Chapter One Hundred Nine

The body in the barn had belonged to a local woman who’d been seen with Stone two nights before.

“Maybe if I’d gotten here sooner, she’d still be alive,” Angel said sadly as she stepped out of the police station bathroom in a clean shirt they’d lent her. She and the others were free to go, so she followed Thorne outside to the parking lot. The blue sky above them should have made her feel happy, at least, if not hopeful.

But all she felt was unsettled.

“You can’t save everyone, Cassandra.” It was the first time Thorne had used her real name since the night he came to recruit her. “And you couldn’t have saved your parents if you’d woken sooner. Nicholas would have killed you. You do know that, right?”

She felt him beside her. Strong and steady, and waiting for her to answer. She couldn’t speak. All these years, she’d thought if she’d only woken up sooner, maybe as Nicholas was heading to their room with the knife, she would have been able to stop him.

There wouldn’t have been time for help to arrive. She’d seen the police reports, and knew it had taken them eighteen minutes to respond to her call. She wouldn’t have survived eighteen minutes unarmed and untrained.

But her parents might have had a chance. She might have saved them.

“I’m a father.” He grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. “At times, I’ve allowed myself to pretend I was your father, because you were here and my own daughter wasn’t. And believe me, Cassie, I love you like my own.”

Damn it, now she was crying.

“So I can say this to you with all sincerity. The last thought that went through your parents’ minds was not that they wished you had been there to sacrifice yourself to Nicholas’s blade. I guarantee you they were hoping and praying you were safe. Because that is what parents always want.”

He hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head just like she remembered her dad doing when she was little.

“Now.” He cleared his throat, back to business. “What do you want, Cassie? Because you’re not coming back to Task Force Phoenix.”

Her heart sank. But she’d known that was a possibility. “I guess I’m not going to be much good to you, now that my cover’s been blown.”

He shook his head. “No. That’s not why. You’re out because you need to find your own life. I thought I was helping you by offering you this job, but I didn’t realize it had become an anchor.”

She stared at him incredulously. “Are you kidding? I would probably still be in and out of jail if you wouldn’t have given me this chance.”

“True, I’d intended it to be a chance. But at some point, it became an obligation to you. All I want is for you to be happy, Cassie. Find someone to love, and have a few kids I can spoil.”

Her eyes went wide in surprise as Thorne nodded toward the man standing in the parking lot by a black SUV.

Colton.

“But—”

Thorne held up his hands to interrupt. “No. I don’t care what you think I want. You’re wrong. It’s okay to have a family. It’s safe for you to love people outside of our team. You can’t keep hiding behind this job because you’re afraid to live and love. You can’t keep running away from your life. So, I’ll ask you again. What do you want?”

Though the question was what and not who, her thoughts went immediately to man in the parking lot. And the peace she’d felt at night while he’d held her in his arms. The laughter. The way she loved him.

But being with him wasn’t possible.

He was a marshal now. He wouldn’t be content having a day job like teaching. Hell, he was still wearing a shoulder holster, even after everyone else had disarmed. And she knew damned well she wouldn’t be able to relax knowing he was in danger and she wasn’t there on the team with him, ready to help.

She swallowed and looked up at Thorne. “I’m going to take some time to think it over, but I think I want a new identity. A home, a dog. Maybe I’ll start my own software consulting business so I can work in my pajamas whenever I want to.”

Thorne’s brows rose. “That’s it?”

She could tell he was asking about Colton.

“Yeah. That’s everything.”

Thorne let out a sigh, and nodded. “All right. When you’re ready, I’ll make it happen.”

“I see you offered him a job.” She nodded in Colton’s direction.

“Yeah, and he accepted.” Thorne shook his head, then walked away.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, she felt better knowing she’d helped Colton get back his life of action and adventure. Despite getting him shot, at least she’d managed to redeem herself by getting him everything he wanted.