Page 127 of The Protégé

“I’m glad you’re okay, Mrs. Sanchez.” I smiled. “Who’s the guy in overalls?”

“That’s Reid Lanaro. I’ve been working for him for years at Wild Roots. The best boss I’ve had. He offered to let me stay at his apartment until the damages are repaired.”

I turned to Elena. “I’m going to speak to the officers.”

She nodded and joined her mom’s group of friends.

Who the fuck was Reid Lanaro? To be fair, I hadn’t researched my brother-in-arms because I’d never dealt with him. I’d only heard about him through my teacher. Apparently, I missed an important detail.

He met my eyes and walked over. “Hey.”

“We need to talk.”

Reid and I walked across the street and stood by his truck that was filled with garden tools and three shrubberies.

“Is Reid your real name or another alias?” I studied him with the grown beard. The dark hair was still there, but was loose and messy.

Tucking his handsinto his overalls’ pockets, he smiled. “It’s my real name. When I retired, I tried to make life as normal as possible for Charlotte and the kids.”

“How many kids do you have?”

“Two.”

“Does she know about your history?”

“Oh, she sure does.” His eyes warmed with love. “She was an assassin sent to kill me, but I charmed her instead.”

I laughed. “I should’ve researched you. Are you completely off the grid?”

“Eighty percent of my life is off the grid. The other twenty percent is a promise to The Condor.”

“What do you mean?” I envied him for knowing something about my mentor that I didn’t. But then again, Reid was his first student.

“Did you know The Condor had a lover?”

“No. We never spoke about his personal relationships. He told me his family had passed away in Peru.”

“His parents and siblings did. He fell in love in the States, and her name is Anita Sanchez.”

We both looked over at Anita and Elena as they spoke to the police officer and firefighter.

Revelation hit me. “Is Elena his daughter?”

Reid nodded. “Anita thought Pablo had died in an ambush. He didn’t know she was pregnant. Pablo was injured and took several months to heal. When he discovered he had a child, he feared Anita and Elena would be endangered if he were near them.” He kicked a pebble across the sidewalk. “Our teacher has been watching over them all these years. Which is why he had an apartment in Providence. Keeping an eye on them from a distance.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. All the tiny pieces were falling into place. Now I knew why I’d been attracted to her on a different level. We had a unique connection. Her biological father had been my teacher. Now I was in love with his daughter.

The Condor saved me back then, and now his daughter healed me.

“Did he ever contact Anita? Does she know he was alive?”

“He visited her once when Elena was born. Anita had remarried, thinking Pablo was dead. Her husband treated her and Elena well, so Pablo stayed in the shadows. He didn’t want his enemies hurting them because of him. But then her husband developed a gambling addiction, and Carlos was an asshole. I’m glad he’s dead.”

I had to inform Elena of this new revelation. How would she react? The father she’d known wasn’t her biological father. Regardless, today wasn’t the day for that. She was already an emotional mess.

“Do you know who caused the fire?”

He took out his phone and showed me a dead body. I recognized the man who had attacked me at Carlos’s convenience store, the one with the cross tattoo.

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