Page 94 of Twilight Tactics

Her breath caught.

She crouched and peered around the tree trunk. And there he was. A tall man with a gray beard. Her father. After all these years. Love for him and anger with him mixed to take her by surprise. She loved him but was definitely still angry with him for how his choices had upended her life. Her happy family’s life.

Elena stayed still for a moment. Waiting to see if anyone else appeared. When no one did, she stood and stepped from behind the tree, her heart hammering against her ribs. “Dad?”

The bearded man turned. His weathered face broke into a smile, crinkling the corners of his eyes—the same way she remembered from childhood. He just had more wrinkles. A lot more. But it was him.

“Eleanor.” His voice cracked. “My little girl.”

She moved toward him, caution warring with longing. Ten steps separated them, then five, then none. His arms wrapped around her, solid and warm, smelling of woodsmoke and pine.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come.” He pulled back, holding her at arm’s length. “Let me look at you.”

“I almost didn’t.” Elena searched his face, noting new lines, deeper creases. “It’s been fourteen years, Dad.”

“Too long.” He squeezed her shoulders. “You grew up good, Eleanor. Strong.”

“It’s Elena now.”

He nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. “Elena, then.” He paused. “I looked for you.”

“You did?” Her mother said he would.

“Of course. LaRoche even hired a private investigator for me, but it was like you two fell off the face of the earth.”

LaRoche. Her mom had been right. If they’d been together, she had no doubt, the investigator would have found them.

“Where’s your mother?” he asked.

Pain sliced through her. “Why?”

“Because I ... have questions for her.”

Elena froze. “She died a few years ago, Dad. Cancer.”

He drew in a ragged breath. “I see.”

She didn’t want to talk about her mother. “Your note said you wanted out.” Elena looked behind him. “Both of you. Where’s Iris?”

“She doesn’t know I’m meeting you. Not yet. I didn’t want to get her hopes up until I saw how this went down.”

“Oh. Okay.” Disappointment was one of the sharpest arrows. She’d built this meeting up in her head piece by piece—with the idea of bringing them to the ranch, making her life whole again. Now it stood there in her mind like a glass thing set too close to the edge. One small push and it would go over to shatter at the bottom and be lost to her forever. She took a careful breath. “Well?” she said. “What’s going on?”

“Things have changed lately,” he said. “So much has changed. But one thing she and I finally agreed on is that it’s time to get out.”

“LaVoy Hawthorne is one of the changes?” Elena asked.

Surprise flashed across his face. “You know about him?”

“I know he’s working with the mob. I know people have been hurt.” She took a breath. “They attacked the ranch. And a couple of days ago, someone tried to grab me off my horse.”

Her father’s expression darkened. “What?”

She told him the abbreviated version. “If a friend hadn’t been there, he might have succeeded.”

“But ... I don’t understand. I don’t think that was someone from our compound.”

“Maybe not,” she said. Maybe it really had been some random incident. Chills skittered up her arms. If so, he was still out there. “Why now? After all these years, why reach out now?”