward all those I hurt because I was suffering. I may be a killer, but I’m not a fucking monster who cares about nothing. Now, stop asking me why and accept my damn help.”

My body sagged, and I nodded. “Okay.”

Sid’s frown turned into a smirk. “Obedient. I like it.”

“And you justhadto ruin it.”

He stood straight and shrugged. “What can I say? It’s part of my charm.”

“I think you just like shoving me against things.”

Sid threw back his head and laughed. “You got me all figured out, Boy Scout. Yes, it’s a lot of fun to see how you react to me.”

My face burned as he walked off toward a door right past the kitchen. “It’s time I went through your evidence. And I need to give you access to the security and weapons rooms.”

Sid punched in a few codes on the pad and pressed his thumb to it as it scanned his prints. He set up my thumb and made me recite the code several times, and then we headed downstairs to the basement.

“This functions as a panic room, too. If we’re attacked, we can come down here, load up on weapons, or whatever we need to do to protect ourselves, and they won’t be able to reach us.”

We stepped up to a second door at the bottom of the steps. This one was metal and fireproof. After entering another code and using his thumbprint, we stepped inside a finished and furnished basement with several rooms. The main room had a small living room and kitchen, along with a bedroom and a full bath. And there was a storage room full of food and water.

“Expecting the apocalypse?” I asked, only half joking.

“I expect anything. That’s why you’re safe here.”

Sid opened another door, and we stepped into a cold room filled with computers, servers, and several monitors that showed the surrounding land around his house.

He pulled a chair over next to the one in front of a computer so we could both sit.

I glanced at the photograph sitting there. It was so odd to see something personal in a place Sid never came to. I lifted the framed image and looked at it. Sid stood smiling with his arm slung over a teen boy with dirty blond hair. The boy was unsmiling and stiff, but he was leaning into Sid with… affection. It was so difficult to tell. They both wore martial arts gis and looked like they had just wrapped up some sparring.

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