Toni took a deep breath and faced her father. “Dad, is what they’re saying true? Areyoureally responsible for all of that?” She couldn’t deny that the files provedsomeonewas guilty, but could they be sure it was her father and not someone working for his publishing house or the manufacturer of the e-readers?
“Believe me, it’s true.” Kyle leaned forward, getting nose to nose with Coran. “What the hell did you think you were going to accomplish? Start another world war, Mr. Williams? Or should I call you SHEEPSKIN?”
Her father blanched, and Toni’s heart sank. It was true. It was all true. Her knees threatened to buckle. Thank God Spencer slipped his arm around her waist to steady her, or she would’ve crumpled to the ground in a heap.
“I want my attorney,” her father yelled.
Scotty jerked Coran’s arm, making the older man wince. “You’re a traitor, aren’t you?”
“No. I’d never betray my country. Never. I was trying to help. We must win the war on terror, no matter the cost.” He looked to Toni, his gaze pleading. “Call my attorney, please, Toni. Tell him what’s happened. He’ll get me out of this—the world will understand that I did what I had to do.”
“Do you really think you can end terrorism by creating more terror?” Toni’s dazed mind was still stuck on the attack on the village school. All those young lives lost, lives she’d wanted to enrich and help with her foundation. “I was trying to do some good in the world, Dad. Why would you twist that? Why?”
“You don’t understand. In the pursuit of the good, sometimes bad things are required.”
“Get him out of here,” Kyle ordered.
Gage and Scotty led Coran away. Kyle murmured his thanks to her, then pulled his phone from his pocket and followed his men and their quarry out of the ballroom.
Toni watched them go, still too stunned to really process what was happening. People milled around her, whispering about what they’d just witnessed.
“Hey, you okay?” Spencer rubbed her chilled arms briskly. The action helped, a little.
She shook her head. “No,” she admitted, too wounded to even try to put on a brave front. “But maybe in a day or two when it all sinks in, I’ll be glad that I finally got some answers.”
“Yeah,” he said, fidgeting as if he didn’t know what to do with himself.
“What happens to you now?” she asked. “To your team, I mean. You’ll bring my dad in and try to get some answers from him…and then?”
He sighed. “And then we figure out what comes next. We can’t stop, not until we know for sure who killed Nick. Stopping SHEEPSKIN is important, but it’s not our main goal.”
“And…that goal’s not here,” she realized, suddenly shaky on her feet. “You need to go, don’t you?”
“Go?” he repeated, frowning. “You mean to check in with the team? That can wait until we’ve gotten back to the suite for the night.”
“No,” she said, her stomach sinking, “I meango. This bodyguard gig was never meant to be a permanent job for you, right? You wanted it so you could find my father. Now you’ve got him—so you need to go. Back to the US, or wherever the investigation takes you next.”
Spencer looked shocked—not to mention offended. “And justleaveyou here, unprotected? Absolutely not.”
Toni shook her head. “If you stay with me, you’re leaving your team without you there to watch their backs. Aren’t they going to be in more danger than me, transporting my dad back to the States? It wouldn’t surprise me if Arrieta tried to get some shots in along the way.”
From the scowl on Spencer’s face, she was pretty sure it wouldn’t surprise him, either.
“Meanwhile,” she added, struggling to keep her voice light, “I’ll be fine. I don’t have any more big public events after this, and I’m sure the hotel would be fine with adding some security around my room. Plus I promise to stay away from windows.” She gave him a weak smile. “Your team needs you. And now that everyone knows I can no longer be used to get to my father, I should be a lot safer.”
She swallowed hard, mustering up her strength to say the last bit. “It’s okay for you to go. Iwantyou to go. I know how much it means to you to protect the people you care about—and that’s your team.”
“It’s notonlymy team who I care about, Toni,” he said, emotion shimmering in his green eyes.
“I know. But you said yourself that you need to stay focused, now more than ever. And that means I’m a distraction you can’t afford.”
“You’re a lot more than that.”
“Sure,” she said. “I’m also a memory of a beautiful afternoon we shared. One that was absolutely perfect—even if it was just a dream.” She leaned in and brushed a kiss against his cheek. “Goodbye, Spencer.”
Then she turned and walked away, not allowing herself to look back—and not letting herself feel disappointed when he let her go.
* * *