Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “Why are you here? I just got off the phone with Macy, and she said you were flying into Boston then coming here.”
Mark turned and opened the refrigerator once again. “Like I would tell Macy my plans. Sometimes she is as bad as our mother.”
I couldn’t argue with him on that one.
“Well, I’m glad to see you, Mark, but is there a reason you don’t want to tell her why you’re home early?”
“Because it’s Macy. She’ll want me to go to her house, spend time with her kids, and fish with her husband. All that shit.”
“She doesn’t ask me to do any of that.”
“She knows she can’t force you to do anything. And you haven’t gone to see Millie and Jack yet? What kind of an uncle are you?”
“I have gone to see them, thank you very much. And William wasn’t there. Macy said he was out of town for work.”
“When was this?”
I shrugged. “I’ve gone a couple of times now. Each time, William wasn’t there. What is your beef with him anyway?”
Mark popped a deviled egg into his mouth. “I don’t trust the guy.”
Laughing, I asked, “And why not?”
“There is something about him that sits wrong with me.”
“And you’re suddenly an expert on things like that when you haven’t hardly even been around him to get to know him?”
Something moved across my brother’s face. “Mark…is there something you’re not telling me?”
It was his turn to laugh. “Oh, there is plenty I haven’t told you, Kian.”
I raised a brow. “What is that supposed to mean?”
My brother leaned against the counter. “It goes to show how self-absorbed you are, Kian.”
I was pretty sure my mouth fell to the floor. “I’m sorry?”
“Have you ever once seen me post pictures of the places I’m working? Ever talk about my latest project, mention friends or a girlfriend? Seen anything on social media?”
Letting out a gruff laugh. “You know damn well I’m not on social media, but now that you mention it, you haven’t sent any pictures, but I figured you’d send that kind of stuff to Mom or Macy.”
“Does anyone in this family talk to one another?”
“You’re one to speak. When was the last time you texted me?”
When he didn’t reply, I asked again, “What is going on, Mark?”
“So… I live in Washington, DC, and I’m not a structural engineer.”
Had I heard him correctly? “What?”
“In college, I was approached by a guy who worked for the government. They were impressed by my score on the ASVAB and the fact that I spoke Spanish and German.”
“You speak German?” I asked.
My brother looked at me and slowly shook his head, proving his point. “Yes.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that.”
“Well, you weren’t around when I was growing up. I was bored living in that house all alone with no one but Sally. I started studying languages. I can speak Italian also, but not as fluently. Anyway, they were interested in me. I figured I wouldn’t go the lawyer route, so I figured I might as well see what they had to say.”
When he stopped talking, I asked, “And?”
He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I work for the CIA, Kian. Even though I’m based out of Washington, DC, my job takes me all over the world. We came up with the structural engineer job so it would give me a good excuse as to why I traveled all the time.”
I took a few steps back. How was that even possible? How could my younger brother work for the government and I not know?
“Does Mom and Dad know?”
“Of course not. No one does; well, you do now.”
I shook the confusion from my head. “And why are you telling me?”
Mark looked around. “Are we alone?”
“Yes,” I said with a humorless laugh.
He exhaled and said, “A couple of days ago, a friend of mine in the FBI contacted me about a case he has been working on in Boston. There is a large, pretty powerful mafia family there. The Bellucci’s.”
My heart dropped and I was pretty sure the color drained from my face.
“They had the daughter’s house bugged since it was easier to access. They picked up a conversation between her and her brother, Michael. I guess he’s been searching for a woman he dated. Her name was Katy Reynolds. He said Katy up and left town without word about where she was going. Apparently, he stopped at her condo, and her roommate said she came home and found her gone with her cell phone left behind. No note, nothing. On top of what they learned from the bug, after digging deeper, we know that her bakery was sold pretty much right after she vanished, and all her money was taken from her account…and not by her, by someone in the CIA.”
The lawyer. Randy. I knew he was more than just a lawyer.