Since the attack, gubernatorial candidate Olivia Russo has been staying clear of the media. Her whereabouts are unknown. Her Facebook Live post tomorrow is still scheduled to happen. The man who attacked her is still at large. For her safety, her camp has refused to comment on where she has been staying.

Oh. My. God.

What the hell had just happened? Was that how people were having sex these days? Why hadn’t she been doing this all along? She felt relaxed and sated and . . . just wow.

Joey was rubbing little circles against her bare back, his still semi-hard dick twitching inside of her. “I need to get you a babysitter soon. Very soon.”

She pushed up a little, her forearms on his pecs. “What? Why?”

“Because, darlin’,” he said, wiping her hair from her face, “I want to do it again and if this is how you do it when you’re trying to be quiet, I need to know how you do it when you let go.”

She laughed and collapsed back on him.

“I’m not loud, normally.”

“Is that a challenge?” He kissed the top of her head, pushed his heel down, and flipped them over. Sliding out of her, he padded to the en suite bathroom to clean up.

“Was that good for you?” she asked him, cuddling into one of his pillows which smelled just like him.

He chuckled. “Is that a serious question?” He pointed to his dick, which looked like it was getting hard again, as he walked back to the bed.

“Good,” she said, feeling giddy. “Because I want to do it again, a lot. Not now, though. Now I want to sleep.” She stretched, feeling like a fat lazy cat, wanting to rub herself against him and fall asleep. “But later . . . let’s do it again.”

He nodded his head with that sexy dimpled smile. “I’m all in for that plan, baby.” He kissed her cheek. “I hate to have to go back to the couch.”

She sat up a little. “I’m sorry. I know it’s probably not comfortable.”

“Not because of that. Because I’d rather sleep here with you. Maybe slide inside of you at some point in the middle of the night. You know . . . if the spirit moves me.”

She smiled, but then a loud, “Mommy!” made her jump off the bed. “Where are you, Mommy?!”

She grabbed her shirt and threw it on as she ran to the next room. “I’m here, sweets. I’m here,” she said as soon as she saw her daughter on the bed crying. It was another unfamiliar house, and with all the events of the last few days, she was amazed Sophie had even fallen asleep alone. Joey stood by the door in the shorts he’d been sleeping in when she’d woken him up. “She okay?” he asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah, she’s a terrible sleeper.” She rocked Sophie. “I’m going to sleep here with her. Take your bed.”

“No. my bed’s bigger. Both of you go there.”

“I don’t want to stir her too much.” She got comfortable bringing the covers up to her neck. “It’s okay, really.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.” She looked down at her daughter and then back up at Joey, who looked sexy as sin and who just moments ago had been inside of her. “Life of a mommy.”

This is how it went with kids. They came first and moments would undoubtedly be ruined by tears, fevers, vomit . . .

At least they’d gotten to finish before she’d had to run and comfort Sophie. She hoped—really hoped—that he understood and would be okay with it. Because every day she grew to like him more and more.

* * *

The next day, while Olivia sat outside working from her laptop while Sophie played in the pool, Joey spent the day working. It was a little after one when he got the call from Annie telling him that the cops had stopped a man in a red Jeep who’d been circling Olivia’s house that morning and had been able to confirm that he’d been seen around Sophie’s school the day before. The cops had stopped to question him and when he became aggressive they handcuffed him and took him to the station. The guy did not have the same car as the one seen on the camera at the gym, however. But that could mean anything, and Joey wasn’t worried about that. After booking him, they ran the facial recognition software on him and against the blurry photo from the camera and they had a match.

His heart pounded with relief. “Olivia, we have a match.” He gestured for her to come inside the house.

“Sweets, stay by the steps, I’ll be right over here,” she told her daughter. Olivia came around to look at the computer screen as Joey read from the email. “Caucasian male, Five-eleven, Two hundred ten pounds. No identification on him. He had been driving around your house and Sophie’s school. We need to go to the station and ID him.”

“I didn’t get to see him, but if I could hear his voice or even see his arms, I could probably tell you for sure.” A shudder ran down her spine.

Joey picked up his phone and called the detective handling the case. The photos were too blurry and even though the facial recognition was really accurate, with just that alone, it wouldn’t be enough to hold him. But if Olivia could positively ID him then the charges could stick.

After he hung up, he turned to her. “Get dressed. We’re going to take a little trip to the police station.”

“I hope it’s him.”

“Me too, darlin’. Me too.” He kissed her cheek and went outside to get Sophie while Olivia got ready.

* * *

In the car, Joey suggested that Annie watch Sophie at ICS while they went to the police station. He wasn’t comfortable with Sophie being in that “environment” and Olivia wasn’t comfortable answering the thousands of questions Sophie would undoubtedly have, so she agreed. It was such a thoughtful gesture, she fell a little bit more in like with him.

But now, as they waited behind a one-way glass window, just like on television, for the detective to bring out the perp, she began to panic and felt nauseous. She thought herself a strong person and was surprised at how scared she actually was, even knowing full well that she was safe behind glass, in a different room, with Joey, in a police station—how much safer could she possibly be?

“Okay, Ms. Russo, you ready?” Detective Smith asked.

She took a deep breath and nodded.

“We’re going to bring out five different men, facing away from you since you saw the blurry photo from the camera. We do this so that you’re not prejudiced by what you saw earlier or by having just the one guy we arrested here. They’re all going to say: ‘Pretty little thing, that Sophie.’”

It was the sentence that she kept replaying in her head over and over again. The words that she most clearly remembered him saying and would never, not until she took her last breath, forget the sound of. The thought of hearing it again sent chills down her spine.

“You okay?” Joey asked, but again she just nodded. Words had escaped her and she thought if she opened her mouth she’d throw up.

The door in the room was opened and five men who looked relatively similar, at least from the back, entered. All Caucasian, around five-eleven, about two hundred or so pounds, all wearing blue hoodies and a baseball cap.

“Anything recognizable, other than what they wore?”

“No.” She shrugged. “They all look the same from the back.”

“Okay. Number one, say the line.” Number one walked forward, pressed an intercom button, and spoke the words. She shuddered at hearing them said.

“Number two,” the officer said, and the second man repeated the process. She squeezed Joey’s hand when he spoke those words.

“Number three,” the officer said. And the third guy took the step forward and repeated the process but this time, as soon as the first word had left his mouth, with the cadence of his voice, something passed through her. A memory of a long time ago. She jolted out of her seat. “Tell him to say it again. Slower this time.” The officer pressed the intercom and instructed the guy to repeat the statement slower. There was something with his voice, something that she couldn’t pinpoint, and a weird feeling overcame her.

“It’s him.”

“You’re sure?”

Was she sure? She didn’t want to send someone to jail on a hunch.

“Why don’t we finish with the other two, Ms. Russo?” Then he called number four and then eventually number five. Joey and the detective stared at her and she was chewing her nail. “You sounded confident about number three for a moment.”

Her leg bobbed up and down. “His voice sounds familiar. Remember I said the guy’s voice sounded familiar?” She looked at Joey. “But I . . . I don’t know.”

She needed to think, quietly. But Detective Smith had the five men repeat the sentence. He asked her to close her eyes and really concentrate but again, when they got to three, her hair stood on an end again, the way he drawled out the syllables and there it was a slight New York accent.

“You still okay, Ms. Russo?”

“I’m fine.”

“Baby, are you sure?”

“Positive. I still feel like it’s number three.” She ran her hands up and down her arm. “Well, number three, the one you ID’ed, is the same guy we caught this morning.”

This was good. That meant that it was a match, according to what Joey had explained. “Now we need a motive. Any idea who he is? What’s his name?”

“He wasn’t carrying any identification on him and isn’t being cooperative. We’re checking all the databases.”

“Maybe it’s just a random man who wants money,” she said.

“Maybe. But it usually doesn’t work that way. Why you? Why someone with so much security? There are much richer women who’d make easier targets.”

“That’s true.” She bit her nails as she wondered why he would single her out. The detective pressed the intercom and asked the men to turn around and face the glass. “Does he look familiar?”

She had been looking down and when she looked up and turned her attention to the third man, her face paled and her knees buckled.

“You okay?” Joey asked, alarmed.

“I—I know him.”

And then the sonofabitch smirked into the mirror and winked. She knew he couldn’t see her, but he did that all-too-familiar wink she hadn’t seen in twenty years.

She reached behind her for the metal chair and sat down before she collapsed. “His name is Colin Mathers. He’s from New York. I grew up next door to him and his brother. He was always a troublemaker. His brother was my best friend.”

“What’s his brother’s name? Do you know anything else? Date of birth?”

“His brother is Connor Mathers. And his date of birth is May 8, 1979.”

Her answer had been fast, and the detective furrowed his brows. “You sound very certain about that.”

“We were very close.” For years she was the only one who remembered that date, just like he was the only one who remembered hers.

“Can you please grab her some water?” Joey demanded as he knelt in front of her.

The detective told an officer to clear out the suspects. “Be right back. I’m going to check on both of the Mathers. Hang tight.”

“Who are these men, Livie?”

“I grew up next door to them. But I didn’t really know Colin that well. He was always in and out of juvie. But his brother, Connor, he was my best friend. There’s no way he’s behind any of this. His brother’s bad news but Connor is a good guy.”

The detective came back a few moments later. “There was a warrant out for Colin Mathers’s arrest. The prints and photos in the database match.”

“Great,” she said. “So he’ll stay in jail, right?”

“At least for the time being, yes.”

She sighed in relief. “Good.”

“Yeah,” Joey agreed, “but this doesn’t sit well with me.”

“I know. We’ll question him and let you know what we find.”

“Did you search on Connor?” Joey asked.

“He was in prison for the last six years, here in Florida. Has been out for about six months. He has a long record. Stay clear of him. Bad news. Armed robbery, drug possession, battery on a law enforcement officer. He’s on parole up in Ocala, and has been checking in, but I’ll contact his parole officer.”

The detective stretched his arms and shook Joey and Olivia’s hands before escorting them out.

Once in the car headed to ICS to pick up Sophie, Joey let out a breath. “I’m so glad he’s behind bars. But I feel like we’re missing something big. Why you? Why all of a sudden? What about his brother?”

“He probably saw me on television and thought I’d be an easy target.”

She laid her head back against the car seat and closed her eyes, trying to regulate her breathing. Connor Mathers. Talk about a name from the past. A name she didn’t particularly want to think about. At some point Joey took her hand in his, but he didn’t speak and she was glad for the silence because so many things were swirling through her mind—relief being the uppermost.

Once Sophie was in the car animatedly telling Joey what she’d colored with Annie, Olivia asked, “do you mind swinging by my office really quick? I’d like to pick up a brief for a speech I need to prepare for.”

He hesitated and she added, “He’s behind bars.”

“Fine. But only a minute, okay? I want to do a total overhaul of your office before you officially come back.”

“That seems like overkill considering Colin’s in jail.”

“But there could be another crazy person out there. You’re a public figure, and if you win the election you’ll have even more enemies. And to be honest, without a motive, I’m still uneasy.”

Enemies? What a terrible word, she thought. But it was, unfortunately, an accurate one.

“Can I go back to the pool when we get home?” Sophie asked. A big bout of melancholy hit Olivia. They hadn’t discussed anything, but there’d be no need for her to go back to Joey’s home tonight.

Joey’s home.

Not her home. She almost corrected Sophie, but instead, without missing a beat, Joey replied. “Only if we can have a cannonball battle.”

“Yay! I wanna win.”

“So do I, freckles.” He looked at Olivia’s daughter through the rearview mirror and winked and the little girl giggled. Giggled!

Of course she had. When Olivia was around Joey she felt the same way. She too felt like giggling. But liking him this much this fast felt wrong, and an unfamiliar and unwanted bout of nostalgia flooded her system. She tried to shake it off, though.

It was okay to be happy. It was okay to fall in love. It was okay to move on. Neil would have wanted all of that for them.

Sophie was counting from one to ten over and over as she skipped to the elevator at the government building where Olivia had her office. “I wanna pwess da button, mum.”

“Sure sweets. Push ten,” she told her daughter once they stepped inside. “But no more counting, okay?”

Joey chuckled and she gave him a meaningful look, silently thanking him for his patience with Sophie.

“Joey, did you know that lizards that are humungous and swim are called Gapagaglos Iguanas. Have you ever see a Gapagaglos Iguana? They are this big,” she outstretched her arm as big as they went.

“I think you mean Galapagos, and no, I’ve never seen one, but I want to. Maybe they have them at the zoo?” Joey said.

“We’re going to the zoo?” Sophie jumped excitedly.

“No. No,” Olivia said. “I mean, we can one day, but not today.”

“Tomorrow?”

“No, sweets, not tomorrow.”

“The day after?” Seeing as this was not going to ever end, Joey got on one knee and said, “How about one weekend when your mommy and me are not working, we can all go? But today we’ll do a cannonball contest instead.” And the change of subject worked, because she began to talk about the pool.

As the elevator ascended, the lights immediately began to flicker. Olivia’s eyes moved to Joey who immediately stiffened and his arms twitched for his weapon, instinctively. It was déjà vu.

She hated small confined areas. A few weeks ago, when she’d been stuck in the elevator, the only reason she hadn’t gone into a full-blown panic attack was because Joey had distracted her with conversation and kissing. Plus, back then she hadn’t just been assaulted in the locker room of a gym. But the odds of being stuck in an elevator again were . . . nope, just couldn’t happen.

* * *

Something felt off. The building where Olivia had her office was a relatively new building, and the flickering lights and the way the elevator jolted slightly made the hair on his neck stand up.

His hand was already on his Sig but he wouldn’t take it out unless absolutely necessary. No way would he scare Sophie. The flickering continued for a few more seconds, and Sophie seemed completely unaware as she talked about the pool, but Olivia’s face was pale.

They looked at each other. A silent communication passed between them and he reached for her hand and squeezed. He was about to open his mouth to tell her it was okay when the lights went off completely, and they were jolted to a complete stop in darkness.

Then there was silence.

“Mommy?” Olivia’s little voice immediately turned into a sob. “Mommy? Mommy?”

“I’m right here, sweets.” But Olivia sounded just as scared.

Even though he needed to assess the situation, he couldn’t do it if the two of them were frightened out of their minds. He bent down on his knee. “Hey freckles, tell me more about iguanas.” He took her hand in his and then reached up, blindly searching for Olivia and taking her hand.

“Joey.” She was shaking so hard, it felt like she was going to lose it completely.

“Come here, baby.” He pulled Olivia down to the floor, holding Sophie close and tight on his right and Olivia on his left. He should have his weapon out and ready for battle, but instead he was waging a different war—comforting these two, who were coming to mean so much to him.

“I want to go home,” Sophie cried into his chest, and a fierce protective desire spread through his body as he pulled her in tighter.

“I know, freckles. I know. But you’re here with me and your mommy and there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s just a little dark, is all.”

“It’s okay, Soph.” Olivia tried to soothe her too, attempting to be brave for her daughter, but the feel of her trembling against his side betrayed her.

“Have I told you guys how my siblings and I used to play hide and seek in the dark when we were growing up? It used to drive my mom crazy,” Joey said, holding them both against him. Though to them he probably sounded in control and relaxed, he was beyond anxious inside. If someone tried to hurt them right this very moment, how would he protect them? He wasn’t even holding his weapon. He tamped all that down and continued his distraction. “We used to wait until my mom went to bed and all the lights were off and all of us, except one, would hide. Not only did we do it in the dark, we had to be quiet so my mom wouldn’t hear and wake up.”

“Did she wake up?” Sophie asked.

“Always. Annie was always loud when she couldn’t find us. She’s a sore loser, that one.”

“Mommy, I want a sister.”

Joey laughed as Olivia stiffened.

“I want to play hide and seek with a sister while you and Joey are asleep.”

Joey laughed again, and this time so did Olivia. “Not the best time to discuss that, sweets.” Olivia said, and Joey kissed the top of Sophie’s head.

“How long do we have to wait?” Sophie asked.

He’d been so intent at calming the two of them he had forgotten all the things he should have done. He pulled out his phone and dialed. “Annie, we’re in Olivia’s office building stuck in the elevator between the ninth and tenth floor. All lights out. It’s been about seven minutes. I need eyes and info.”

“Gotcha. Headed out that way and will have the guys see what they can find from here.” With Jax gone, Annie had really stepped up to the plate. There’d been a time, not too long ago, when he wouldn’t have put Annie so close to the danger zone. After their father passed away, Joey had taken the role of father figure and protector over Annie, his only sister, and sometimes he got carried away. He loved her so much, and when she’d been in Iraq and had gone missing for two grueling days, he’d almost died from fear. But Annie had proven herself more than capable.

“Thanks, kid. There’s no one I trust more handling this than you.” He meant that from the bottom of his heart. It was his way of apologizing, which was long overdue.

“Wow, Joe. That really means a lot. Love looks good on you, brother. Really good.” She chuckled and hung up.

Olivia pulled out her phone next. “Mark, I’m stuck in the elevator at the office,” she said. “Yeah, wasn’t planning to, but came by. No, I’m with Sophie and Joey. Okay, bye.” She shut down her phone. “He’s across town but he’s going to call one of the interns to see what’s going on with the building.” A moment later a text dinged on her phone from Mark explaining that the rest of the staff had confirmed that the electricity of the entire building was down and that the electrical company, according to the building manager, had already been notified and were working on it.

At some point, around fifteen minutes into the ordeal, Sophie fell asleep with her head on Joey’s lap while he soothed her hair, which was now damp and sticky against her little head. “I need to get out of here, Joey,” Olivia said, standing up. He turned on the light app on his phone and watched her try to pry the door open with her hands. “Babe, stop. Come down here, and sit.”

“I can’t. I’m freaking out, Joey,” she said in a panicked tone, pressing the elevator’s buttons as if that would do something.

He reached forward, trying not to jostle the little girl, and pulled Olivia down to the floor. “You are Olivia Russo. Badass politician. You do not freak out in an elevator. Take a breath for me.” He placed his palms on her shoulders. “We’ll be out of here soon.” It was a guess. He knew it and so did she.

“What if it wasn’t Colin? What if the doors open and there’s a man waiting for me and Sophie right outside this door ready to kill us? I should have transferred the money. I shouldn’t have listened to you. Oh, God, what if—”

“Stop!” he said firmly. “Do you want to scare your daughter?”

It was a low blow, but he needed her to focus and breathe. “Breathe in and out. Come on. Do it.”

She did, slowly, and then she was sitting next to him, her chin on her knees and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

The truth was, these things were rarely just nothing, especially when you were getting threats. The hair on his neck stood up. The coincidences of all the threats, the arrest . . . everything . . . it didn’t feel as if this was just a fluke.

He’d been trained for many things, but compartmentalizing the way he felt about Sophie and Olivia to deal with whatever was possibly happening outside the confines of their small elevator was not something he’d learned in the military.

Luckily, he wasn’t a hothead. He was rational and calm and even if inside he was scared and trying to formulate a plan, he would show them nothing but calm.

“Shit,” Olivia said, “we didn’t ring the bell. How could we have forgotten? Or made a call. They probably don’t know we’re even here.” She began to move, but he pulled her back. “No. Don’t. I didn’t ring it on purpose. If—and I’m saying if because it’s probably just a run-of-the-mill power outage, but if this is directed at you, I don’t want to draw attention to where we’re at.”

With the same flare that they’d gone out with, the lights came back on. It took the three of them a moment for their eyes to adjust and for the elevator to start again. Quickly they shuffled to their feet. “Stand behind me,” Joey said, standing up with Sophie tucked against his hip, but slightly back.

Even with just the slight slit of the door opened, Joey’s shoulders relaxed when he saw Annie barking orders at someone. He knew that Olivia did not want to be seen with a boyfriend or a lover or anything that could skew her pristine image. But he could care less at the moment. Unconcerned as to who was around, Joey hoisted the sleeping little girl up, her cheek resting on his shoulder, grabbed Olivia’s hand in his, and led them out of the elevator.

He should have had his weapon out, he should have been completely vigilant and ready to take on any and all threats, but he knew without any doubt his ICS team would be there covering for them.

His two girls needed his comfort at the moment.

“Talk to me,” he said to Annie, who flanked them on his right. Ben was on the left next to Livie.

“Lights went off, the entire street. They are calling it a glitch.”

Without skipping a beat, he asked, “What are we calling it?”

“It really was a glitch. I know it seems like too much coincidence, but lightning struck the electrical box and most of the street got hit.” Annie looked over at Olivia who was listening to the conversation intently. “Remind me never to get into an elevator with you.”

Olivia rolled her eyes, feeling a little bit more relieved. All the drama had her on edge.

Tucking Sophie into her toddler car seat first, Joey then helped Olivia into the car, while Annie and Ben sat in the front.

Joey turned to Olivia. “Where to? Your house is secure. Colin is jail and Connor, who I’m still not ruling out, is in Ocala.”

“Do you think my house is safe?”

“I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t.”

“Do . . . do you think you can stay with us tonight? If you don’t mind. I’m still spooked.”

He chuckled. “I wasn’t going to leave you at your house alone. I was going to stay—with or without an invitation.”

She sighed with relief and Joey turned his attention to Annie and Ben. “Are the reports on Tom and Mark back?”

“Tom and Mark? Reports?” she asked.

“We ran a full investigation on them,” Joey said. “On Winnie too. Anyone and everyone who you have contact with.”

“Winnie and Mark are like family. That is an invasion of their privacy,” she said incredulously.

“My job is to make sure you two are safe.”

“Well, it’s not them,” Ben interjected. “Their reports came back clean.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Of course they did.”

“No offense, darlin’,” Joey replied, “but you are the shittiest judge of character I’ve ever met.” She opened her eyes wide. “Tom? World’s worst security guard. Connor? You said he was a good guy. He served six years.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’m checking everyone.”

“Whatever,” she said, snarkily.

And her mind wandered again to Connor.