Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 128307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
GRAYSON
As I hover near the arrival gate of a private airstrip five clicks out of Ravenshoe, my heart pounds so ruefully that I feel it in my throat. Considering the expense of flying private, the airport is surprisingly crowded. Most are tourists, but a handful of business owners returning home after a long week away mingle among the families wearing matching shirts.
The air is teeming with excited energy, but all I see is the vacant spot next to me. It’s been a hollow emptiness for three days, and only one person will fill it.
Crew stands at my right, scanning every face that passes as if he has forgotten the one he’ll never stop seeking, even after assisting in freeing her from the insanity. He’s tense, but there’s a softness in his expression I haven’t seen him wear before.
Mason wriggles in my arms as his eyes widen with eagerness. He’s been asking for his mom every five minutes since we left the house, and he’s ready to pounce the instant he sees her.
Even though I know Macy’s flight landed ten minutes ago, I still check the flight planner app on my phone. I want to believe she did the impossible this time, but a part of me is panicked that I’ll wake up and discover the past week was a dream.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d happily erase the fear I still feel slicking my skin when Macy’s oomph barreled through comms a nanosecond after an agent kicked the wrong empty can of beer, and the minutes of silence that followed her brief update. But I’ll never trade the euphoria I felt watching Macy walk out of the back of a paramedic’s van with relatively minor injuries and straight onto a bureau-assigned private jet fueled and ready to take her to Kendall’s last known location.
After everything—the endless nights, the multiple close calls, and a risky operation that I have no doubt would have fallen apart if my father hadn’t taken control—it’s surreal that this day is finally here.
Although Macy’s covert operation began under the CIA’s umbrella, the bureau rallied behind her. The joint operation netted a handful of rogue agents who were working against us from the inside. It also forged ties so strong that I see joint collaborations becoming the norm in the future.
How could they not want to work together?
The director of the bureau ran an extremely successful operation from the breakfast nook in my home. My admiration for my father grew tenfold that day. He is precisely the man I plan to emulate while raising Mason.
Talking about Mason, he squeals two seconds before I discover the reason for his squawks. Macy is at the end of the gangway. Her hair is pulled back in a low ponytail, leaving no coverage for her exhausted expression, but a gleam I’ve never seen in her eyes retains her title of the most beautiful woman in the world.
Beside her is Kendall, who is clutching Macy’s hand so tightly her knuckles are white. She’s thinner than I anticipated, and her eyes are extremely wary, but when they lock with the man standing next to me, a sigh so pure it vibrates across the room seeps from her mouth.
When Kendall runs into Crew’s arms, his shocked exhaustion fans my nape before he pulls her in tight. He’s crying. Not the gut-wrenching sob of a broken man on the cusp of losing everything. More silent tears of relief that slip down his cheeks relatively unnoticed.
Even with her clothes hanging loosely on her malnourished frame and her eyes sunken from years of neglect, Crew drinks Kendall in as if she is the most precious jewel in the world. The sheer awe in his glistening eyes assures me things will be better for him than they were for me when I found Cameron. He now has faith in the system. We all do.
With Mason not understanding the importance of the scene that half the airport can’t veer their eyes from, Macy drops her bag and stretches her arms out for him. He wiggles out of my hold before he sprints across the polished floor with his arms outstretched.
“Meme!” he shouts, his voice echoing.
After catching him midair, Macy pulls him in for a hug so fierce that I expect his lips to be faint blue when she finally releases him. The past few days have been hard on her. They were hard on all of us, but that’s done with now.
We can finally move forward, and I’m excited to see Macy thrive now that she’s unburdened by grief.
As I stand motionless, forever on alert, I’m swamped by a wave of emotions so powerful it knocks the air from my lungs. Macy fought like hell to get here, and despite how many doors were slammed in her face, she refused to give up.