Hunter ~
Kenzie's eyes went wide before she immediately shot her gaze down to her lap, refusing to make eye contact with Hunter. Her shoulders started to rapidly rise and fall and Hunter could tell that she was shutting down and hiding from him.
Whatever she has to say, it can't be good. But I need to hear it and she needs to know she's safe to say it...whatever it is.
"I...um...I..." She stammered as she started to wring her hands and lift her eyes toward the exit door.
Don't even think about it, Kenz.
"Hey, look at me." Hunter soothed, trying to pull her out of her own panic, but it was as if she hadn't heard his voice at all.
"I said look at me Kenzie." His voice was louder, but still soft enough to be comforting as her eyes slowly rose to meet his.
She looks so scared of me right now.
"I don't know what to say." She said, meekly.
"Just start with the truth and we'll go from there sweetheart. Now I'm gonna ask you again. Did you steal intel from your dad?"
Hunter watched Kenzie's every move. He cataloged every micro-expression, every shift in her posture, every tensed muscle or quick movement, trying to read her as if it was an interrogation.
Her eyes darted back and forth as she stared at the table, clearly considering fabricating a story, then shaking her head as if she were internally battling with herself.
"Kenzie." Hunter said loudly hoping to pull her back to the present. "It's just me baby. Talk to me."
"And what if you don't like what I have to say?" She asked softly with fear in her voice that he hated.
"Talk to me anyway...What did you steal?"
Kenzie swallowed hard, squeezing her eyes shut as if her throat was too dry to function.
"Flashdrives." She said in a voice barely over a whisper.
Okay now we're getting somewhere.
"Where'd you get em?" Hunter asked, keeping his voice low and even, leaving emotion out of it and sticking strictly to the facts.
"My dad's office. H-he always kept them locked up when he wasn't using them, and when people would come in his office he'd always give the drawer a pull to make sure it was locked. Like it was involuntary. I knew they had to be important if he had a routine based around them."
I don't even want to know how you snuck those out of your dads office, Kenz.
"I stole them and ran when I saw the opportunity, hopping the first flight out and calling my dad once I was a safe distance away. I told him to let Banks and I walk away from his awful organization or I'd turn over the information to the authorities."
"Did you know what was on the drives?" Hunter asked, trying to gauge her level of knowledge on what she'd stolen.
"No, It was a shot in the dark, but he was furious when I threatened him. So I knew they had to have something incriminating."
Oh baby you have no idea what could be on those. So fucking dangerous.
"I thought if he was scared of me, then I could give Banks a safe exit. He hated the missions my dad would send him on. He told me himself. They were dangerous and too risky, not to mention ethically wrong. I was just trying to help my brother."
Tears welled in Kenzie's eyes as she spoke the words, causing Hunter to reach across the table and take hold of her hand.
"I know that Kenz. That was a brave thing you did. Fucking dangerous, but really brave." Hunter affirmed.
"Tell me what happened next." Hunter encouraged, giving her hand a squeeze.
"Nothing...I expected to be hunted down by my dad or his men after that, but I didn't hear from him or Banks for days, then finally Banks reached out to tell me he was leaving on a mission. It all felt so wrong. I couldn't understand why my dad was ignoring my threat...but then it eventually made sense...or at least I thought it did."
Her confusion broke Hunter's heart as she tilted her head and squinted her eyes as if her whole life had been a lie that she was desperately trying to sort out.
"I thought my dad had sent Banks to his death and once he called to say Banks was dead and was so callous and cold about the whole thing, I just...ran. I came here and worked odd jobs taking my moms name and laying low."
"But you still had the drives?"
She nodded at Hunter slowly with her chin quivering.
"They were my only insurance. I was so scared my dad's men would come for the drives or for me...so I had to keep them safe. I had to make sure my dad always thought the information had the potential to be salvaged even if he captured or harmed me. So I hid them."
It's actually smart. She knew he might try to silence her, but as long as there was physical evidence of Miles' crimes, he'd need to keep her alive to tell him where it was.
"Did you ever look at what was on the drives?"
Kenzie nodded again, swiping a tear from her cheek.
"What was on em?"
"Names, numbers, I don't know the rest just seemed like gibberish."
"Phone numbers?" Hunter asked trying to figure out what was on the drives based on her description alone.
"No they were too long to be phone numbers."
Coordinates probably. Names, coordinates and coded information.
"Why didn't you turn them over to the Feds baby? If you thought Banks was dead why not just take your dads operation down?"
Dropping her head, Kenzie's shoulders shook as she let out a few tears, trying to stay quiet and not make a scene in the small diner.
"I was scared. My dad had high level friends in all sorts of government agencies. I didn't even know where to start or who I could trust." She whimpered.
Hunter nodded and let his thumb brush over the top of Kenzie's had, trying to comfort her as best he could while his analytical mind sorted through the information she'd just given him.
"And your dad never tried to contact you?" Hunter asked.
"Well...around 8 months ago my mom called on a phone that only she knew existed to warn me, saying two men had come to her home looking for me. She didn't have any information other than that, but it was enough to scare the shit out of me."
Rightfully so.
"And That's about the time you started working for me." Hunter added, piecing together a timeline for himself.
Kenzie's eyes were brimming with tears at his statement and her mouth parted as if she were going to say something, but decided not to. Her shoulder shook and she fought against herself, clearly trying to tell Hunter something, but unable to get the words out.
"Talk to me Kenz." Hunter said softly.
"I'm so sorry." She whimpered quietly as tears streamed down her face.
"For what?"
Pulling her hands away from Hunter's, Kenzie dropped her gaze and refused to look at him.
"My working at Knight Security wasn't exactly by chance." She said in a voice barely over a whisper.
What the hell?
"What do you mean?"
Kenzie attempted another thick swallow as if the words were caught in her throat.
"I mean...I sought you out. I knew I was in trouble and I needed a safe place."
She still refused to look at Hunter, but her words slammed into his chest as he went through every second of the hiring process. He was so busy, so caught up in other jobs that were more pressing he had only run a simple criminal background check on her. To know that the daughter of one of his enemies had infiltrated his organization made him sick to his stomach and a deep scowl settled across his face.
"How'd you know it was safe?" Hunter said coldly, still processing her words.
"I didn't at first. I had heard my dad mention your teams once or twice and all I knew was that he hated you...so we had that in common already."
But you lied to me. You kept something huge from me that could have ended my organization. Everything I'd worked for, the lives of my teams.
Hunter's expression was stern, but he remained externally calm as his mind pieced everything together.
"Why didn't you tell me that in the first place? Why lie?" He asked firmly.
Kenzie lifted her head, letting her big sad eyes meet Hunter's with nothing but pain behind them. It was obvious that she hated herself for what she had done and was awaiting her punishment from Hunter as if he were the executioner.
"You would have sent me away." She whimpered.
"You don't know that." Hunter countered.
"Come on. The daughter of Miles Gryffon shows up on your doorstep with a sob story asking for refuge? You wouldn't have let me within five miles of you or your teams."
Exactly because it would have put everything and everyone at risk. Hell it did put them at risk.
"I don't like being lied to Kenzie." Hunter said coldly, watching her shoulder slump even further as his harsh tone.
"I know. I'm sorry Hunter, I'm so sorry." She said in the saddest voice he'd ever heard.
Taking a breath, Hunter retreated to the part of his mind that his teammates had helped him create. The space that balanced his analytical and logistical knowledge with his feelings and emotions toward Kenzie. It was brand new territory and something he was still learning how to navigate, but he was going to give it his best try.
This is bad, but I need to sort through my own shit before I can make any decisions.
Did Kenzie lie to me? Yes.
Was it out of self preservation? Yes.
Did she have the capability of being a threat to me and my teams? Yes.
Was she or would she ever be a threat to me and my teams? No.
Did she make a mistake by not being upfront with me about this? Yes.
Did I make a mistake by not being upfront with her about her brother?...Yes.
Do I think she kept this information from me out of malicious intent? No.
Hunter's inner dialogue was leading him toward one final conclusion.
Is Kenzie still in danger? Yes.
Do I trust Kenzie? Yes.
Do I love Kenzie?
Yes.
With his mind and heart now fully in sync with one another, Hunter reached across the table and cupped the sides of Kenzie's tear stained face, tilting her head up to meet his gaze as he spoke softly and calmly to her.
"It's okay." He said gently.
"But I lied to you." She cried softly.
"Do I look worried about that?" He asked, giving her a reassuring half smile.
"A little." She admitted, eliciting a deep chuckle from Hunter.
"I don't give a shit, Kenzie. You did what you had to do to survive. And you aren't the only one who's struggled with lies of omission okay?"
His words seemed to put her at ease slightly and she gave him the smallest smile, which was progress.
"But let's decide right here and now...no more lies. No more hiding." Hunter instructed firmly, feeling Kenzie nod vigorously in his hands.
"Are you mad at me?" She asked quietly.
"Not even a little."
Hunter's instant response and reassuring words, made Kenzie's smile grow as he used his thumbs to wipe away her tears.
"Kenzie, do you still have those drives?"
She nodded again as Hunter pulled his hands away, ready to create a plan of action.
"Do you trust me enough to turn them over to me?" He asked, watching her demeanor change yet again.
Come on baby, don't shut down on me again.
"I um...I already did." She admitted.
Tilting his head to the side, Hunter arched a brow at her, trying to recall her handing him flash drives. Sensing his confusion, Kenzie eyed him carefully before she continued.
"They're on your desk." She added.
"You put them on my desk? Like today?"
He was visibly confused and visualized his desk that was meticulously organized which made it easy.
"No, a while ago."
"Kenzie there's nothing on my desk except my computer, a stack of notebooks, a cup of pens and the fancy rocks..."
Kenzie's pupils dilated slightly and her facial expression adjusted when he mentioned the crystals.
"The rocks?" He asked in disbelief.
Giving him a slow guilty nod, Kenzie gave him another apologetic look, but Hunter wasn't angry...he was impressed.
"They're hollowed with seams that look like striations in the crystals. I needed to keep them somewhere safe."
"And you thought the safest place for them was with me?" He added, still in shock that she had snuck them into his office.
Hunter shook his head and smiled at Kenzie as he took her hands in his.
"You're so fucking smart Kenzie." He praised, before kissing the top of her knuckles.
The compliment made Kenzie's sweet smile return and as happy as he was to know that Kenzie had finally trusted him with the truth, Hunter knew that time was of the essence and that Banks had information that they needed to hear.
"Let's eat some lunch first then head over to meet your brother. There's a lot we need to discuss. Are you okay with that?" Hunter asked, trying to take Kenzie's emotions into consideration above all else.
"I'm okay with that." She said with a little bit of relief in her eyes.
"Good. Now lets eat some fucking waffles."
******
Did that conversation go the way you thought it would? I love hearing from you!