Free Beyond the Consequences: Book 5 of the Consequences Series (Volume 5) by Aleatha Romig Page A

was an insult to her professionalism. She was qualified to be part of this detail. Phil closed his eyes and massaged his temples. He needed to get his head on straight. Why had Taylor questioned his protectiveness of Claire? It was his job. Obviously, he was nothing more to her than an employee. That wasn’t true. He and Claire were also friends.
    Phil recalled the first time he saw Claire, his assignment, through the window in the Palo Alto condominium. A slight grin came to his lips as he remembered her smug expression in San Antonio when she knew she’d duped him. He still felt the heaviness in his chest as he ran toward her Palo Alto condominium, knowing that her life was in danger. Phil’s fascination and sense of duty involving Claire Nichols should have ended then and there. After all, Rawlings fired him. Whenever Phil remembered that terrible day, the firing was the least of his concerns. It was his failure to protect. If he’d done his job, he would’ve known about Patrick Chester. Instead he’d been lulled into a sense of the mundane, and it was Claire who’d paid the price.
    When Catherine London called and asked Phil to help Claire disappear, he could’ve said no; however, he’d thought of it as his opportunity to atone for his error in judgment. Ms. London explained that Claire wanted to get away from Rawlings. It made sense. Phil had witnessed Rawlings’ intensity. Phil had failed to protect her from Chester; he wouldn’t fail to protect her from her ex-husband. Though once again, things weren’t as he’d been led to believe. Nothing with Claire ever was.
    Phil remembered their time in Europe, running from Ms. London and outwitting the FBI. Scenes with historic backdrops replayed in the recesses of his mind. The woman who had been broken and mending in California was stronger than he’d ever imagined in Europe. No longer oppressed, as he’d later read about in her memoirs, Mrs. Alexander was determined to make a life for herself and her baby. Though it took many favors and promises, Phil secured the island for her. Nothing was too much to make her dream come true. However, it didn’t take long for Phil to realize that Ms. London had lied about Claire’s goal. She didn’t want to be separated from Rawlings. Without coming out and saying it, Phil knew she wanted the opposite. He couldn’t stand to see her sad—not in paradise. Therefore, instead of protecting her from Rawlings, Phil did what he needed to do to make Claire happy: he brought Rawlings to her.
    That temporary surveillance job became something Phil had never known, ever. It became his life, his family. Though keeping Claire safe and happy was still his top priority, his sense of responsibility grew the evening he felt Nichol move within her mother. Nichol was an extension of Claire. Part of him wanted to hate the beautiful, brown-eyed girl for what she’d done to her mother upon her arrival. Never in all of his years of service had he felt so impotent. But once again, Claire’s strength showed through, and Phil adored the child as much as he did her mother. How could he not? Nichol was the only baby he’d ever held.
    The sense of family somehow over time even transferred to Rawlings himself. The egotistical, narcissistic, hothead who’d originally hired him had morphed into a kindred spirit. Despite the Rawlingses’ past history, Phil and Rawlings had a shared interest in keeping this family safe. On the tragic day at the estate, when faced with the inevitable, Rawlings looked into Phil’s eyes and placed his infant daughter in his arms. Trust. After failing them in Palo Alto, Phil had earned it back.
    Phil remembered holding Nichol inside of his jacket to keep her warm and protect her from the cold water of the sprinklers and the bitter Iowa spring temperature. However, after receiving the greatest gift he could imagine from Rawlings, Phil once again failed to protect Claire and all of their lives spiraled out of