Page 63 of What Started In Deception

She sucked in a breath, then lost her composure again. “I feel so ashamed. She was happy for me. She said that stuff about my dad. Never once during the year that I dated Andy did she ever mention my dad.”

“Come here.” He pulled her against him, wrapping her up tight. “Come here, Lyd.”

She hesitated before she held on to him, nestling her cheek on his shoulder. “I don’t know if I can do this. I’m so sorry, but I don’t think I can.”

He said nothing, sliding his hands up and down her back.

Several minutes passed as she worked hard to pull herself together. Easing away, she wiped at her cheeks. “We need to find a way to stop this.”

He sighed as he captured her hands. “There is no way to stop it.”

“There has to be.”

He shook his head. “This is happening even if you back out and they pull me. The Boston field office has been watching Russo for months, and Will keeps popping up on the radar. The DOJ has questions, and they’re going to get their answers.”

She closed her eyes as more tears fell.

“Hey,” he said gently as he brushed them away with his thumbs. “You and me, we can do this. We can do it together.”

She stared into his determined gaze—the man who’d been so good to her over the last few weeks. The man who’d been so sweet to her grandmother. She didn’t want any of this to happen, but if it had to, she wanted Ty to be involved. “Okay.”

He wiped at another tear. “What do you say we get out of here? I want to take you somewhere.”

She nodded. “Sure.”

Chapter Fifteen

Ty pulled up to the checkpoint at Arlington National Cemetery, handing over his family pass and FBI badge.

The man looked at both, then handed them back. “Go ahead.”

“Thanks,” he said, driving past the guards, glancing Lydia’s way as she tossed him a confused look from eyes that were still red-rimmed after she’d cried in the bathroom.

Overall, Lydia had done a hell of a job during their visit with her grandma. She’d certainly been a little nervous, but nerves had worked for their situation—bringing the boyfriend home to meet the family. She’d said all the right things and played her part well. Then Marietta had brought up Lydia’s father.

He’d held his breath from that point forward, knowing how much that had upset her, praying that Lydia would keep it together. And she had until she hurried down the hall to the ladies’ room.

He’d stood outside the door until he couldn’t take it anymore, understanding that Lydia hadn’t stepped away to pee. When he walked in and found her sobbing, he’d ached for her, wanting nothing more than to make everything better again. “How are you doing?”

She nodded. “I’m okay.”

“Good.”

“Ty. What— Why are we here?”

He turned right onto McClellan Drive and eased closer to the grass not far from the familiar spot that he hadn’t been to in a while, shutting off the Jeep’s engine. “I want to show you something.” And the fact that he did shocked the hell out of him.

Her brow furrowed slightly as she nodded again. “All right.”

“Come on,” he said as he got out, meeting her on her side as she shut her door. Taking her hand, he walked four rows down and fifteen plots into the center, stopping in front of a gravestone.

Kenneth Christopher Corddry

Lydia looked at the stone before her gaze flew to his.

“My dad,” he told her. “We’re a Gold Star family.”

“Ty,” she said, pressing her free hand to her heart as compassion filled her eyes.