Wait for Morning (Sniper 1 Security #1) (16 page)

They’d clearly beaten her to the punch,
coming to the same conclusion she had: the Adorite family was likely who was
after her.

The thought made her shiver. Of all the
people in the world she didn’t want to cross…

“If you understand so well,” Conner stated
harshly, “mind enlightening us on the things you do know?”

Marissa stared at Trace’s older brother.
She didn’t know if he was referring to something specific or just in general.
She decided to play it on the safe side. “What I do know about what?”

“Oh, come on, Marissa,” Conner grumbled.
“Don’t tell us that you’ve sat by all fucking year without bothering to
research what was goin’ on. You’re a journalist, are you not?”

“Conner,” Casper said by way of warning.

“What?” Conner growled, pushing to his
feet. “You want me to keep my mouth shut? You want me to sit by with the rest
of you and pretend not to know she’s keeping something a secret? Well, it ain’t
gonna happen.” Conner turned his hardened gaze on her. “You remember my wife?”

Marissa swallowed hard, nodding.

“You remember the fact that she’s
dead
? Huh? Well, every fucking day I
open my eyes, I’m reminded of that. I’m reminded of the fact that she knew
something she didn’t bother to share with the rest of us. And now she’s dead.”

Silence fell over the room and Marissa
took a step back. Conner Kogan was terrifying when he was angry, and except for
the day they’d come to tell him that his wife was dead, she wasn’t sure she’d
ever seen him angrier than he was right then.

At her.

“I don’t know a damn thing you don’t
know,” she declared, her voice not nearly as strong as she’d wanted.

Conner laughed, without mirth. Thrusting
his hand through his dark hair, he then turned to face the men at the table.
“I’m done with this shit. I’m done stickin’ my neck on the line for her. She’s
obviously keeping something to herself, and until she cares to share that, I’ve
got better things to do.”

Conner cast an angry glare at her before
storming toward the front door, grabbing his helmet on the way.

“Conner!” Casper yelled.

“Let him go,” Ryan insisted, shifting in
his chair and meeting Marissa’s gaze. “Is it true? Is there something you
haven’t shared?”

“No,” she said quickly, swallowing. “Not
anymore. You know what I know.” And it was true. Now that Ryan had stumbled on
the article, he likely had more information than she did.

Her eyes immediately darted toward Trace.
He looked as angry as Conner had been, but he didn’t say anything.

Damn it.

She’d had her reasons for keeping the
details to herself. She still didn’t have any proof, and in her line of work,
finding a reliable source was key. Until she had hard evidence that the
Adorites were involved, she didn’t want to send them down a path that very well
could end up nowhere. So, despite the backlash she’d known would eventually
come, Marissa had been compelled to do what was right by everyone—and that
meant keeping the information to herself. Had Ryan not called her on it, she
doubted she would’ve shared anything up to this point, either.

“Seriously,” she stated harshly. “I told
you all I know.”

For the benefit of the others, Marissa
relayed the details of her interactions with the Adorites. By the time she was
finished, more than one man at the table was glaring at her. And so was
Courtney, but Marissa was almost positive there was something else in her best
friend’s gaze.

“Christ,” Clay bellowed. “Don’t you think
we should’ve known that from the beginning?”

“Why?” Marissa countered. “So everyone
else would be at risk? It’s not enough that I don’t feel safe anymore. Would
you prefer I put you in danger, too?”

“That’s what we do, Marissa!” Clay yelled.
“That’s all that we fucking do.”

There was nothing else she could say. To a
degree, she understood where he was coming from. She even understood Conner’s
anger. But she couldn’t change the past.

In her defense, in the beginning, she
hadn’t had any clue as to why someone would target her. Her family’s first
thought was that it was related to Sniper 1, which honestly made perfect sense.
And that was why she’d let them run with it. But now they knew as well as she
did … this had nothing to do with Sniper 1.

At least it hadn’t at first, anyway.

Although her father had made some pretty
powerful enemies in his lifetime, Marissa knew that she had to carry the full
responsibility for this mess on her own shoulders. It sort of went without
saying that being a political blogger was a job that could easily ruffle a few
high-and-mighty feathers. And generally, those feathers belonged to people who
had a lot riding on the skeletons they thought they had safely tucked away in
their closets.

Marissa was particularly good at digging
up dirt and exposing some deeply buried secrets. Her family was aware of that
fact, too. And despite their request for her to cease for the time being,
Marissa hadn’t been able to abide by their rules. Her decision certainly hadn’t
helped her case at all.

“Can we get on with this?” Trace asked,
shooting a glare at Marissa. “Right now, I don’t think we need to be worried
about what she wants; we need to focus on what will keep her safe.”

Marissa wanted to tell Trace to fuck off,
they
did
need to be worried about
what she wanted. Instead, she bit her tongue, holding back the curse.

“I—” Marissa wanted to argue reasonably,
but she was quickly cut off when Trace took the floor.

“We know how you feel,” he stated, his
tone carrying an icy chill. “We don’t want you gone, either, so let us figure
this shit out.”

Marissa stared dumbly at Trace for a
moment, her jaw in danger of hitting the floor. Despite the anger lacing his
words, his eyes were soft, not quite as dangerous as she was used to. As Trace
continued to stare at her, she found words had failed her. Nodding her head,
she waited for him to continue.

Trace turned back to face the group. “For
now, I think it’s best if she stays here. In Dallas. I’ve transitioned my other
assignments, and my only focus is her right now. I agree that we’ve got to find
this guy—whether the Adorites are behind it or not—and put a stop to it.”

Marissa looked at her father, feeling
slightly reassured that Trace seemed to be in her corner. Bryce was listening
to
Trace
and glancing between the two of them as he
did.

“Do you think she’s safe here? At the
house, I mean,” Bryce asked, his gaze cutting to Trace.

She was taken aback by the insecurity in
her father’s tone. Of course she was safe there; the place was a veritable
fortress. The guy hadn’t gotten close to her last night.

Trace glanced over his shoulder at her
again, then turned back to face Bryce, shocking her when he said, “No, sir. I
don’t.”

Again, Marissa was staring at Trace,
confusion racking her brittle thoughts.

Trace held up his hand to stop Ryan before
her brother could argue. “I think the security here is top notch, but it’s hard
to believe she’d be safe anywhere. They’ve found her every time. Last night
included. And though that guy was a dumb ass, we can’t take it lightly that he
managed to breach the perimeter.”

True
,
Marissa thought to herself.

“Then where do you suggest
she
go?” Clay asked. “We’ve stashed her all over the U.S.
and you see how that’s turned out.”

Marissa could hear the irritation in her
brother’s tone.

“I don’t suggest we send her anywhere,”
Trace answered. “I volunteer to keep my eye on her. Where she goes, I go.”

Oh,
God.

No. That certainly couldn’t be a good
idea. And it had nothing to do with the danger she was in.

Marissa’s heart kicked into overdrive as
she stared back at the group, at the men who held the decision for her future
in their hands.

She darted a look at Courtney and noticed
a small smirk on her best friend’s lips. Courtney was the only person who knew
how Marissa felt about Trace, even though Marissa had never actually copped to
it. Courtney was the only one who had confronted Marissa about the crush she’d
had on the man since she was a teenager. But not even Courtney knew the extent
of the desire for him that lived and breathed inside of her.

There were more reasons to stay away from
Trace than just how dangerous he was. And if she were smart, she’d find a way
out of this. Only, she honestly didn’t know how to do that. She’d been telling
the truth when she’d said she didn’t know more than they did. Other than the
people she’d interacted with, Marissa wasn’t even sure she could contribute a
viable lead for them to go on.

Crap.

“So, what? You’re gonna camp out here
permanently?” Colby questioned Trace skeptically, his eyebrow cocked.

“But you just said she’s not safe here,”
Hunter added.

“And I believe that,” Trace admitted. “I
was thinkin’…”

Marissa’s breath lodged in her throat as
she waited for Trace to finish his statement. Surely he wasn’t about to suggest
what she thought he was.

“That she would be safer at your place?”
Clay muttered, anger underlying his tone.

“Yes,” Trace said seriously. “That’s
exactly what I was thinkin’.”

“Not a bad idea,” Hunter added. “Your
place is impenetrable.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Courtney added.
“But I agree, it’s a better option than here. They know where she is right now.
They’ll come back for her as soon as the opportunity presents itself.”

She glared at her best friend. She
couldn’t believe Courtney was supporting this.

Marissa watched as her brothers gave Trace
the death glare, and for a brief moment, she almost considered it amusing.
Except it wasn’t.

None of this was funny. Not even a little
bit.

“How do you feel about that?” Casper asked,
and Marissa realized his question was directed at her.

The idea, although terrifying for many
reasons, wasn’t a bad one. Trace’s place was off the grid, not many people knew
about it, and from what she’d heard, it really was practically impenetrable.
Not to mention, Z was there. If she could get a little privacy, she might be
able to find the opportunity to dig just a little deeper, uncover the truth
that would hopefully eliminate the threat to her once and for all.

Rather than saying as much, Marissa asked,
“Do I have a say in the matter?”

Looking at Trace, she waited for a
response. She didn’t have to wait long.

When Trace looked back at her, the sexy
gleam in his light gray eyes spoke to her on an entirely different level. “No.
You don’t.”

Shit.

Knowing she was going to argue, but not in
front of so many eyes, Marissa merely stared back at him and kept her mouth
shut.

Casper would admit that he’d seen a lot of
things in his life. At fifty-nine years young, he knew there were plenty more
things he’d likely see in the future, and just as anytime he’d taken on a job
that had to do with kids, regardless of their age or who they belonged to, Casper
knew there was absolutely no room for mistakes.

None whatsoever.

As he watched Marissa stare back at the
group, he felt shitty for some of the decisions they’d made on her behalf in
recent months. Then again, they hadn’t had much of a choice, because when it was
clear that a madman was targeting one of your children, making decisions that would
ensure the safety of that child, no matter what they were, wasn’t absurd.

Casper had wholeheartedly supported
Bryce’s decision to send Marissa away in an effort to keep her safe. Would he
do it again? Abso-
fucking
-lutely.

Casper wouldn’t take any chances when it
came to his family, and yes, Casper loved Bryce’s and TJ’s kids as much as he
loved his own. That was what happened when you had friends who were that close.
They became family.

And thirty-three years of running a
company with one man, making decisions that affected both their lives—present
and future—meant they were like brothers. Which was why Casper was doing his
damnedest to let Bryce make the decisions regarding his daughter, although he
knew there were some emotional reactions they wouldn’t be able to avoid.

Like Marissa’s refusal to leave town.

Or Conner’s reaction to the situation.
They all knew Conner had every right to be angry, but the way he’d turned on
Marissa bothered Casper.

Casper didn’t blame Marissa for not
wanting to be sent away again, not at all. She needed to be home with her
family. She needed to be close to her mother and her father and her brothers.
They missed her, and Casper had seen firsthand just how hard it was on Bryce
each and every day she was gone. How Bryce and Emily had lasted a full year, Casper
would never know.

Was it easy for Casper to sit this one
out? To let Marissa’s brothers and her father make the decision? No, it wasn’t.
He wanted to offer his professional opinion although he knew it wasn’t
necessarily his place. Which was why he didn’t have a problem with Trace
stepping up to the plate. In fact, he was giving Trace a fair amount of room to
breathe on this one. They all were. His son had never been the sort to jump to
conclusions or make rash decisions, so when
Trace
had brought
forth the information he’d uncovered after their meeting with Duchein, Casper
had opted to let him and RT handle it.

And now, as he watched Marissa’s
reactions, he had a feeling she had come up with some conclusions on her own.
Why she wasn’t sharing that information with them, he didn’t know. But with
absolute certainty, Casper agreed with Conner: Marissa was still holding
something back.
 

“Can we spare him for the time being?” Bryce
asked, interrupting Casper’s train of thought.

Casper glanced beside him, realizing Bryce
was talking to him. “What the hell kinda question is that?” he retorted. “We’ll
spare every last one of them if we have to.”

Whatever it took to end this nightmare,
and he fully agreed with Trace in this case, he was definitely the best man for
the job. Not only because he was a highly skilled agent but because it was
clear his
son had feelings for Marissa. Feelings that had
nothing to do with family commitment and everything to do with something even
deeper. That emotion could work for and against Trace, but Casper was inclined
to believe Trace would channel it appropriately, keeping her safer than anyone
else could.

Bryce nodded his head as though he were
agreeing. Casper had to wonder why his friend was questioning him now.

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Bryce stated.
“Marissa will stay with you. Where she goes, you go.”

Trace nodded.

Casper watched his son, wondered what had
brought this on. It wasn’t unreasonable for one of the boys to step in when
help was needed, but it didn’t escape him that Trace had been so focused on
Marissa’s safety ever since the unthinkable had happened. Ever since the enemy
had managed to get his hands on her a second time, roughly five months ago.

Proud was an understatement when it came
to how Casper felt about Trace’s reaction in a time of crisis. He didn’t doubt
that his boys would go to extremes to do the job, to protect the client, but
what Trace had done… That had defied any loyalty to the job. Marissa was more
than a job to Trace; Casper could see it in the way Trace looked at her.

Did that make it more dangerous? Maybe so.
He still kept his mouth shut.

“Then it’s settled?” RT asked, glancing
around at the group.

All attention went to Marissa, who was
standing a few feet from the table, her hands on her hips, her mouth slightly
open as though she couldn’t believe that they were still talking around her.

“Are you sure you’re all right with this?”
Casper asked Marissa one last time.

“Fine,” she murmured and then turned on
her heel and escaped before anyone could ask any more questions.

Too bad there were still plenty more that
needed answers.

□«»□«»□«»□

Ryan watched his baby sister walk away.
Before Marissa made it completely out of the room, he turned back to see Trace
was also watching her. He noticed the man was having a difficult time keeping
his eyes above waist level.

Ryan sighed.

He had to give the guy credit, though; Trace
was doing a damn good job concealing his true feelings for Marissa considering her
father, her brothers, and some of her cousins were sitting close enough to
punch him if need be. Then again, it wasn’t the first time Ryan had noticed
Trace’s interest in Marissa. And vice versa.

Was it the ideal situation? No, not
exactly. Was Ryan worried? The answer was a resounding hell no. Not in regard
to whether or not she’d be safe with Trace.

If Marissa was safe with anyone, she was
safe with Trace.

The guy’s actions spoke much louder than words,
and Trace had proven just how deeply he cared for Marissa when he’d taken off
on his own to protect her. Trace’s insistence that Marissa never know the
sacrifice he had made to stop the inevitable was proof that she scared Trace as
much as she caught his eye.

Ryan shook off the thought, not wanting to
relive the hell they’d been through for those interminably long hours when it had
seemed their world had crumbled down around them. The day that Marissa had been
kidnapped had been one of the worst days any of them had ever experienced.

Turning his attention back to the
conversation at hand, Ryan asked, “Anyone have a problem with this
arrangement?”

“No,” Hunter and Casper said in unison.

“Nope,” Austin added.

“Not me,” Courtney chimed in.

Evan shook his head, as did Z.

“Whatever,” Colby grumbled.

Waiting for the final responses, Ryan
looked at Clay, watching as his brother shot
Trace
a
look that appeared to be very much a warning. Ryan tried to read Trace’s
expression, but like always, the man had masked every emotion.

At the moment, it didn’t appear any of them
would have to fear Marissa’s safety with Trace at the helm. Then again, based
on Clay’s concerned glare, they might not all be on the same page.

“How long is this going to last?” Clay
asked, the question directed at no one in particular.

“As long as it has to,” Ryan confirmed
bluntly. “It has to stop. I want this bastard found, and I want this shit dealt
with.” And that was an understatement. Ryan was growing increasingly tired of
the games they were playing with these people who seemed to have their sights
set on Marissa.

Although they had some strong suspicions,
they still didn’t know exactly who they were dealing with, didn’t know why he’d
started targeting her in the first place, and they damn sure didn’t know what
his next step was going to be. If anything, the guy was one step ahead of them
at all times. Which meant they needed to keep Marissa safe at all costs. The
team hadn’t been entirely successful with protecting her up to this point. No
one except for Trace, and that was after Trace had taken a personal interest in
keeping her safe. Trace’s interference, the fact that he’d managed to bring her
home in one piece, was about the only positive in the entire fucked up
situation.

No matter what anyone thought, Marissa was
safe with Trace. That was undeniable.

There was a round of gruff agreement from
everyone at the table.

“Then it’s settled,” Casper stated. “Marissa
will stay with Trace until we catch this guy. As for the rest of you, redirect
your caseloads to the more junior agents if possible. I want everyone on this.”

“But no one outside of the immediate
family,” Bryce tacked on.

“And me,” Z chimed in from his spot
against the wall.

“That’s a given. You’re practically
family,” Casper added.

Ryan did his best not to look at Z. He
damn sure didn’t need any of his own personal reactions to the man to reflect
on his face. He was having a hard enough time dealing with them; the last thing
he needed was his family to catch on to the fact he had some inexplicable draw
to the man.

“Agreed,” Bryce confirmed.

As the group dispersed, Ryan followed them
out of the kitchen, keeping a close eye on Trace and Clay, who seemed to be
going in the same direction. Figuring he needed to get a feel for what was
going on between the two of them—specifically what had Clay’s back up about
this decision—Ryan hesitated just long enough to eavesdrop on their
conversation.

Trace started for the stairs that led up
to Marissa’s room, but before he could make his escape, Clay stopped him while
Ryan watched from a distance.

“Man, be careful with her.”

Ryan heard the threat as clearly as Clay
intended it, but he also noticed that Trace didn’t seem to be offended by the statement.
Neither man said anything as they stared back at one another for a long moment,
clearly a silent communication being spoken loud and clear between the two of
them.

“Just don’t hurt her,” Clay added. “You
know as well as I do that she’s had a thing for you for a long time.”

Yeah, that was the only issue Ryan had
with the whole thing as well. Not necessarily that Trace and Marissa had a
thing for one another—they were all well aware of Marissa’s obvious infatuation
with Trace. She thought no one knew, and he doubted she would ever admit it,
but they knew. Hell, they knew everything that went on. She’d had a thing for
Trace since she’d been a teenager, and no matter how much Trace had avoided
her, that fascination had always seemed to linger. And Ryan had seen the man’s
answering affection in recent years, although he was pretty sure Trace had
fought it thus far.

As much as Ryan wanted to interfere, to
offer his warning the same way Clay had, he wouldn’t. Although Marissa was
their sister and they all rallied around her as protection, Ryan knew she was
old enough to make her own decisions. Not to mention, she was smart. And as far
as Ryan was concerned, she’d been cut off from the rest of them for far too
long.

It was high time they took this fucker down
and allowed her the opportunity to live her life the way she chose.

Because the alternative was no longer an
option.