Page 44 of Breached

I saw everyone’s discomfort as they looked at us.

“For all of it,” Doc Roberts said gently, and I shook my head, unimpressed.

“Nicole.” Mia carefully approached me, but I held up a hand, knowing I might say something I couldn’t take back.

“I just want to say—” she started, but I cut her off.

“Mia, none of what happened with your father was your fault. Don’t carry that. But with everything else I learned on this trip, I need some space from all of you, please.”

She shot Paul a look then nodded at me. “Of course.” She stepped back, and that was when I heard a cough.

“Mama!” His little voice found me, and it filled me with an indescribable warmth. I turned to see Savannah holding a wiggly Chase. His arms were out straight as he tried to push away from her to move toward me. I dropped my bags and scooped him up and buried my head in his neck. Breathing in deeply, I let his scent fill my head and wounded heart. The weight of him in my arms felt so right and was so needed.

“Hi, big guy,” I whispered as I kissed his head, feeling my heart connect with his. “I missed you.” Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I didn’t even try to brush them away.

“Mama, home!” He rubbed his face on mine, and I loved that I brought him comfort. Then I looked up and saw Paul watching us with an unreadable expression. It was as if someone slammed a door closed and broke the spell. As much as I loved Chase with every ounce of my heart, I wasn’t his mother, and I needed to protect myself from the reality that came with that. A memory of me asking Doc Roberts if Chase was going to be placed in foster care and him saying no, he could stay at the house, was just another moment I had to digest as the idiot in the room.

I kissed Chase once more, then handed him to Paul, who awkwardly took him from me.

“You need to be with your father,” I whispered through my heartbreak. I raced inside and headed straight to my room without looking back.

ELEVEN

BRUNO

Iwatched the explosion on the security cameras for the fifth time. No matter how many different angles I viewed it, there was nothing more to see. I saw my own trucks heading out, then the distant fireball.

“Bruno?” Armondo knocked on the door. “He’s here.”

I waved for the man to enter the office. He quickly removed his cap and sat in the seat I pointed to, and I sat across from him.

“Water?”

“No, gracias.”

I nodded and leaned back in my chair. “Tell me exactly what you heard and what you did.”

“I was working in the tunnel, running the electrical, when I heard voices. The man called the woman Nicole.” I went still.

“And the man?”

“She called him Frank and also General.”

“Are you sure he said the name Nicole?”

He moved his hand over his heart. “Sí, I bet my life on it.”

I flicked my wrist as I took that in. “Go on, what else?”

“I couldn’t see them, of course, but the woman asked why he was sending her to death. She called him General and said she was wearing explosives. He was angry, and he wanted her to walk toward the compound. I didn’t wait to hear anything else. I tried to use the radios, but they aren’t working well in the tunnels. I went right to Armondo and told him what I heard, and he sent the men to go look.”

What is happening? It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Cruz soldiers were in the area only the day before and some were killed in a fight with US soldiers, and now Nicole was in the area with a Blackstone general. What was I missing?

“Is that all you have to tell me?” I demanded.

“I’m sorry, Señor Perez. I never meant for those men to get killed,” the man pleaded, and I realized he thought I was going to blame him for their deaths. Armondo had said there was no sign of the woman or the general when our men got to the vehicle. Then the explosion happened.

I studied the man who fumbled with his cap in front of me and held his gaze long enough to impose my authority on his subconscious. I made him sweat it out, and then, when he began to grow pale, I thought he might get sick and broke eye contact.