AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So, still mad at me?”
Ryker tossed Syn a smirk and rolled his eyes. “I stopped being mad months ago.”
Syn snorted and sipped at the glass of champagne. “I just couldn’t let you marry Hailey.”
“I’m glad.” Ryker took a swallow of his drink. Marrying into the Baldwin family would have been a disaster waiting to happen and he would definitely be divorced by now.
Syn gazed across the room at where Bishop and Marshal were talking to Brick and Fighter.
“Have you forgiven him?” he whispered to his friend.
“I have. At first, he was doing his job. He fell in love with me and quit rather than betray me.”
“And what about when he came back?”
“He came back to protect me. I found out that his former boss arranged the note with my blood on it and another agent had devised the invasion of my home.”
He had found out via a phone call from Donald Bass that Marshal had only taken the flash drive so Anthony would not send in someone else.
“Why are you telling me this?” Ryker had asked Donald.
“Because I was the one who initiated your home invasion.”
Donald told him that he’d used what happened to Aspen to contact Winchester Armani. Together, the two men had hatched a plan to get into his home. One was to get Aspen and the other was to take him so his father would cave and open the safe.
Donald had confessed that he had never meant for Chad to be killed or anyone for that matter, but apologies were way too late. Donald had been double-crossed by Armani, who had gone in with the mindset of killing anyone in his way. And regardless of Armani’s relationship with Robert Langston, Armani had come into his home ready to shed blood.
And while Donald had sounded regretful over the phone, the man was not off the hook.
Donald had answered for his crimes. The man had been fired from the CIA and was serving ten years behind bars.
“So, it was Anthony who had created the kidnapping attempt years ago, and Donald was in cahoots with Armani to invade your home,” Syn said, shaking his head with disgust.
“Yes,” Ryker answered.
“Have you heard from Hailey?” Syn asked.
“She’s dating a rocket scientist,” Ryker smirked. Hailey was doing very well and Ryker wished her nothing but the best. Her brother he didn’t know about or care.
Syn cleared his throat. “And your dad?”
“He’s a lost cause,” Ryker stated.
He’d gone to visit his father in prison once, but the half an hour had been fraught with tension. He’d been so uncomfortable at his father’s guiltless attitude that he had not returned. Robert Langston had shown no remorse for his crimes.
Ryker smiled when his mother blew him a kiss on her way past with Marshal’s mother in tow. The two women had become fast friends after his mom’s arrival a few months ago. She told him that Marshal had cared for her better than anyone other than himself.
“I bet you’re glad Marshal is no longer in that life,” Syn said, pulling him from his thoughts.
“Very glad.” Ryker gazed across the room at Marshal.
Over the past several months, the harsh lines that bracketed Marshal’s mouth and the corner of his eyes had lessened. The tightness of strain had eased in the man’s face and body. Rather than a bunch of coiled muscles, Marshal now strode with a sexy swagger that sent his pulse humming.
It had taken him a long time to forgive Marshal, but he had. And in forgiving, he found a new strength. A strength that bonded them together tighter than before.
And from that bond came trust.
Their sex life was through the roof and now they truly communicated.
