Page 46 of Code Name: Grit

“This is just…weird, Mom.” I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for telling me about Cassio, and I wish you a safe journey to Italy. I love you, and I’ll miss you.”

I wished there’d come a time when she didn’t feel as though she had to remain living off the grid, so to speak, but I understood that there were those who might still want retribution for Vincent Senior’s and Junior’s crimes and would use her to get it. Or me. As much as I told myself I wanted to stop living in fear, it was naive to think that was possible.

“Dante told me you love him.”

I got up from the sofa. “Is that right? Well, I’m glad the brother I’ve known for less than a year knows more about my feelings than I do.”

“Maybe he sees something you can’t yet.”

I rolled my eyes. “This conversation is over. When’s your flight?”

“Tomorrow morning. I was hoping you and Grit could give me a ride to the airport.”

“Argh.Of course you did.” I studied her, knowing she meant well, even as weird as she was being. “Let me talk to Grit. It’ll be up to him whether we stay or not.”

“Good,” she said, standing and leaning forward to kiss my cheek. “I need to finish packing. I’ll see you in?—”

“A few minutes,” I said stopping her from saying in the morning. “After I talk to Grit.”

“Okay, sweetheart.” She waltzed away, looking very pleased with herself, as if she already knew he’d agree to stay even after I told him about the incredibly awkward conversation she and I had had.

If I told him.

Wait. I couldn’t tell him.

If I did, he might think my entire family was batty. Which, to be honest, we were.

The camp wasrustic but beautiful and exactly how I remembered it. Not that it had been very long since I was last here. Its exposed wood and natural-rock construction had large windows that overlooked the lake. A covered porch wrapped around three sides, offering stunning views of the water and surrounding forest. Inside, a great room with a massive fireplace opened to a small kitchen, and a hallway led to two bedrooms and a bathroom.

“I’ll take whichever room you don’t want,” Grit said immediately, breaking the tension as he set down our bags, but making my heart drop at the same time.

While I told him about my mother’s request for a ride to the airport in the morning, I hadn’t filled him in on the conversation she and I had.

However, thinking about it from a different perspective, I realized he should know about her relationship with Cassio.

After he dropped our bags in separate rooms, he asked me to join him on the porch. We stood close enough for me to feel his warmth without touching him, as much as I longed to.

The sun had begun its descent, casting the lake in gold and amber. A loon called somewhere in the distance, its haunting cry echoing across the water.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I said, breaking the silence.

He nodded, eyes on the horizon. “Peaceful.”

The unaddressed tension of our most recent kiss hung between us—a current neither of us seemed willing to acknowledge now that we’d left the confined space of the panic room. Every nerve in my body remained aware of his proximity,the memory of his hands in my hair, and his mouth hot against mine.

“Lumi—” he began, turning toward me.

Judging from his tone, I didn’t want to hear whatever he intended to say. “I should tell you about my conversation with my mom,” I said instead.

His eyes scrunched, but when I sat in one of the Adirondack chairs, he pulled a second close to mine and sat too.

“If she could have, I think my mom would’ve married Cassio instead of Vincent.”

His head cocked. “Interesting. So they were together before…”

“I got the impression her father forced her into the marriage. At the time, she was in love with Cassio. After faking her death and going into hiding, the two were reunited but only briefly.”

“When you were conceived.”

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