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“Would have ended up being more paperwork for me,” Quinn added, ignoring the whining coming from his phone.
“Casualty,” Drake mumbled. “Happened during the exchange to get you back. His fucking fault you got nabbed in the first place.”
“You were abducted in Colombia?” Angelina cried.
“Rat,” Quinn growled.
“Going,” Drake replied as he bounded down the stairs.
“Listen to me,” Ben drew her attention back to him. He pulled her off the chair and into his arms, locking his hands around the fabric of her dress. “We are going to have lunch. After that, we can talk about whatever you want.”
“Can we order from that place in town?” Drake called.
“Shorty wants the pasta with chocolate cake and an order of fries,” Ben yelled back. “Ask Max if he will mix some blue tropical stuff for my woman. Take my truck to get it. Don’t bring stragglers home.”
“Baby girl,” Quinn tugged her out of Ben’s hold and into his. “Finish up what you need to in here. We need a bit to wrap things up. Things are going to have to change now that you know.”
Angelina nodded absently. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried calming her mind. Opening her eyes, she found she was by herself in the loft.
Chapter 24
Angelina sat on the couch with a cup of coffee. Truth be told, the cup was more the size of a bowl with a handle. It was a soup mug. She really couldn’t be picky. Broken mugs were like an epidemic in her kitchen lately.
Today had been enlightening. Yep. Enlightening was the word she was going with. Her RV-loving, globe-trotting father was the leader of an elite group of men who have quietly toppled governments in countries most people had no idea existed. They rescued people who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time and escorted things in and out of places no one mentioned.
He had been doing it for years. Years. How had she never figured it out? The shiny new motor home was his mobile command that housed more things than Hollywood could ever dream up. Oh yeah, and it was parked in her driveway.
They were tight-lipped on what they were doing in Colombia. From what she could piece together, her father had taken a few guys to do whatever they were supposed to do and somehow ended up as a reluctant guest of a Colombian drug lord. Army Ken was called to help go in and get him.
Ben was supposed to be working on another case here. Who were they looking into here? Yuban wasn’t exactly the hotbed of criminal activity. The only notably repulsive citizen was Daniel Benson. It was something about stolen money. Angelina wasn’t sure she wanted to know what they found. Padre in the bathroom was still etched in her mind. There was no need to add more.
Boss Man dispersed the team after a quick introduction. A car stopped at the end of the drive. The men simply got in and drove away, leaving no trace behind. Ben, her father, and Drake were working in her office. They said something about an upgraded security system linked to their phones. It sounded like being in a fishbowl to her, but that was a fight for another day. Today was for adsorbing and trying to decide if it mattered.
Were they safe?
Her father had been doing this for years. Besides the broken leg and a bruise on the side of his head, he always came home looking no different than he left. Ben showed up looking whole. But when he returned from rescuing her father, he was a mess. He had been shot.
Could she live like that?
Never knowing when he’d be gone and if he was coming back would be hard. Angelina couldn’t imagine her life without Army Ken in it.
Knocking back the last of the contents of her mug, she wandered back into the kitchen to get a refill. She was still trying to wrap her mind around it. Lost in thought, Angelina stood with the coffee pot in one hand slowly refilling her mug.
“Sweetness,” Jake yelled as he burst through the door.
Angelina dropped the coffee pot. Glass shards and hot liquid surrounded her bare feet as the pot shattered on the floor.
“Damn it,” she yelped, lifting herself onto the counter. Snatching a dish towel, she dried her feet while carefully pulling glass from her skin.
“Angelina,” Jake called, storming into the kitchen. “Are you okay? Sorry, sweetness. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I didn’t want more coffee anyway,” she sighed and frowned at the mess on the floor.
“I will clean it later,” he promised. He pulled her across the island and into his arms. “We have more important things to deal with right now.”
Angelina wasn’t sure how many more important things she could handle today. After a visit from Daniel, the arrival of Army Ken and the rescue team, and details of a life she never knew they had, it was kind of a lot for one day.
“How about tomorrow?” She asked. “Can it wait?”
