Page 153 of Fall Before Her Throne

I’d need to review everyone’s devices tonight and see if they caught any malware. Plus, if the feds had a tracker on the vehicle, there could be more on the others we’d taken to and from the house. I’d need to sweep them all as soon as possible.

“We could ditch the car,” Ryu said with a sigh and a whine. “But I really like this one.”

“You’ll be fine,” Cas admonished. “Big baby.”

I squeezed some eye drops into my eyes. “I’d rather you ditch it than get arrested.”

“True. But the question is how I’m supposed to ditch the car when they’re right on our asses?”

It was a good question. I started searching through maps of Manhattan. Finally, my vision hooked onto a possibility. “I’m going to text you the address of a parking garage.” It only took a minute before I had access to all the camera feeds. I flipped through a couple of different camera views, looked at the date and time, and got my eyes on a vehicle that had been there for a while. “Go into that parking garage and go down to the second level. Park in one of the open spots on the east side. There are three available. There’s a gray four-door in the last spot by the west elevator. Snag it.”

“What about security⁠—”

“I’m killing the camera feeds now,” I said. Just a couple more lines of code and the history of the last hour would be gone. “Everything will be dead when you get there, and then I can open the gates to make sure you have an easy entrance and exit. Drive confidently, like you have a parking pass and you’re meant to be there.”

“Got it,” Ryu said. “Thanks, Ciel.”

A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. Ryuji was getting nicer.

“I’ll wipe down the vehicle as best as I can so we don’t leave prints,” Cas added.

“Keep me posted,” I said. “I will monitor your replacement vehicle while you head home and make sure you lost them. Call me again if you notice anything weird.”

“See you soon!” Ryu chirped before he hung up.

I tilted back in my chair and stretched my neck from side to side. My eyes were so tired. It was long past time to take my contacts out, but I’d been stuck in this chair, trying to keep everyone safe. I’d have to change into my glasses before I went and swept the vehicles.

Buy more signal jammers. Sweep the vehicles. Double-check the software on all our phones. Once I had done all that, and everyone was safe at home, I could finally crash out.

I’d have to leave a note that nobody was allowed to leave in the morning until I’d slept in. I was fucking over being awoken from a deep sleep by a massive emergency.

At least things were better with Max. Leona was happy. The guys were happy. That made every finger stroke on my keyboard, every twinge of pain in my hand, and every eye drop in my eyes worth it. I loved them all so fucking much.

On the parking garage feeds, I watched Ryu and Cas follow my instructions perfectly. I got a little nervous when Ryuji struggled to jimmy the lock of the four-door, but they popped it open and hot-wired the car right as the black sedan drove into the garage. They just barely missed each other, but Ryu and Cas got away and lost the tail.

Inside the garage, Jack Greer—the same agent who had arrested Leona—fumed while he stared at the ditched vehicle. I laughed when he kicked the tire, but quickly sobered at my next realization.

They definitely had a tracker planted somewhere on their car. How the hell had that happened? And when?

We needed to be so careful.

After I made sure that Ryu and Cas were safely on their way home, I took out my contacts, put on my glasses, and grabbed my sweeping equipment. Checking the cars couldn’t wait.

48

WYNN

“Ciel? Are you in here?” I opened the door to our room, but he wasn’t sitting at his computer like normal. He had been working in the garage earlier, but I thought he’d come back to our room to finish some things up.

He’d been running himself ragged, per usual. Even though his work was critical to our family’s safety and success, he needed breaks. If he couldn’t take care of himself, then it was my turn to take care of him—just like he’d taken care of me after the Albanians had shot me. Ciel was so selfless. I wanted to do anything to repay the love he’d shown me.

The sound of the shower drew my eye to the closed door of the en suite. So that’s where he was.

“Ciel,” I called softly as I opened the door. He was looking up at the showerhead, eyes closed, letting the water run over his face.

God, he was so pretty. The water matted his curls down, and the muscles across his shoulders rippled as he wiped the spray from his face. Sleeping together, being together these last few weeks, had been the best days of my life. Even though we were fighting the hardest fight we’d ever fought, Leona and Ciel were the lights that kept me going. The fuel to keep fighting.

I shucked off my clothes and then opened the shower door. Ciel opened his eyes and smiled.