Giorgio (Vigilance 1)

I could imagine that questioning was going to be very unpleasant for them. “Is Giorgio here?”

She shook her head.

“Where is he?”

“I’m not sure. He and the other men who were supposed to be protecting you stayed behind to deal with the…aftermath.”

“You mean to cover up what happened?”

“Yes.” She waved her hand as if it were nothing.

“Then who’s out there?”

“His boss.”

Was I finally going to get to meet this mystery man? “I’d like to talk to him.”

“I think he’d like to talk to you as well.”

“What were you arguing about just now?”

She ignored me and walked back to the door. “It’s time.”

“Sandra.”

“I mean it, X.”

I recognized the man’s voice, but I couldn’t place it. Giorgio had said I’d probably met his boss before, but I wasn’t prepared to recognize him so easily when he stepped into the room. I had met him, but even if I hadn’t, I’d recognize him, most anyone in Boston would.

“You’re—”

“Your father,” the man said.

I stared at him. “What?” I couldn’t have heard him right. Was I still fucked up from whatever Alan had given me?

“I’m your father, Lane.”

I looked at my mom, and she nodded. How the hell could this be true, and why hadn’t they told me sooner? A whole slew of emotions ran through me, anger, disbelief, sadness.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

The man looked at my mother as if to say he’d warned her. “And what do you mean you’re Giorgio’s boss? You’re—”

“My public life is not all there is to me,” he said. “You may or may not know I was in the military for years before my parents and older brother died.”

They’d been in a terrible car accident. I’d seen clips of the funeral on TV, and I did vaguely remember that he’d left the army soon after that.

“I was special forces, and the man I was during those years is far more the real me than my public persona. I run Vigilance now, but I keep the two parts of my life separate.”

Well, now I knew Giorgio hadn’t been kidding when he’d said there was wealth and power behind his agency. “Okay.” I could understand that. “But why did you hide who you were from me?”

“I was away in the military when you were born, and when I returned, I knew I would keep doing the same kind of work, which would put me in danger. I didn’t want to endanger a child. I never wanted you to experience anything like what happened to you tonight.”

“So you thought it would be better for me to think my father had walked away and never looked back?” My mom had told me my father had left. She’d always refused to give me more details, and I’d decided he wasn’t worth knowing if he didn’t want me. If he believed he could protect me now, why hadn’t he believed that when I was a kid?

“I did, but now…”

“We both did,” my mother said.

“You were wrong.” Tears stung my eyes.

“I’m sorry.” He looked devastated, but that was far from enough. We could have had years together. I could have grown up knowing my father.

“This is why Giorgio said we couldn’t be together after he’d taken care of Alan, isn’t it? He said he couldn’t tell me the reason because it would break a friend’s confidence. You’re that friend, and this was the secret you didn’t want revealed. You told Giorgio but not me.”

“Giorgio needed to know so he would understand why I needed him to take this job.”

“Because normally he’d never do something as mundane as being a bodyguard for a bratty boy.”

I had to give it to him that he didn’t rise to my bait. He kept his voice even and calm. “We don’t normally take bodyguard jobs, but your case turned out to be far from mundane. You needed our protection, and the organization Alan was associated with is exactly the kind of situation we eliminate.”

“Fine, but you didn’t want to be a part of my life, yet you want to stop me from being with the man I love.”

His eyes widened. “Love? You… You’re in love with Giorgio?”

“What?” My mother said, eyes wide. “Giorgio is gay?”

I huffed. “Yes, and I’m in love with him.” I glared at my father. “Don’t act like that is so ridiculous. He’s a good man.”

“He is.” My father let out a long exhale. “I think I fucked up.”

My mom narrowed her eyes. “It sounds like it.”

“I need to make a phone call.” As he reached for his phone, someone knocked on my door.

I moved to get out of bed, but he held up a hand.

“Stay here. Let me see who it is.”

31

Giorgio

I paced back and forth in the living room of my tiny apartment. I could’ve afforded something bigger, but I liked the security of money in the bank more than I liked splurging. My car had been the only thing I’d splurged on so far, and it had been a tax-deductible business expense. As far as the IRS was concerned, I was an independent private investigator.