Page 21 of Deadly Scandals

I walked down the hallway and looked back to make sure that Dara wasn’t watching me.

Once she was distracted in the kitchen, I made a break for it, and instead of going into the bathroom, I went into an office. Not sure why exactly, but something compelled me into this room.

The office was very old school and didn’t match the style of this modern beachfront mansion. There was a grand built-in desk made out of glorious cherry wood, a deep leather office chair, and bookcases filled with military history books. It smelled of stale whiskey and tobacco—exactly how I expected an older SEAL’s office would smell like.

Where was Paul’s dad? Was he at the party? If he found me in here, I would pretend I was just lost.

I didn’t even know what I was looking for. What other secrets could there be to uncover? Even so, I felt like there was a clue waiting for me. Some type of new information that would shed light on the crimes of SEAL Team Se7en.

I perused the bookshelf. Nothing stood out until I ran across a series of photo albums, labeled by year. I instinctively grabbed the one with the year of my birth, for no other reason but curiosity.

I heard footsteps down the hall and hid under the desk. Luckily, no one opened the door. I knew Grant would come looking for me soon. But I decided to flip through the photo book and then I would go back and attempt to be social.

There was nothing exciting in this picture book. Just some baby pictures of Paul, who seemed to be around four. Pictures of his parents. Pictures of San Diego. Luxurious vacations I would never take.

I had reached the last few pages and was about to place the book back on the shelf when I saw one final photo. My heart skipped.

There were a bunch of SEALs on base, and a Mexican man in work clothing standing in the background sweeping.

I squinted my eyes. I had to be sure.

But there was no doubt.

The man in the picture was my father.

¡Ay, Dios mío!

My vision blurred. What did this mean? Had he lived down in San Diego before he’d moved to San Francisco? Did he know Paul’s dad? Did Paul’s dad know my biological mother?

I swiped the picture from the album and stuck it in my purse, shoved the book back onto the shelf, and then quietly left the room.

My hand was shaking. I had to tell Grant. He would be mad at me for snooping but I no longer kept secrets from my husband. I had learned that lesson. Nothing was worth risking my marriage.

This could all be a weird coincidence. But it dawned on me that I knew nothing about my father’s life before he’d met Joaquín’s mom. I had been so focused on getting Julián back and dealing with Joaquín’s drama that I had convinced myself discovering more about my own birth mother didn’t matter.

But now I realized that I was wrong.

I had to figure out where I came from. Who my mom was. What happened to her. How she’d met my dad. Why he had taken me away.

And if he had ever been involved with the SEALs.

Back outside, I found Grant drinking a beer and admiring the ocean waves. I would tell him about this discovery later tonight. But first, I’d come to a decision that I’d been mulling over since Joaquín had confessed.

“You okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, babe. I’m fine. Look, I’ve been thinking. I know Julián is young, but I really want to become an NCIS agent.”

I was nervous about his reaction. Grant supported my dreams but had wanted me to wait until Julián was a little older.

Grant kissed me. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to sit still long. They would be lucky to have you. We’ll make it work. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I ran over to Julián, who was playing in the sand. As I hugged my little boy, I vowed to do anything to keep him safe. And that included uncovering the truth about who I was and where I came from.

Joaquín was in jail now, and nothing would ever stop me from uncovering the secrets of the Se7en Deadly SEALs.