“I still think you should meet Destiny.”
Luca said, “We can give her our regards and then go somewhere else. Maybe get some dinner and talk through everything.”
She wasn’t sure she was ready to talk about everything, but she understood what he meant. “Dinner sounds good, as long as we can check on my patient before we go.”
He squeezed her hand, taking it and leading her through the doorway into the expansive dining room filled with people here to remember Ralph Rousseau.
It seemed as if any of them could be a suspect. In fact, everyone involved in the Shadow Syndicate might be here in this house right now.
And she had no idea who they were.
The idea made her want to go home, get under the covers, and hide away from the world until it was all over. When she had become a complete coward, she didn’t know. Or maybe it was a completely normal reaction to the life she’d lived.
Jordan was wrong. Kira wasn’t looking to relive her glory days—unless it involved sneaking into an office and copying files on a computer.
And Luca was exactly her type.
Fifteen
“Well? Do you think Destiny is a criminal mastermind?”
Luca didn’t look at her. There was a loaded question if ever he’d heard one.
Luca figured it had a whole lot to do with the story she’d felt the need to share with him. Plus other parts of her background that she hadn’t mentioned. Things he needed to discover as they got closer.
When he added it all up, they hadn’t actually spent that much time together over the past week or so since they’d met again. There would be more to discover about her. Good and bad. Same with him. What would tell him their relationship could stand the test of time was how they both dealt with those things they’d rather change about the other person, and the ways they agreed to grow together. To always keep striving to make the best of themselves and the relationship.
From what he’d been taught since he’d become a believer, the goal of a Christian was to be more like Christ. Doing that meant he couldn’t stay the way he was for the rest of his life. He needed to find ways to allow God to change him and grow him.
Human relationships were the same. Marriages, especially.
No one wanted to wake up forty years later and realize they were married to the exact same person they’d said I do to all those years ago. Life would change who they were in unexpected ways as they shared the losses and everything gained in living together for years. Spending those years with each other meant they wouldn’t—or shouldn’t—stay the same person.
“Is this a trick question?” He held open the side door of the hospital and she stepped through.
She glanced at him. “Maybe I’m being defensive, but if I’m wrong about her, then maybe I’m a terrible judge of character about everyone.”
Luca said, “Then I have to argue that you’re actually an excellent judge of character.” Because otherwise, she might be wrong about him.
“And that would mean Destiny isn’t involved in any of this.” Kira seemed satisfied by that logic.
Luca decided then that she didn’t need to know everything he was working on or who he was investigating. This sweet woman with her high-stress job and her quiet personal life didn’t need to know all the dark secrets this city had to offer.
Again, he felt that protectiveness in him surge up.
Not that he wanted to secure her somewhere, wrapped up in layers of protection—or cotton wool—but he did want to keep her safe. To protect her from anything dangerous in the world.
She had faced down some of the worst kinds of people and gone head-to-head with them, even though he got the feeling it wasn’t in her nature. Whatever had made her agree to pass information back to her government in the first place hadn’t lasted through an entire career. She’d done what it took to protect her heart from that life and got out.
Walking away from the Army had been one of the best things for his team. They had grown so much closer through the handful of years since, when everyone in their lives thought they were dead.
She had done it while living here all alone.
They stepped off the elevator and turned the corner into the hallway, where Hammer sat outside Francisco’s room. His friend looked up, unsurprised, as Luca had texted him so he knew to expect them. As soon as they were done here, they were going to Kira’s home so she could change. After that, he wanted to show her his cabin in the foothills of the mountains to the west of the city. Maybe cook her a steak over the grill. Sit on the back deck and watch the sunset, forgetting about all the danger and intrigue in town. Or this shadow syndicate that was working behind the scenes.
He wanted some time with Kira. No stress, no bad guys. Just the two of them, relaxing and eating dinner together.
He should tell her about his father and his brother. Maybe she would tell him about her family.