Unexpected (The Protectors 10)

As Reese continued to read, I sensed the door opening behind me. I went on full alert when I saw an older man step into my house, but he shook his head at me and put his finger to his lips. I was about to kick the fucker’s ass for daring to enter my house when he nodded in Nash’s direction. I looked at Nash and saw him shake his head at me.

What the hell? He knew the guy?

Reese was so preoccupied with reading that he didn’t notice the guy and Everett had his back to him.

“You’ve made my life not worth living anymore, and for that, I hope God has mercy on your soul. Elanor.”

Reese tossed the letter at Everett’s feet. “It wasn’t a fucking accident,” Reese bit out. “She didn’t fall asleep with the engine running after taking a few too many Xanax like you convinced everyone she did.”

“Where did you get this?” Everett asked as he bent to pick up the letter.

“It was in her goddamn hand when I found her! It’s your fault she’s dead,” Reese said. “You may as well have forced those pills down her throat and put her in that car.”

“That’s enough, son,” the man behind me said as he stepped around me.

Both Reese and Everett turned. Everett’s eyes went wide. “Grady,” he said in disbelief.

It wasn’t until he said the name that I finally realized who the man was – William Grady, Everett’s friend and former Secret Service agent.

Chapter 29

Nash

I watched as my predecessor walked up to Everett and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Grady, what are you doing here?” Everett asked.

“Vincent called me,” Grady said. “Thought you could use a friendly face… he said something about you ending up with a couple of overprotective guard dogs,” he said, a solemn smile on his face.

“It’s not a good time—” Everett began.

“I think it’s the perfect time,” Grady responded. He was a little younger than Everett, but had a stout figure and was almost completely bald except for some patches of hair just above his ears. His sharp eyes settled on Reese. “From what I heard from outside, Reese here is ready for some hard truths.”

“Grady, no,” Everett said, but Grady shook his head.

“You don’t get to order me around anymore, Mr. President, remember? And if Reese wants to keep putting his mother on a pedestal, he doesn’t get to step on you to do it.”

Finally, I thought to myself as I watched Grady approach a very wary Reese. About fucking time.

“Your mother wasn’t talking about your father in that note, Reese,” Grady said.

“You’d say anything to protect him—” Reese began.

“I would,” Grady conceded. “But he’s also my friend and he’d never forgive me for hurting you. The only time I’ve lied was to protect you… and that was only because your father was desperate to let you have the one thing in your life that you still seemed to care about… your mother.”

“She was the only one who was ever there for me,” Reese insisted.

“Was she?” Grady asked. He shook his head. “Let’s start with this,” Grady said as he took the note from Everett’s hand. “I’ve loved you every day since the moment we met more than thirty years ago,” Grady read, then he looked up. “Your mother wrote this three years ago. Thirty years before that, she would have been nineteen years old at the most. She didn’t meet your father until she was twenty-one. But you know who she did know at that time?” Grady held up the letter. “Your father’s vice president and eventual successor.”

“Grady—” Everett began, but Reese was the one who put up his hand.

“What are you saying?” Reese asked, his voice full of disbelief.

“You know better than anyone that the White House is full of more lies than truth, Reese. That at its core, Washington is like one big fucking chess game. Your mother never loved your father, and he never loved her either. Just like your father was groomed for his part, so was your mother. The man she fell in love with when she was a girl, and who would one day take the presidency over from your father, was already married when she began a relationship with him. It continued up until your mother’s death three years ago. He kept promising her he’d leave his wife, but the reality was that your mother was one of many women he was feeding that line to. Your mother found comfort in the arms of other men, though she probably hoped to use them to make the man she really wanted jealous.”

Reese looked like he was going to be sick, and I was glad when he sank down to sit on an armchair.

“How do you know all this?” he whispered.

“Because even though our job is to be invisible to the people we protect, we’re always there. We hear and see everything. And just like I was always loyal to your father, other agents are loyal to the men and women they protect. The day your mother died, she called the president to tell him what she’d done and why. You arrived first to find your mother, and from what I gather, you took this” – he held up the note – “And didn’t tell anyone about it when your mother’s Secret Service detail showed up.”