Page 54 of Loving at 40

“I’ve seen him on social media. That last woman was some mafia princess or something.” Autumn glances down at her toes being painted.

Mafia princess? My blood runs cold. He’d told me he was undercover, but he hadn’t mentioned anything specific. Had he been involved with someone?

“How do you know these things?” Anna turns on Autumn before I can ask for details. “Like you had that email address for my brother for his letter from Ben.”

Autumn turns to me. “Ben gave each of the guys a directive, like a mission, to complete within a year of receiving them.”

“Do you know what the letters said?” I ask as the nail tech taps my leg to move a foot out of the water.

“I only know Logan’s message as it relates to me,” she states.

“Zack’s was related to love, and he told me finding me fulfilled his mission,” River explains, a smile gracing her voice.

“That leaves Archer and Mason,” Anna clarifies. “I doubt Mason will share his, and Archer . . . well, he’s Archer. He’ll do what he wants, when he wants, if he wants.” Bitterness rings through Anna’s tone, and my hackles rise in defense of him. He had his reasons. But it isn’t my place to explain his past.

“And who was this woman? How did you find him with her?” I ask Autumn unable to hold back my curiosity.

“Some social media post or trending news popped up, and I swear it was Archer although he wasn’t named as Archer in the picture. When I scrolled the woman’s social media page, images of Archer and her filled her photos.”

“Oh.” Remaining quiet, I wonder about this mystery woman and questioning even more of Archer’s past.

“I need a margarita,” Anna eventually mutters, tipping back her head and closing her eyes. I imagine she doesn’t want to talk anymore about Ben and secret directives or her wayward brother, as she thinks of him. I’m here for her, I remind myself, feeling a little selfish that I want more time with her brother and a little irritated that she doesn’t know him better.

“I wish I could have one,” River pouts, rubbing a hand over her belly.

“Same,” Autumn groans while smiling to herself about baby number two. She hardly has a bump, but I remember that feeling. Knowing something is growing inside you. Life forever changes after the birth of a child, and I glance among the four of us, knowing death has changed us all as well.

21

[Archer]

While the little princesses had plans with my niece and her best friend, and the queen went out with her girls, I met Noah at the inn where he works. Bluebird Hollow Inn was a family-owned place, inherited by its present manager, a feisty brunette. The old hotel was quite a change from Noah’s majestic Magellen Hotel in downtown Chicago, but I wasn’t there to chat about the hospitality industry. I was there to get my head on straight about a certain raven-haired beauty with long legs and sweet baby girls.

Unfortunately, while I’m hanging out with Noah, I get a call I was hoping to never receive.

“Archer, Braxton here.” Braxton Hawes is another operative. Occasionally, he’s fed me information I’m no longer privy to from the Quintero case. “We got a tip on Viviana.”

“Fuck,” I hiss through the phone after stepping away from Noah.

“My sentiment exactly. Funny story, she was spotted at a marina in Chicago.”

Noooo. That’s too close for comfort.

“I wanted to give you a heads-up.” There’s an unspoken message between the lines—in case she contacts me

I snort, deep and rich. Braxton knows there isn’t a chance in hell Vi would reach out to me. She wouldn’t have a way to find me. Burner phones destroyed. Fake social media accounts wiped clean. No official place to call home in my history.

Hunter Gray no longer exists in this world. As him, neither did I.

“You know that won’t happen.” Braxton knows the facts. My assignment was to infiltrate the Quintero family. My task is over. Viviana and I are done.

“You were in deep, Archer. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

“Her father is gone,” I remind him.

“We always suspected she’d take over once we had him. That’s why we needed her as well.”

Vi told me she had no interest in taking over Daddy’s business, but I’d never trusted her. While she’d rather revel in her daddy’s riches, she knew how to play dirty, and I had no doubt she’d take over if her father disappeared forever.