Chapter Two

Tristan stared at Carys. She looked so fucking gorgeous. The dress clung to her every curve. It was as timeless as Carys’s beauty.

Aidan didn’t look half bad either, but TJ standing in Tristan’s place bugged him way more than he thought it would.

This was all for the best. It was what had to happen.

He stood in the tiny security room. This whole venue at one point in time had been a mission. They’d added on, and the gorgeous dining hall and ultra-modern kitchen were new, but this part used to be the chapel.

He might have been far too invested in the planning of a wedding he wasn’t a part of.

The bell tower was the security office and part-time storage closet since he was stuck in here with what had to be five hundred Styrofoam cups stamped with Happy Quincea?era. It offered him a couple of monitors hooked up to the CCTV cams across the venue, but even more importantly he could see the ceremony space with his own eyes. From his vantage, he could see Carys starting to walk down the aisle with her father.

Tristan’s own family was down there watching as the love of his life married another man. Well, most of them were. His sister, mother, and one of his dads were politely turned to the aisle with the rest of the guests.

His most military dad, however, had turned and looked up. Like Jacob Dean knew he was there, knew he was hiding.

It was obvious his father wasn’t happy with him. None of them were.

It was precisely why he’d had to stay away. His parents would get far too curious. He would actually be surprised if his fathers hadn’t already done a lot of digging. They wouldn’t find anything because the Agency knew how to hide intelligence.

Still, he took a step back in case his dad could see him. He wouldn’t put it past Jacob Dean to storm the castle.

Just a few more minutes and they would be safe. He didn’t think anyone had figured out his true identity, but he’d come to believe it was only a matter of time, and time was what fucked him over when it came to this op. He’d already taken too much of it, and he couldn’t promise anyone when this op would be over.

His cell beeped and Tristan pulled it out. This wasn’t the one he’d used to text with Aidan over the last couple of years. This was the one only a few people had the number to.

“Hey, Tris. I’ve picked up some weird stuff on the web about The Jester.” The young woman who served as his technical support when he was working outside the family team was one of the people who knew this particular number.

Tara Hahn was a cutie, but he’d always seen her as a sister. Every woman was a sister when a man had found the right one. “I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“Are you in the middle of nowhere in North Texas?” she asked.

Down below he watched as Uncle Ian stood and stepped away from the crowd. He was on his cell, too.

“What have you got?” Tristan felt his blood go cold, an icy professionalism coming over him.

His whole family was down there. What the hell was that? There was a black thing coming into view. Not a bird. A drone.

What the fuck was a drone doing out here?

Gathering intel.

“I’ve got movement from one of the groups we’re monitoring. From what I can tell, they flew into DFW yesterday. I’m sorry I’m late with this, but they were good at covering their tracks. Honestly, if I hadn’t known you were in Dallas this weekend, I might have let it go,” Tara was saying. “I think I’ve tracked them meeting a person we consider… Well, he’s basically a logistics guy for the Dark Web. He’s a broker of sorts. He can get you anything you need.”

A hole opened in the pit of Tristan’s stomach as he heard a familiar thud.

A broker who could get a guy whatever he needed. Like guns and drones and a fucking helicopter.

Tristan dropped the phone and started down the stairs. He managed to make it to the landing as the guests were running from the upper floor.

“Move,” he called, waving through the parents with kids. It was obvious even in panic mode, his family prioritized the kids. They moved quickly.

“Hey, my sister is still back there.” Kyle Hawthorne had his daughter clinging to him as his wife moved past, followed by Carys’s other brothers. David and Lucas were each carrying a child while David’s wife, Tessa, led the older kids.

“I’ll get her,” Tristan promised. “You get them inside. Away from the windows.”

“I’ll be back,” Kyle told him but called out for everyone to follow him.

The chopper closed in as he saw his mom and sister with Grace and Avery and Daisy. Daisy held her mother’s hand as they navigated the stairs.

His mom’s eyes widened when she saw him, and she started to move his way. He shook his head.

“Get her to safety. I’ll get Carys and Aidan,” he shouted, and suddenly a massive dude was at their backs, moving the women along.

Nathan Carter sent him a nod and a look that told him he would ensure everyone was safe. Nate was former Aussie Special Forces, and Tris trusted him.

Now he had to deal with the rest of his family, the ones who wouldn’t be running to safety.

Where the hell was Aidan? From what he could hear, the chopper would be right on them now. Tristan rushed onto the big balcony in time to watch the helo swing in and gunfire start.

An explosion came from his left. Grenade? They were lobbing fucking grenades at his wedding? Anger and fear flared, but he shoved them down as smoke covered the balcony and the sound of gunfire exploded through the air.

He barely avoided one of those bullets as he crossed the space, trying to work his way to the altar where he saw Carys on the ground, covered by Aidan. Sean had moved in, lending his big body to protect his daughter, too.

Aidan looked up. “What the fuck is happening, Tris?”

He heard Carys gasp but he didn’t have time to talk. “Stay down.” He looked over and Ian and his fathers had taken up refuge behind the balcony wall. Luckily they’d stayed somewhat true to the original architecture and hadn’t switch it out for wrought iron. It was a thick wall that protected them from bullets.

The hail of bullets went on for what felt like forever. He was forced to huddle behind one of the big pillars while Carys and Aidan were behind the wall. He could barely see the white of her dress because her father and Aidan protected her so completely.

But he wasn’t there, and if he didn’t figure this the fuck out he never would be again. Aidan had been serious. He’d meant to cut Tris out after today.

He’d agonized for years over the decisions he’d made. He thought he’d come to terms with all of them. But standing here and not being able to take his half of the burden was killing him. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t be without them for the rest of his life.

The sound of the chopper hung in the air and then he risked it to get a look. Tristan moved to the side, and the chopper was starting to pull away.

“Are they leaving?” Carys asked quietly.

He glanced over to where his cousins were huddled. Kala and Kenzie looked worse for the wear, but neither was panicking. Kala caught his gaze and lifted her chin slightly.

She wasn’t letting anyone leave. Neither was he. If he didn’t take the shot, his cousin would.

He nodded and then the twins were moving, firing to give him some cover. The helo was starting to turn. Cooper was suddenly at Tristan’s side.

“Hit the fuel tank,” Cooper said, his eyes narrowing as he lifted his weapon. “They’re too close right now.”

Tristan knew exactly where to hit, but they had to let the fucker get further away. There was a responding set of gunfire, and Cooper ducked but Tristan stood there. He stared at the fuckers who were likely looking for him. He was the reason for all of this. A bullet flew by him, but he stood firm.

The gunfire ceased, and for a second the quiet was unsettling.

“Girls, get down now. Tristan, Cooper, take them out.” Uncle Ian yelled.

He was sure Ian would have preferred to do the taking down, but he and Coop were in a better position. The helo started a sweep up, and he and Coop fired.

Two shots. It was all they needed. Two shots and then they heard the whirring of the engine right before the whole thing exploded.

Tristan felt the heat from the blast and realized Coop had taken cover. Everyone had. They’d all protected themselves, but Tris needed to see it, needed to feel the power of the blast, to know beyond a shadow of all doubt at least these fuckers wouldn’t be coming after his family.

“What is wrong with you?” His dad’s eyes were wide as he stalked across the space, pointing Tristan’s way. “Do you have a death wish, son? They were close. You are lucky the blast didn’t take you out.”

“Hey, are you okay?” His papa was calmer, though he could see what it had cost Adam Miles to stand down while the rest of them took care of the situation.

“I’m fine.” He took a long breath and turned to help Aidan up, but Sean Taggart was already there. He had Aidan on his feet and reached for Carys, but she was already holding her hand up for Aidan.

“Yeah, I need a cleanup crew,” Big Tag was saying into his cell.

Liam O’Donnell rushed in as Aidan helped Carys to her feet.

Her dress was ruined. It was torn in several places and covered in some form of soot. Her hair had come down, and the veil was barely hanging on. She held on to Aidan as she looked back at her dad. “Is everyone okay?”

Charlotte Taggart came in from the bridal suite where it looked like she’d taken the guests in the back half of the balcony to hide. She was in a designer gown but had her favorite accessory. A pistol. “We clear?”

Her husband nodded. “Yeah, but now we have to deal with the fallout. Carys, sweetheart, I’m so sorry…”

She held up a hand. “The wedding’s off. We need to check on everyone, and then you need to figure out what’s going on. I understand. All that matters is everyone is safe. Does anyone need medical treatment?”

She was surreally calm as she pulled the veil off her head.

“I think we moved them all out in time, sweetie,” her dad said. “I need to let your mom know you’re okay.”

“I’ll come with you. I want to check on everyone,” she replied, cool as ice.

“Hey, we need to check on you first.” Tris moved into Carys’s space. She was in shock, and she needed to know she was safe now. Even while the helicopter burned a hundred yards away. “Come on, baby.”

A crack sounded through the air, and his head snapped back before he felt the actual pain. She’d slapped him. Not in a girlie way, in a bitch-goddess, feel-my-power way.

“How dare you,” Carys said. “You were hiding? You were spying on us?”

“I was watching over you.” He looked to Aidan, who was pale but calm as well. “Aidan, I was just…”

His best friend shook his head. “We have to check on the others. We can talk later. I’m sure you have a debrief to attend.”

“Hey, Car, I take back what I said about the dress.” Kala strode up as though the wedding was still happening and nothing had gone wrong. The bridesmaids dress she wore now boasted a long slit up the side. “Once I ripped it a little, it was totally easy to move in. Did you see the way that fucker went down?”

“What I saw—and anyone who was looking—was you aren’t wearing underwear.” Cooper pointed a finger Kala’s way. “What the hell?”

“Hello, panty lines,” Kala replied.

They started to argue about whether going commando during an impromptu firefight was a good choice, but Tristan couldn’t take his eyes off Carys.

Who turned and walked away, letting Aidan lead her down the stairs.

“Well, this is a hell of a thing,” Aunt Charlotte said as another boom shook the air around them.

Tristan stood with his dads and watched the loves of his life walk away.

* * * *

Carys took a long drag off the martini Tasha had put in her hand. Her cousin had switched out the champagne for vodka after the horrors of the afternoon. According to Aunt Charlotte, vodka solved most problems. She was pretty sure they wouldn’t solve hers, but she would take the detachment it might bring.

She was still in shock. An hour later and she was still trying to process what had happened.

“That’s the last of the guests with kids.” Kenzie and Kala were in the bridal suite as well. Her cousins had told her they wouldn’t leave for anything.

Of course they might be playing bodyguard. They kept watching the door and tensed whenever it opened.

“I had to talk Kyle out of staying.” Her mother had a grim look on her face. “He wanted to help with the cleanup, but he doesn’t have clearance anymore.”

Yes, she was left with the Agency crew. The wedding she’d planned for years had basically been firebombed, and the only good news of the day was no one was seriously injured. She had no idea what she would say to her coworkers at the hospital when she eventually returned to work. Uh, didn’t actually get married because someone tried to kill us all, and then we had to deal with a helicopter exploding, and oh, my ex showed up to save the day and I was fairly certain he’d been okay with dying.

So why did she feel oddly relieved?

Shock. Yep, it was still shock. She wasn’t secretly okay with the fact that she hadn’t said I do. Her heart hadn’t thudded in her chest when she’d realized Tristan was here. Nope. Anger was all she’d felt. The slap across his gorgeous face had been about anger. It hadn’t because she couldn’t figure out another way to touch him.

Because she couldn’t let him hug her, couldn’t allow him to kiss her.

Even though her first impulse had been to throw herself into his arms.

No one was injured. No one had died. Well, the dudes in the helicopter had absolutely died, but they had been far past her medical skills the minute Tristan had blown them out of the sky.

She’d been under her father and Aidan, but she’d managed to watch Tristan stand beside Cooper and take down the helicopter in seconds. Cooper had ducked, but Tristan had stood there and watched, his eyes hard.

He hadn’t cared if he’d gotten hurt. He’d wanted the storm to sweep over him.

There had always been a darkness in Tris. Since they were kids, he was the one who could brood and lose himself in dark thoughts.

Like she could. She’d needed Aidan’s light and Tristan’s darkness to balance her own needs.

Her dark side was so fucking hungry.

She took another sip of martini. If there was any vermouth in there, she couldn’t tell. Her cousin had a heavy hand. “He needs to be with his kids. Diana was upset.”

“Well, Rand told me it was the best wedding he’d ever been to,” her mom said with a shake of her head. “MaeBe had to haul him away because he wanted to go out and see the wreck.”

They were huddled in the bridal suite while her uncles and Tristan handled the situation.

Actually, she was now surprised her cousins were still here. “Shouldn’t you guys be meeting with… What did Uncle Ian call it? The cleaners?”

Kala’s nose wrinkled. “In this family men deal with the bodies. I know I seem like I would enjoy body disposal, but it’s kind of gross. I have no use for them once they’re dead. Also, I just had my nails done. Personally, I think we should have gone through with it. Diana was way more upset Kyle yelled at her for climbing the trellis than she was about the chopper going boom. The kids are all right, if you know what I mean. I feel like we kind of quit.”

“Hey, we couldn’t go through with the ceremony. There’s a whole-ass helicopter burning right outside the ceremony,” Kenzie argued. “You can’t expect the wedding to keep going.”

“I don’t see why not,” Kala replied. “She wanted fireworks and they wouldn’t let her have them. So we got organic fireworks.”

Only Kala would call those blasts organic fireworks. She chuckled. Maybe the vodka was already doing its work if she could see some humor in the situation.

“Uhm, personally I think you did the right thing by deciding to reschedule.” Louisa Ward appeared to also be a member of the men-body-disposal movement. She worked with her cousins’ team, likely behind the scenes since Lou was a certifiable genius when it came to computers and math and engineering. She was also TJ’s girlfriend, though she was fairly certain they would get engaged soon.

Everyone seemed to be starting their lives. Daisy was engaged to Nate. Tasha and Dare’s wedding was coming up, though they might need to think about eloping after today.

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll try this again.” Carys shook her head. “Nope. I am listening to the universe, which is telling me in no uncertain terms I should have a small wedding. Maybe at a courthouse. Or a drive-through chapel in Vegas.”

If they stayed in their car, they would have a good chance of getting away if someone started shooting again. She’d never considered exit routes from her wedding. It had been a definite mistake.

Or they could live happily in sin. Sin was fun.

Sin left doors open.

“Don’t say that.” Her mother somehow still looked perfect, like she was ready to greet guests and look elegant while she made everyone comfortable. “You know we can try again once we get everything sorted out. Your uncle and aunt will make sure they take care of the situation.”

Carys was pretty sure she looked like she’d survived the apocalypse. “I don’t even understand what the situation is.”

She looked around, and Kenzie and Kala were perfectly blank. Tasha took a long drink.

Lou had gone a nice shade of pink.

Lou was the weak link among the Agency set. Oh, she wouldn’t give out classified intel, and Carys was sure if a bad guy was in the room, Lou would also be perfectly blank. But Lou had never truly learned how to shut it down when she was with her friends and family. Lucky for her, most of her friends and family had high levels of security clearance. “So this has to do with you? Or TJ?”

“Why would it have anything to do with TJ?” Her mother took a drink from Tasha, who was working through her anxiety via bartending.

Her mom was right to ask the question since TJ was an overly large golden retriever. Not that he wasn’t deadly. He was a Taggart and was in the military, but he was sweet and helpful, and she couldn’t imagine him pissing off someone so much they decided to ruin a perfectly innocent wedding.

She was pretty sure the photographer was going to need therapy. At least all the catering staff had come from her dad’s restaurant and were therefore mostly ex-military who knew there was one freezer you did not walk into.

“I mean it was probably about TJ.” Kala shrugged and looked at her sisters. “Don’t judge me. She just had her wedding raided by assholes. She deserves some explanations.”

Kala was the one she could see attracting vengeful killers. But right now she was also the most reasonable. “Yeah, what Kala said.”

Kenzie sighed. “Okay. In broad terms TJ might have a fake connection with a worldwide arms dealer, and said arms dealer is apparently the only one who supposedly has the number to this person who makes bombs better than anyone else, and so the bad guys might be putting together one and one to make an unknown two.”

Kenzie wasn’t good with simple explanations. “I don’t understand.”

“Okay, let’s see if I remember this language,” her mother said. “Someone set up TJ to be close to an arms dealer, likely so it would either hurt TJ or your uncle and aunt. But the arms dealer has this other valuable connection, and they think TJ either knows who the bombmaker is or can get them to the arms dealer who does.”

Kala’s eyes went wide, and she leaned toward her sister. “I think Aunt Grace might know too much.”

Her mom’s eyes rolled. “Oh, child, I know far too much, but this is just me speaking spy.” She shifted her gaze to Tasha. “Was it your old fiancé? The dead one?”

It was Tash’s turn to be surprised. “Uh, yes. He set up a long-term kind of revenge on me. He thought it would look bad if TJ was connected to this guy, and no one turned it off when he died. In this case his organizational skills kind of bit us all in the ass.”

“Then why would they try to kill TJ?” Carys didn’t think the twins’ explanation made sense. “They need information out of him. It would feel like it would be better to kidnap him.”

Kala waved her off. “They already tried to kidnap him.”

“Hey,” Kenzie said. “Classified.”

“Aidan had to examine him after you came back from…wherever it is you went since you couldn’t say.” They’d both known something had gone wrong. TJ had been okay, but Aidan had told her about the cattle prod burns on his body. “It’s not a hard leap to get to he got kidnapped and tortured for information. You see doctors have to put together many puzzles. Patients lie a lot. Out of shame or to hide something, and in this case out of the information being highly classified. I get it. But this happened here. It happened to me and Aidan. We have a right to know. Maybe not legally, but I have walked into enough sketchy shit to know legal isn’t always the family way.”

“How about we wait for the inevitable debrief,” her mother advised.

“Because I don’t usually get invited to debriefs.” It was well known in their family that if you found yourself sitting in the conference room at McKay-Taggart, you were in serious trouble and likely to find yourself in some form of lockdown.

If they got sent to Sanctum and locked in, Aidan would miss his once in a lifetime chance to meet with surgeons who could help his career. He was the youngest invitee to the conference, and it was a huge opportunity for him. She couldn’t let him lose it.

“I’ll make sure you get an invite to this one,” her mother promised.

It would be best to avoid getting involved further. She knew how her uncle handled these things. It could be hours, and she would have to sit there with Tris the whole time. “I think I’ll pass. This seems to not be about me and Aidan, so it’s likely best to stay away. It makes it way easier on you guys.”

Tasha joined her sisters, all of them staring at her with suspicion. “Not what you said mere moments before. I thought you deserved to be in on everything.”

Kala nodded. “She totally did.”

“And then Kenz pointed out all the problems with being in on everything, and here we are,” she said, hoping she sounded confident. She hadn’t exactly mentioned her honeymoon plans beyond they were going to be spending some time in Canada.

Her parents might not like knowing their “honeymoon” was more like a work trip. They didn’t understand the needs of a resident.

She didn’t mind. She was actually looking forward to it, but her parents would say it was one more reason to put the wedding off. One more way they thought she was screwing this up.

She hadn’t needed to screw anything up. Tristan fucked things up for all of them.

Lou looked at her, blinking, likely because she wasn’t used to wearing contacts. She’d insisted on them, though Carys had told Lou her normal glasses looked great with the dress. “She’s hiding something.”

“Ooo, I love a mystery,” Kenzie said with a smile and a clap of her hands.

Sometimes Kenzie’s weird positivity was scarier than Kala’s…well, scariness. “Not hiding anything. I simply don’t want to get involved in something that isn’t my business.”

“Or you want to avoid Tristan since he’s apparently back.” Tasha frowned. “I thought he was in DC meeting with Drake and Taylor. He didn’t call any of you?”

“He didn’t want any of us to know he was going to be skeeving on the wedding,” Kala replied with a shrug. “Which is weird because that’s something you’re supposed to do when you weren’t invited to be an actual part of the vows and shit.” She held off her sister’s admonition. “I’m only being honest. The dude could literally be enjoying his honeymoon right now if he’d wanted to.”

“Oh, I forgot about the honeymoon. Carys has been a little secretive about it,” her mom said. “All she’ll say is it’s a surprise and she’ll send pictures. I’ll be honest. I hoped she was so quiet because Tristan was going to join them.”

“No, he’s not.” She hadn’t considered her mom might think she was keeping a secret. She wasn’t really. More like trying to avoid a minor argument.

“I thought they were going to Bermuda or something. Don’t they have like a whole beach house rented?” Kenzie replied.

Kala shook her head. “No. They were going to the Caribbean when Tris was joining them in newlywed bliss.”

Lou gasped and put a hand to her heart as though she’d heard something horrifying. “He took back their honeymoon? Like I know why he did the rest, but taking back a beautiful honeymoon seems rude.”

“Guys, he didn’t take it back.” If she let this go, there would be a couple of assassins pissed at Tris, and he had to work with them. And Lou could do a lot of damage on her own. “In fact, he tried to pay for the wedding. But he’s not a part of it so we turned him down.”

It had been the only thing to do.

She didn’t want his conscience to rest in any way. She knew when he was trying to buy her off, and he could go to hell.

Wouldn’t it be fun to tell him that in person? How long has it been since you had someone who would fight with you, who would go toe to toe and call you out when you’re a brat?

“Then where are you going?” Tash asked.

Carys sighed. “We’re going somewhere perfectly safe.” It was time. They would all know in the end. “We’re going to Canada.”

She would have sworn a tear formed in Kenzie’s eye and glistened there like she was thinking about something infinitely sad.

“Eww. Why would you go to Canada?” Kala asked. “Assholes live in Canada.”

Kenzie nodded and seemed to put on a brave face. “They do.”

“Hey, and super nice guys like your soon-to-be brother-in-law,” Tasha pointed out because her fiancé was from the Great White North. “But it doesn’t seem like the hottest location for a honeymoon. Oh, tell me you’re not going to Niagara Falls. Honey, it’s a tourist trap.”

“We’re not going to Niagara Falls.” They wouldn’t have time. She had maybe one day with him, and she planned to get Big Red Bus tickets and explore the city. Like interns did. Because they had no money.

“Vancouver,” Lou guessed. “It’s beautiful, and you know Aidan likes to hike.”

She did not. Hiking and wilderness things were activities she’d been more than happy to send Aidan and Tristan off on while she took a long soak in the tub with a good book.

There had been a lot about being a threesome that worked for her.

“We’re going to Montreal.”

Tasha frowned. “For your honeymoon? Don’t get me wrong. I love Canada. My fiancé is literally from there, but it wouldn’t even make the top ten of our potential honeymoon destinations. If you wanted a city, you could have gone to New York and seen some shows. What are you going to do in Montreal?”

She growled, a frustrated sound. “We’re going to a medical conference. Okay? That’s what we’re doing. Well, what Aidan’s doing. He got an invite a while back to this prestigious conference, and it happened to fall on the week after our wedding so we’re going and spending a couple of days exploring the city and then he’ll work.”

“You’re going to a medical conference in Montreal,” Kenzie said in a flat tone. Like she was working something out in her head. “One Aidan was personally invited to.”

“Fuck,” Kala said. “Well, cousin, you’re definitely going to be in the debrief.”

“What’s going on? Why is it important she’s going to Montreal? Though I think it’s crappy you’re not having a proper honeymoon, I do understand,” her mom said. “Is this the foundation thing Aidan mentioned? He said it was one of the world’s leading groups to study new medical technologies.”

“I don’t understand what the Huisman Foundation has to do with any of this,” Carys admitted. The Huisman Foundation was universally acknowledged as one of the world’s premiere research centers.

“Oh, you will,” Kala promised.

Carys looked to her mom, who seemed every bit as confused as she was.

It looked like it was going to be an even longer day.