Colton Christmas Protector (The Coltons of Texas #12)(80)

Jamie’s respect for the man increased with his recognition that Stankovich had leverage to force him to work for Watts.

“I refused to do what he wanted and told him I was quitting,” Jamie answered honestly. “Let’s just say he didn’t respond well to that and came up with a witness and evidence that had me doing something incriminating. I went to work for Aesir thinking I’d have the opportunity to fight terrorism. Make a difference. I couldn’t allow him to destroy my reputation. So I waited for the right opportunity. I couldn’t make my move until I had every shred of false evidence he created against me. That all came to a head with Watts. Stankovich has nothing on me now.”

“What about the witness? Isn’t he still a threat?”

“I took care of him. He can’t talk anymore.” He watched Kadin for any kind of reaction and saw only understanding and a growing kinship. Here stood a man who knew what it took to take justice in his own hands—against seemingly insurmountable odds.

“Maybe you’ve already had your redemption,” Kadin finally said, dropping his hands.

“In some ways, I have.” Demons still haunted him, though. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to exorcize them. “Redemption for me would be living an honorable life, getting married, having children. Feeling normal.”

Kadin glanced around the apartment again and looked through the window. A siren could be heard on the street below.

“This is normal? You’d raise kids here?”

Jamie had to agree the studio apartment and cramped city living wasn’t part of the fantasy. After Aesir, he wasn’t quite ready for suburbia. Or was he?

“Come work for me,” Kadin said. “I need someone like you on my team. I can’t promise you normal, but I can promise you an office and as much or as little travel as you want.”

Professionally, Jamie didn’t know what he’d do with his future now that he had Stankovich off his back. His immediate need drew him back to his roots, close to his mother in New Hampshire, and deep-city living, as Kadin had put it. He planned to take some time off, find a woman and settle down. Other than that, he had a clean slate.

Would joining an elite team such as Dark Alley Investigations give him the kind of life he needed?

“Think it over,” Kadin said.

When Jamie nodded once, he headed for the door.

There, Kadin opened the door and stopped with his hand on the doorknob. “Consider moving to Wyoming, would you? This city-living thing is just a Band-Aid. The boutique elevator gave that away.”

As the door shut, Jamie let out a breath of a laugh. Although highly intelligent and perceptive, Kadin acted as though Jamie had already accepted the job. Maybe he had. And without realizing it, he had moved to the city to still feel the connection to danger. Busy streets. Sirens. Gunshots. The noise gave him a sense of familiarity. But he was ready to settle down. He wanted that. Needed that. Craved it. Kadin’s visit only sealed that desire tighter. Kadin had one thing right. No more transition time. No more living in constant danger. Stankovich was part of the past now. Jamie had to make a move for the future.

*

Sitting at her kitchen table, Reese Harlow picked up the internet news article with trembling fingers. Hammers pounded and demolition work vibrated around her as she stared at the photo of a powerful man wearing a cowboy hat. He leaned on the back of a pickup truck parked at the head of an alley, shoulder harness exposed, two guns, one on each side. Steely gray eyes met the camera. Without even meeting him, she sensed an extraordinary man looking back at her from the photo.

Her biological mother had emailed her the link to the article titled Cold Case Hero Expands Business. She’d searched herself and found this photo attached with other articles as though it had become a marketing piece. Former New York homicide detective, founder of Dark Alley Investigations. Father. Husband. She ran her finger over the man’s name printed beneath the photograph.

Kadin Tandy. Her father.

And he didn’t know about her...

She had known since she was a young girl that she was adopted. She had good parents who loved her in their own way and were town fixtures, but as she grew older, she couldn’t stop wondering about the identity of her biological parents, as though their identity meant something to her own. Last week, she’d met her biological mother for the first time. While that had been strange and awkward and fascinating, and had consumed her thoughts all week, her mother hadn’t been able to tell her much about her father. She’d lost touch with the teenage boy who’d fathered the child she’d been forced to give up at the age of sixteen. Today she’d sent Reese the link to this article.

If she went to meet Kadin, how would she approach him? She’d read he’d lost his young daughter—to murder, of all things. Reese couldn’t imagine enduring such profound tragedy. Blurting out she was his daughter might come as a bit of a shock. She should tell him, though. She had to tell him. Someone should have told him long ago. How could she do that in a tactful way? She didn’t think there would ever be any good time or any easy way. Maybe she’d get to know him first.

But did she really want that? She’d accomplished what she’d set out to and found her biological parents. She had their names and where they lived. That didn’t mean she had to have them in her life from this day forward. Did it? Maybe she wasn’t quite finished with her exploration.