Page 77 of The FBI Agents Who Stole Me

The cabin kitchenette is barely more than a narrow strip of counter and a single burner, but it’s enough. I pull the yogurt she likes from the fridge along with the granola she sprinkles on top.

Elliot doesn’t strike me as a yogurt man, so I heat up the leftover pasta from last night instead. I’ll have to learn what he actually likes to eat. I meant it when I said we needed to get along.

Marge proved this kind of arrangement can work. And she has an extra boyfriend, and two of her boyfriends are boyfriends. That isn’t the kind of relationship I want with Elliot. But we are going to be family. I’m going to marry Ettie. She’ll take my last name. Not sure how he’ll take that news yet, but it isn’t up for discussion.

I turn with the plates in my hands and catch sight of her leaning into Elliot’s shoulder on the couch. Something warm and solid spreads through my chest at the picture they make. Ettie needs us both. She doesn’t have to carry any of this alone anymore.

I set the food on the coffee table in front of them. Elliot glances up, and the corner of his mouth lifts in that half smirk.

“Thanks, man. If this is what being a brother husband is always like, sign me up,” Elliot says before biting into his food.

I shake my head at that. “Brother husband is weird,” I tell Elliot.

Lee pulls her legs up onto the couch and sits cross-legged with the yogurt bowl in her lap. She still looks too pale, but some of the shaking has eased. “Pretty sure having two boyfriends is the definition of weird,” she says, and the tiny snort that follows is the closest thing to a laugh we’ve heard from her in hours. “Thank you for the yogurt, Julian.”

I give her a small smile and watch the color rise in her cheeks. That soft flush does something to me every time. Even now, with grief still clinging to her, she reacts to me like this.

When they finish eating, Elliot stands and carries the plates to the sink. The water runs while he rinses them off, the sound oddly domestic in the small space. Lee stays curled on the couch, spoon tracing slow circles in the empty yogurt bowl.

“Lee, there’s more I need you to see,” Elliot says quietly. “Fuller will be back in the country soon.”

She nods, but she doesn’t move right away. Then she sets the bowl aside and stands. “All right. Let’s get this over with. Thank you, Elliot.”

“For what?” he asks, drying his hands on a dish towel.

“Believing in Emily and me enough to search for the truth.”

He holds out his hand. She takes it without hesitation, and the two of them start toward the hallway that leads back to the monitor room. She glances over her shoulder at me, eyes still glassy.

“Are you coming, Julian?”

“I’ll be right there.”

They disappear around the corner. I stay where I am for a moment. The weight of what I’m about to do pushes down on my chest. With a dreadful step through the front door, I go on the porch. The door shuts behind me softly enough it doesn’t click.

My cell phone burns in my hands when I make the call. I use the satellite connection Elliot rigged for us. It’s secure, rerouted, nothing that can be traced back to this location.

“Thomas Frost. It’s Julian Jameson. I’m going to need a favor from the Eligere.”

He clears his throat, and I can already hear the calculation in the silence that follows. “You know what this will cost your family. No matter the level of favor you need.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. It must be terrible to offer yourself as an unbound.”

He’s such a smug asshole it takes all my strength to keep my voice even. “I need someone cleared of past and future federal crimes. I also need the parties responsible in the federal project called Vine removed or terminated.”

He lets out a low whistle. “That’s the Loft house. You’ll need to be more than an unbound for Samuel Loft to help.”

“Name the price.”

“We will be in touch. Send me the details, and I will talk with Samuel.”

My fingers tighten around the phone until the edges bite into my skin. The reminder lands exactly how he wants it to. They will own me for this. Every favor the Eligere grants comes with chains. But for her, it’s worth it. Ettie can’t carry this. My girl is a badass, but this is too close to her heart. She won’t see the reality of what needs to be done. So, I’ll do it for her. At least she’ll have Elliot when it’s over.

Motion from the window catches my eye. Jasper is climbing through the blinds to get a better view outside.

He really is a terrible cat. Not that I would say that out loud. We’ve been here a few days, and he’s clawed the back of the chair, knocked over multiple glasses, and woken me up nightly. He doesn’t even want anything when he does it.