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I don’t think the runs will ever be my thing. The assassinations? Absolutely not. But with war at our doorstep and Romano being too quiet, we have to prepare for everything. I know there are going to be occasions that require all of us to show up. Situations where I won’t be comfortable staying back behind the screen. It might be my happy place, it might even be the most useful to Scar, but I’m not naive enough to think I don’t need to learn this shit too. I do.
Getting kidnapped is enough to prove that.
I can’t help the way my attention keeps drifting back to where Jade and Scar are now sitting and talking. I know she wanted to bring up Rachel to her today, I’m just not sure how much she’s going to tell her.
My mind goes into overdrive as I run through and reanalyze all of the data that I’ve collected so far. There are still avenues to chase down, leads to follow, pasts to dig more into, but so far everything leads back to Rachel being Jade’s sister.
I finish the reps Scar set out for me and take a break, openly watching the two of them. Scar seems distracted today. She’s looking our way but hasn’t noticed the slowing of everyone as they also turn their attention to the two women as they laugh.
Jade starts to make an obscene gesture with her hand and several of the guys snort. I can't help but smile as I watch her face turn bright red as she catches us all staring at her. Scar throws a glare at all of us, quickly cutting off the laughter as everyone grumbles and gets back to training.
The two of them go back to talking and I continue to check on them. Even if Scar never said it, I know she was nervous about everything she had to talk to Jade about. She’s been on edge ever since that night at the fights. We expected Romano to react in a bigger way than he did.
The silence is making all of us tense as we wait in anticipation for his next move. I can feel Scar’s nerves from across the gym where I stand watching them.
She has too much going on. Threats from too many different directions we are in the process of trying to eliminate. No wonder Scar is distracted today as she talks to Jade. Romano is only the tip of the iceberg of what’s hunting us. Hunting Jade. Now that I think about it, I really need to get her security system upgraded. Her’s isn’t bad, but we know Ciar is still in the area and it makes sense for him to come after her. She’s told Scar how obsessed he was with her. It couldn’t hurt to give her just a bit more security. Maybe I can go out there tomorrow and upgrade it to be more like ours. Add some security cameras. Give all of us a bit more peace of mind.
The rest of the training goes by quickly, Scar calling it a little earlier than usual. If Jade thinks anything is odd about it, she doesn’t comment on it. I still can’t believe she hasn’t told a single one of us that her birthday is today.
I mean, I'm not surprised she hasn’t told me or any of the guys. She keeps us all at arm’s length, but she’s close to Scar. She’s even gotten closer to Britt since she started training her for Scar. I would have thought she would have at least told one of them, but she hasn’t.
It was a huge debate on what to do for her. I don’t think any of us really thought that she wouldn’t bring it up on her own. But as the date got closer we all got concerned, none of us wanted her to feel overwhelmed but we couldn’t not do anything. Jade is one of us, whether she realizes it or not. I smile to myself. Maybe our surprise today will help her realize that. Realize that she has a family now.
I walkinto thesecurity room to find all of the guys in there. I stare at Kade as he nods along to someone from the computer. It takes me a second to realize they’re listening to the feed between the team they sent on the run today that Scarlett was so upset over missing.
Our morning started by finalizing plans for today. After many disagreements, even Scarlett had to agree to let Ian, Holden, and Tyler run a mission on their own. Even if it was one she wanted to lead.
“I thought you were going with Scarlett,” I say in question to Kade as I sit down at one of the free desks. Luca is on my other side, working on something on his laptop. He’s been even more attached to it than usual recently. Not that I can judge. I know it has something to do with everything Scarlett put into motion.
After the party last night, everyone was feeling a bit more relaxed, even Jade. It was a small reprieve from constantly being on edge like we have been lately. Jade was surprised we were aware of her birthday, but by the end of the night it almost seemed like she was accepting her place in our family more than she ever has.
The party itself was fun, all of us having the chance to be together. The kids running around while Scarlett and Britt drank too much. Well, they weren’t the only ones based on all the grumbling this morning, but they were definitely the loudest in the bunch.
Kade shakes his head, a grin pulling at his lips. He’s also no longer living up to the nickname I first gave him. He's never angry anymore. The dopey one is more accurate nowadays. My lips twitch as I think about what Scarlett’s reaction to that would be. “She wanted some time just her and Roe.” He laughs and I catch Luca smirking out of the corner of my eye. “She says ever since we becameThe Daddieswe’ve been stealing the attention.”
I snort at the thought. Scarlett and Rowan are two peas in a pod. Nothing could ever get between the two of them, not even Roe’s newly acquired dads. I can’t deny the thought makes me grin though.
That little girl puts a warmth in my chest that I never thought I would feel again. One even Scarlett couldn't quite pull out of me, even when she started to make me feel human again. Make me feel more than a hollow, cold machine. Breathing just not to die, but not really living at all.
Escaping my past was never going to make me feel whole again. It took a broken, half alive, pretty girl to make me see that.
I push those thoughts away and focus again on what Scarlett told me. I knew as soon as she called me something was wrong.
Today was supposed to be a good day.
Was supposed to be all about clearing another threat off the board. Even if it was an inactive threat. It was one nonetheless. It was something to give us all the satisfaction of accomplishing something, even if we weren’t getting anywhere with Romano.
Her phone call is throwing me off for a lot of reasons, most of all because I can’t figure out the source of her unease.
I could hear it in her voice and the way she stumbled over her words to tell me what was going on. Not even she has been able to put her finger on what it is, but I have no doubts her instincts are right.
“She said something was off at Jade’s place.” Four heads snap in my direction. I nod as I check my phone to see if she’s said anything back yet. Noah is the first to turn away, putting all of his attention back onto his computer screen as he pulls up various windows and starts typing rapidly.
“I pushed her to drop the kids back off and pick me up so we can head over to Jade’s place.”
I know Noah was planning on heading over there today anyways, so it won’t really make a difference if the rest of us show up too. I can no longer think of him as the nice one, but it turns out he makes quite the efficient geeky one. He’s been working endlessly to beef up not only the security we have at the house but also at all of the safe houses we’ve moved our people into.
Scarlett and Luca already had most of the bases covered here, but after Noah’s experience, it’s safe to say we aren’t leaving anything up to chance again. We have threats coming from every direction, and we can’t forget the other intel we got from Andrew Greene when Scarlett tortured him for information to rescue Noah.
