Chapter 37

37

Paige's world tilted, reality skewing sideways. Her heart thundered, elation and disbelief warring in her veins.

The plane's engines faded to white noise as she locked onto Cody's face. She searched for a tell, a hint that this was some cruel joke. But she found none.

"I ..." The word caught in her throat, years of longing threatening to choke her. Paige swallowed hard, forced out a whisper. "I've had feelings for you forever too."

The confession hung between them, electric. Charged particles danced in the narrow space, years of unspoken desire made tangible.

But as the initial wave of joy subsided, a shadow crossed Cody's features. She swallowed hard, a knot of dread forming in her stomach. "There's more to the story, isn't there? You might as well come clean now."

He nodded, his expression grave. "Your father was my mentor within the Consortium."

She closed her eyes, fighting back a sudden wave of nausea. She knew he'd created the security system for the lab beneath the Castle, but it was very possible he hadn't known who his true employers were. It was a government building, after all. Her father was dead. Did she really need to know the rest? But even as the thought formed, she knew she couldn't hide from the truth any longer.

"How long?" she asked, forcing the words past the lump in her throat. "How long was my father involved with the Consortium?"

"Longer than me," Cody replied, his voice heavy with regret. "They got him the same way they got me. I had no idea who I was working for until it was too late. Or it would have been too late, if your Dad hadn't talked me into working undercover. We created the Tanner persona, and we fed intel anonymously to anyone we could reach."

"Like Jason," Paige said, the pieces suddenly falling into place.

"Exactly," Cody confirmed. "He was one of our best pipelines."

As Cody continued to explain, detailing how her father had tried to get him out and their subsequent decision to work deep undercover, Paige felt as if she were seeing her entire life through a new lens. The cabin shrank around her, the truth of her father's sacrifice pressing in from all sides.

"So that's why he shut himself off from me," she whispered, her voice catching. "To keep me far away from the danger."

The realization brought a fresh wave of grief, tinged with a bittersweet understanding. Paige looked at Cody, seeing him—truly seeing him—for perhaps the first time. In his eyes, she saw a reflection of her own pain, her own longing, and beneath it all, a glimmer of hope for what might still be possible between them.

As Paige's mind reeled from the earthshattering revelations, her phone buzzed insistently. She fumbled to answer it, her fingers clumsy with emotion.

"We got the hard drive," Bridger's voice crackled through the speaker the moment she picked up.

She let out a whoop of delight that made Cody jump. His startled expression quickly morphed into curiosity.

"We have the drive," she told him.

Cody's grin was infectious, his silent fist pump a perfect mirror of her own elation. Despite the years of deception, she found herself drawn to the genuine joy in his eyes, the way his whole face lit up with hope.

"Jason retrieved it," Bridger continued, oblivious to the emotional undercurrents in the plane. "He's on his way in. ETA about an hour after you and Cody. Looks like you're about thirty minutes to touch down. Fenn and Mason will be waiting."

She settled back into the plush leather seat, finally allowing herself to relax for the first time since Cody had lured the team to Croatia. The luxurious cabin of the turbo prop jet enveloped her in a cocoon of comfort. Soft, amber lighting cast a warm glow over the polished wood paneling and cream-colored upholstery. The gentle hum of the engines provided a soothing backdrop, a stark contrast to the chaos of the past few days. The space felt charged with possibility, with the thought of a new future … with Cody.

She rubbed her lips, the feel of his kiss still lingering. The memory sent a shiver down her spine, and she couldn't believe she was fixating on that nanosecond when there was so much else to process.

Her father. The man she thought she knew, rewritten in sacrifice and secrets. And Cody—years of resentment transformed in an instant. She'd had it all wrong. Gloriously, achingly wrong.