Page 89 of Sunflower

With an ever-growing smile, Bailey stared at Erin in admiration while I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if Leland had wet himself.

“You willneversee the light of day again, Leland. I promise you that,” Erin spat at him. “By the time we’re done with you, you’ll be a drooling husk of a human who won’t be able to string two words together, let alone remember his own name.” She stared at him for a long moment before she looked up at Bailey. “We’re done here. Lock him down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bailey said gladly, beaming at Erin as she stood up, deliberately picked up the manila folder from the table and the still unopened bottle of water on the floor and walked out, her head held high.

Two hours later, we were waiting in what George had earlier called thewar room.With fifteen people in attendance, almost every seat had been filled. Kiddo, George, and Marcy were, understandably, absent.

It had been confirmed that George’s wife Mary had been killed while Leland had been in custody, as had Marcy’s husband, Carmine, and their six-month-old baby son, Elian.

Details were still light on the ground, but it appeared the deaths had all occurred around midnight. There was speculation that Leland had been stationed outside our parent’s house to murder Erin, Dad, and maybe even me if I’d planned on staying there overnight, but because we’d been so focused on tracking him, we’d been able to nab him first.

Callum and I had comethis closeto losing everything, but our loved ones had survived.

George and Marcy’s hadn’t.

At the head of the tables stood a serious older woman with long, flowing white hair and black cat-eye-framed glasses. The shadows under her eyes had shadows of their own, and under a classy black and purple oversized shawl, she wore a tribal black and brown woolen sweater and black slimline slacks. She’d introduced herself to me as the Orchestra we’d all spoken to earlier to get our consultant passes, and, after learning what had transpired not only overnight, but over the past few days, formally offered me a role with the agency to work as a boost.

Orchestra was talking to a miserable Erin. Her pale skin and red hair, both so much like Callum’s, looked as washed out and tired as I knew she had to be. She still wore the satin green blouse and black jeans she’d worn last night to meet with friends, however, she’d swapped her black pumps for a pair of simple white sneakers.

After confirming with Erin and Dad that I would be dropping out of college at the end of the semester to accept Orchestra’s offer to join the agency, Callum had led me to the same seats we’d sat in earlier, still refusing to let go of my hand. I was starting to feel like a security blanket, but after the night we’d had, I couldn’t find it in myself to care. After I’d learned what had happened to George and Marcy’s immediate family members, numbness had filled me. The warmth from Callum’s hand holding mine kept that numb feeling from overwhelming me, and I suspected he was probably feeling the same way.

Other than Dad, who stayed close to Erin, I only recognized Bailey, Tama, and Pippa in the remaining group. Eight other men and women of varying ages I’d need to learn the names of if I had any hope of helping George find the mole. Although…

“Is that Ruben Steele?” I asked Callum, leaning into his shoulder so I could mutter into his ear whilst I frowned at the well-dressed man at the end of the connected tables. It didn’tquitelook like him, but the golden-brown eyes and lightlytanned Mediterranean looks that had made him a Hollywood darling were identical. The long, curly dark brown hair that swept past his shoulders and thick, well-maintained beard, however, were new. A tiny part of me wondered if he was trying out a fresh look for an upcoming movie, but then my sanity returned and realized it couldn’t possibly be Ruben Steele. There was no way a Hollywood movie star would be working for the agency. It had to be a lookalike.Right?

Callum didn’t even bother looking at the man in question. He simply bent his head to whisper back to me, “That’s Ryan Tanner. He’s a normie that’s been with the agency for about a decade.”

Nodding shallowly, I brought my gaze back to the glass of water sitting in front of me and picked it up to take a sip. See? I’d let my imagination run wild. He was just a doppelgänger.

“He’s Ruben Steele’s twin brother.”

The mouthful of water I’d taken was sprayed out, and I started coughing uncontrollably, making almost the entire room stare at me. “Sorry! Sorry, everyone…!” As a chuckling Callum pounded my back to stop me from hacking up a lung, I wiped the spilled water onto the floor before I glared at him. “You couldn’t have waited until I’d swallowed before sharingthatbombshell with me?”

“Where would the fun be in that?”

Grumbling, I tried to absorb the fat droplets that were still littering my empty notebook with my sleeve.

A smiling young Asian man plopped down in the seat to my right, his straight black hair long enough to need a serious trim styled into messy spikes. Black gauges adorned his earlobes, and a thin black chain clung to his neck. “Hello. You’re new.”

“I am,” I said cautiously. Was everyone in this team so friendly? First Pippa, now this guy?

“I’m Koby.” He sent an appraising look slowly up and down what parts of my upper body he could see and licked his lips.

“Joey.” Was heflirtingwith me? Even with the terrible drama of the past few hours, a tiny grin flickered at the corners of my lips at his audacity.

“And I’m Callum,” my suddenly surly boyfriend said. “Back off, Goblin. Joey’smine.”

Holding his hands up, Koby sat back in his chair and grinned cheekily. “No harm, no foul, Honey. Just checking out the newbie.”

I turned to raise an eyebrow at Callum.“Honey?Should I be jealous?”

“Short for Honeycomb,mo lus na gréine,”Callum growled, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and lifting our clasped hands to my collarbone in an obvious display of caveman syndrome. “Nothing to be jealous about.”

This was the first obvious sign of possessiveness from Callum I’d seen, and I couldn’t deny that it made my cock perk up. I’d have to revisit this later with him when we were alone and not surrounded by a bunch of family members and strangers.

Koby placed a palm over his heart and dramatically reacted like he’d been shot. “You wound me, Callum. Here I was thinking we had something special.” He winked obviously at me to let me know he was just playing around.

“If you call being an eternal pain in my ass, sure. What we have isspecial,”Callum responded glibly. “Go annoy someone else.”

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