Read Online Deceived by Kate Serine - Free Book Online

been operating secretly for centuries, recruiting members from the most elite soldiers and intelligence officers around the globe, insinuating our own into the highest echelons of society, working outside the law when necessary to try to right some of the wrongs in the world.”
    â€œSure. Okay.” Sarah shrugged. “If you say so.”
    â€œYou gotta be shitting me,” Luke mumbled. “Listen, do I seem like the kind of guy who’d waste his time just feeding you a line of bullshit? I honestly shouldn’t be telling you any of this. And if you were anybody else, I wouldn’t be. But seeing as how it’s your family involved, I’m making an exception.”
    Sarah studied him for a long moment, watching the muscle twitch in his chiseled jaw, his irritation at being questioned clear. For the first time, she noticed the black metal band bearing a stylized silver Templar cross on his right ring finger. The ring was simple, inconspicuous—she wouldn’t have found anything remarkable about it if not for the context of their conversation. Could it be that he was telling her the truth? Was there still some remnant of the Templars operating independently, guiding the fate of humanity?
    Part of her wanted to believe him. He certainly seemed to believe it. But at this point, she wasn’t sure what to believe. If anyone had told her a couple of days ago that some nut job would murder two people and try to abduct her son, she certainly wouldn’t have believed that either. And yet here she was, riding in the car of a man she barely knew but who had already risked his life once for them.
    â€œWhy was that man after Eli?” she asked. “And how did my father know he’d be coming?”
    â€œBecause your father’s one of us.” Luke turned to look at her, gauging her reaction.
    Even as he said it, a foggy, distant image intruded on her thoughts—a memory of her as a little girl, sitting on her father’s lap as he rocked her to sleep, holding his hand and drowsily twisting the black band he wore on his finger.
    â€œHe has been for a long time. He used to work in the field for the Alliance until he decided to marry and have a family and so was embedded in the government. For security reasons, there are only a handful of people who know the secret locations where our treasures are hidden—your father is among them. Apparently, he has named your son as his successor, which means he somehow has passed on his knowledge of the treasure caches to Eli.”
    â€œWhy Eli?” Sarah said, shaking her head. “He’s never even met my son.”
    Luke shrugged. “Got me. He said something about making amends. Now you know as much as I do.”
    â€œMaddie’s text said Dad was in surgery. Where’s he now?” Sarah asked, her stomach twisting with fear and regret for the tension that had lingered between her and her father all these years. “Is he okay? Can I talk to him? What about my sister?”
    â€œI’m sure we’ll hear something soon.” Luke glanced over at her, offering what she was sure was supposed to be a comforting smile, but it looked more like a grimace.
    Sarah covered her face with her hands, trying to process everything being thrown at her. How was any of this possible? She was a schoolteacher, for crying out loud. She led an ordinary life. Eli had been right— nothing ever happened in the quiet little town where they lived. That’s precisely why they’d stayed there. For three long years, she’d been struggling to get her life back to normal after Greg’s death, and now her whole world had been turned upside down again.
    â€œPull over,” she blurted, her stomach suddenly churning ominously. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
    Luke immediately swerved to the side of the road. Sarah was throwing off her seat belt and opening the car door before he’d even come to a