Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
He knocked on the door. “Kenz, buzz me in.”
Kenzie Taggart looked up and waved. “Sure thing, Mr. Kent.”
“Hold that.” Kala Taggart came into view, staring at him with her blue eyes. The shape resembled her mother’s eyes, but that stare was all Ian. She was dressed in black, from her T-shirt down to a pair of combat boots. “How do I know you’re the real Beckett Kent?”
He did not need this. “Kala, let me in this office right now. Your father called me in.”
“Which is exactly what you would say if you were some bad guy who wanted in the office,” Kala replied.
He wasn’t sure how her parents were going to survive her teen years. “You know what I look like.”
She shrugged. “Surgery is a real thing. You wouldn’t be the first dude to have a whole bunch of surgery done so he could pass for someone else. You think I haven’t read those files Dad thinks are secure? Uncle Li’s own brother did it and then nearly killed him and Aunt Avery. It’s not happening to me. I learn from ancient history. I’m going to need DNA.”
He was going to have such a talk with Tag about putting his barely teenaged menaces in charge of the reception desk.
Kenzie stepped up beside her sister. She was dressed in bright colors, her strawberry blonde hair in a high ponytail. She was the lighter of the two, like she’d gotten all of her mother’s joy. “He looks like Mr. Kent and he’s wearing the same clothes he was earlier today. But then he had his keycard this morning.”
Kala was her sister’s mirror, but she was all her dad. “His clothes are super basic. I don’t think I would even notice if they changed. Like how hard is it to get khakis and a collared shirt?”
“I am going to talk to your dad if you don’t let me in,” he said, his patience running out.
The door buzzed open and Tasha Taggart was shaking her head from behind the receptionist desk. “Dad told me to make sure Mr. Kent got in all right. Sorry, Mr. Kent. Kala takes things way too seriously, and Kenz not at all. Come with me. Did you lose your badge? I know how to make a new one.”
Tasha Taggart had recently turned fourteen and had only the barest hint of her former accent, though it was thick when she spoke her native language. The girls liked to go into Russian when they didn’t want anyone to know what they were saying. Tasha seemed constantly amused by her younger siblings.
“I still think we should make him take a DNA test. He’s changed his name a couple of times,” Kala said under her breath.
“I think you’re cool.” Kenzie gave him a wave. “And khakis aren’t bad. Lots of dads wear them.”
By dad she meant old dude. He wasn’t a fool. But then he probably looked ancient to those babies.
The phone rang and the girls started to argue about who should answer it. Tasha opened the door to the inner office. “Don’t mind Kala. She’s in a bad mood because Cooper is at baseball camp and he’s not replying to her texts. I’ve tried to tell her if she wants a boy to reply to her she shouldn’t punch him on a regular basis.”
The ways of those kids were a mystery, and he liked it that way. The big group of kids contained cliques within cliques, and as they got older they seemed to be pairing off. He preferred the youngsters who wanted to treat every surface of a space like their own private jungle gym. “Are they in the big conference room? And my keycard is in my truck. I ran up here and forgot it.”
“They’re in Dad’s office,” she said. “I’m sitting in for Genny. She’s in New York with Wade this week. It’s pretty cool. They’re with Remy and Lisa. The guys are working as bodyguards for this reality star who’s been accused of murdering another reality star. I hope we get to meet her. The alive one, I mean.”
Despite the fact that the man had a whole business in another state, Remy still honored the pledge he’d made to Tag many years before. He came in on some of the higher profile cases. He particularly liked the ones where the company paid for travel.
Up ahead the door to one of the four largest offices on this floor came open and Charlotte stepped out. “Beck, excellent. Come on in. We’ve got something to show you. Adam’s on his way up, and Hutch is already in there.” She smiled at her oldest daughter. “Everything okay out here? Are the twins all right? Yasmin should be back any minute.”
“Kenzie’s answering the phone. Mostly. We shouldn’t lose too many clients,” Tasha promised. “I’ll go check on Seth and Travis and make sure the nursery is still standing.”