Rafe came up behind her and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Love you, Mom.”

Her smile was tremulous. “Of course you do. I am awesome.”

“Yes, you are.” He dipped to peck her cheek. “Save me some cake, okay?”

She laughed now, shooing him away with her apron, a sweet blush staining her cheeks. “Go. Make your goo-goo eyes at Mercy,” she whispered, making him blush.

“Yes, ma’am.” He straightened, pasted a Nothing wrong here expression on his face, and, obeying his mother, sat next to Mercy while his mother invited Tom to sit.

It looked like Tom would agree, but he checked his phone and sighed. “I can’t. I have to get back to the office.”

“Please, take the cake,” Irina said firmly. “I will wrap for you.”

“Your mother is a force of nature,” Mercy whispered. She looked perfectly normal, perfectly calm. Except her voice became worried when she leaned in, her lips brushing his ear. “What’s wrong?”

Shit. He was pretty good at his Nothing wrong here face. He’d spent a lifetime perfecting it, in fact. But she saw right through him. “I’ll tell you later. Trust me for now?”

She pulled back enough to study his eyes. “Yes, I trust you. Not just for now.”

Leaving him speechless. Trust was a rare commodity for Mercy Callahan. He’d known that from the moment he’d first heard her name. He’d been comforting seventeen-year-old Gideon when he couldn’t break through his sister’s shields. Rafe had known it every one of the minutes she’d sat by his side after he’d been shot. She was instinctively wary. But she trusts me.

He wasn’t ever going to make her regret it.

TWELVE

GRANITE BAY, CALIFORNIA

SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 5:15 P.M.

Rafe kept an eye on the clock, glancing at Mercy and Farrah every few minutes. Neither woman had her phone and he’d already pulled Gideon aside, giving him the heads-up on Farrah’s aunt.

“I’m glad you told me,” Gideon had murmured. “I was about to call John with Mercy. He’s probably heard already, if it’s on the local news, and he’d tell her. I don’t want Mercy to have to put on a brave face until Farrah’s fiancé arrives. She’s had to fake being okay enough for a lifetime.” He looked torn. “She and Farrah were talking about the Romeros while you were in with Hunter, and Mercy mentioned how much she loved the old lady. They had dinner a few times a week and Mercy would take her to her doctor’s appointments. She was kind of like Mercy’s grandmother. I hate to keep this from her, even though I know we have to.”

“You can plead ignorance. In case she’s too angry with me to let me help her, she’ll still have you.”

Gideon had given him a slightly chastising look. “I think we should stick to the truth, don’t you? I don’t want to give her a reason to distrust either of us. She’s been told enough lies in her life.”