Lennox Kasper has not been so lucky.
The tongue-lashing the Kasper sisters are giving their father has been unrelenting.
From what I’ve gathered, this is some sort of unplanned family reunion. He walked out on them a decade or more ago, and this is the first time he’s shown his face since. Apparently, Rose has been working for her father’s agency without her sisters’ knowledge. I don’t blame them for unloading.
Rose must’ve come clean with Poppy and Noli, because they aren’t acting miffed at her, but they are being downright chilly to their father. That’s an understatement. They’re beyond chilly. They’re arctic.
For his part, Lennox has dug his heels in, which isn’t helping his cause. He’d get further if he apologized, but I’m not about to putmyself in the middle of the family drama—not when I have no say in any of it.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Poppy starts in on Lennox again.
“Poppy, give it a rest.” He crosses his arms. “Rose works for me. She was injured in the line of duty. I’m not going tonotfollow up. I’m a good boss.”
“Can’t say the same about being a father, can you?” Poppy mutters.
“Amen.” Noli stands up straighter. “And Rosieworkedfor you. Past tense. You fired her. She told us.”
Collin, who is Noli’s husband, if I’m remembering correctly—or maybe her boyfriend? I forget the details—is standing close at hand, as if ready to jump in and back up his girl if she needs him to. But so far, she’s been completely capable.
Poppy too. She’s gripping Mack’s hand in such a way that I’m sure is cutting off circulation. But the two of them haven’t wavered.
“It’s so freaking fitting,” Poppy takes up the argument. “You fired her, Dad. Left her out on her own. Where have I heard that before?” The bitterness is back. Scratch that. It never left.
“Because she’s so dang good at her job,” Noli says, “she went and did what you weren’t smart enough to do and put herself in between the bad guys and Anton.”
My heart pops into the back of my throat. I still can’t believe that Rose took a bullet for me, without even thinking. She saw the gunman and jumped into action. No hesitation. I wish it would have been me taking the bullet for her.
I feel like climbing the walls. All I want to do is talk to her. She’s out of surgery. Her surgeon came and talked to us a bit ago. Said everything went as well as could be expected in the operating room, and she’s lucky the bullet missed her bone, only nicked her femoral artery, and that the medical staff on site reacted immediately. A couple millimeters in a different direction andwithout the quick thinking of our team’s doctors, and the bullet could have caused her to bleed out.
I will not be thinking about that. I say another prayer of thanksgiving as I half-listen to Poppy and Noli unload years of pent-up anger on their dad.
“She probably could have used some back up, huh?” Poppy spits out. “You couldn’t even give her that. You have no right to be here. You did nothing.”
Lennox doesn’t argue. He sets his jaw in a firm line.
The standoff is broken when a nurse walks into the waiting room. She glances around at the crowd of us. Her eyes widen when they land on me, but she turns her gaze to Poppy. “Your sister is awake and asking for you.”
The Kasper sisters sprint down the hallway after the nurse, leaving me with Lennox, Collin, and Mack.
My phone buzzes, and I check my messages. I’ve got a pile-up of texts from my mother, but I haven’t looked at one of them. I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with her right now. She’s only going to use this attempt on my life as ammunition to try to convince me to come back to Penwick.
My teammates have blown up my phone, making sure I’m okay and asking about Rose. Poe has her on the prayer chain at his church already. Del has offered to coordinate meals for her after she gets home. TJ is ribbing me for the fact that I needed her to protect me—all in jest, of course.
Duke has been reaching out as well, asking for updates. I gather he and Rose got pretty close over the course of the past week. I try not to be jealous, but I’m a weak man.
But this message isn’t from the guys or Duke or my mom. It’s from my new security team.
The guy who shot at you cracked in interrogation. He says he was working for a man named Duke.
I blink. That can’t be right. Duke was working with Rose to protect me. Isn’t that what she said?
I pick up the phone and call Duke. He answers on the first ring.
“Is everything okay? Is Rose alright?” His voice is hurried.
“I think so. Her sisters went in to see her. I haven’t seen her yet.” I step out of the waiting room and into the privacy of the nearby hallway. I relay the message I got from my security. “What’s going on?”
Duke is quiet, and then I hear him sigh. “I was afraid of this. It’s a good thing Rose and I have our ducks in a row. Anton, I don’t know how to say this to you…”
