Page 129 of Sins of Innocence

He's really worried I'm going to spill something to Kieran. That makes me think I know something I don't realize I do. Or I had access to information I didn't know I had?

"Don't worry. I have no intention of talking about my time working for you and your wife," I lie without compunction.

As soon as I get in the SUV, I'm going to call Kieran and tell him every single word of this conversation. And I'm going to ask him some things too.

ON COMMS, UNMUTED

Áine: I need to talk to you.

Áine: Without the girls around to overhear.

Áine: As soon as possible.

Chapter twenty-six

Need-to-Know Status

WRAITH

When Áine texts me three messages in a row without a single emoji asking to talk to me without the girls around, the hair on the back of my neck stands up.

What the fuck is going on?

I text her back that I'll have Dagda bring her to the Bunker.

Then I have to wait thirty-two minutes and seventeen seconds before they arrive. I knock three of my newly assigned soldiers on their asses in training and do my best not to kill any of them for their ineptitude in the meantime.

As soon as my smart watch flashes a text from Dagda saying they're headed to the gym, I toss my latest sparring partner into his friends who are standing around gossiping instead of paying attention.

They all go down in a tumble of arms and legs.

"Do something with them," I bark at Ellie on my way to the door.

I don't want her sticking her nose into whatever has Áine stressed enough to drop her emojis. I like that my wife is coming to me and I want to be the one to fix whatever it is.

I step out of the gym just in time to watch her walk down the hall toward me. Grunts, thumps and an unmistakable cry of pain sounds from behind me.

Áine's somber eyes widen. "What's going on?"

"Training," I tell her.

"Oh. I guess you train pretty seriously, huh?" She bites her bottom lip, something about what she just said bothering her.

"We do." Does she hear my stress on the word we?

Kenneth-fucking-Shaughnessy didn't train his men hard, that's for damn sure. They're all fairly accurate with a gun, but their hand-to-hand combat skills are a joke and I didn't even test their knife skills. I didn't want one of them cutting a damn finger off when there's so much training to do.

Áine nods, her thoughts clearly not on what's happening in the gym now the door has closed and we can't hear anything. "I walked Sadie into class today."

"Dagda informed me. How is she doing?" She seemed alright this morning when I checked in with her, but she's a preteen girl.

My experience with that is exactly as long as I've known Áine and our daughters.

"Okay. Fitz is walking her from class to class today.

"He'll probably do that for the rest of the school year."

"Good." Áine looks at me questioningly. "We're going to have to plan some kind of celebration for the last day of school. We usually go out for ice cream."