Today I asked, “Where are we?”

  I felt Matt’s perusal more than I heard his silence before he responded, quietly, “We’re at an event at your school. Dad donated that seventy million.”

  That would explain why I saw one of my classmates earlier. And why I was in a dress that itched.

  “Oh. Okay.”

  That was it. That was all I had in me.

  So, back to the window.

  It was a good window.

  I just never saw the window.

  THREE

  Kash

  “She’s not doing good.”

  I grunted at Peter’s statement, turning to him. “No shit.”

  We were standing in a banquet room, surrounded by Bailey’s professors and Hawking higher-ups, and both of us were watching our girl standing at the window. Matt was with her now. Neither spoke a word, but I was glad he was there. Her brother had tuned in to how to be with her, because if you pushed her, Bailey would bolt. She couldn’t handle much, and I had actually sat and watched her turn herself off too many times to count.

  “I’m glad you guys moved into the house.”

  I hated it. “It’s good for Bailey to be around you guys right now.”

  “That, and your apartment wasn’t safe.”

  She was thinner since Chrissy’s death. Bailey always looked beautiful to me, always would, but there was a sadness that emanated from her. She looked lost at the same time. I watched as she began rubbing her chest, her finger scratching her dress, and I was feeling the same itch. Maybe it was because of my background, knowing why my parents had been murdered, who had had them murdered, and the fact he was still out there, but I hated living in a house like Peter’s. It was a mansion, but we were put up in our own section.

  We were supposed to have privacy.

  That wasn’t the truth.

  Seraphina. Cyclone. Even Matt. Marie. Theresa. They were all stopping by, all checking on Bailey, and I couldn’t blame them. I’d have done the same if I wasn’t the one holding her in my arms. But I hated that building. Give me an apartment building with a clear escape route next to me, or my own place like the villa, and I was happy. I’d been staying at the villa almost since I first moved in with the Francis family.

  I’ve always been like this. Wired. Always feeling in a corner. Waiting for my grandfather to come.

  It was now.

  Calhoun Bastian had delivered a devastating blow, and I hadn’t been able to fire back, not yet, but I knew I had to. God. My chest burned. I was thinking it, and it would take me away from Bailey.

  And fuck my grandfather because he did his research.

  He came to her school.

  I thought it was about trying to scare me, to show me how close he could get to Bailey. It hadn’t been about that, and I knew it now. I knew it too late. He’d been testing me. He’d been gauging me, seeing how much I cared for her, and I showed him. Freely. Willingly. I pushed back on him, hard, and it’d been a mistake. He saw how in love with her I was.

  She was my weakness. Not the Francis family anymore, but Bailey.

  I wanted to hunt him down now, stop him now.

  “We haven’t talked about…”

  I let Peter’s statement hang between us. No. We hadn’t talked. Peter had fallen in love with Chrissy Hayes, and my grandfather had taken his woman away. What was there to talk about? I heard his tone, how he was trying to warm up to the real conversation. And that he wanted to do it here, in a fucking college building. I wasn’t angry at Peter, but I was angry.

  I was angry at everyone, everything.

  I was angry because the real person I wanted to tear apart would require me to leave the woman I had hurt, the woman I loved, and I wasn’t sure if that’s what she actually needed more than anything.

  God.

  “Kash—”

  “Don’t,” I gutted out, cutting him off.

  “Kash.” He tried again.

  I turned to him. “I said don’t.”

  Peter swallowed. His chin firmed. He was taking what I was showing. I shook my head and turned back to watch Bailey, like I’d done a thousand times over the last three weeks.

  “I need to go and you know it,” I said.

  I heard his swift inhale. “She needs you.”

  “She needs me to kill him more.”

  The decision was made. I had to go. The sooner the better.

  He frowned. “Kash.”

  I shook my head. “No. You know I’m right. I’ve been fighting him using board moves. I set up chess pieces and still never saw him coming. He took her mother out. He took your woman, and that’s on me.”

  “It’s not—”

  “It is!”

  I seared him with a look. He shouldn’t be fighting me on this. He knew. He knew more than anyone how this was my fault, how he hadn’t brought her into the family in the first place because of me, because of who I shared blood with.

  My men were stationed around the entire room, and at the sharp exchange, I saw Josh separate from the wall. He was coming to me. I looked at him, shaking my head to tell him to stay back, but he kept coming. It was then that I saw he had his finger to his ear and was listening to something being said in his earpiece. A resolved look came over him, making his hard face seem even harder, and he never slowed. He didn’t falter one bit.

  Something was happening, and he was coming to tell me.

  Making eye contact with Scott, Fitz, and Derek; all three of them were watching Josh’s movements.

  Fuck. This was the call I set in motion three months ago when I took Bailey to Burriotle. She was getting a lunch, but I was meeting an old friend, Robbie, preparing for this call.

  Josh stopped next to me.

  “What is it?”

  “They made contact.”

  My chest swelled and I clipped my head down. “Fine.”

  No. It wasn’t fine. It was good.

  I had to go.

  “How is she going to sleep at night?” Peter asked.

  I gave him a sharp look. “You got cameras in our room?”

  He’d been paying more attention than I thought he had been.

  “I have cameras in the hallways. She paces at night. You come and get her. She doesn’t leave again after you do that.” He stepped closer, dropping his voice. “I know you help her sleep. How’s she going to sleep now?”

  How could I kill my grandfather if I couldn’t leave her side?

  “I can’t take her with me.”

  He stared at me.

  I stared back.

  Neither of us said a word.

  Then, a break, and Peter nodded. He stepped back. “Fine. I can see if Seraphina will stay with her.”

  Seraphina was twelve, and she loved Chrissy, too, but she was more worried about losing her new big sister. Because of that, Bailey would not let that happen. No one would be allowed in her room at night, but he was right. Bailey had to sleep.

  And I had to go and kill my grandfather.

  I would not take her, so she was in more danger.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I took a step away, but rounded back. “I will send for her if I can, but only if she’ll be safe.”

  Peter gave me a sharp nod. “My daughter won’t come back to us if she can’t rest.”

  Yeah. Fuck. Yeah.

  I gave Josh the signal, and he separated, going to give out my orders.

  Josh had been a part of the first security detail my grandfather had hired. I had infiltrated that team, setting up my men to be his. They acted as spies, but I knew there would be a time when they would have to unveil whose side they were on. I did it earlier in our war because I wanted my grandfather to think when he hired a second team that there was no way I could’ve gotten to any of them.

  He thought wrong.

  I reached out to a team in Brazil, guessing who my grandfather would approach. They had a reputation he would want. They were known for being committed to the end, being ruthless where it wasn’t necessary.

  They were exactly the guys he would want to hire.

  Calhoun reached out on the very afternoon I pulled my first team from him. I got to them first. And since then, under my orders, those men had been guarding him.

  They were instructed to call when my grandfather was about to strike.

  They had not called before Chrissy Hayes was murdered.

  They called now.

  But first, Bailey.

  I went to her, nodding to Matt, who saw my approach. His eyes flashed, a guardedness and hardness flaring before he ducked his head. I didn’t consider Matt’s emotions. If he was angry at me, it made sense. I was angry at me, too.

  I touched her elbow, knowing she already knew I was there. She adjusted her footing. She always did, whether it was consciously or unconsciously done, and she moved closer to me.

  “I have to go.”

  She looked at me. “Hmm?”

  I flinched, seeing the glazed and almost glassy look in her eyes.

  Bending, brushing my lips over hers, I murmured again, “I have to go.” I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, my hand lingering. Jesus. I loved her. The warmth in me shoved all the shit emotions aside, filled me with the need to take her in my arms, to never let her go, to know she’d be safe there no matter what.

  I fought that down.

  I applied pressure on her lips, feeling her breath and taking it in. My eyes closed. I trailed my hand down the side of her face, cupping her neck before I pulled back. “I love you. I’ll call later, when I know you’re home.”

  Some of the glazed look faded. She was refocusing, seeing me a bit more clearly. “You’re leaving?”

  I nodded, knowing she’d been in shut-off mode. It took this long to get through. “I’m going to get some answers and then I’ll be back.”

  She stared at me. Her eyes sharpened. I saw her brain turn on. Emotions flitted over her, and then a wildness, a panicked look flared tight, and she sucked in her breath. She shut down again. Little by little, the alertness softened, then disappeared. The glazed expression came back. Her face smoothed out until she was a walking corpse, and her hand fell from my chest. I hadn’t even realized it was there until it was gone.

  I wanted that touch back.

  I rested my forehead to hers. “I love you. I’ll be back.”

  She turned for the window. “Oh. Okay.”

  That was it.

  She was gone.

  I looked for Matt, and he’d been waiting. He stepped away from a pocket of people who’d been trying to talk with him. He came over, his eyes on her. “You gotta go?”

  “I gotta go.”

  His shoulders rose. His chest lifted. One long fucking deep breath and he exhaled, saying, “Okay. I’ll sleep outside her room.”

  “That might be best.”

  His eyes met mine, and that hardness from before came back. “I don’t know what you’re doing, where you’re going, but I’m hoping it’s bringing you one step closer to putting that fucker in the ground. Kill him, Kash. Kill him for Chrissy.”

  I would, but I’d be killing him for Bailey. I didn’t say that to Matt, just nodded and left.

  Josh had the car waiting for me.

  FOUR

  Kash

  When we landed, it was at a private air strip in a small town in Montana. The nearest lights were twenty miles away, and we could only see the smallest glimmer of them in the night sky.

  “Why’d we pick this place for the meet?”

  One, it was fucking cold. These guys were mostly based out of South America. They were used to heat and humidity, not frigid temps. And two, because it was on the north end of the States. They had to make the trek around and through Canada, and I had friends up there. They were looking out for me, so I’d been getting reports on their progress.

  I didn’t say any of that to Josh, instead saying, “Because I wanted to inconvenience them.”

  He grunted, going before me as we left the plane. We arrived early on purpose, and as soon as we touched down, a fleet of cars were leaving Missoula and would be arriving in thirty minutes.

  Josh glanced at me, frowning. “I know you keep things close to your chest, but maybe share the connections here? You’re Mr. Badass in fighting, but I am one of your guards. You die, I’m out of a job.” A dry grin was on his face when I frowned at him. “Humor me?”

  My frown deepened, but he was right. I had been keeping things too close to my chest.

  “I grew up with these two guys from my mom’s family’s neighborhood. Robbie and Ace Mistroni.”

  “The fighter?”

  “He has a manager that is a retired military guy. He specialized in covert op missions, worked as a mercenary for a long time, and has connections deep into that world.”

  “And that’s how you got in touch with the guys who were doing security for your grandfather?”

  I nodded.

  The night was clear, but cold. We had men positioned around the airport by now, and we could see the faint glow of headlights approaching from the north. I was guessing those were the guys we were meeting, but my men were coming from the west and they’d be coming in dark.

  Josh shivered, blowing on his hands and shifting his weight. “Fuck. I didn’t think it could get colder than Chicago.” He paused a second. “Wait. What’s this guy’s name? The leader.”

  “Harden.”

  “Mike Harden?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You’ve heard of him?”

  He whistled, nodding. “If you have him on your side, you’re good to go. He’s known to be the best of the best, if you get my drift.”

  I did. It was why I reached out to him.

  “Why are we meeting with him now?”

  Josh wasn’t usually this inquisitive, but the cars were nearing the airstrip from the road. I stepped forward, my hands coming out of my pockets, and I waited to approach as the cars pulled one by one onto the airstrip. It was small and private, so they drove right up to us. Three trucks in all. All black. The doors opened on each one of them, an entire team of men stepping out. They were large, muscled, and each wore a bulletproof vest with visible shoulder holsters.

  One of the guys from the last truck moved forward. He wore a hard face, dead eyes, and he was just as large and imposing as the others.

  He was also their leader. “You’re Colello.”

  “Harden.”

  He nodded, looking around, scanning the perimeter. Then he faced front, his hands going to the sides of his vest. “We weren’t alerted when Bastian moved on your woman’s mom. We made the trip to let you know that in person. Clocking your second security team trying to sneak up on us is insulting, but we’re still here. We’re trying to impress upon you that we didn’t double-cross you. That should say everything to you.”

  His jaw clenched. His eyes flashed.

  A few of his men shifted in their stances, similar expressions on their faces.

  It was telling me they didn’t like hearing how their target killed an unarmed woman on their watch, because it was their watch. It was the whole fucking reason we were having this meet.

  “You are a member of my grandfather’s security team. I understood that and understand that’s why it took this long for a face-to-face, but I’d like to know how you got away from him for this meeting?”

  His eyes narrowed on me, staring long and hard. “I’ll say this much. We didn’t like your grandfather before you reached out. Now that we’ve been working for him, we actively despise him. Your mission to take him down has become our mission, too, but it’s not that simple. He’s got multiple teams of security. We were dispatched because someone from your grandfather’s family cut free. This was all kept under wraps. When we were roped in, it was thirty-six hours ago, and we were told that the men higher than us on Calhoun’s trusted list tried to contain the situation. They failed and they were letting us loose to search him out.” His eyes were steady, tracking my every movement, the slightest emotion I let through. He wasn’t reading anything from me, and his mouth turned down. “Why do I think you already know about this person?”

  Fuck that.

  I tipped my head back. “I didn’t just call this meeting to look you in the eye and ask why my grandfather was able to murder my woman’s mother.” I indicated his men. “I know how you came into the country, what roads you used in Canada to get to this country. I know the airport you arrived at, the day you flew out of Rio. I knew all this because the second reason for this meeting is that while I’m getting reports on you, I’m also getting reports on my grandfather. And since you’ve been gone, he’s done no moves. None. If he didn’t trust you, he would’ve been concerned. He’s not. He’s doing nothing except waiting for you to return to him. That tells me that he trusts you, and that was the point of everything.”

  “What?”

  It took a second.

  “This whole meet was to test your grandfather’s alliance with us?” His hands went to his gun, but held there. His men reacted to him, going on alert. But by that time my own security team was coming up from behind us. And they were coming in dark. The vehicles would’ve been left behind, and they were walking in.

  Harden jerked toward me, then caught movement behind me and stepped back. His hands went up. His men’s, too.

  He swung his gaze back to mine, livid. “What the fuck is this?”

  “You told me you knew I had security coming.”

  His nostrils flared. “I was bullshitting you. I didn’t actually know you had men coming in.”

  They walked past the line of security guards who had flown with me. They walked past me, past Josh, and they spread out. They made a circle around Harden’s men, who were outnumbered now.

  All of them were eyeing my new guys warily.

  “Relax.”

  At my command, the new team lowered their weapons but remained exactly where they stood.

  Harden had been noting all of this, and he swung back to me. He muttered a curse, rubbing a hand over his jaw before spitting to the side. “Can you explain what the hell is going on here?”