From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(127)

“Drew has a meeting scheduled. His connection has been cagey, but we think this time we might get something moving. I have to hope so because the last lead we got from the feds went nowhere. I’m almost at the end of my rope, Kai. I have to think if he was out there, he would find a way to let us know. Anything. I don’t know. I have to think that Theo’s gone.”

“The type of mind conditioning Hope McDonald is known for involves the complete suppression of the victim’s identity. Theo could be alive, but if he’s had enough of the drug she’s been developing, he might not know he’s Theo,” Kai explained.

“So we could get him back and he would still be gone?”

“I think with time and the right therapy, he could come back.” It was what he was prepping for. “But we don’t know a lot about the drug she’s using. It’s not something I can look up and find out the side effects.”

Case shook his head, seeming infinitely weary. “I don’t feel him anymore. I don’t know what to do. I have a nephew to think about now. I have to think about Erin, too. It’s what Theo would want. We’ve got a schedule to help her through the first couple of weeks, but eventually everyone has to go back to their own lives. I’m thinking of moving closer so I can be there.”

For months Case had done nothing but work. He’d even stopped going to Sanctum. And he never dated now.

“Have you thought of calling her?”

Case frowned. “I wouldn’t have to call her if I lived closer.”

“I was talking about Mia.”

A shadow slid over his face. “Why would I do that? Like I said, maybe it’s time to concentrate on the future. I’m going home to grab a nap and a shower. Tell Erin I’ll see her at the house later. Li and Avery are coming to pick her up. They’re staying at her place for a few days to help her get in a groove. I’m bringing dinner by if you want to come.”

“We’ll stay with her until they get here.” Erin would likely get far too much help and kick everyone out after a day or two. Once she’d made the decision to keep her baby, she’d calmed. Erin still had a rapier wit and used sarcasm as a form of affection, but some of her darkness had fled as though she’d known her child would need her light.

Would she have had that calm if she knew Theo might still be alive? Watching Erin grow into her role as a mother had made Kai believe Big Tag had made the right call. She’d needed some peace in order to do what she had to.

Case had no peace. It was there in the slump of his shoulders as he walked away. He was still haunted. He might not feel his brother anymore, but it was obvious he was still lost.

Kai walked through the door and found his reason to smile. Kori was cradling a baby wrapped like a burrito and Erin was looking through the clothes, holding up the tiny McKay-Taggart onesie Kori had specially made.

“Oh, thank god,” Erin said with a smile. “We can put him to work right away. He’s going to be so good undercover.”

Kori smiled down at baby TJ, who seemed to definitely be a Taggart since the kid had clocked in right at ten pounds and had a cap of sandy hair. “You can poop on the bad guys. That’s right.”

The way his wife was cooing at that baby it might not be too long before he had to deal with the baby bug that seemed to be going around. Serena was due in a few weeks and Phoebe had recently announced her pregnancy. Everyone was having babies. Everyone was looking to the future.

Kori and Erin began talking baby clothes and Kai took a seat, happy to listen in.

His future was already here.





Case turned off the shower and grabbed a towel, running it over his hair to dry it. The hot water had done wonders for his aching muscles, but nothing for the weariness he felt.

The joy of holding his nephew for the first time was utterly drowned out by the misery that he hadn’t been able to bring TJ’s father home. Theo had missed the birth of his child and it was all because Case couldn’t find him. Theo had always been the smarter one. Once more he wished he could change places with his brother.

He stared at himself in the mirror, not quite recognizing the man who looked back at him. He could smile all he liked. He could go into work and pretend that he was the old Case, the Case who laughed and joked, but that piece of him was gone. When he was alone and there was no one to pretend with, he saw the hollow shell that had been left behind.

Theo had been shot, but he wasn’t the only dead man in the family.

A vision of a blonde with the sweetest smile ever crossed his mind.

He ruthlessly shoved it out of his head. Mia Lawless was nothing but a scheming brat who’d used him to further her own agenda. Mia Danvers. Her legal name was Danvers. Damn. That girl had more aliases than a super villain. Another reason to stay away from her. He wasn’t thinking about her. She didn’t get to f*ck up his life a second time. She was the reason he’d stayed out of his brother’s schemes with Drew Lawless. They were currently trying to use Drew’s position as CEO of a billion dollar corporation to infiltrate The Collective and find information on Hope McDonald. Once that happened, Case would be called on.

He was nothing but muscle after all. Theo had gotten all the brains, all the charm.

Now Theo’s kid had been left with the lesser brother as his father figure.

Case sighed and moved into his utilitarian bedroom. Sometimes he missed the efficiency of Naval life. When he’d been in the Navy he hadn’t had to worry about babies or meddling family members. He’d woken up, done his job, gone to sleep with the knowledge that he’d been useful.