Echoes at Dawn (KGI #5)(29)

She broke off and put a hand to her head, closing her eyes as she swayed back and forth. Alarmed, he reached forward to touch her arm but she pulled back.

“Just give me a minute. I had something for a moment. It was a brief memory of that day. I picked up something from a man close by. I remember how cold I felt and how fee afrightened he made me feel. I could sense his determination to find me and to destroy those who had any knowledge of me.” She glanced back up at Rio. “What does that mean? Why would he do that?”

Rio blew out his breath. “Titan.”

“Titan?”

This was the part he hated the most. He didn’t want to frighten her. He didn’t want to appall her. But he wouldn’t be anything but honest with her because deception would only cause more problems down the road. The very last thing he needed was for her to bolt unexpectedly because it looked like he was trying to deceive her.

No longer able to sit still, he pushed off the bed and paced back and forth at the end.

“Titan is a highly classified specialized military black ops group. Doesn’t officially exist. These are the last-resort guys. The guys you call in to clean up messes, the guys you call in because you have no other options.”

Her brow wrinkled in confusion. “Then how do you know so much about them?”

“Because I used to be one of them.”

For a moment she was completely still, as if she hadn’t really processed what he’d said. Then alarm flared in her eyes and she shrank back against her pillow. But to her credit, she didn’t freak out.

“You said used to be,” she said in a steady voice. “Why aren’t you any longer?”

He stopped his pacing and looked at her. She was asking, not judging. His admiration grew for her by the hour. She was rock solid. Someone who didn’t crack under pressure or fold in a crisis. He didn’t think he’d ever met a woman quite like her and he’d met all the Kelly women. They were certainly remarkable women. Survivors. Fighters. More courageous than most men.

But there was something about Grace that made him stop and take notice.

He eased down on the edge of the bed. “I decided that unwavering, unquestioning loyalty wasn’t for me.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Some would say those aren’t bad traits.”

“Blind faith is never a good thing. Being a unit of automatons trained to do as ordered without conscience, without question…I couldn’t do it anymore. I lost a lot of my soul during my time with Titan. I’m hoping I haven’t lost all of it.”

“That bad?” she asked quietly.

He ran a hand through his still damp hair. “Not all. Depends on what side you’re on. There’s always a good and a bad depending on perspective. Are there things I regret? Yeah. But there are also things I don’t regret. It was time for me to move on or lose myself completely.”

“And KGI is better?”

“Different,” Rio said. “We decide what missions to take. We decide what side we line up on. The Kellys…they’re righteous. Upstanding. They have integrity and principles. It’s why I work for them. It’s why my team works for them.”

She looked relieved by that.

“Shea is in very good hands, Grace. Nathan loves her a hell of a lot. He’ll protect her with his dying breath.”

She gave a wistful-sounding sigh. “I’m glad she’s found happiness and that she’s safe. It’s what I always wanted for her—for us—just a normal life.”

Rio reached across the comforter and gathered her hand in his. “You’ll get there. KGI isn’t walking away from this.”

“Thank yox20 duringu. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t found me when you did. I…” She closed her eyes and bowed her head. “I was ready to die. I think I even wanted to. I was just so tired. I can’t even explain to you how I felt.”

Rio brought his hand up to touch her hair, letting one of the damp strands slide over his fingers. “There’s no shame in admitting you were at your lowest point. We’ve all been there.”

She lifted her head and met his gaze. “What was your lowest point?”

He swallowed because the pain of Rosalina’s death still lived inside him. She’d been all he had left. And he’d failed to protect her as he should. In a lot of ways she’d been the impetus for him to walk away from Titan.

“My baby sister died,” he said quietly. “She was pregnant with a child. She was beaten by her lover, the father of her baby. All because she spoke to another man.”

Grace’s face twisted in sympathy. “I’m so sorry. What happened? Was he punished?”

“He’s dead,” Rio said bluntly.

Grace’s eyes widened. She bit her lip and stared hard at him, almost like she knew and wanted to ask but hesitated.

He took the decision from her. She should know the kind of man she’d trusted with her safety. She should have all the facts.

“I tracked him down and killed him.”

“Good,” Grace said fiercely. “I hope it wasn’t quick either.”

Rio blinked in surprise and then burst out laughing. Her face was drawn into a scowl and her nose was scrunched up making her look…cute.

“It wasn’t quick.”