Page 62 of Bound

The wheels hit the runway. New York accepts us back with a jolt.

Cold air slams into us as we step down onto the Bachman private tarmac. Armored SUVs wait in formation. Our men stand beside them, stone-faced and ready.

Every instinct screams for me to put my body between hers and the skyline, between hers and every man with eyes, every window, every rooftop, every possible line of fire.

Instead, I hold her hand as Mack opens the door.

Erin pauses before climbing in. “Any update on Cass and Ryan?”

“Secure,” Rafe says from behind us.

Relief moves through her body like water. “Thank goodness. I mean, I knew your men would protect them, but the confirmation is nice.”

Rafe says, “The Norway locations suit them. Cleo sent word that Ryan is doing well in his studies, and for us to give Blaze a kiss for her.”

I know what it means for her to stand here without the two people who made her desperate enough to walk into my life that first night. So, she knows a bit of what I’m feeling. Only, she gets to lock hers away in a secure location about as far from danger as possible.

Mine stands beside me and right now I’m helping her into an armored car.

The convoy starts.

Rafe and Gregory ride in the lead vehicle with two security men. Blaze and others take the third. Isobel is in the fourth under guard.

Erin and I ride in the second. The city slides past tinted glass. Gray sidewalks. Steam rising from grates. People bumping shoulders along the sidewalk, hunched against winter wind.

A boy tugging his mother’s sleeve near a crosswalk. A woman carrying flowers wrapped in paper. A delivery truck blocking half a lane.

Life continuing, indifferent to the danger our cars are driving straight for.

Erin watches me.

I watch her.

“Say it,” she says.

I look forward out the wind screen. “Say what?”

“Whatever terrible thing is crawling around in your head.”

My teeth grit. “There are many.”

“Pick your favorite.” And she smiles.

Despite myself, my mouth twitches

Then the silence between us stretches as another ghost rises from the ashes.

Isobel, pale, shaken, beautiful. But it’s not her I think of.

She holds her hand over her stomach. “Lucian, I might be pregnant.”

The city outside blurs for one second. My voice comes before I can convince myself to silence it. “There’s something I haven’t told you.”

Erin goes very still. “What?”

I look at her. “Isobel was pregnant. Back then.”

Her eyes widen, a small break in her expression. Shock. She reaches for my hand.