by M Brereton
“You had Ronnie and Evaline after you, what made you choose Eva, money?” Roland asked seriously.
“Money? Hell no!” Noah answered quickly. “For Eva…sometimes, but never for me.”
“She doesn’t like her man being broke?”
“More like she doesn’t like me not appreciating what her wealth can do for me. She thinks I’m a little bit of a …” Noah left off not wanting to say the words.
But Roland said it for him “an asshole?”
“That wasn’t the word I was looking for.”
“Yet, somehow it suits you.”
“Why do people only cheer up at my expense?” Noah wondered.
“Maybe you should make circus clown your next gig.” Roland joked.
“I’m thinking more magician. That way I can make all you jokers disappear.” Noah threatened.
“Plus, it’ll make things easier for you on the bank account front. You can make money magically appear.”
“Who wouldn’t want that?”
50
Marshall Family Secret
Someone is busy with a shovel, Eva thought, and it wasn’t who she originally thought. Someone had gotten the money men riled in their clumsy search and now they were hunting for evidence to keep whoever it was at bay. The only people who could do any damage would have just killed her and been done with it, but they had no need to. After all, she still kept the secret, didn’t she?
For the hundredth time, she wondered if Ethan had a hand in this. He was the only one with a lot to gain once she was out of the way, but he wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to kill her so weakening her would be his only option. Yet she couldn’t find one concrete trail back to him. Then again, she wasn’t aware of his existence until a year ago, so obviously, he knew how to cover his tracks well.
Just in case she was having him watched and with him being her only option, she was right back at square one. She’d already eliminated the agents at the bureau off her list from the start. Besides, they had already dug themselves in too deep. The fallout would touch them as well. That left that nosy bitch, Veronica! Of course, it was her! Eva surmised with a grin. With her marriage practically over she would be back on the hunt now wouldn’t she and one of the leads did come from Interpol!
Or it could be that spook who was working on Noah’s protection detail. He never did like her! He was still on Presidential duty last time she checked…
“Okay, what are you up to?” Noah asked, cutting off her thoughts.
“Hmm?” Eva replied with a serene smile.
“Don’t play dumb! You were wearing a path on the floor and frowning!”
“Was I?”
“Eva!” Noah warned. ,
“It’s work, don’t worry.” She waved off.
“The legal kind?” Noah questioned watching her closely.
She frowned in response and he conceded, “Okay, forget I asked then.” And headed into the bathroom.
He was getting to know her too damn well, Eva mused watching his retreating back. But she knew him just as well, this conversation was far from over and now she’d have to contend with Noah watching her every move.
* * *
The next day, Eva was still reeling with joy over the fact that Noah was no longer President. The security arrangements were insane. It made simple meetings like this nonexistent, she mused sipping her tea as Tyler and Kate spoke around her.
“It’s not the CIA. You’re both no longer an issue to them. so case closed.” Kate decided.
“Still working on Veronica, her agent status makes it hard to pin her down, but my gut says it’s not her and we’re missing something,” Tyler murmured.
“I’ve looked at everyone. She’s our best option.” Eva pointed out.
“It doesn’t feel right,” Tyler muttered.
Kate and Eva looked at each other. Tyler was an excellent judge of character and his hunches were as spot-on as Noah’s were. Maybe they were missing something?
“We have no one else,” Kate stated.
“What about Noah’s new pal?” Tyler asked menacingly.
“What about Roland?” Eva questioned. “Everything about him checks out. You did the checks yourself.”
“I know, but why is he still here? He’s put off taking that job for the last two months!” Tyler pointed out softly.
“He is getting over a breakup Ty. These things take time.” Eva explained.
“So, you hang around the guy your wife wanted to fuck? That’s strange don’t you think?” Tyler countered.
“It’s not Noah’s fault Veronica wanted him, Roland understands that and besides, they were friends before she came along.”
“So was Cooper,” Tyler argued.
“That was different!” Eva argued. “Besides, Roland has nothing to gain by ruining Noah or me.”
“You sure do defend him.” Tyler pointed out.
“It’s not defending him!” Eva argued. “It’s stating facts as I see them!”
“Are you sure? He does kind of look like Noah. I wonder if you have little virgin fantasies about having the both of them fuck you!” He mused looking her dead in the eyes. Eva’s angry red face shot to Kate, who hung her head sheepishly. “At any rate, you’re right, he has no motive.” He finished ignoring her shame and left promising, “I’ll keep an eye on Veronica if you wish, boss.” And close the door softly behind him.
Eva wasted no time rounding on Kate. “You told him!”
“I said as a joke.” Kate apologized “I thought he wasn’t even paying attention!”
“Whenever has he not ever been paying attention?” Eva growled through clenched teeth. “And I hate when he calls me boss!”
“I wonder what his problem is with Roland though?” Kate mused.
“You think he hates Roland?”
“Don’t you?” Kate countered. “He liked Noah off the bat, even before we checked him out, but the thought of Roland seems to make his blood boil. He never felt this way about Cooper, even knowing what we did about him.”
“And his hunches are never wrong,” Eva muttered, drumming her fingers softly on the desk as she thought.
“But the only thing we haven’t done is DNA test Roland and his DNA is as protected as the President.” Kate mused aloud.
Eva stopped her drumming and said, “He lives here now.”
* * *
Eva stood over Roland’s bed watching him sleep. The proof was in front of her eyes the whole time. She had to clench her hand into a fist to keep from caressing that familiar jawline. It was the same as her husband’s. Now she wanted to know why it was being kept a secret.
“I’m a little confused as to why you’re in my room, in your pajamas…” Roland began without opening his eyes.
“This is my room.” Eva pointed out.
“Still…” He sat up finally and his eyes roamed her from flowing red mane to her fuzzy white bunny slippers. “Either I’m about to have one hell of a dream or…” as his eyes fell on the paper in her hand. “one hell of a nightmare.”
“What do you think?” She asked, bringing the gun into view.
“I’m gonna go with nightmare or BSM fantasy.” Roland joked.
“Why are you hiding it?”
“Straight to the point.” Roland pointed out and she lifted her eyebrows in question. “What exactly am I hiding?” She tossed the paper at him and he pointed out. “A little light will help.” She flicked on the lights without taking her eyes off him. His eyes roamed the paper and looked up and said, “So now you know.”
“That’s all you have to say.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Why didn’t you tell him?
“How do you tell a man his hero daddy had an illegitimate child? It never seemed like the right time.” Roland muttered, scratching his head. “Every time I thought about telling him, it never seemed like the right time. First, it was because of being undercover then he got married, Cooper died then came the Presidency…”
“That sounds like bullshit!” Eva muttered. “When he gets back, you’re telling him!
“Eva, you don’t understand…”
“I don’t understand!” Eva hissed. “You, I don’t understand! Noah is your brother! Whatever happened with his father and your mother is the past, Noah won’t care about any of it!”
“His mother might.”
“That was before she married William…”
“But they were in a relationship at the time.”
“William is dead and Ana is moving on with her life. What he did…”
“Could still affect Noah if the press were to find out.” Roland pointed out. “That’s why I didn’t tell him before. Noah and Wayland are always going on about what a great man William was. Well, that wasn’t the man I knew. Noah’s war hero is nothing more than a deadbeat dad in my story and you think that won’t affect him?”
Eva had no response to that, but she knew what it was like to not know your family and she wasn’t going to keep this secret from Noah.
“You still have to tell him.”
Roland sighed as he conceded, “Fine, I’ll tell him…” and before she turned on her heel he added, “but in my own time and in my own way.”
“Fine.” She agreed before adding her own conditions “But it better be soon because I’m done keeping secrets from Noah.”
“Understood,” Roland replied with a smirk.
51
Family Matters
You still haven’t told him yet.” Eva whispered in Roland’s ear.
“I know. I know.”
“What are you waiting for?”
“I think…maybe …I don’t know,” Roland replied, running his hand over his face before turning away from the scene before him. Noah had returned from his trip and was running around like he was the same age as his kids. For Roland, it was a sad and joyful thing to see.
“You took too long in the first place.” Eva pointed out as she followed him. “I can soften him up for you if you like.”
Roland turned to face her with a scowl. “There’s no need for that.” He told her coldly.
Eva frowned, not understanding why he was upset, but pressed her case anyway, “I hate keeping the secret. I promised him I won’t do that anymore.”
Roland chuckled darkly, “What’s one more, Eva?” Eva frowned, and her eyes narrowed, but before she could speak Roland spoke again, “We both know he doesn’t know everything about you. So, keeping my little secret shouldn’t bother you so much.”
Eva stared at him as if seeing him with new eyes. “You’ve been checking on me.”
“Actually, Roni did,” Roland admitted. “She had a few choice things to say about you.”
Relaxing, she asked, “And you believed the words of a bitter woman?”
“No,” Roland began as he straightened to his full height and looked down at her. “I believed the words of a highly efficient Interpol Agent.”
They stayed like that in their silent face off for a few eternal seconds until Eva turned away and said “Suddenly, this is about me. Interesting.”
“I’m just saying, Eva…”
“Don’t call me that,” Eva ordered in a deadly tone. “That nickname is reserved for loved ones.”
He wasn’t one. The words went without being said, but Roland wanted to know just how far down he had fallen in her eyes, so he asked, “I take it my stay here as a privileged guest is soon to be over?”
“It was over the moment I read the DNA report,” Eva confirmed as she walked off.
Eva meant that he was family, not a guest, but Roland took it a different way and packed his bags that night.
He left while they were asleep and informed them of his decision by leaving a note on the nightstand. Nowhere written in the contents he mentioned his relation to Noah.
“Son of a bitch!” Eva cursed as she read the note.
“I guess he finally made a decision,” Noah concluded from over her shoulder.
Eva narrowed her eyes as she contemplated telling, Noah but the problem with telling him was that it wasn’t her secret to tell. “Fucking hell!”
“So, he left. Why are you so angry?” Noah asked as he watched her.
“I just think he should have the decency to speak to us face to face instead of crawling out of our home like a thief in the night!”
It was Noah’s turn to frown as he appraised her. “Did something happen between you and Roland?”
“What?” Eva asked, puzzled then blushed as she assured, “No, nothing like that!”
“Why are you blushing then?”
Eva smiled brightly as she replied, “So it just occurred to you that you left your wife home alone with a handsome bachelor.”
“Why aren’t you answering me, Eva?”
Eva laughed as she teased, “Maybe, I let you squirm on that for a few days.”
After thinking it over for a bit, Noah relaxed and said “Nothing happened.”
“How come you’re so sure?” Eva asked.
“We had sex the night I came back. If you were sleeping with Roland, he must really suck because you acted like you were starving…”
“Vacallo!”
“Yeah, you did!”
“Uh!” Eva groaned and stormed out.
Noah followed her out of the guest bedroom with a broad grin and started to whistle. He knew it would irritate her even more and besides she started it. As he descended the stairs, he couldn’t believe how good he had it. Taking in all the splendor of the manor he lived in, the family he had and all that he accomplished so far. It all seemed like a dream.
Years ago, living on the base, he never dreamed his life would be like this. That he could be this happy. His vision had always included some form of military service and if he didn’t die, maybe a wife and some kids, but never did he envision a wife like Eva.
Strange that the day he was slated to die was the day he began to live. The same day she fell in love with him. No matter what he did, he didn’t think he could ever deserve her. He also knew she didn’t deserve the life she had before him. She still hasn’t told him everything about her past, but now he knew she kept the details from him to protect him.
He headed outside and watched his children play in the backyard. Despite his crazy schedule, he still made time to come home and see them. Then there was the fact that sleeping without Eva was near impossible. He was glad when he could throw himself into work, but loved when she called to check up on him.
* * *
ROME, ITALY
So, she knew about him now. He would have to act soon, but he couldn’t do it on his own. Besides, he knew exactly who would help him. After all, he wasn’t the only one still seeking revenge.
“It wasn’t hard to figure out. She probably destroyed the phone when she killed Winters or Winters did it himself thinking he would outsmart her. Idiot!” Roland shook his head. “I don’t want to know what you do with the girl just in case the mother comes out of this unscathed. She’s not known to give mercy to people who hurt her family.”
“Neither am I,” Alberto replied.
“I know,” Roland replied with a smirk. Now it was time to be a hero.
* * *
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Luring Noah out was a piece of cake. He was eager to see his “good friend” again. Eva on the other hand needed to be distracted away. That would be the Marchesi’s job. Getting the children was the goal, but keeping them all would not be easy. Settling for the girl was the best option. The boys may be the carriers of the “proud” Marshall legacy, but Amelia was the firstborn and girls brought a different sort of fear for their parents than boys.
And he needed that fear to keep Eva unsettled and to keep her from killing him outright. Roland wondered what she was like in bed. His grin widened. If this played out correctly, he’d be able to find out. Just imagine, him fucking an international assassin. Just the thought of it alone must get Noah hard every night. Lucky fucker!
Wayland never acknowledged him as his nephew but did help him as promised. But always reminded him of the fact and when Roland returned to Washington and asked to be recommended for the FBI training Academy Wayland had looked at him strangely at first, but helped him. Later, when he met Noah he realized why and before he could even contemplate telling Noah, Wayland had approached him before graduation and said “You are to never mention your little theory to Noah! He thinks the world of his father and bringing up his past actions with some loose woman will only ruin a good man’s legacy. Don’t be ungrateful. Graduate and who knows with the right connections and guidance you could have a stellar career in the FBI. And if you truly believe that William is your father then you should know this; Marshall men are very loyal and honorable men and we’ll do anything to protect the family name.”
Wasn’t I part of that family? Roland had foolishly thought at the time, but when the order came for him to change places with Noah to go undercover, Roland knew where it came from. He should have stayed on the West Coast where Wayland has conveniently sent him to college. His time with the Marchesi showed him what loyalty to family really meant and now it was time his loyalty was rewarded. He had been silent for too long! Taking deep breaths to calm his raging thoughts. Roland grumbled out loud. “It’s time I have some of that perfect Marshal life!”