Dace’s anger toward Ivy subsided at the sound of her voice cracking and the tears welling. She was reliving her nightmare once again – this was what those night terrors were born of. He tabled the anger and chose to feel – feel her loss, feel his own.
“I think you’re right,” he said, knowing it was dangerous to offer false hopes, but this was different. This was their real life, and though there was a chance they were murdered and she either didn’t find their bodies or did and chose to suppress the memory, he needed her to stay mentally healthy and support her through what was likely the hardest thing she’ll ever experience. “If they’re out there, we will find them.”
Her brow flicked up for a moment, and a slight nod followed. “Yeah. That’s what I was hoping. I knew you could help. That you would find them. They’re all I’ve had for years now. I gave up everything for just those two – my only living family. I knew you’d be the one to help me.” Remembering Eli was seated to her right, she quickly recovered to include him by placing her hand on his. “Help us. You both will. I know it.”
There wasn’t much confidence in the sentiment, and Dace wasn’t sure if it was a lack of belief or sheer exhaustion. Perhaps it was both. Ivy had been carrying such a heavy weight for days, weeks even. Finally sharing her secret had to feel equally freeing and defeating. Freeing because she was able to gain help and support in her time of need. Defeating because despite letting her secret out, the fear remained. Anyone who knew her story was now in danger. Just like she was.
“We’re missing something. One of you” — Dace looked at both Ivy and Eli — “left something out.”
“I told you everything, Dace.” She murmured in desperation, “I promise you. You know everything now.”
“No. You didn’t. Who is your father hiding you from? For years, who has he had you running from?”
Eli cleared his throat. “You.”
CHAPTER 17
Even Ivy looked at him in utter shock.
“Pfft. Us?” Wylie, like his brothers, was on the immediate defensive. “Why would anyone need to hide from us? We aren’t the bad guys here. We hunt the bad guys. Not to sound cliché, but we’re the fucking good guys.”
“Not to a criminal. You’re the enemy.” Eli couldn’t look at Ivy at that point. Not after what he’d just said. “Everyone in…our line of work knows who you are, especially people like him. The kind that are connected so deeply on both sides of the law they’re able to skate through everything…except you. You’re the one roadblock for his kind because you too have connections on both sides. Some that are bigger and more powerful than his. Hell, you have your own small army. He knows what you’re capable of.”
“My father isn’t a criminal, Eli. Why would you say that? He’s just like you, like Dace and the rest. He’s one of the good ones. It’s his enemies, the people he’s a threat to because he’ll take them out, who are after us and the reason we’ve had to stay on the run for so long.” Ivy tried to resist the emotion brewing but couldn’t stop the quake in her voice as she tried to right what she thought was a very wrong perception. “He was kidnapped and may not even be alive still – there was so much blood… It was the criminals he fights who did this. They took him and Cash. Maybe his enemies are also your enemies and it was a means to stop you from…from infiltrating something. He has done nothing but protect us. Hired you to do so. How could you turn on him like this?”
“Was he? Did you actually see it happen? He never told you who he was protecting you from because it was him. He wasn’t protecting you. He was using you and protecting himself.
“I know this is hard to wrap your mind around, and I wish I was wrong, but after years…years of watching this man in play, I know what and who he is.” Eli went on. “The only reason I stayed and played the game was to protect you and Cash. If it weren’t for the two of you, I’d have done something about him and his activities much sooner. And not doing so will now be my biggest regret.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Ivy, I’ve studied him, his colleagues, their behaviors and activities as closely as I could over the years. It’s taken time, but I’ve pieced together a not so pretty picture of who he is and what his intentions are, and they aren’t good. Telling you before now would only have made it harder to keep you safe.”
“Because you think I would have confronted him…”
“I know you would have. You are everything he is not: good, kind, honest. You would have wanted answers and justice, and that would have only led you one step closer to your own grave. My silence, where your father was concerned, was the best way to keep you safe.”
Wylie carried on the idea Eli was trying to convey. “Keep your enemies closer… Isn’t that how the saying goes?”
“Precisely.” Eli nodded to Wylie.
Dace didn’t like hearing his fiancée and child were used as pawns for some sick game, but he didn’t mind the distance this was putting between Eli and Ivy and felt guilty as fuck for that. Enough was enough, and he needed to get to the next phase of bullshit if they were going to make any progress.
“Okay. But why us? Why would he hide her from us like he has? We weren’t privy to his extracurriculars here. He wasn’t even on our radar because we thought he was dead,” Dace asked.
“Why wouldn’t he? You’re enemy number one. The one agency that can hinder his activities. You’re the largest threat to anyone in his field. He knows exactly who you are, and what you are capable of. He has inside and outside information on you – he has to. Your resources are endless and worldwide, meaning you never lose. The odds were against him, and being engaged to his daughter, you were far too close to home. It was only a matter of time before you were on to him and hunting him.”
Dace let out a deep sigh. The idea of it being his fault that Ivy was missing from his life didn’t settle well for obvious reasons. Not knowing his son simply because of who he was made him question everything.
“Why hide her, though? It sounds like their relations were few and far between. He hasn’t been active in her life since her disappearance – just sporadic visits. So why not just disappear himself? As it is, he’s already on the run himself. Why involve her and…my son?”
“Bargaining chips, I would imagine,” Eli deadpanned. “He had something in his back pocket to save his own ass if you got too close.”
“He’d hold them over my head,” Dace said.
“You’re a threat, so I’d imagine so. He knows you. Knows you’re loyal. Knows you’d take a bullet for anyone you love – like his daughter.”
“So he thinks I can be bought,” Dace said.
“Essentially. Can’t everyone on some level? You may not take a fat offshore account in trade for silence and looking the other way, but you’d at least slow your roll if you knew her life was on the line. And then add in a child you didn’t even know about?”
“Son of a bitch.”
“My father…” Ivy stared into her hands like the answers she needed to reconcile these thoughts and accusations resided there. She hesitated to finish her thought because she couldn’t complete it. “My father would never… I can’t imagine him… None of this makes sense… He…”