Read The End of Games for Free Online

ran to catch up to my mom, bursting through the door. “Mom, come and see my room! I got all new stuff ‘cause of the fire.”
    I could feel my heartbeat lessening with every step we took. This house could be a safe place for my mom and my kids. It wasn’t fancy like my house, my pile of ashes, but it was nice. The counters were granite and the cabinets were white country but modern still. The floors were maple and the trim was all wide crown molding. It was a nice home.
    I glanced at my mom, “Did I buy it? Do I own it?”
    She nodded, “You do.”
    I could feel it settling inside of me, the idea that I was okay. I still felt like maybe a bomb would just be dropped and we would all be dead, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop the attack. It was an impotent feeling. I hated it.
    Mom reached for my free hand, “Darling, you will get used to this. This house will become a home. We have state of the art security.”
    I could have almost cried. Mitch looked up at me, “I can’t believe we have nothing from our old house. I can’t believe it burned up."
    I didn’t have anything for him but a hug, "I know, baby. I can’t either. Seems like it's been such bad luck lately."
    He looked into my eyes skeptically but said nothing.
    I finished looking at the immaculate first floor and climbed the stairs. It had four bedrooms up, and the one with Jules in it, jumping up and down, was adorable. The room was pink with white lace curtains, very girlie. The bed was actually built into the closet to make it like a tree house, with the closet below for extra storage. There was a second closet on the other side of the room. She climbed the wall ladder, “See, Mom. Look, it’s a tree house bed.” Her face was split wide with joy. I almost cried, but I knew where I needed to cry and her bedroom wasn’t it. I nodded, “This is amazing. I am so excited you love it. Grandma did such a good job picking out a house for us.”
    Jules giggled, “I helped.”
    “You did amazing too. Want to show me the way to my room?”
    She climbed down quickly and raced down the hallway to the master suite. It was huge and, no doubt, already bugged. I looked around for the spots he would put them. Damned Coop.
    The bathroom was glorious with a huge soaker tub and everything I would need to be happy.
    Montana? I never saw that coming. I had to be honest with myself and admit I wasn’t happy. But looking around, I knew I could be.
    Happy was safe kids. And my mom.
    The rest would have to work itself out. I walked down the hall to Mitch’s room. He was already on his bed with headphones on, playing Minecraft. He looked miserable.
    “What's up?”
    He gave me a frown, “I have no one to play with. Jack erased all my other data. I have no friends or anything. He said 'cause you had to go back to work for the government we have to say goodbye to our old life. You don’t even care about us, you just want to have your old job back.”
    I knelt next to him, “School starts in two days. You will have new friends. I promise you that."
    He shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Whatever."
    It was one of those moments where I wanted to smack him upside the head for giving me the eye-roll whatever, but I knew he was right, I had done this to him.
    His father and I had been part of something that never suited children, no matter how hard we wanted to justify it as a job.
    "Did Grandma tell you I'm switching back to my CI name? The one I used when I was undercover."
    He snarled, "Anything to be rid of the memory of Dad, huh? You'd rather have a fake name, than his?"
    It stung that I was taking the blame for it all. I was the cold widow who didn’t give a shit about my husband being dead.
    "That’s not why. I'm back to work. Your father is gone and I have to have a job, Mitch. Evie Evans needs to be gone. You know the work we did. It was all top secret."
    He gave me a look, "I don’t care, at all."
    I gripped his hand, "You need to remember that, okay?