Mission: Capture His Heart

Chapter 25

Ava burst into my room causing Gray and me to sit up in bed at the same time. Which made me hit my head on Gray's chin.

"Oops. Sorry." Ava said, covering her mouth to stop her laughter.

I looked at Gray, "Are you okay?"

He was rubbing his chin but nodded and said, "I just bit my lip. No big deal."

I kissed his cheek and got out of bed, "What's so important that you had to burst into my room while I was sleeping?"

Ava came up to me and said, "Did you forget that you told Dad to be here at ten?"

My eyes went wide and I looked at my clock, it read 10:30, "Crap!"

Gray climbed out of bed and rushed to his room. I ran into my walk-in closet and quickly got dressed. I ran out of my room and ran into Gray at the top of the stairs.

"Sorry." We said at the same time.

Gray chuckled and said, "Usually when you run into the love of your life it's more...romantic."

I rolled my eyes and went downstairs. My dad was standing by the door, fixing the cuffs of his suit jacket. I smiled at him, "Sit down please."

He sat down on the couch, I sat in my rocking chair, and Gray leaned against the wall by the stairs, with his arms and ankles crossed.

"All the stuff you said about Mom checked out," I started, "we want to know more."

My dad looked at me, "And you're asking me? Why?" He looked at Gray then back to me, "Why not have Hope do her little thing with the computers?"

"I did," I looked at my front door to find Hope with a spare key in her hand, "and I already told them what I found out." She came and sat by me but instead of sitting on the chair to my right, she sat on the floor, "We need to know more."

"I know you and Mom didn't get a divorce, you're separated but that's it." I said, I looked at Hope, who handed me papers, "And these letters...who are they from?" As I was handing the papers to my dad, I saw his wedding ring on his left hand. It was polished and looked new. I looked at it closer. The bottom of the ring was dirty and worn. My father never took his ring off except only to polish the part people will see.

My father stared at the letters, almost as if he was afraid to answer, "Dad?" I said, my voice low. I haven't called him dad forever. It was harder than I thought. He cleared his throat.

"Those letters are from Joshua and the other ones are the copies I made of my letters. In case anything happened."

"Like death," I said softly. Gray looked at me and I turned to face him, "A spy only makes copies of something if they want another person to see it. In case anything happens to them. Like death or they've suddenly gone missing. That's why my mom left things behind." I looked at my dad, who nodded, confirming my theory. I turned back to Gray, "Did your mom leave anything behind?"

"A couple things." He looked at the ground, "They're all in boxes though. It was too hard to deal with and I didn't understand anything."

"We'll look through those later." I turned back to my dad, "Tell us everything. And I mean, everything."

He took a deep breath, "I told your mother where the Assassins would be meeting. So, she and Cassie showed up. It was when you would have been eighteen, they were so good at hiding that they never got caught until that night." He looked at his hands, "The meeting just barely begun when two of our guards brought your mother and Cassie into the room. Joshua was about to give orders to kill them. Since it was protocol and all. Anyone who disrupts a meeting is automatically sentenced to death. But, I stepped in before he can order anyone. I was in charge at the time and Josh listens to anything I say. He trusts me and I might ruin that trust by doing what I'm doing. Anyway, I told Josh how they could help and that they were our wives. If we truly loved them, we wouldn't want them killed. He went along with it. We've been taking care of them ever since." He looked at Gray, "Josh does love your mother. He's just haunted by something so bad that he puts the Assassins before anyone or anything. I'm truly sorry."

"It's okay." Gray said, he meant for it to come out louder but it just sounded like a barely audible whisper.

I looked at Hope, then back to Bruce, "So, you've been helping Mom this whole time?"

My father nodded and stood up, "Watch the video and you'll understand everything." He looked at his watch, "I really must be going."

I stood up and walked to the front door with him. I followed him outside and just before he got in his car, I spoke, "Dad?" My voice cracked a little, he looked at me, "If you see Mom, will you tell her I love her and that I'm doing everything I can to find her."

He nodded, "Of course, sweetheart." He opened his car door and just before getting in, he said, "Goodbye." My father gave me a small smile. "Elizabeth."

✨

I sat on my porch for--I don't know how long. I was sitting on the flat space at the top, my feet on the one step I had. My elbows rested on my knees, my hands were interlocked. Absently, I ran my thumb across my lips. I heard the front door open and close.

"Elizabeth?" Ava's voice was soft and full of concern. "Are you okay?"

"Ya, I'm fine." I looked at her, "Where are you going?"

"She's coming with me." Zach's voice said, "If you're okay with it."

I responded to him with a wave of my hand, dismissing his words. "Stay safe Ava."

She bent down and hugged me then kissed my head, "I'll be home in an hour."

"Okay," I said in a non-audible whisper. I watched as Zach and Ava drove off, most likely on another date. A thought came to me, Gray and I haven't had a date yet. Does this mean we're even a couple? I mean, we've been to the café and Jamba Juice a couple times but the café visits were for work, unless they were a date too. I'm so confused.

"How's my baby doing?" Gray's voice came to my ears. His British accent made his smooth, deep voice sound like music to my ears.

I turned to face him, a small smile on my lips, I guess we are a couple after all. "I'm doing just swell." My small smile was forced and he knew it.

He sighed and sat down by me, he put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him. Thankful for having him by my side.

We sat in silence for 15 more minutes. Then I stood up and said, "We have a video to watch."