Page 32 of Perilous Healing

“Good,” Lance replies. “We could use all the help we can get.” He sighs. “Bianca said this guy is patient. What do you know about him?”

“Not much,” I reply truthfully. “He’s Lucian’s half-brother, born due to an affair his father had with his secretary.”

“Was it a family business?”

“No. Lucian started it using the contacts his father had as a defense attorney. His father died when Lucian was twenty-five, and it’s suspected that it was murder. A way to get his dad out of the way so he could grow the organization without fear of being caught.”

Lance studies me. “What do you think?”

The man picks up on subtleties most miss. It’s what made him a great Ranger, captain, and what makes him good at his job now. “His dad was an abusive drunk and had an affair. I believe he killed him out of revenge after his dad turned over his client list.”

“Then that’s what we’ll go with. When did Lucian bring River into the organization?”

“Right after he killed his father. Before that, River had been living in a halfway house, drunk and addicted to every drug known to man.”

“So Lucian cleaned him up and brought him in as number two.”

I nod. It’s not hard for me to recall what’s in that file. I memorized it. And a man like River Culvers, and what he did to my team and me—not things you forget. “I didn’t know about Bianca. Lucian kept his family life under wraps, so she was never spotted.”

“When did you find out about her?”

“When the enemy tracked us down. They thought it was hilarious that I had no idea who she was.” She’d charged out of the brush, ready to fight for both our lives. My chest aches as I recall the terror on her face when they’d forced her to her knees in that jungle, their weapons trained on us both.

But they’d threatened me and she immediately pleaded for my life. Then threatened to take her own if they didn’t let her go.

I swallow hard. I’d been so angry at her for lying that I’d nearly blocked that out of my mind.

“What happened next?”

“My cousins showed up and subdued them. Apparently, my sister sent them after me once the U.S. government pronounced me dead. They’d found the bodies of the rest of my team and assumed I was gone, too. But she said she felt I was alive. ‘Twintuition’ is what she’d called it.” Another ache. Because I’d laughed it off when she’d said that, yet I’d known she was dead before the call even came in.

A feeling that I couldn’t ignore, like a piece of me was gone.

“So your cousins came after you. And then?”

“Nothing. At the time, I didn’t tell them who she was, and she didn’t offer the information. I did end up telling them later, but it was after we’d already gone our separate ways to be debriefed.”

“Why didn’t you tell your cousins who she was?”

I consider his question because it’s something I’ve wondered too. I remember how angry I was. How hurt. Bianca and I had walked through hell together and the entire time she’d been the daughter of a monster.

But then I remember the ferocity on her face when she’d charged out of those trees, ready to die for me. And I realize that even after all this time, my feelings for her had never left. They changed, sure, but I was only masking the love with anger because, somehow, it hurt less than admitting I’d been betrayed by someone who had come to mean everything to me in a short period of time.

“Repayment,” I tell him. “She saved my life, and I felt like I owed her one.”

Lance studies me because we both know it’s not the truth. Thankfully, though, he doesn’t call me out on it. Not directly, anyway. “One of these days you’re going to wish you’d been honest with her,” he says. “About how you feel.”

“Maybe,” I admit. “But not today.”

It’snear ten when Eloise finally falls asleep. After eating way too much dessert and having an insane amount of fun with everyone, she’d been bouncing off the walls. It had taken a warm bath, lavender oil in the diffuser in her room, and three bedtime stories before she’d finally started yawning.

After checking to make sure the front door is locked and retrieving the baby monitor from the kitchen counter, I head out onto the balcony that overlooks the ocean. It’s a clear night, the stars shining brightly overhead, and the sound of the ocean waves crashing into the rocks has the weight of my stress melting away.

That is, until I glance to my left and see Bianca on her side of the porch, Bible cradled against her chest, eyes closed. At first, I’m captivated by what a beautiful sight she makes in her white sweatshirt and seafoam green leggings, her hair loose around her face.

But then I realize that this level of relaxation is not normal for her. And I can’t tell if she’s breathing.

I leap over the divider separating us and rush to her side, adrenaline surging through my system.

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