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“Is she okay?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. She’s sleeping.”
Concern etched Ellis’s face—he adored Hannah. “What happened?”
“Did you hear about Jim Pace?”
“Levi caught me up. I called him on my way over here.” He sounded grim. “We believe Li Na Zhao is responsible, correct?”
I nodded. “We’ll have a hell of a time proving it, but yes. Hannah’s friends with his wife. The whole thing’s hitting her hard, especially since she hasn’t had a chance to fully recover from being kidnapped.”
“Jesus.” Ellis flopped down on one of the enormous leather couches. “Zhao’s terrorizing Silicon Valley. She wanted to buy the wife’s company, right? The one that’s developing the anti-cancer therapy?”
I grabbed us each a glass of water and sat on the couch directly across from him. “From what I understand, yes. And she’s also started trying to hack Lauren again.”
Ellis gripped his glass. “I guess I came back at the right time—I won’t be bored.”
“About that. I want you to have the house. I’m going to get a new place, for when Hannah and I are back on our feet and ready to move out of here.”
Ellis’s eyes sparkled with interest. He was a macho marine, but he still loved to gossip. “You’re moving in together?”
“Uh… Not exactly.” I should’ve thought it through before I brought it up to Ellis. You should’ve at least mentioned it to Hannah before anyone else, dumbass.
Ellis arched his eyebrow again, clearly enjoying my discomfort. “You’re ‘not exactly’ moving in together?”
“Uh.” Why did I open my big mouth?
“If you’re buying a house for her, you should probably figure it out,” Ellis teased. “But I hope it works out—I like Hannah. I think my baby brother’s finally found someone our mother would approve of.”
“Mom would love her,” I agreed. At least I could say that with some authority.
“She totally would.”
I leaned back against the supple leather of the couch, but I couldn’t get close to relaxing, so I decided to turn the tables. “What about you? Are you ready to meet someone and finally settle down now that you’re a civilian?”
“I’m not the settling-down kind. You know that.”
I grinned. “You should know that Hannah’s going to try to find you a girlfriend—she’s already plotting.”
He spluttered, practically choking on his water. “I hope you’re kidding.”
I held my hands up as if in surrender. “Take it up with her. I’m not responsible for her actions.”
Ellis’s phone buzzed, and he grabbed it. “It’s Levi—I gotta go. I guess I’m officially on duty.”
“I’m glad you’re back.”
He smiled as he hopped to his feet. “Me, too. But warn Hannah: no girlfriends. I’m not interested in dating one of her sorority sisters.”
I just shook my head as I watched him go. The poor bastard had no idea what he was up against when Hannah Taylor set her mind to something.
I couldn’t wait to watch him figure that out.
* * *
“We don’t have to go,” Lauren told Hannah, for the second time.
