Shadowed (Team Zero #4) by Rina Kent

“He didn’t want to leave you.” President Joe’s eyes soften. “His exact words were ‘Even if she’s not my biological daughter, I love her like one.’”

A sob tears from my throat. What did I do to deserve him in my life? All that time, he knew I wasn’t his biological daughter, but he never gave up on me. I can still feel the caress of his love on my skin. Dad is the only thing that made sense in my childhood.

President Joe tries to sit me down on the sofa.

The door swings open. The guard turns abruptly.

Shadow.

He stands on the threshold with squared shoulders and overcast robotic eyes. Blood stains his white T-shirt and mars his face and hair.

His gaze falls on President Joe clutching my shoulder, and I see the moment he makes the snap decision to kill.

“No, don’t!!” I scream.

He shoots.





Chapter Thirty-Five





Pain explodes in my shoulder. I wince as I fall to the carpeted ground.

I throw a frantic glance behind me to President Joe. His face reddens to his bald head, but he’s not injured. I release a small breath. Shadow wouldn’t have forgiven himself if he killed his grandfather.

Or maybe he would’ve. I’m not sure. But I’m not ready to have him carry the burden of murdering his grandfather.

Shadow looms over me like a piece cut from the darkness. Concern contorts his handsome features and slams into me.

His hand presses against my wound, and blood soaks his palm and slips from between his fingers to drip to the ground. “The fuck, Zoe? Did you just sacrifice yourself for President Joe?”

I clutch his arm and smile. “I did it for you.”

He curses low again as he searches for something in his surroundings. “If I didn’t aim higher, you’d be fucking dead!”

President Joe offers him a handkerchief. “Did you kill my guards?”

“You’re lucky I’m not snapping your skull in two.” Shadow throws him a dark scowl but he accepts the handkerchief and does quick work of wrapping it around my upper arm. “I don’t even know what the fuck to do with you, Zoe.”

“It’s only a graze.” And I mean it. The wound burns, but it doesn’t hurt as much.

“Do you want to die?” He bites out. “Is that it?”

“I didn’t want to do this, you arsehole.” I lean into him. Even though President Joe is beside us. His guard remains on standby as if waiting for an order from his boss.

“Then why did you do that?” Shadow’s eyes bore into mine with a mixture of rage and fear. It’s so confusing but also so soothing. Perhaps it’s because he takes so much after Dad and Dad had always been the calm in the storm.

“Fuck, Zoe.” His fingers are coated with blood as he continues fixing the napkin. “Even if the bastard is your grandfather, he was hurting you.”

“He wasn’t hurting me, and he isn’t my grandfather.” My nails sink in the tiger tattoos as I gather the courage to say the words. “He’s yours.”

Shadow doesn’t stop wrapping the handkerchief. “Are you lightheaded already to start spouting nonsense?”

“That necklace Nonna found on you and you gave it to me is a necklace President Joe had specifically made for his grandson.” I go on and tell him the story President Joe told me and what I know.

The whole time, Shadow listens with a solemn face. He’s still putting pressure on my arm even though it’s not bleeding anymore, and the burn is a mere nuisance.

President Joe stands beside us with the necklace dangling from his fingers, hearing us word for word. The more I state facts about his grandson being alive, the more he watches Shadow with a stupefied expression as if he’s seeing a ghost. Which is true, more or less.

It’s been thirty-five years. I can’t begin to imagine what he’s thinking.

I palm Shadow’s cheek and finish with the most important words I wanted to tell him. “You haven’t been abandoned. You were never rubbish for your family. Your mum died from missing you and your dad… was the best dad anyone can ask for. He sacrificed his life for me when I wasn’t even his real daughter. You should be proud of them.”

“Why should I?” His voice is stone cold, face emotionless. “I don’t know them.”

I expected something – anything – but this cold reaction. It’s as if he doesn’t care for the suffering his parents went through.

“And this man,” he hooks a thumb at a slack-jawed President Joe, “should’ve protected his daughter instead of blaming other people for it.”

“Shadow!” I smack his arm. “He’s been in pain all this time. It’s all because of my mother, not him.” Tears barge into my eyes. “I… I’m sorry. I don’t know how to make amends for what she’s done.”

He places a hand behind my back and another underneath my legs. My good arm circles his strong neck as he carries me effortlessly. “We’re leaving.”

“Wait.” President Joe blocks Shadow’s way.

“Get out of my way or I’ll shoot you like I shot your underlings at the entrance.”

He would. I have no doubt that Shadow will finish President Joe’s life in a heartbeat.

I give a subtle shake of my head to the older man. Now isn’t the time to face Shadow. He probably needs space to deal with all of this. I know I would.