by Hinze, Vicki
Plumber gauged Gabby’s reaction, and then went on. “The operative sought Rogan’s confidence to gain the information she was after. But that wasn’t enough for Rogan. He tried luring her to him, charming her, but she wasn’t interested. She was a professional through and through. Everything I’ve found in her old files and reports was positive. Ethical and principled. A woman everyone seemed to admire.”
“So what happened to her?” Gabby asked.
Plumber’s face went blank. “Rogan Gregos raped her.”
Gabby rebelled. “No!”
“I’m afraid so,” Plumber said. “And a child was conceived.”
The truth rammed into Gabby and stole her breath. She gasped. “My mother? Helena? She was the operative . . . and the child conceived is me?”
“Yes.” Sorrow flooded Plumber’s eyes, softened his voice. “Rogan’s cousin by marriage, Mick Fallon, agreed to keep Rogan’s secret about the rape and the pregnancy, but he didn’t.”
“Blood is thicker than water.”
“True in this case.” Plumber looked down at his hands. “Fallon is the son of Mia’s brother. He went to his Aunt Mia and told her, hoping for her protection. She was still crazy in love with Rogan, so that wasn’t a bad plan. Fallon and Rogan were close, and Fallon was terrified Medros would find out about the baby and kill Rogan for shaming his daughter.”
Gabby fought to stay controlled. Conceived in a rape? How could she ever wrap her mind around that, much less her heart? “It didn’t work, did it? The plan failed.”
“No, it didn’t work,” Plumber said. “Mia went off the deep end, ran straight to her father and told him everything. Honestly, Mia hasn’t been right since then.”
Gabby didn’t know whether to cry or fly off in a rage. So many conflicting emotions swam through her that she couldn't sort them all. She opened her mouth to speak but her words made no sound. Swallowing hard, she took a second. Stuff it down. Suck it up and stuff it down. Then, she made another attempt. “What you’re telling me is Rogan Gregos is my real father.”
“He is, or was, yes. Medros reacted to Mia’s revelation as expected, and . . . Well, Rogan is long since dead.”
“How long?”
“Since your mother’s pregnancy became obvious.” Giving Gabby a minute, Plumber rinsed his plate at the sink. “Medros vowed Rogan would never see his child, and he didn’t.”
Gabby reached for the chilled glass of tea. Her throat had gone bone dry. She took in a long drink, then set the glass down, pretending she hadn’t noticed her hand shaking so badly she nearly dropped the glass onto the counter. “If Rogan Gregos is my father, how did I end up with Adian Blake?”
“Rogan knew Medros would kill him, so he went to his old friend Adian Blake and begged him to marry Helena and take care of her and you. Adian came up with the idea of convincing Medros that Helena was carrying his child, not Rogan’s. None of them were happy with the plan, but it was the only possibility for saving Rogan’s life and possibly Helena’s.”
Gabby swallowed hard. “They planned to convince Medros that Helena was in love with Adian Blake and he and Rogan were lifelong friends.” Indignation swelled in Gabby. “The man raped her. Why would my mother agree to that? Why wouldn’t Medros just kill her, too, before I was born?”
“Those were different times. A single mom back then was socially problematic, and you personally know how long Medros’s reach is. They either worked together or none of them had a chance, including your mother. It was widely known that Medros had a soft spot for babies. If they could all stay alive until Medros saw you, they believed he wouldn’t kill any of them.”
“Obviously that deduction was flawed.”
“Actually, the plan almost worked. It failed because Medros saw the way Rogan looked at your mother. He heard how his voice softened on saying her name. So, Medros didn’t believe the story about Helena and Adian, though by then, they were already married.”
“Mia was still not herself . . .”
“Exactly.” Plumber nodded. “Rogan was to blame for that, and he had to die for it. So Medros ordered the hit, it was executed, and it seemed that satisfied Medros.
“Until he murdered my mother.”
Plumber put the sandwich makings back in the fridge. “Until then, yes. You were born and Medros came to the hospital to see you. He obtained proof you were Rogan’s child. When he had it, he warned your father—Adian Blake—that Mia was never to see you or him. If she so much as glimpsed either of you, Medros would kill you both. And if you ever so much as mentioned looking for Rogan’s family, Medros would kill you both. Mia, Medros insisted, had suffered enough.”
“The old man in the street who mistook me for Helena . . .”
“Mia’s brother,” Plumber said.
“He told Medros he’d seen me.”
“We think so, but we don’t know that for fact.”
“I do.” She leaned over the bar. “He told the men getting him into the car that he must see George now. He meant George Medros. I’m certain of it.”
“You’re likely right.”
She took in a sharp, staggered breath. “That’s what all this with Medros is about. Not the information on the thumb drives.”
“I expect it was both this and the information on the thumb drives.”
“But why would my father—Adian Blake—work for Medros?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“He was forced into early retirement. He told Medros he needed work to keep up the façade. Medros gave him work that leveraged your father even more. He already had him leveraged with threats on both your lives.”
Gabby absorbed and struggled to process it all. “So Adian Blake treated me like a stranger my whole life not because of my mother but because of Medros and his threats?”
“I believe he was trying to protect you. For his friend. His only friend.” Plumber stowed the chips back in the pantry. “He couldn’t share what he didn’t know, and neither could you. I think that’s why he made sure you both kept your distance and Rogan Gregos was never mentioned—to stay safe. That said, I also think Adian Blake came to love you, Gabby.”
“No, he didn’t.” She flatly denied it and knew she was right about this. “He didn’t know me, and he kept Aunt Janelle from me. She knew the truth. She knew too much, and said so in her letter.”
“Janelle terrified your father. He feared she would get you both killed, and herself, too. That’s why he kept her away.”
That made sense, and Gabby couldn’t deny it. “He didn’t know or love me, but he did sacrifice a lot to protect me. He had no joy in his life.” She thought about that. “Honestly, he had little life in his life—his job was about it. Whether he did what he did for Rogan, my mother or for me, who knows? I’m betting on Rogan or her. But he did sacrifice to take care of me after they were gone.” Her throat thick, Gabby struggled to stay composed. She could deal with the emotions later. Right now, she needed to focus on all he could have had in his own life and hadn’t because he’d chosen to continue to protect her. Oh, he protected himself, too, but he had protected her. She owed him for that.
Still, her heart hurt, and her mind tumbled back through the years, through all the isolation and loneliness, through all that hadn’t been. She stiffened, knowing that was a bad place to go that could bring nothing good. He hadn’t abandoned her. Why he hadn’t just left there, she had no idea. Probably his work. Forced retirement had shattered the one thing in his world that was his own, freely chosen and not assumed out of duty to a friend. His work definitely mattered to Adian Blake. And Gabby couldn’t resent it or him for that. Considering all he’d forfeited, she just couldn’t hold it against him. “I, um, I need a drink of water.”
“I’ll get it.” Plumber stood up. “You stay seated. You’ve had a lot of shocks here.”
She felt numb. Head to toe numb and bruised and sad and somewhere deep inside, a spark of something else. Relief? It felt like relief. Finally, she had answers
to questions she’d wondered about most of her life. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. No one could hear all this and be fine, Gabby.” He placed the glass in front of her.
Looking up, she met and held his gaze. “No, I’m not fine.”
“Give yourself time.”
She lifted the glass and drank, slowly working through all these shocking revelations. Her father not being her father didn’t surprise her. He hadn’t loved her, but he had come to love Helena . . . or had he?
Gabby would never know. Just as she would never know why Medros let her mother live until Gabby was born and then had her killed. Maybe because, being raped, he’d seen her as a victim, too? Seen Gabby as a source of potential leverage over Rogan? And what about Plumber? Had he sought Gabby out? Of course, he had. But why? She took a page from Lys and just asked the question. “Why did you seek me out?”
Justin wiped down the countertop. “After what happened to your mom, the owner of the firm who had given her the assignment shut down his business.”
“The father of your boss at Silencers, right?”
Plumber nodded. “His son grew up and started Silencers. I took over your case five years ago. When you approached Troop Search and Rescue, we had a way in. I became Shadow Watcher.”
“You were spying on me.”
“Yes.”
A sense of betrayal so deep she couldn’t define where it started inside her, ran deep and wide and seemed to have no end. Then came the pain. And trust withered and died.
Chapter Eighteen
Tuesday, December 15, 12:45 p.m.
“I was spying on you, yes—but not really,” Plumber said. “At least, not in the way you might think.”
Trying to retain her very shaky composure, Gabby searched for her voice. “In what way, then?”
“Looking for anything to tell us whether or not you knew the truth—you didn’t—and then to keep you from meeting the same fate your mother met.”
Gabby believed him. “Why?” She lifted her hands. “Why did you care?”
“Your mother was one of us, Gabby. She was an operative.”
Surprise rippled through her. “My father,” she started, stopped short and corrected herself. “Adian Blake didn’t know that.”
“No, he didn’t. At least, according to Helena.”
“She didn’t tell her one person. Not even the man who married her?” What kind of woman did that?
“She told no one. She swore it,” Plumber said. “When my boss’s father shut down his firm, he devoted himself to watching over you.”
“How long did he do that?”
“Your whole life. When his health failed, his son had already started Silencers, Inc. He promised his father he would continue to watch over you, and he has. They’re good people, Gabby.”
For all the years she’d felt totally alone, she never had truly been alone. “Because she was one of you, and you lost her.” Gabby nodded. “I can see that.” She returned her gaze to Plumber. “Your helping me wasn’t for me, or because I fascinated you.” It sounded silly now. And she felt silly for having believed him. “It was just your job.”
“It was my job, that’s true.” He swiped his knees with his palms. “But I would have watched you with or without Silencers. You truly did fascinate me, Gabby. You still do.” Clearly picking up on her skepticism, he let out little noise from the back of his throat. “You have no idea how special you are.” He shook his head. “Your mind is sharp and quick, and it’s amazing the way you attune to the Troops, warning me when one of them needs attention. No one misses that you genuinely care about them or the kids, as if each missing one is your child.” The edges of his mouth curved. “It’s always personal for you.”
“They’re lost and afraid. I know the feeling, and I don’t want anyone else going through that.”
“I’m sorry you grew up feeling that way. Really sorry.” Regret burned in his eyes. “If you knew how many times I thought about just knocking on your door and telling you the truth . . .”
Their one-person rule, which kept them from being recused from cases. “But you couldn’t do that.”
“Ethically, no, I couldn’t.” The regret seeped into his tone. “But I wanted to—and if I had known how it would be between us, I would have.”
He had told her now. And as odd as it might sound, she wasn’t upset with him or his boss for making her an assignment. It was comforting to know that even when she thought she’d been alone, she hadn’t been. That their reason was to honor her mother and not her didn’t matter. Someone had been there, watching over her. “For your job?” she pushed, not wanting to read more into this than there was, especially with the all bombshells being dropped.
“No.” He stood up. “Well, yes, for my job. But as I got to know you everything changed.” He touched her hand. “Gabby, I couldn’t believe I’d finally found you.”
That confused her. “But I wasn’t lost. You, or someone at Silencers, Inc., knew where I was all the time.”
“That was the problem. I wasn’t free to meet you, to make it personal.”
Her heart fluttered. “But . . .”
“But what?”
She had a choice to make. She could accept the reality of the situation or deny it. But if she did deny it, the person who would lose most was her. And Plumber. “But it always has been personal.”
He smiled. “I didn’t know that until I came here,” he reminded her.
She rubbed his thumb with the pad of her finger. “True.”
“It’s always been personal for me, Gabby.”
“Always?” What did he mean?
“I went through the ‘I’m being crazy’ and ‘it’s impossible’ phases, but I knew better. Two years ago, I went into my boss to quit. I told him I’d fallen in love and I couldn’t do anything about that so long as I worked there. When I told him about the woman, he reminded me I had signed an NDA and he threatened to enforce it.”
She’d signed a non-disclosure agreement at Handel. “Could he enforce it?”
“They don’t hold up in most states,” Plumber admitted. “But he did make a threat he could enforce, and it would cost me huge.”
“What did he threaten?”
“He’d get my security clearance revoked.”
“He really could do that?”
“Oh, yeah. And if he did, that would blackball me in the field. I’d never be able to work for anyone, doing what I do, without clearance.”
Obviously, Plumber had forfeited the woman. He was still working for Silencers. “Who was she?”
Standing facing each other, Plumber clasped both of her hands in his. “The woman was you, Gabby.”
“Really?” She wanted to believe him. Every instinct in her body swore she could believe him.
“Really. I knew it the first time I saw you.”
That surprised her. “You saw me before coming here?” When he nodded, she asked, “Where?”
On Rue de Royale.”
She only went one place on Rue de Royale. “At the scent shoppe?”
That faraway look lighted his eyes. “You were inside, sniffing the scents. I was outside, looking in through the window, and you got this look. I love that look, and I’ll never forget it.”
“What kind of look?”
He held her gaze. “Captivated.”
Her face heated. “I love scents.”
“I knew right then no other woman would do. It had to be you.”
The door swung open and Kelly barged in. “Okay, Plumber, tell her you love her already. We waited through the shockers—” she paused and looked at Gabby “—Sorry about your dad . . . and about your mom.”
“Yeah, we are.” Lys shrugged. “But man, Adian Blake was some kind of devoted, wasn’t he?”
“I respect that.” Sara told Lys, then cut her glance to Gabby. “For what it’s worth, I agree with Plumber. Adian loved you. He was scared to know anything because him knowing anything could get you kille
d.”
Kelly cut in. “Later. I’ve been patient long enough. It’s cold out there.”
“Then you heard I was Plumber’s assignment,” Gabby said. “He doesn’t love me. So, don’t push him into saying something he doesn’t mean.”
“If you don’t mind,” Plumber interjected, and stared at Gabby. “He does love you. I love you. I have for a long time.”
“Okay, then,” Lys said. “Never thought you’d get there, Plumber, but glad you did. And I’m calling it settled.” She clapped her hands together. “Now can we please focus on what are we going to do to keep Bain and Mick Fallon from killing Gabby?”
Sara frowned. “We need a plan.”
“We do.” Kelly looked from Plumber to Gabby and then to Sara. “A really good one.” She hugged Gabby. “I’m really am sorry about your parents.”
He loved her. Gabby had never expected to hear those words from anyone, much less from a man like Plumber. Or in a situation like this. Still, her heart might be bruised and battered, but love was in it, too. He loved her.
Plumber stepped back, spoke to Gabby. “I know you are floored and angry, and you can’t forgive me for not telling you the truth sooner—”
“No one could forgive that, brother dear,” Kelly said.
“You’re not helping,” Plumber chastised his sister.
“Sorry.”
“I know you can’t forgive me yet,” he went on. “But I am asking you to, and I am asking you to trust me.”
Forgive and trust him? Now? Hard. Really hard. But after all he had done to protect her. To get her to safety. To help her. “Trust you with what?” Gabby asked.
“I have a plan,” he said. His expression sobered. “Fair warning. If it fails, we’ll likely both die.”
Gabby frowned. “That’s not reassuring, Plumber.”
“No, but it’s the truth,” he shot back at her. “And if it works, you can really live.”
“Life’s a risk. It’s a shot at all she wants,” Kelly grumbled. “Let’s hear it.”
He looked at his sister. “I’ll need your help. It’s dangerous. But with Bain and Fallon already here, there’s no time to get an operative in to do it—and not a word out of any of you about my job or my company or I’ll cut your tongues out.” He narrowed his gaze. “I am not exaggerating.”
