Loose Ends | Miles | ✓

fourteen | miles

Missed out on the last chapter? Check it out on @raemckinley's account under the story Loose Ends | Kat!

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MY EYES SLID shut for the fortieth time and I forced them open with my thumb and pointer finger. After the insanity that was the previous day, sleep was impossible and, quite honestly, overrated. On top of the information about the rendezvous at The Ledbury, I couldn't help the urge to keep looking over my shoulder. As far as I knew, Max hadn't realized or reported any missing files from his computer, but I also knew that placing the fate of my career in a sleeper agent probably wasn't my best plan.

It felt like eternity before I was allowed to head out for the day, but even when I was, Blackout was the only thing on my mind. Well, that and the bloke beside me trying to cut me off.

Kat and I were in this deep now—dreadfully deep. Too far in to back out now, especially when we finally had a solid lead. Was I a little surprised that this mysterious terrorist meeting was taking place at a high-end restaurant? Sure. But all of the semantics faded as soon as I thought of myself as Agent Miles Tennant, full-time secret agent for MI6.

I knew something was off as soon as I parked Cheryl. For one, there was a vehicle in the driveway that didn't belong to Leo or me. For another, I only needed to step outside to feel the tension—a layer of static pressing into me from all sides.

Something was wrong.

I curled my fingers around the wooden handle of a nearby spade in the garage. It wasn't a gun by any means, but it could certainly do some damage. And damage it would do if there was an unwanted visitor inside my house.

I pushed open the door to the kitchen, letting my feet carry me one stealthy step at a time. The kitchen was empty, though something was steaming on the stove. Lily never let anything burn, but she also never left the kitchen when she was in the middle of cooking. Entering the dining room, I saw something else rather odd. Instead of six placemats, there were seven. Through the wall, I could hear voices. There was Leo's familiar rumble and a response from a female voice—Lily? The tension slowly began to dissipate as I let out a breath and set the spade against a nearby wall. My family was perfectly fine. I'd been worked up over nothing. Lily probably just invited a friend over.

Then I heard a voice that wasn't as unfamiliar as I thought. The last time I'd heard that voice was a decade ago, and it was one I never wanted to hear again. No. It couldn't be.

Eager to prove myself wrong, I rounded the corner and entered the living room, only to immediately stop in my tracks. Lily looked up first, eyes widening as she read my expression. "Miles," she said, standing.

Leo's head shot up. "Let us—let him—explain." His light brown eyes were pleading, but my focus was on one person and one person alone. The only other person in the Tennant family with those same eyes, the only person who couldn't build up the courage to look any of us in the eye, the only person who forced Leo and me to take what remained of our family and run with the hope he would never find us again.

My father.

No, I would not let him explain. Nothing he said would change anything. People didn't change. Especially not him.

I paid no attention to Lily and Leo's protests. I couldn't hear them, not as the buzzing started in my ears, and certainly not as I pivoted on one foot and stormed out. I knew where I was going to end up far before Cheryl hummed to life beneath me.

It would be terrible.

I didn't care.

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