“Oh, wow. Okay. And that was how you found out about…” he glances at Giovanni, “our host?”
He’s using good instincts to not mention Giovanni by name. People are always attuned to their name. “Yes.”
“And is… your work…” He makes a complicated hand motion that I’m guessing is supposed to mean “the ones taking down Giovanni.”
I say in a quiet voice, “Several agencies working together, both here and in Italy, in conjunction with local law enforcement.” I look around. “I just keep thinking, what would one of my brothers do if he were the one who was captured? Well, one of my field operative brothers, of course, and?—”
“Wait. You said it’s afamilybusiness. Your brothers are spies!” he hisses, and then looks over at the men to make sure he wasn’t loud enough for them to hear.
“Yes. Jace, Ledger, and Miles are intelligence operatives in the field, and Emerson is an analyst.”
Owen leans back against the brick, staring at nothing. Then he says, “That actually makes so much sense.”
“Oh, and while you’re taking it all in, I should also mention that my mom is the director of the CSA.”
Owen puts his hands over his face for a moment before running them up and through his hair. “So, when you said at the wedding that if your mom ever aims ‘intimidating’ at me, then run, you weren’t being overly dramatic. She could probably kill me three different ways using only whatever she had on her person at the wedding.”
I look up, counting. “Four different ways.But she wouldn’t. That’s the important part. Oh, and my dad was the director before my mom. That story I told you about him dying on the job? That was true—he just had a different job than what I’d said.”
I remember back to yesterday, which feels like it happened days ago, when I was having lunch with Abraham. He told me to give Owen enough information but not too much information, or I’d overwhelm him, and that it was a balancing act getting it just right. He was referring to me telling Owen about Giovanni, not about my secret double life, but the sentiment is the same for everything.
Yeah, I’ve clearly not scored high points on that balancing act. Owen is overwhelmed. His arm is still around me, but I give his other hand a squeeze and wait patiently, trying not to add to the overwhelm.
Eventually, he shifts the way he’s sitting so he’s turned a bit more toward me, and he runs his hands through his hair. “Wow. I am in love with a woman who’s a spy, in a family of spies. Sorry,intelligence operatives. That is wild.”
I tilt my head. “You’re inlove with me?”
“Of course I’m in love with you, Charlie. You’re everything.”
I smile with my whole face. “Well, I’m in love with you, too.”
Owen leans in closer, his mouth just a breath away. “Well, that works out very conveniently for us, doesn’t it?”
“I think so,” I breathe, moving in even closer.
Owen reaches a hand up to cup the side of my neck, his fingertips in my hair, and he kisses me.
CHAPTER 35
ESCAPE PLAN: TRUST THE GIRL
OWEN
“You know,” I say quietly to Charlie, “I wouldn’t choose to be captured by a gun-wielding criminal who had made me believe in my dreams and then be held in a dark tunnel with my very near future unknown. But since I have to be, there’s no one else I’d rather be here with than you.”
Charlie smiles. “What about Chuck Norris? Or Liam Neeson?”
I work to hold back a smile. “Chuck Norris and Liam Neeson probably wouldn’t keep me laughing and smiling through the stress. I think I’m still going to have to go with you.”
I cannot believe that I’ve been dating a spy.Tech op. Someone who works for a top-secret intelligenceagency. Oddly enough, I’m glad she told me down here. It feels somehow appropriate to find out that the normal things you thought about your girlfriend were only part of her cover story—and that her real story is so far outside of what I’ve known as normal—while in a place and situation that is also so far outside of what I’ve known as normal.
Had she told me all of that while we were in one of our town homes, walking down the street, or out getting tacos, I would’ve probably… been just as blown away as down here, actually. Maybe I’m just glad that she told me. As strange and not-typical as it is, I like knowing her non-cover story. Her kidnap experience, too, even if it makes me feel worse that I suggested we go sleuthing, since that’s what got us caught and trapped down here, reliving her childhood trauma.
Also, I totally called it that hers was a family of superheroes.
It hits me that sometime in the past couple of days, I’ve come to the realization that Charlie isn’t going to leave when things get tough. I wasn’t even conscious of the change as it was happening. But now I know with certainty that she’s dedicated to our relationship every bit as much as I am.
Giovanni and his men seem to be picking up their pace as they pack things up and figure out thespecifics of their plans. I have to admit that my focus has been almost exclusively on Charlie and not on the specifics of the bad guys. But since she has spy training, I’m hoping she has paid attention more than I have. So I ask quietly, “Do you know what’s happening?”
