Charles chuckled at her words, but he sobered almost instantly when he saw the sudden bitterness in her eyes that didn’t match the soft tone in her voice. He felt a chill ricochet down his back when he realized Myra meant what she said about hanging horse thieves and people who abused animals. Just the way she’d meant it when she said she wanted to take on the justice system to correct their mistakes by forming the Sisterhood years ago. She’d acted on that thought, too. The chill stayed with him as he made his way to the war room where all missions of the Sisterhood were planned, plotted and executed.

Charles looked around his domain. It was so state of the art that it sometimes boggled even his mind. If only they’d had half of what was in this room years ago when he was in Her Majesty’s Service, his cover might not have been blown. He’d been the best operative at MI6 and was on first-name terms with the Queen. It had been the Queen’s decision to send him to America with a new identity when his cover was blown, to ensure his safety. He hadn’t come empty-handed, though. He’d brought a list of contacts from across the world—old friends, operatives still in the intelligence business, as well as retired operatives who were only too glad to offer assistance when he requested it, just to keep their hands in.

In his youth, before going into Her Majesty’s Service, he’d had an intense relationship with Myra when she was living in England with her parents. Because of her youth, Myra had had no say when it was time to return to the States. She’d gone back to America, her heart broken as was his, only to find out when she got there that she was pregnant. At her parents’ insistence she’d married William Rutledge, who died ten years later.

Charles had had no knowledge of her pregnancy or the birth of his child until he started to work as the chief of security for Myra’s candy company—a post arranged by MI6. And the rest was history. To this day, he had no idea if the Queen knew of his relationship with Myra or not. He rather thought she did.

How he’d loved Barbara and Nikki. Myra had wanted to tell Barbara that Charles was her real father, but he’d been against the idea. She had loved William Rutledge and Charles saw no reason to add to her grief by telling her that he wasn’t her biological father. But then Barbara had died not knowing that Charles was her real father. How he regretted that decision now.