He wasn’t used to looking “fine”. He was used to looking impeccable. Put-together. Polished.
What was more, he was used tofeelingall of those things. And right now, when he arguably needed that sense of security more than ever, he felt as out of place and rumpled as his ill-fitting suit.
“Daddy.”
She spoke the word so softly, he wondered for a moment if he’d imagined it. But when he looked up, her earnest eyes bored into his, and he knew he’d heard her correctly. “Yes?”
Leaning over, she placed a hand over his, stilling his fidgety movements. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course, I trust you, Ace. Do you think I would be sitting here, in this ridiculous suit, if I didn’t trust you?”
“Good. Then remember that, and remember to breathe, and let me handle the rest. Ihavedone this before, you know.”
It settled him, more than he would have expected it to. “I know.”
“And I’m really fucking good at what I do.”
That had him grinning, and some of the weight lifting from his shoulders. “You’re the Ace.”
“Oh my god. Did you really just make a dad joke?Now?”
“Is that what you would call it? I would just call it hilarious.”
Her hoot of laughter was cut short when Cole stepped into the living room, his expression serious. “FBI is in place. Got your parents' penthouse in New York surrounded, and your brother is locked down in his hotel room in the capital. As soon as we give the signal, they’ll move in.”
All business now, Mina looked over, raising an eyebrow in question. “You good?”
He glanced from her to Cole, who gave away nothing of what he was feeling or thinking. If anyone had reason to want to see his parents go down, it was Cole, and yet he’d been nothing but professional as they’d arranged this entire operation. Maybe he really had done the whole “forgive and forget” routine, but the memory of what they’d done to him was still a weight on Cyrus’s shoulders.
How many more lives had they ruined over the years? How many more families had they destroyed with their greed and their lies? All because he’d been too weak to stop them.
Until now.
Tearing his gaze away from his oldest friend, he nodded at Mina. “I’m good.”
“Excellent.”
The change in her was subtle, but immediate. The playfulness he was so used to slid away, and suddenly she wasn’t his sweet, sassy girl. She was a reporter, someone the people trusted to tell them the truth. A subtle nod to Tracy and the cameraman Cole had smuggled out of the city earlier in the day set everything in motion.
“All right,” Tracy called out of obvious habit before she glanced around and realized her usual team wasn’t there. “Five, four…” she trailed off, mouthing the rest of the countdown.
Shoulders squared, her expression somber, Mina addressed their unseen audience. “Good evening, Washington. Our regular news program will be running a little late tonight, in order to bring you an exclusive interview with Cyrus Banks, the metropolitan area’s top prosecutor and the new head of the Libra Guild.”
Shifting slightly, she turned her attention on him. As he looked into her eyes, lit with a ferocity he’d never seen before, everything else faded away until it was just him, and her, and the truth.
Showtime.
* * *
Every report,every interview, every moment of her career paled in comparison to the thundering of her pulse in her ears as Cyrus watched her with those steady, pale eyes.
She’d worried he wouldn’t be able to go through with it. That he might back out at the last minute. But here they were, live on air, and he was as cool and calm as she’d ever seen him.
He’d even stopped fiddling with that damn suit.
“First of all, Mr. Banks, congratulations on your appointment as head of the US Chapter of the Libra Guild. That is quite an accomplishment, especially at such a young age.”
“I don’t know that I would call it an accomplishment,” he said, his tone dry but with enough humor that the audience would be eating it up. “As far as I can tell, the selection process is fairly random.”