Chapter Seven

Aidan yawned as the door came open and Carys looked down at him, a frown on her gorgeous face. Damn, but she was pretty. Even when she was mad at him. “Morning. How did you sleep?”

She ignored his question. “You actually slept on the floor?”

He sat up, stretching. “It’s tradition.”

Sean Taggart had been explicit the night before. When he’d heard Carys wanted to stay at the twins’ place without them, he’d explained in no uncertain terms how this was a bad idea.

“So I’ve been told. Somehow I think whatever my dad did it was like a minor thing,” she said with a shake of her head. “Like he annoyed her. He certainly didn’t lie to her. My dad would never lie to my mother.”

A deep chuckle came from the end of the hall. “Oh, you infants think you cornered the market on angst and drama, do you?”

Adam Miles. Tristan’s obvious bio dad stood at the end of the hallway dressed as casually as the man ever did in slacks and a button-down. He would occasionally wear sweats and a T if he was playing basketball or working out, but Adam was always stylish. Rather like his son. Adam was an older version of Tristan, though he doubted the father had ever been as relentlessly stubborn as the son.

Carys’s brows rose. “Hey, Adam. Are you here to talk to Tris? He’s in the office.”

“I’m aware,” Adam replied. “I’m afraid I’m not the only one who wanted to talk to my son. As my conversation with him is going to take a while, I allowed the other interested party to have her say.”

He was about to ask who he meant when he heard something going on down the opposite end of the hall.

“Dude, how the hell did you get in?” Lou’s door had opened, but it was Kala who popped her head out. Then her whole body. “My security system didn’t go off. Did Bri give you the code? My alarm still should have gone off. I get notifications whenever someone enters or leaves the house. I also have perimeter alarms.”

Adam’s handsome face lit with the most arrogant smirk—one he’d often seen on Tris’s face. “I overrode your system. As to why I’m here, I’m picking up Tristan and Brianna for brunch. Now let’s talk about why Carys’s dad slept outside her mom’s room. I was there, you know. I should also probably protect their privacy, but that’s not a big thing with us.”

“Uh, no,” Kala said, staring at Adam. “I want to know what you did to my system. Lou? What’s happened to the security system? TJ, put that thing away. Eww.”

“I can’t help it. It’s morning. Damn, Kala, go back to your own room,” a deep voice said.

Lou made an appearance. She was in an oversized T-shirt and fluffy socks. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked down the hall. “Hey, Uncle Adam.”

Adam was frowning. “Is there something I should know? Like I’m all for a threesome, obviously but, uhm, TJ’s your cousin, Kala.”

Carys snorted, and her lips had curled up. Aidan decided he should probably not be the only one lying on the floor for this discussion. He forced himself up, folding the sleeping bag. Also, he would like the story about why Carys’s sainted father had to sleep on the floor. It might help him out. Carys fully believed her parents were perfect.

Aidan’s father was Liam O’Donnell. A great man, but not one to pretend to be perfect. He would call it his Irishness. His father had been open about the trouble he’d had at the beginning of his relationship with Aidan’s mom. And how his mom was a wonderful woman who put up with all his crap.

He’d always known his parents weren’t perfect.

Kala’s nose wrinkled. “Ewww. I’m not like their third. Eww. I had to give up my room for Carys because your son is an idiot, and she’s rightly decided to not sleep with any men ever again. And I built the system myself. It is unhackable. Aidan, where is your shirt?”

“Uh, totally didn’t say I wasn’t sleeping with men again,” Carys said, obviously a little confused.

“And yet I hacked it with my phone. Your security system, that is,” Adam said and looked Aidan’s way. “How can he show off his cut chest if he’s wearing a shirt? Good move, son. If Carys is still interested in men, you gotta use all your assets.”

Carys sighed and tied the belt on her robe. “This is weird now. I’m getting some coffee.”

Adam looked down the hallway Kala’s way. “I also got into your car’s system. You’ll find your radio now defaults to the Love Channel.”

Kala huffed. “This is not over.”

She disappeared into Lou’s room.

“I would like to know how you did it,” Lou began. “I told her she was playing fast and loose with some of those protocols, but she can be stubborn. And I like the Love Channel. It’s soothing in the morning. If you could hack her AC, I would be so grateful. She likes it really cold.”

“Lou,” Kala yelled.

Lou gave them a wave and followed her bestie.

TJ rushed out, shaking his head and tugging a T-shirt over his broad shoulders. “Good one, Uncle Adam. Although the secret is she listens to a lot of ballads. Like she pretends to be all about the death metal, but I saw some girlie songstresses on her playlist. I really preferred it when I didn’t realize most nights she sneaks in and sleeps with us. We need to get our own place.”

“Oh, cool,” Carys said, joining her cousin. “I’m looking for a room.”

Aidan groaned. “No, you are not.”

“I might be,” she said over her shoulder. She moved down the hallway and stopped when she got to Adam. “Is everyone okay after yesterday? I know Serena wasn’t hurt, but I’ve been worried about her.”

Adam’s face lost its arrogance, and he was the “uncle” who’d always welcomed them. “She’s worried beyond words, sweetie. How are you? I wanted to be there, you know. At the meeting.”

Carys sighed. “I do, but Tris is insisting he can handle it. I’m not great since I was supposed to be married today, and I spent last night with two guys taking turns sleeping on the floor outside my borrowed room. Not how I thought they would be taking turns.”

“Carys,” Aidan said, shocked.

Her shoulder shrugged. “Like he doesn’t know.”

“If they’re taking turns, they’re doing it wrong,” Adam said, his calm tone not giving away even a hint of embarrassment. “I’ll talk to them.”

The last thing he needed was a sex lecture on how a ménage worked. It would likely be incredibly detailed and way over the top. There could be an embarrassing PowerPoint presentation in his future. “We know how a ménage works.”

“Do you?” Carys asked. “Because I haven’t seen evidence recently.”

Adam chuckled. “Oh, she’s moving on from tears to sass. That’s probably a good sign.”

“Or I’m simply moving on,” Carys replied. “Only time will tell. I’d like the story, if you don’t mind telling it. Somehow I can’t imagine my dad doing something to deserve sleeping on the ground.”

“Does Tris know you’re here?” Aidan asked, following them through the living room. The house was quiet, though it was midmorning. They’d had a late night. He was surprised Cooper was sitting in the kitchen, a mug of coffee in his hand.

“He’ll know soon enough,” Adam said. “Morning, Coop.”

“I heard what was happening from Bri. Well, from Hunter, who heard it from Devi, who heard it from Bri. Thought I would come over and see if I could mitigate the damage,” Cooper offered. “Is she freaking out?”

There was zero question in Aidan’s mind who Coop was talking about. His friend was always concerned with Kala Taggart.

Adam snorted. “She thinks she’s untouchable when it comes to security. She’s been touched, so yeah, she’s pissed. I already called her aunt, and she’s upping our security for a while. Daisy thinks she’s the one who deleted my high-tech virtual assistant. I figured out it was Kala. This was a bit of revenge. I know how to handle a Taggart.”

Aidan rather thought what Adam knew was how to have never-ending prank wars with a Taggart.

Cooper grinned. “In her defense, the AI was nosy. And she did not hold back on the relationship advice, which I believe was her downfall with Kala.”

Adam sighed. “I thought it was probably something like that. I was training Tess in human relationships. I will admit she was extremely confident in her advice for an artificial intelligence who’s never actually been in a relationship.”

“With anyone except you,” Aidan pointed out with a chuckle. “Aunt Serena hated her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she cheered Kala on.”

“Hence the light revenge,” Adam admitted. “Sometimes we get obsessed with projects we should let go of, with jobs that cause more problems than they do good.”

Cooper stood and grabbed a bag from the bar. “To the highly paranoid, I assure you this revenge isn’t small. She’ll be freaking out about the system for weeks. You know when you think about it, your revenge was actually against me and Lou. Thanks so much, Uncle Adam. Luckily they had chocolate croissants at Daphne’s Delights this morning. You guys are on your own.”

He stalked off down the hall.

“Mom was happy when Daisy deleted Tess.” Brianna walked into the kitchen. She was dressed for brunch in a pretty sundress and strappy sandals. She went on her toes and kissed her father’s cheek. “And I think it was Daisy. Dad’s systems are complex. Only some crazy chaotic crap could have led to her being deleted so completely. Kala’s good, but not that good. Lou might be able to, but she would never delete so much work. Ever.”

“Or it was Aunt Chelsea,” Carys pointed out. “If anyone knows how to take advantage of a situation, it’s my aunt. I know she sent Daisy a cookie bouquet.”

Aidan pointed her way as he pulled down two mugs and started pouring coffee. “I’m going with the Chelsea scenario. Daisy knows nothing about programming.”

His sister had gotten into some crazy situations, but she certainly wouldn’t destroy someone’s work. Well, she wouldn’t mean to. He found the creamer in the fridge.

He’d missed this. On the weekends they used to come here or the gang would come to the rambling house he’d shared with Coop and Tris, and they would all somehow put together a big breakfast on Saturday mornings and talk about what had gone down at the club. Carys’s brother Lucas would show up wearing the clothes he’d worn the night before, and he would actually cook something. They would all just be. He and Tris would crowd Carys while they watched movies and the twins argued and Lou set up games for them to play.

Then residency had started and the world had been a blur and he and Carys had barely managed to see each other, much less their friends who were like family.

“Well, if it was Chelsea, I don’t want to know.” Adam had gone into business with Carys’s aunt a long time before. “I prefer to believe it was Kala, and Coop’s right. She’ll love having a reason to upgrade all the security here. Maybe this time she’ll even get an actual guard dog. Hey, you large cuddle bug. When was the last time you ate an intruder?”

Bud 2 ambled in, his tail wagging like this was the best day of his life. Every day was the best for Bud. He set his head on Carys’s lap, and she started to pet him.

If he was a big hairy, lovable dog, maybe Carys would pet him, too. He poured some Italian sweet cream into her coffee, making sure it was the right color. A lush mocha brown. He liked his black but Carys needed some sweet, and she wouldn’t want breakfast for another hour or so. She never ate right after she woke up. He hoped there were some eggs and toast. He could work with eggs and toast, especially if Tris was heading to his parents’ place. Tris ate like a horse. Aidan moved to the table and placed the mug in front of Carys.

“You didn’t…” Carys sighed and put her hand on his. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” When he sat down next to her, she didn’t move away. It was how they started most mornings these days.

Wake up, shower, make coffee, go over notes, go to work, rinse, and repeat.

“So your parents never told you how they met?” Adam asked.

Carys took a sip and then sat the mug down. “Of course they did. Dad was investigating Mom’s boss, and he saved her from him.”

It was a way easier story than his parents’. “My dad was also investigating Mom’s boss, but he kind of got close to her so he could get intel. When he finally told her, Mom had some problems with it.”

Adam grinned. “I remember it well. Your mom was pissed. She walked right out of the privacy room at the club we were at wearing very little, according to Ian.”

“I do not need to know that part,” Aidan insisted. He knew they’d met in London during an op. In his logical brain he knew it likely meant they’d spent some time at the BDSM club called The Garden, but his “they’re my parents” brain skimmed over some pieces of knowledge.

“Well, your dad was honest with you. Sean is not telling Carys the whole story.” Adam sat back.

Bri grabbed a coffee. “Have you never read Mom’s book about it? The Spy Who Left Me. There’s a movie and everything.”

Carys frowned. “Of course I have, but Aunt Serena added drama. I know it’s loosely based on what happened, but it is fiction. She had to add some stuff in. It’s not like my dad lied to my mom and slept with her so he could get…”

Carys stopped, her brain seemingly working through some not-great scenarios. She stared at Adam.

They might need some whiskey. “Do you want me to make it Irish for you?”

“But in the movie the character who was like you…also liked my mom,” Carys said carefully to Adam.

It could be so rough to realize your parents had these whole lives before they were moms and dads. Lives where they did dumb shit and made bad choices. Like how his dad had slept with half of Dallas before he married Mom. His parents talked a lot, and the older generations’ relationships had been messy.

Kind of like they’d been young once, too, and somehow survived it.

Adam sighed with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Oh, your mom was hot. I can discuss your mom’s hotness because Serena agrees with me. Grace Hawthorne was a goddess on the club floor. Yeah, I totally tried to hit that. Almost wrecked my friendship with your dad over her.”

He got up and went for the whiskey.

“But it’s fiction. Aunt Serena writes fiction,” Carys insisted. “Like there’s this scene in a pool… I mean the pool scene didn’t happen in real life. It couldn’t have. My mom wouldn’t… She wouldn’t swim without her bathing suit.”

Like Carys didn’t? It was kind of hypocritical, but he wasn’t about to point it out to her. He’d already slept on the floor one night. He had hopes the club might work out for him tonight.

He gave her a nice splash of the good stuff. He would buy the twins another bottle. He could use a little, too. “Drink up, baby.”

“Are you talking about the whole all characters in this story are fictional and bear no resemblance to real life and events legal thing in front of every book?” Adam seemed to be having a great time. “It’s meaningless. Sure, Serena adds some stuff for drama, but sometimes she doesn’t need to. Your parents gave her the good shit.”

“We’re drinking this early?” Kenzie bounced into the room, dressed for a workout. “Hey, Uncle Adam. Did you really bust through sis’s security system? Because she’s already paranoid enough as it is. She’s talking lasers now. Only the idea that the possum who beds down in the garden sometimes might get cut in half is stopping her.” She looked at Carys, her eyes widening. “Oh, no. What did Tristan do now?”

He reached out and put her hands around the mug. “Wasn’t Tristan. She just found out Aunt Serena pretty accurately depicted her parents’ love story in a romance novel.”

“And a movie,” Brianna said with a grin. “I always knew. I totally skip The Doms with the Golden Whips when I read Mom’s backlist.”

“Oh, I’ve read my mom and dad’s book. I love the part where Dad’s the biggest asshole and then Mom tells him she’s spent five years plugging her own asshole to keep herself ready for him. I mean at first I kind of wanted to vomit, but then I thought it was beautiful, you know,” Kenzie said. “I’m pretty sure it happened because Dad talks about it. My childhood was weird. Is she freaked out because her dad offered her mom up to you and Uncle Jake when he thought she was in league with the bad guys?”

“What?” Carys sounded a bit desperate.

He poured some more.

“Oh, I thought she read it.” Kenzie gave her a tremulous smile. “Hey, we’ve all had this moment when we find out our parents are like total freaks. I’m serious about my mom and the butt plug. It bothered me at first, but then I decided I want to find a man who makes me want to plug my own asshole for five years just so I can be ready to have filthy sex with him.” She sniffled. “I thought I met him. Then he turned out to be a jerk who tried to kill Lou. I hate him.”

“Your father will be relieved to hear it,” Adam said, glancing down at his phone. He stood and slid it back into his pocket. “I heard he was Canadian. You must be trying to rebel, Kenz. You have to know your sister took the only spot for a foreign national. You’ll have to find an American guy now. Bri, Dad’s got the package. It’s time to go.”

Bri swallowed the rest of her coffee in one go. “Awesome.”

“Hey, brother.” Daisy strode in. “Good to see you’re up.” She frowned when she took in Carys. “What did you do to her?”

Aidan put an arm around his sister, shaking his head. “She recently found out her parents are human.”

Daisy nodded, sympathy in her gaze. “Oh, when I found out about my dad… His ho phase is still legendary, apparently.”

“I don’t think we should call it that,” Aidan said with a shake of his head, then his jaw dropped because Adam wasn’t the only Dean-Miles dad here. Jacob Dean stood in the living room, and Tristan was splayed across his big shoulder.

“Hey, come on,” Jake huffed. “He’s heavy.”

Brianna gasped. “Dad. You said you were going to talk to him.”

Daisy shook her head. “He was not reasonable. And you know I don’t think he was getting good sleep when we snuck in his room. A nap could help him out. TJ swears by tranqs.”

TJ looked up from where he was sitting in the living room, looking at his phone. He gave them all a thumbs-up. “It’s really restful.”

Cooper walked back in, frowning. “Now we’ve got a fight club scheduled. Thanks a lot, Uncle Adam. Chocolate croissants did not work. I mean she totally took them but then kicked me out because I’ve got balls. At least that’s how she explained the problem. I was going to eat one of those. Dude, is Tristan dead?”

Jake readjusted his son. “Nah. Just sleeping until I can get him back home.”

Aidan was so happy his father had a bad back. “I know it might not be my place, but he was my partner for a long time, and I should tell you he’s going to see this as an attack on his bodily autonomy. And his pride. Also, can we talk about how dangerous it can be to shoot up our loved ones with drugs when we have no idea how they’re going to react?”

“Fuck his pride,” Carys said, obviously forgetting her whole Hippocratic Oath thing. “You go, Uncles. And I think fight club sounds perfect. I haven’t hit anything in a long time.” Her fists clenched. “Yeah, some sparring might be exactly what I need.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. Especially since he knew who she would be sparring with. “Maybe you should start slow, baby.”

Cooper shook his head. “Nope. We don’t fuck with female fight club unless we want to get taken down by female fight club. You need to understand if you get involved you might be perfectly fine around Kala. Because they will take your balls.”

Adam gave them all a salute. “I wish you well. We’ll have Tristan back this afternoon. Dais, you want to join us? We’ve got eggs Benedict.”

“Thanks, but I want to watch fight club,” Daisy admitted. “It’s always super fun.”

The Dean-Miles clan strode off with their son/victim… He wasn’t sure what he thought of Tris’s kidnapping. The best friend part of him knew it could go poorly. The other best friend part of him said fuck it, Tris deserved it.

Carys downed her coffee/whiskey in one go and had a look in her eyes she got when she was going to do something dumb. Usually because she was too stressed to be reasonable. Like the time she gave a debate speech in front of the whole school about how coaches shouldn’t teach history because they neither understood it nor understood that young women didn’t want to be sexualized in class.

Though it had gotten the asshole fired.

The thing was when his baby had enough, she kind of exploded, and he might be dealing with two and a half years’ worth of suppressed rage.

Thank god he was well versed in trauma. He thought he might face a lot of it today.

“I’m going to take a shower. Tell Kala I’m ready whenever she is.”

“Oh, not a good idea.” Kenzie had been watching the whole scene from her place at the bar, sipping her coffee while the show played out. “Maybe you should start with like Lou. Or Dais. She’s been taking self-defense.”

“I just got my nails done,” his sister said. “I’m strictly audience today. The only pounding I intend to take is from Nate tonight. I’m excited about the play party. I thought we were going to skip the whole weekend because of the wedding thing.”

“I did not need to hear that, Dais.” There was a lot of info he didn’t need to know floating around today.

“No, I can handle Kala,” Carys said, stretching one arm over her chest and then the other. “Do we have any protein bars? I’ll eat it after I shower. I can handle this. I can.”

She walked off.

Aidan started after her.

Cooper put a hand on his shoulder. “She needs some time. This is woman’s work, man. We should make breakfast and pray they don’t take it out on us.”

“I could eat,” TJ said.

Aidan sighed. It was going to be a long day.

* * * *

Tristan came awake in a crazy, groggy state, the world hazy around him.

What was wrong with his arms? He couldn’t move them. His whole body felt…tight.

What the hell had happened? Had he been kidnapped? Was this it? Someone had finally found him, and he would be tortured until he had to admit he didn’t know who the bombmaker was and they killed him because he was fucking useless. He hadn’t been able to solve the problem, and it cost him everything.

“He’s waking up,” a familiar voice said. “You were right. I thought he would be out longer.”

“Yeah, I know Big Tag. Aidan thinks Tris has never taken a tranq dart before. Big Tag thinks shooting his employees with tranqs is training,” another voice said. Just as familiar.

Was he dreaming? He groaned as he felt a feminine hand on his face. Somehow he knew it was feminine. But not Carys. Carys might never fucking touch him again.

“Sweetie?” Was his mom here? “Are you all right? You should know I was against the whole use of the tranquilizer. I thought they could just, like, tie you up or something. Your dad’s good at that, as you’re about to find out. Don’t struggle too much.”

“Mom?” He managed to get his eyes open.

Was he home?

Why was the rest of his body not working? He managed to focus. His mom was kneeling beside him, concern in her eyes. “Are you feeling okay?”

He seemed to be in the dining room in the house he’d grown up in. His parents had a beautiful home in North Dallas in a wealthy neighborhood where the lots were big enough for a pool and a guesthouse his sister had been living in up until recently. Every inch of this house was coated in memories.

It was probably why he hadn’t been home in years. Everything would remind him of what he’d lost.

“Could someone tell me what’s happening?” Tristan asked. “The last thing I remember I was having the weirdest conversation with Daisy. Also, am I shrink-wrapped to a chair?”

It’s what it felt like. He legit couldn’t move his arms or legs. He was pretty sure his feet moved, though, and he could turn his neck. It was how he knew his dads were sitting across from him, both enjoying what looked to be an excellent brunch.

“It’s more like plastic wrap.” His sister was here, too. Good. He wanted an audience for this humiliation. “The last time I went camping with the dads they were trying out the whole plastic wrap as a hammock thing. They shouldn’t be allowed on TikTok. It gives them ideas.”

“Not where I got this one,” his papa said with a wink his mom’s way.

Adam Miles. Papa. The one who hadn’t shot him with a tranquilizer dart but had almost certainly been involved in the planning. Because his papa and his dad were always in step. They didn’t miscommunicate or get awkward around each other. They always took care of his mom.

They were everything he wanted him and Aidan to be. Aidan measured up. Aidan did everything he’d promised. Tristan had been the one to fail.

“Okay, Carys already had to face some terrible truths about her parents. I think it’s enough revelations for the day,” his sister said and gave him a brilliant smile. “I think they’re talking about Mom’s sudden interest in mummification play.”

“It was for research, but I found it oddly soothing.” His mom eased into the chair beside him. “It’s good to know there are boundaries to be pushed after all these years.”

“You’re still the most open-minded woman I know,” his dad said with a wink as he picked up a piece of bacon. “And as usual your crazy research came in handy because I think Tris would be able to bust out of some zip ties. Probably even handcuffs. Big Tag would make sure.”

“You know what Big Tag wasn’t prepared for?” Papa asked.

“Some nutjob wrapping my unconscious body in what has to be forty-two pounds of plastic wrap?” Tris asked.

His dad nodded, obviously proud of himself. “Exactly.”

He should have known they would pull something like this. Though he’d expected them to show up at the house he shared with Coop. He looked to his sister. “You tell them where I was?”

“No,” Brianna said with a frown. “But if I had, I wouldn’t feel bad about it. You know you do have a tracker thingee.”

“Uh, that’s classified.” What the hell was happening? “Did my boss let you track me?”

Papa sat back, gesturing around. “Has everyone forgotten who the hell I am? I don’t need Big Tag to give me a damn invite.”

“You hacked the Agency?”

“Like it’s hard.” Papa sighed. “I was hacking military and government bases long before you were a thought, child. Look, Tris, we’ve been patient with you.”

“Adam,” his mom began. “Remember what we talked about.”

“Your mother thinks we should handle you with delicacy,” Dad explained. “She’s worried we’ll harm your tender feelings. Personally, I think you’re way tougher than she’s giving you credit for. After all, you’ve had absolutely no thought for her feelings for a couple of years.”

“Do you have any idea how many times you’ve made your mother cry?” Papa leaned forward.

Tristan’s gut twisted. “I didn’t mean to. I’ve been working. I’m sorry if my job doesn’t come with normal hours. It’s not like I haven’t checked in.”

“You’ve sent emails and called occasionally,” Dad pointed out.

His mom was sniffling, using her napkin to dab at her eyes.

It was everything he’d tried to avoid, and in the moment he cursed Big Tag for not being paranoid enough to foresee a time when one of his operatives would find themselves wrapped in plastic. It was quite well done. He couldn’t get any traction. His fingers were against his thighs, and he couldn’t use them to start making a dent in the wrappings.

Soothing his ass.

How many women was he going to make cry? His mom. Probably his sister. Definitely his Carys.

“I did what I could do. I’m mostly in Europe or Virginia.”

“Only because you want to be.” Papa took a sip of his coffee.

Coffee smelled good. Not that he could drink some.

How did Carys take her coffee now? She used to love some sweet cream in it. Had she become a hardcore addict like Aidan was? Had long nights at the hospital changed her habits?

“I don’t.” He was going to be as honest with his parents as he could be. The truth was it was time. “You can let me out. I won’t leave.”

“Sure you won’t.” Dad passed Papa the French toast.

It looked tasty. His papa was actually an excellent cook. “I won’t. And I’m kind of hungry.”

“Are you?” Papa asked. “You know what I’ve been hungry for?”

Papa was also the one who would draw this out with sarcasm. Dad would be satisfied he’d gotten Tris here, but Papa would want a pound of flesh. “I’m sure it’s information about what the hell your son thinks he’s doing.”

“I really would like to know, son,” Papa agreed.

“You don’t know what it’s like to be on the outside,” Brianna said quietly.

What was his sister thinking? “Oh, I don’t? I assure you I’ve been on the outside of the most important relationship of my life for years.”

Brianna’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, won’t anyone think about how hard this has been on Tristan? Poor Tris. They shut him out. Except they didn’t. They begged you to come home. Like we begged you. You should know I’m the one who voted against this plan because I think it’s futile. You don’t have any interest in your family. You’ve moved on.”

What the hell was he doing? He was getting defensive when he was the one who’d offended. “That’s not true.”

“You’ve missed every event in the last few years,” Bri accused. “Travis had a kid. You weren’t even around to make fun of him or to welcome Colton into the family. Papa had surgery and you weren’t here.”

“What?”

Papa waved a hand. “It was my gallbladder. I don’t even notice it’s gone. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“It felt like a big deal,” his mother said.

His papa had surgery and he hadn’t even known? Why hadn’t anyone told him? “No one said anything.”

“I didn’t tell anyone because it was a minor surgery, and I’m fine now. I was back in the office a couple of days later.”

What he wasn’t saying was why he’d kept it quiet. He wouldn’t have done it out of vanity. Or because he didn’t want anyone to make a fuss. Papa quite liked a fuss. “You knew Big Tag would force me to come home.”

“I knew he would try, and at the time I didn’t want the answer to the question of how hard you would fight him,” Papa replied. “I didn’t want to know if you would care or not. I’m afraid I’ve been avoiding some truths, too, and that’s on me.”

What had his family been through?

He’d gotten so lost. He’d thought what he was doing was important, and then it was dangerous. He’d thought he was sparing them pain, but he’d caused them more.

“I would have come home, Papa.” Was he speaking the truth? “I don’t know. It would have depended, but you should know I care. I love you. I’m just… I can’t talk about it because it’s classified, but it’s a complicated case.”

“Yes,” Dad said. “Dealing with international arms dealers is complex. It’s even rougher when you’re trying to pose as one to connect some very nasty dots. Do you have any idea where to look for the bombmaker? You didn’t find any intel on his system when you tracked him down?”

Tris felt his jaw drop and knew exactly where to look. “Papa, you can’t hack into the fucking Agency that way. Do you know what they could do to you?”

There was the sound of the doorbell chiming. Dad glanced at his phone and put his napkin on the table. “There he is.”

“What do you think they’re going to do to me?” Papa asked as Dad walked down the hallway.

“Tris, you can’t expect us to sit back and let you ruin your life,” his mom said, tears in her eyes. “You are going to lose them. I know somewhere in your head you’re justifying this behavior by saying you’re protecting them, but it won’t matter in the end.”

“I was trying to protect all of you.” What the hell had they done? “Do you think they can’t ruin Mom’s career if they want to?”

“Why would they want to?” Bri asked. “We have a lot of friends in the intelligence world. You’re pretending we’re on our own. You know the twins have made it plain if we need something, we should come to them. They protect all of us and they don’t have to shove us away.”

His sister understood nothing. “They aren’t in the position I’m in.”

“The position you put yourself in,” Papa corrected.

“We don’t know that, Adam,” his mother said. She had a cup of coffee in front of her but her plate was empty. And not because she’d finished. “You promised you would go easy on him. We don’t know what he’s been through.”

“I promised I would do whatever it took to get our son back,” his father replied, and there was a coldness in his tone.

Brianna’s jaw had tightened, and Tristan realized this was an argument they’d had more than once. Way more than once.

He was tearing his family apart. Somehow he’d thought they would simply accept that this was his work. Like the work his fathers had done. They’d been Special Forces. But it wasn’t the same. His fathers had taken leave, and after they’d left the military, even when they’d done intelligence work, they hadn’t iced his mom out. Adam Miles and Jacob Dean had been incredibly present fathers.

How could he ever have a family himself if this was how he handled his work?

“I don’t think this is the way,” his mom said tightly.

He had to fix this. “I don’t know, Mom. I think wrapping me up is a pretty good wake-up call. If I promise I’m not going anywhere, could I get my arms out? I’m really hungry, and it’s been forever since I had some of Papa’s cinnamon rolls.”

His mom looked his way with a watery smile. “Of course.”

Papa didn’t seem as sure.

“Papa, I promise you I’m not going to leave until you’re comfortable. I do not want to cause this tension,” he said. “Bri, I’ll answer all the questions I can. I don’t want you to think the twins will protect you more than I will.”

“I never thought you wouldn’t protect us. I thought you might be willing to sacrifice yourself to do it,” Bri replied. “I know it sounds noble, but there are things we can’t ever give up. Mom and the dads, they don’t get to stop being your parents because you became a CIA operative. I don’t get to stop being your sister. I don’t think Carys gets to stop loving you. She can try, but I think it would be as if she stopped being who she is. Same for Aidan.”

“You’re in over your head, son. There is nothing weak about leaning on your family. I would understand it if you thought we weren’t strong enough,” Papa began.

“It’s not that.” He’d never wanted to admit this, but in the face of the damage his lies had done, the truth was the only way out. “I didn’t want you to know how bad it had gotten. It was my pride.”

His mother’s tears flowed freely now. She put her hands on his cheeks. “There is no place for pride in a family. Not the way you mean it. You say the word pride, but it’s actually ego. I’m begging you to let your love for us win this war that’s going on inside you. And when it comes to Carys and Aidan, baby, if you had gone to Carys and asked if she would rather be protected or trusted and loved and a part of you, I know what she would have said. There are worse things than death, and one of them is thinking our love is worthless.”

Fuck. He felt the tears slip from his eyes. No one could get to him like his mom. She was weird and quirky and comfortable with herself so everyone around her was comfortable too. She was brave and kind and had never once let him down. Oh, she had a big career, and sometimes that had meant she missed a baseball game here and there, but she’d been the strong base on which his life was built. “It’s not, Mom. It’s absolutely the opposite.”

She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “Neither is Carys’s. Baby, you will regret it the rest of your life if you don’t fix this. I know it feels like you have the weight of the whole world on your shoulders. It feels like the damn fate of it all is on you, but it’s not. It doesn’t have to be. You have a team, and you have a family. You have a partner, and you have a woman who would be your wife right this second if you allowed her to be. Think about it. You denied her the right to be beside you while you’re in the toughest fight of your life.”

He’d done so much damage. “How do I fix it?”

His mother was a romance novelist. If anyone would have a game plan, it would be her.

“I’m afraid this conversation is going to have to wait, kid.” Papa stood. “Zach, thanks for coming.”

Tristan looked up, and Captain Zach Reed stood in the dining room beside his dad. He had a duffel slung over his shoulder and a ball cap on his head.

“I was unaware I had a choice, sir,” Zach said, and then his lips curled up as he took in Tris. “Now that is something we didn’t prepare for. How’s the whole saran wrap thing working out for you, buddy?”

“It was a real oversight,” he admitted. The fact Zach was here meant one thing. “So they’ve brought my papa in?”

The Agency had been trying to find a way to bring Adam Miles in for a long time. He’d said no to money, to power, to information.

It turned out Tristan was his Achilles’ heel.

“I was supposed to get here tonight. Had the flight scheduled and everything. But this morning the head of our department told me to get my ass here ASAP and deal with our new consultant.” Zach dropped his duffel on the floor out of the way and pulled up a chair. “I’m glad I did since apparently they have some torture techniques the Agency doesn’t prep us for. You know there’s a kink called mummification. You’re real close to that right now. Oooo, bacon. I had to fly commercial, so I have not eaten. This looks delicious.”

His mom slid back into her chair. “Please, eat up. Do you want a moment with Tristan? Brianna and I can take our plates out on the patio.”

Brianna sighed, like she’d known she would get left out.

His sweet, creative sister. She’d been his partner in crime when they were kids.

“It’s up to you, Tris. Your dads are cleared for pretty much everything,” Zach said, reaching for the bacon. “But we both know our primary team doesn’t work the way the others do. Big Tag is taking over, if you let him.”

The instinct to say no was still right there, but his instincts kind of sucked. He’d thought he had to change to become The Jester. Had to go cold and be alone.

What if what he’d always needed was his team? What if it didn’t matter if he fucked up because it wouldn’t change the way the people who loved him felt?

He looked over at Zach. Zach didn’t ever talk about his family beyond the aunt who’d raised him. As far as Tris could tell, Zach was alone. The military had become his family, and Zach was a rules guy.

Yet he was sitting there telling Tris if he wanted to bring his mom and sister into the classified briefing, he was cool with it.

Because somewhere along the way the military had been superseded by the Agency team, the experiment Zach had been tasked to oversee and take apart if he could.

He’d never tried. He’d pretty much loved them all from the beginning. He was one of them now. Zach was letting him know it was time to stop being a secretive operative. It was time to be a team player. A family member.

“Mom, you’re going to want to take notes.” He was sure his whole fucked-up mission would show up in one of her novels, complete with explosions and anal play. Because that was how she rolled.

A slow smile crossed his mom’s face. “Really?”

He felt something lift, something heavy that had been sitting firmly on his chest. He could breathe again. Well, he would be able to if someone would cut him out of all this wrap. “Yeah, really. You know you want to. And Bri. But you have to be open and take notes, too, and Mom isn’t going to ask you what you’re writing. You know she’s not ready.”

His mom’s eyes narrowed as she looked at his sister. “Maybe if she spent some time wrapped up, she would think about listening to her mother’s excellent advice. You know I do have some experience as an author.”

His sister stood. “I’ll get us some paper and pens. We should definitely take notes for later fiction writing that will absolutely happen. Please don’t mummify me.”

His sister ran off, but she would be back.

“Jake, would you please let Tristan out?” His mom reached for the muffins, calm in her movement. As though she had some faith again.

He hoped he wasn’t bringing them all into serious danger, but he had to trust his fathers would protect his mom and sister.

He had to protect Carys and Aidan, but he’d realized something profound. While he’d protected their lives, he’d done a number on their souls. He would have a long talk with his mom. And maybe Bri. Tonight he would start winning them back.

Right now, he would work with this part of his team. The best part. His family.

His dad used scissors to gently cut the wrap, loosening it enough that Tris could wriggle, and then he was free.

“Someone pass me the bacon before Zach eats all of it,” he said, stretching.

He was suddenly hungry again.