Page 76 of Vengeful Union

Something passes across Rory’s expression that I can’t quite read. “Had some work to do.”

“Work?” I frown wider, standing up on the steps. “Accounting work, or...otherwise?”

“Otherwise.”

He doesn’t give any further explanation, and the way his expression is shuttered means he doesn’t want to, either.

I take a deep breath.

Hopefully, he’ll tell me when he’s ready. When he can. It may be something to do with his father, something he can’t tell me publicly.

Rory doesn’t speak when I put on a towel and head back to the bedroom, and he doesn’t talk to me, either, just following a few steps behind me.

I can’t help but worry.

What is he hiding?

Chapter Twenty-Two

22

RORY

As Lara walks backto the main house in her cut-out swimsuit, I watch her long legs. I’m planning to strip it off her.

“Rory.”

When I enter the foyer, my father stands at the bottom of the stairs.

Lara doesn’t look at him, giving him a wide berth, and to his credit, my father acts as if she doesn’t exist.

“Yes?"

“Come to my office."

My heart speeds up. It isn’t exactly fear I’m feeling, but certainly apprehension.

Does he know something, or is this just about the mission this morning to take down The Pit?

I close the door behind me when I make it to his office, and he goes behind his desk, sitting down.

“Is this about The Pit?”

My father snorts. “No. That’s already over. Our men are gutting it as we speak.”

“Then what?"

“Can’t a father have a conversation with his son?”

I try to relax. “Of course.”

I sit down in the chair across from his desk, and my father smiles at me.

“You’re right.” He chuckles. “It is about work. So much is. I need a vacation.”

“You should take one."

“A general can’t take time off in the middle of a war, boyo.”

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