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I didn’t take my chances by kissing her again. If I did, I’d never want to stop, and if I had a few more minutes to spare, I wanted to be with Brady, too.

We joined them and I drank my protein shake while they ate. Once I was gone, Louisa would take her coffee into the office set up here. Paloma and Brady were going to test out a new inflatable toy in the pool. Also, Wren and Mila were going to stop over later for lunch, but I knew that was a working situation, too.

As Louisa escalated her investigation, it became clearer to me that she’d been hoping for something to really sink into. Just about anyone familiar with computer science and hacking could utilize facial recognition to assist in a hunt for a deranged man like Gregori, but Louisa brought new views. Searching through an abundance of videos, still shots, and location tags was cumbersome, especially daunting if there were no paths for homing in at the right stuff. She was proving to be awfully skilled at anticipating where to look, and that was how we had Vladimir Konstantin on our radar now.

I kissed her goodbye outside the front door, keeping that press of our lips brief. Yet, as I walked away to get in my car, I knew that today would mark a new beginning between us. I was going to avenge my brother’s near-death hit as well as I was planning to remove a player involved in the hit on Louisa’s life. Ultimately, it pointed to Gregori. His hands were in all these hits, no matter who he tried to hide behind.

Embracing the dual purposes of being both an assassin and a guardian, I dismissed all the noise in my head. I drove to meet with the others, meaning every word I told her.

I had her to come home to.

I had Brady to return to and spend time with.

They were mine. Officially, she was the woman I invited into my bed. Unofficially, she was the partner I hadn’t realized I’d been waiting for my whole life.

I would be careful, because now that I saw her as mine—both of them—I couldn’t bear to think of anyone or anything challenging that possessive bond.

Even myself.

Going to take down the Konstantin sniper wasn’t just another job. I couldn’t be reckless or rash like before.

I had to keep myself safe—and alive—so I wouldn’t let them down.

Furrowing my brow as I drove, I dismissed the uncomfortable, intrusive thoughts that popped up.

What would happen to them?

I need to make permanent arrangements for them.

Fuck, we have to make this real.

Brady doesn’t even see me as anything more than, what, her friend?

I shook my head, unusually bothered about the life-or-death stakes of what I never slowed down to consider before.

As a single bachelor, I didn’t have this responsibility of worrying about what others would feel if I were killed in action. Of course, my family would grieve me, but I was still the spare, three times down.

Fuck this.

I let out a deep exhale, annoyed with what seemed like a sudden gravity of how fragile life could be.

What if Louisa and Brady would be safer without me?

If they were relocated again—far from my world of constant danger—would that be a blessing or a curse?

“Stop,” I muttered to myself as I sped up around a curve of the highway. “Just fucking stop.”

I refused to let these destructive thoughts eat away at me.

I told her I’d be careful, and I would. Whatever it took to get back to her again.

26

LOUISA

As soon as Nikolai left, a steady state of anxiety took up residence in me.

It wasn’t like I could claim some new version of surprise. I knew that he was a killer. I was well aware of the fact that Adrik, acting as the interim Pakhan, often issued orders to all of the men. He would expect them to eliminate an enemy, like this Konstantin assassin I’d helped to identify after long hours of collaborating with Trojan and Igor and others who did the hard work behind the computer screen. All these long hours at the computer to back up what the Volkov men had to carry out in real life, on the street.