Read Exposed for Free Online Page B

chest.
    One final picture of him handing the child back to her grateful mother.
    “He won’t appreciate you taking his picture.”
    Sydney turned to see Abby’s pregnant sister-in-law, Katie, standing beside her, holding a small plate of appetizers and watching the marshal. “Not to worry, none of these pictures will ever go public. I promised Abby and Luke that.”
    “Doesn’t matter to him. He hates photographers and hates having his picture taken. Always has. As long as I’ve known him.” Katie took a nibble of the finger sandwich on her plate.
    “Why does he hate us so much?”
    Katie gave a little shrug and shook her head. “I don’t really know. Something happened in a case once, before he became my WitSec officer. Whatever it was, he won’t talk about it.”
    “You were in the witness protection program?” Sydney tried not to gawk at the other woman, but seriously? The witness protection program?
    “For about ten years,” Katie said, continuing to watch the crowd around them.
    “Who did you testify against?” Sydney asked then stopped. Maybe she shouldn’t be prying into something that Katie was sworn to secrecy about. “I mean, if you’re allowed to talk about it.”
    Katie gave a little laugh. “I can now that I’m out of the program.” Then the whisper of a smile slipped from her face. “Did you ever hear of Jacob Strict?”
    “Wasn’t he the leader of some cult that tried to blow up a federal building?”
    The whole thing had occurred nearly fifteen years ago, when Sydney, still devastated by the loss of her father in the 9/11 attack, had avoided the news like the plague.
    “He was the Grand Prophet of the People’s Militia Movement and it did bomb the Philadelphia Federal Building. Hundreds of people died.” Katie took a slow breath, exhaled then stared straight into Sydney’s eyes. “He was also my stepfather.”
    “Oh.”
    Wow. Talk about a wicked stepparent.
    “After they killed all those people in the explosion, I left the family and took evidence to the FBI. That evidence, combined with my testimony, put Strict on death row and broke up the cult.”
    “Was your mother part of the cult?”
    Sadness softened Katie’s eyes. “She was, but she’d died a few years before. I had no ties or loyalties to the group. But my actions were viewed as traitorous by some of the hardcore members, which meant that I had to go into hiding. Castello and his later partner, Pete Halloran, were my case handlers.”
    “So how did you get out of the witness protection program?”
    “She pointed a gun at me and forced me to help her when a hit man tried to kill her,” her husband said, standing behind his wife and pulling her back against his body, his hands resting on the small baby bump.
    So fascinated by Katie’s story, Sydney hadn’t seen Matt appear.
    Katie smiled at him over her shoulder. “You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?”
    He grinned, leaned in, and gave her a quick kiss. “Nope. Our kids’ kids’ kids will be telling that story when we’re both in our dotage. It will be a family legacy.”
    Sydney suspected there was much more to their story, and she really wanted to know about the hit man Matt mentioned, but she didn’t get to ask questions, as the initial subject of her curiosity approached them.
    “Your services are needed,” Castello said, focusing that dark-eyed gaze on her.
    It took Sydney a moment to break the connection and process what he’d said. “I’m sorry, what?”
    “Abigail wants you,” he said, stepping back so she could see past him. “Something about the cake.”
    “Cake,” she glanced past him through the windows of the pavilion to where the cake station was located. Abby and Luke were standing nearby, along with the maid of honor, Brianna, and Luke’s parents. Everyone was looking in her direction. “Oh, the cake-cutting pictures!”
    How could she forget that part? Okay, she wasn’t really a wedding photographer, but