Governor McGregor refuses to comment about growing protests outside his Broward County home. Pressure to buy back land from the sugar farmers and use it to site a much-needed reservoir is mounting as environmentalists advise that building additional reservoirs is the only way to combat the algae that is creating unprecedented havoc on Florida’s water supply and coastline. People are demanding to know what happened to the money that was supposed to be used to build the reservoirs . . .

The query Joey had ran last night didn’t give him much information. He needed to find Connor Mathers. It was driving him crazy knowing that a convicted felon was on the loose, and that the felon’s brother had attacked Olivia. There was a connection, he one hundred percent knew it in his heart.

* * *

He was squeezing the back of his neck. Think think think. What am I missing?

There was a knock on his door.

“Yes?”

Charles, the new receptionist, opened the door. “There’s someone here to see you, Mr. Clad.”

He looked up, eyebrows furrowed. “Without an appointment?”

“Yes, and he says it’s urgent. It’s actually Governor Harry McGregor.”

Joey stood up straighter. What? “Send him in.”

Joey’s foot tapped up and down as he waited for McGregor to walk in. Had McGregor found out he’d been the one hacking him all these months? Joey really doubted it. But why else would he be there?

“Mr. Clad, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Harry McGregor.”

“I know who you are.”

The governor’s eyebrows furrowed. “May I sit?”

Joey gestured to a seat before sitting down across from him. “How may I help you, Mr. McGregor?”

“I’m in need of your services.”

“What exactly is it that you need?”

“As you’ve probably read, I have a little nuisance that is starting to become a huge nuisance,” he began. “There’s a hacker who keeps getting into my computer. Personal and at work. I need it stopped. Even the FBI can’t figure out where it’s coming from. Last night I was blocked out of all my accounts. My bank accounts, emails, social media.”

Ahhh . . . okay. Now it made sense. Joey sat back comfortably, feeling a little smug. He’d done that before leaving the office yesterday. It wasn’t a huge deal, he’d have to reset all his passwords, but it felt like a small victory. It was childish, he knew. But still, it felt great. “Harry’s Hacker.”

“Yes. I want to find him and then prosecute him.”

“Why ICS? Have you called the police?”

“I need discretion. I don’t want too many people getting into my computer system. In fact, before I give you too much information, I would need you to sign an NDA.”

A non-disclosure agreement? There was no way an NDA would do shit for something as shady as whatever this asshole was about to disclose. And he knew McGregor was up to no good. Too much money had gone missing from the federal funds provided to him to fix the reservoir in the Everglades.

“I don’t know if I’m the right man for the job. And how is it that you think I can help?”

“I need the best, and you are the best. I understand you’ve won Hak Con four years in a row.” Hak Con was a hobby of his. It was a world-renowned hacking convention with a prize of a million dollars from some of the world’s leading cybersecurity companies. They bet that no one could hack into their systems and if someone did, he’d win a million dollars and a contract of employment. Joey always declined the employment, but not the prize.

“And all you need me to find out is who this hacker is?”

“Yes.”

“Why? What secrets are you hiding? It can’t all be over a silly Facebook joke or some locked-out accounts that you can reset in a few minutes.”

“I don’t want anyone messing around in my personal database. It’s a violation and it’s illegal.”

“Well, I think we have a conflict of interest, Mr. McGregor.”

“Why is that?”

“While you were doing your research on Hak Con, something that is usually underground and fairly unknown in the mainstream, you failed to check out who ICS’s latest client is. Specifically, my client.” Obviously it was confidential and other than pictures showing him in the background, there would be no way for him to know, but still . . . it felt good to fuck with him.

“I was very thorough with your credentials, Mr. Clad. Who could possibly pose a conflict?”

“I’m Olivia Russo’s bodyguard.”

The smugness left his McGregor’s immediately and he paled. “What?” He stood and placed his hands on his desk.

“Olivia Russo, your opponent?”

“I . . . Oh. Well, yes. That is a conflict.” But was it, really? What was he hiding that he didn’t want Olivia to know? Was it his campaign strategy, or was there more? He’d bet his Ferrari there was more. He should have dug deeper than just fucking with McGregor. Unfortunately, now that he was dating Olivia he wasn’t sure how much he should dig. If he found something and told Olivia, Olivia would be upset at the method he’d used to uncover it. And also, how would she explain how she’d found it? It would be information that couldn’t be used.

Harry stood abruptly. “What we’ve discussed, it’s confidential, correct?”

Joey was cool and calm and was very much enjoying watching McGregor sweat. “I never signed your NDA, and I’m no doctor or lawyer, so no . . . nothing you’ve told me is confidential. And if we’re being completely honest, I find you and everything you stand to be repulsive. Even if I wasn’t representing Ms. Russo, I’d never help you out.”

“I’ll double . . . no, triple whatever she’s paying you. You’ll get over your moral dilemma.”

“No can do,” Joey repeated. “As you know, I’m a very rich man. I don’t sell out for money.” McGregor stood, his chair scraping against the floor. “And since you’re here, I’d like to ask you a question. Ms. Russo was recently attacked. Any idea on who would do something like that? Or why?”

The man seemed flustered as he shook his head. “Politics is ugly business, Mr. Clad. I’ve received death threats on more than one occasion. Ms. Russo needs to be ready for it. I’ve been stuck in an elevator more than once, too.”

“But you haven’t had a knife pierce your skin, have you Governor?”

He shook his head and swallowed. “No. No, I haven’t.”

“You can see your way out, McGregor.” Joey stood, his arms crossed over his body.

“You’re a foolish man.”

“Why? Because I have a heart? Because I’m loyal? I think this conversation is finished.”

Joey sat back down, fidgeting with a pencil in his hand and spinning his chair slowly in circles. What the hell was this guy hiding? There was something off. He had the same bad feeling about McGregor that he had about Connor.

And then it hit him. He started searching over and over again and it came out blank, then he called Annie.

“Annie, was there any news or reports about the elevator getting stuck last week?”

“Not that I know of.” He sat back and looked up to the ceiling. “Why?”

“Nothing. I’ll call you back.”

How had McGregor known about the second elevator incident? That hadn’t made the news. Maybe somehow this was all connected. It had never occurred to him. He ran a new search changing the parameters, but this time he didn’t search Connor and Colin, this time he searched McGregor and he went deep. It wasn’t about fucking with him anymore. This time it was to see if there were any connections with him and the Mathers brothers.

* * *

“What do you think it is, Mark?” Olivia was talking on the phone in speaker when Joey walked in.

“I don’t know, Livie. But McGregor’s camp is saying it’s big. Is there something I need to know?”

Her hands came up in in the air in frustration. “No! You know everything there is to know about me. You, Neil, and now Joey are the only three people who know about my past. Other than that, there’s no skeletons in my closet.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll find out, whatever it is, soon. Don’t worry too much about it. Whatever it is, we’ll handle it.” He paused. “There’s one more thing, Livie. He wants a debate with you. He’s saying you’re scared and that’s why you haven’t accepted his offer.”

“I am scared, damn it. Not of debating him. Of getting killed.”

“He’s a sonofabitch, and he’s using that.”

“Screw him. I’ll debate him. Set it up. I’ll talk to Joey and make sure security is tight.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Okay, Livie. Take care of yourself and give Sophie a big kiss from me.”

“Will do, Mark. Bye.”

There were so many emails it was going to take forever, so Joey had transferred everything onto a thumb drive and would go through it later that night.

When he walked in, Olivia was on the phone in her home office. “What’s up? Who was that?”

She swiveled her chair around and spun that fidget thing in her hand over and over. “It was Mark. Apparently McGregor has something on me. Something that will destroy me. At least that’s what was leaked from his camp.”

“Destroy you? Like what?”

She stopped spinning the contraption and slammed it down. “I don’t know!”

He leaned across the desk and took her hand. “Calm down. Let’s think about it. What could it possibly be? Maybe they’re just trying to scare you and it’s actually nothing.”

“Or they have something.”

“But you haven’t done anything wrong, so why are you worrying?”

“I don’t know. I just . . . ugh, I hate not knowing. Not being prepared.” She looked down at his hand. “What’s that? Did you find anything out today?”

It was time he told her the truth.

He stood and went around the desk, his arms on the sides of her chair, and kissed her. “I have to tell you something.” He sat on her desk.

She sat up straighter. “Okay.”

“It’s about me. Well, you too, but it’s . . .” He gripped the back of his neck. “I’m the hacker.” He blurted it out. Better to remove the Band-Aid in one single move.

Her eyes bulged out of their sockets but she didn’t say a single word, so he continued. “I started it before I met you.” She still wasn’t talking. “Say something.”

“I—what?”

He hopped off the table and kneeled in front of her. “I’m the hacker. I should’ve told you sooner. I’m Harry’s Hacker.”

She pushed her chair back and stood. “Oh. My God. You could ruin my entire career if we’re connected. What were you thinking!”

He stood now too. “I told you, I started before I knew you and I just did it to fuck with him. Like a hobby.”

Her eyes were now even wider. “A hobby? A hobby! You do understand that the issue is not when you started, right? It’s that you’re doing it. It is illegal. Hacking into someone’s computer, Joey, is very much fucking illegal. He’s a government employee.”

She rarely cursed, and it felt like a blow to hear her that upset. She threw her hands up and continued to rant. “It was cute, the funny Facebook posts, but now we’re dating and it could . . . it’ll look like I put you up to it.”

He walked to her and put his palms on her shoulder. “Listen to me. No one will know it was me. I didn’t steal anything or dig around his secret files. I’m good, Olivia. I’m the best, actually.” It was true, he was. He had millions of dollars and a Ferrari that made it official.

“This is not the time to be arrogant. You can go to jail. And you can bring me down with you.”

“I’m not being arrogant, Livie. I’m being truthful. That’s how I won my car and why I have millions in the bank.”

“Millions? You’re rich?”

“Very rich.”

She shook her head side to side. “Okay fine, you’re good. It’s still wrong, Joey. Why are you telling me this now? What happened today?”

He let out a breath. “McGregor came to see me today.”

“What?” she yelled.

“He wanted to hire me to find the person who’s hacking his computer. He has something in there he doesn’t want anyone to see. He said it was to handle the ‘nuisance,’ but it’s obviously more than that.”

She looked like her head was literally going to explode.

“He doesn’t know it was me, obviously. That’s why he came to see me. He wanted the best and he figured I could find out who was doing it. He offered me a ton of money to do it, too.”

“What did you do? What did you tell him?”

“What do you think I told him?” She was staring at him, her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. She looked gorgeous when she was all fired up. His phone began to ring and without even looking at the screen he silenced it.

“I don’t know! I don’t know what’s what anymore. You said it yourself, I’m a terrible judge of character.”

His phone rang again. This time he glanced at the screen and it was Annie. “I need to take this, Annie may have intel for us,” he said, a bit irritated himself. He didn’t like that she didn’t know without a doubt, that he would never help McGregor. “Hey, it’s not a good time. What’s going on?”

“Please, tell me you’re not Harry’s Hacker.”

He looked up at Olivia, who was watching him intently. If she knew what Annie was saying, she’d surely freak the fuck out. “Where are you calling me from?”

“Secure line. Talk and make it fast because there are two feds in the server room right the fuck now.”

“Shit,” he said. “McGregor was there earlier. Asked for my help. I didn’t give it to him. He probably put two and two together and is assuming I’m the hacker.” He didn’t want to look at Olivia because he was scared at what he would find. Hate. Loathing. Disgust. But he did, he looked at her, and her eyes were full of . . . concern?

“You are, though,” Annie said.

“Annie. Not the time. Listen, explain that to them. Tell them how McGregor came to see me today for a job, don’t give them too many specifics. Say that I couldn’t take it because it’s a conflict since I’m working for Olivia. There’s nothing there that will trace anything back to me or ICS. Don’t worry.” If anyone knew how skilled he was with a computer, it was Annie, and she was probably the only other person who could give him a run for his money. “They’re in ICS based merely on an assumption.”

“Fuck, Joey. If Jax was here his head would explode.”

“McGregor’s a dick.” It was the only reply he had.

“Yeah, I know.” His sister’s tone softened. “You need to do your job and protect Olivia and let her do her job so that she wins. Stop fucking with McGregor. If this shit comes back to you and you and she are together, you will fuck up her election, Joey.” She said it softly, as if she knew this would hurt him. “You’ll also get ICS shut down. And you’ll go to jail and you’ll be no help to anyone when you’re someone’s bitch in prison.”

“I know. I know.”

“I’ll keep you posted. Need to deal with these suits.” She hung up and he sighed. But when he looked up, he had Olivia right in front of his face

“Tell me.”

“The FBI are at ICS looking into McGregor’s hacker.”

“Joey.”

He put his arms on her shoulder. “Relax. There’s no way they’ll tie this back to me.”

“Anything else you’d like to tell me, Josef? This would be the time.”

He blew out a breath and rubbed the top of his shaved head with his palm. “I was in jail. But it was a long time ago. Before I enlisted. It was for hacking, which is one of the reasons that the Marines were so motivated to take me on.”

She stood there, just staring in confusion or maybe in shock. He wasn’t sure what she’d do but then she bent over and started to laugh somewhat hysterically. The fit of laughter was so intense she was holding her stomach and tears fell from her eyes. “I have a stalker or someone who’s trying to kill me, possibly a man who I once considered my best friend. I’m running for governor. I’m supposed to be clean and wholesome, but I’m also have crazy monkey sex,” she whispered, “out of wedlock, with a criminal.” Then she laughed again, a snort escaping her lips. “I’ve been caught making out in public. I’ve gotten stuck on two—two!—elevators in the last two months. And the icing on the cake—on the fucking crazy-ass cake—is that I’m falling in love for the first time in five years with a hacker. A hacker! A hacker who is hacking into my opponent. If all of the above didn’t ruin my career, this has to. It just has to. The universe can’t be that forgiving to me to let all this slide.” Then the laugh became strangled and her shoulders began to shake as she flopped down on her couch. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“There’s one more thing, darlin’.”

“What?”

“I am pretty sure that McGregor is somehow connected to Connor and Colin.”

Fuck.

“And to find out, I’m breaking into his emails after dinner.” He pulled out the thumb drive.

Double fuck.

* * *

Joey was dead to the world. After Olivia finally stopped arguing with him, mostly because Sophie’s safety was on the line, and the answers were possibly sitting somewhere in McGregor’s computer, he’d spent hours searching McGregor’s work computer. Tomorrow he was going to work on his personal one now that he had gotten the IP address through some emails McGregor had sent to his own work email.

It had been a tough few days and he’d laid his head on the pillow and passed right out, which wasn’t usual at all for him. But the sound of little feet scurrying around had him sitting up immediately. “I want my mommy,” the little voice cried from outside her room door. He quickly jumped out of bed, reached for his T-shirt, and slid it over his head as he walked out of the room. They still needed to explain to Sophie that he was staying over indefinitely.

With sleep-rumpled hair, her eyes barely open, Sophie was padding down the hall, confusion and sleep clearly on her face.

“Hey freckles, you okay?”

She opened her eyes as if trying to get her bearings as to where she was. Once she saw the familiar face, she raised her hands up to the ceiling. It took him a moment to understand what she wanted but it quickly became clear she wanted to be carried. “Mommy?” she whimpered, still half asleep.

Should he wake Olivia?

She was as bad a sleeper as he was and the fact she hadn’t heard Sophie was a testament to how asleep she actually was.

He bent down and picked her up. “I scared.”

He walked her back to her room and tucked her in. “Nothing to be scared of, Soph. I’m here and your mommy is right in the next room.”

“Monsters under the bed.”

He got under the bed and checked. “Nope. All clear. Goodnight, Soph.”

She extended her arms and he leaned down and kissed her forehead and she tightened her arms around his neck. “Stay here. Monsters are scared of daddies.”

He stilled. He always knew he wanted kids. Hell, he wanted a big family like the one he grew up with. But the thought of settling down hadn’t really been in the forefront of his mind. Except that she equated him to a dad. Maybe even her dad. And the thought didn’t scare him. No, it made him feel ten feet tall. Hell yeah, he’d keep the monsters away. He’d never felt more needed in his life then he did right there and then. He’d also never felt more love in his heart.

“Freckles, you’re okay, there’s nothing wrong. I’d never let anything happen—”

“No! No!” She started panicking.

“Okay, okay.” He pulled the desk chair next to her bed and sat down, then propped his feet up on the bed. “How about a bedtime story?”

“Okay,” she said sleepily, her hand gripping his foot as he thought of a story. Any story.

* * *

The bright light coming in through the sliver of window shade that had been left opened woke Olivia the next morning. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned and realized, by the clock on the bedside table, that it was still early, barely seven in the morning, but still she felt rested. Joey was probably still working on his computer. He was sure there was a connection between the governor and the Mathers brothers and had been working well past the time she’d gone to bed.

After using the restroom, she was checking in on Sophie when she stopped dead in her tracks. Sitting with his head rolled uncomfortably to the side, his legs propped up and a hand stretched in a way that couldn’t possibly be comfortable, he was holding Sophie’s hand. Her heart skipped a beat.

This was the exact feeling that scared her. She’d been in love once. Had held hopes of having a beautiful perfect family. And a car accident later, she’d been left widowed and heartbroken and with a daughter who never met her father.

Tip-toeing back to her room, she sat on her bed and breathed in and out. In and out. Trying to ignore the surge of emotion, she decided to busy herself with a shower. Once she was done and dressed, she was going to go wake him up, but she heard giggling from the kitchen as she walked out of the bedroom.

“Mommy, Joey made stwabewy pancakes.”

“A fruit.” Joey winked at her and went back to flipping the food while her daughter stood on a chair next to him, watching intently.

“That sounds delicious. Why don’t you go brush your teeth and change while he finishes up?” Sophie hopped down and ran to the room.

Reaching forward, Joey turned off the stove and turned his attention to her. When his attention went full-on to her, it was a very powerful thing—the way his jaw flexed and his pupils dilated and his lips parted slightly. He took a step forward and pulled her toward him by the waistband of her jeans. “Hi,” he said roughly.

“Hi.”

“You should’ve woken me up.”

She saw the understanding seep in. “I thought I’d try to handle it. You need sleep.”

“Thank you. I slept great. But, you really didn’t have to burden . . .”

“It’s not a burden, Livie. Stop walking on eggshells and stop being nervous. Just roll with it.”

She let out a breath, sagging closer to him.

“Are you still mad at me?” he asked.

“Mad? I’m pretty sure I’m totally in love with you. But yeah, I guess I’m still mad. Promise not to hack into my opponents computer anymore okay?”

His smile was the brightest she’d ever seen. He looked so good with his face and head full of blondish scruff. “I promise.”

“I love you too, by the way.”

She smiled and pressed closer to him. “I’ve never said that to anyone before and it’s weird because now I’m bursting with love. But you and Sophie, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you two. She’s . . . if I had a daughter, I’d want her to be just like Sophie.”

Her eyes watered and her chin quivered. Never had more beautiful words been spoken. “How about a morning kiss?” she whispered through trembling lips.

“I’ve been waiting for it since you walked in here with all that hair loose everywhere. You should always wear it like that. Actually no, keep wearing it in a tight knot on your head. Only I should get to see all this.” He ran his fingers through her hair and then kissed her. It started off rather chaste and then escalated a bit when tongues began to invade. But it was very short-lived when the sound of little feet came closer.

“What’s the plan today?” he asked as he placed Sophie’s food on her plate.

“I have to sit with her and go over all the schoolwork she is missing. I also have a ton of meetings via Skype and want to get to work on that debate. Mark scheduled it for next week.”

* * *

Olivia had spent the last two hours in a teleconference while Sophie colored her homework. “I want to catch lizards,” she said.

“Sophie. The smell’s so bad outside.”

“I feel better, Mommy.”

For the last week and a half they’d been holed up in the house and her daughter was getting restless, which was absolutely understandable.

“You promise not to run off to the bougainvillea trees? Stay on the back porch and if you start coughing you come right back in.”

“Promise!” She squealed and went to her room. Five minutes later, she was dressed in a T-shirt, mermaid leggings, and yellow polka dot wellies. She had a net in her hands and sunglasses on her head. She looked adorably mismatched. And Olivia loved her.

“Remember what I said.”

“Okay, Mommy. Can Joey come play too?”

“No, sweets. Joey is in my room working.” He’d been holed up there all morning going through email after email. “I’ll let him know when he finishes, okay?”

“Okay, Mommy.”

“Love you sweets.”

“Love you too, Mum.”

Olivia was typing out her speech, but checking out the window every minute barely getting anything done. Sophie was hopping up and down on a muddy puddle when Joey ran into the room about twenty minutes later. “Read this!” he said, pushing his laptop practically into her face. She looked out the window—Sophie was still busy with the puddle—before looking at the screen as Joey dialed someone.

“Martinez, it’s Clad. I got something for you. I’m sending it to you now . . . don’t worry how I came across it. Just read it.”

Olivia was looking through what appeared to be a search history.

Pardons

Governor Pardons

Who is the Governor of Florida?

The list went on and on and most of the things were similar. Then the last one said Olivia Russo.

“Those are from Colin’s computer. The one that they found and confiscated. But there’s more. This is from an unknown email, one that I haven’t yet been able to trace, sent to McGregor.” He clicked on his computer screen, and an email popped up. It was photographs of handwritten notes made by Olivia.

“Oh my God, that’s my old notebook.”

“That’s what I thought when I saw it,” he said. It had amounts for her technical school and personal notes. It may as well have been her diary with her deepest secrets. It talked about how she and Connor would be married and stay sober and eventually leave Brownsville. It talked about her parents’ drug problems. About her dabbling in drugs herself . . . Shit, what else had she written in that stupid journal?

“You see it, right?” Joey asked, excitedly. “Connor and Colin figured out that McGregor could grant them pardons. Then, when they realized that you were running against him, they propositioned him to help get you out of the race in exchange for the pardon. That’s the connection!”

It made sense, what he was saying. But it still seemed so far-fetched. “You got all that from that.”

“And the fact I’ve been mulling it over for the last hour. And why else would McGregor have copies of your notebook?”

“I guess it would make sense. But how would they get me out of the race?”

“By hurting you. Scaring you. Making you so broke you couldn’t continue. Using your ill-placed need to keep your past a secret.”

“Could be, I guess.”

He looked around. “Where’s Sophie?”

“She went outside to play. She said she was going to catch lizards but she’s been jumping in a puddle.”

“Outside? Why?”

“She’s stir crazy, Joey. She wanted to go catch bugs with you, though. Maybe if you have a little time.”

“I don’t like her outside by herself,” he said, a bout of unease overtaking him.

“She goes outside all the time. This is all fenced in and there’re cameras all over the place—thanks to you—and I’ve been watching her the entire time.”

He started making his way outside. “How long has she been outside?”

“Maybe twenty minutes. I was watching her right now before you walked in,” she said, following him out.

He opened the sliding door and the first thing he noted was that she was not in the back porch. “Freckles! Let’s go catch you some lizards!”

“Sophie!” Olivia shouted. “You better not be by the bougainvillea.”

The yard had a lot of trees—a lot—and it was hard to see all the way to the back because of all the foliage, but the thick bunch of pink bougainvillea was all the way at the other end of the long yard and it was dense and dangerous from the spiky plants and fallen logs.

“Freckles!” he yelled, the hair on the back of his neck standing up. “Sophie!”

She didn’t reply and he took off in a full-on sprint to the back. She had to be there. She was always there. That’s where she liked to look for bugs. Of course she would be there.

“Sophie!” Olivia yelled from behind him. He pushed back some of the banana trees and then went over a fallen palm tree. He heard a noise, and his hand went straight for his weapon and he put his arm out to keep Olivia from moving forward.

When they cleared the path, sitting on the ground playing with three ladybugs in her clear box was Olivia. Sitting right by her, with a knife—a large motherfucking knife—by his right hand, where Sophie couldn’t see, was a man.

“Hey, babe. Long time no see,” he said with a toothy smile.

Olivia gasped. “Connor.”

* * *

She was going to throw up. Her blood drained completely from her body.

“Come here, sweets.”

Sophie looked up and showed Joey her box. “Look, Joey. Three ladybugs.”

“Wow, freckles. That’s great. Come here and show me.” His voice was deceiving. Olivia could hear the anger and fear in it, and his hand was still behind his back where she knew there was a weapon.

“We’re gonna stay here and catch more bugs, aren’t we, Sophie?” Connor was speaking with Sophie but his eyes, eyes which were so familiar and at one time so comforting, were trained on Olivia. His tone was absolutely threatening.

“Mommy, this is your friend, Connor!” Sophie said happily. “He said you weren’t going to get mad I came back here.”

“I’m not mad, sweets.” Olivia’s voice trembled. She didn’t want Sophie to worry but she was scared at what Connor was doing there. “Maybe you and I can talk privately,” she said, but Joey cut her off. “No!”

She elbowed Joey. “Joey, that’s my daughter.” She whispered so Sophie wouldn’t hear.

“Tell him to show me both hands,” Connor demanded.

Sweat was trickling down her back and the panic was becoming almost too intense. “Do it, Joey.”

Joey, his face neutral except for the tick in his jaw, released the grip he had on his still-holstered gun and held out his palms. Connor just continued to look at her. The way his eyes penetrated her gave her a chill up and down her spine. “It was supposed to be me and you. You just left. You and me against the world, Liv. And you just left.” His eyes were bloodshot and spittle came out as he spoke. Even though her heart broke for him, she wanted to kill him for talking to her daughter. But she also needed to reason with him somehow.

“Left? Connor, you were arrested. I didn’t leave. I waited and waited.”

“No you didn’t,” he spat, and there was a twitch by his left eye. “You have this little perfect life pretending to be something you’re not. You’ve forgotten where you came from. What happened to our dream? You forgot about me and now I’m going to ruin you. You belonged with me, by my side. I still have your fucking notebook. We had a plan.”

Oh god, that stupid notebook with her naïve plans. All she’d wanted was to get them both out of the slum they lived. He had given up and she hadn’t. But she didn’t want to anger him further. He gripped the knife tighter, she noted, but she tried not to seem overly concerned, for Sophie’s sake. “You and me, babe. That was the promise. And you lied and now I’m here to ruin your career.” She knew that was part of it, but the other part was that in doing so, he could get a pardon from McGregor. Again, something she didn’t say out loud.

She cleared her throat. “It still can be. Let’s go inside. Leave my daughter and we’ll go talk.”

He seemed to be thinking about it, Joey beside her with his arms still out.

“Come on, Sophie.” Connor said, standing up and holding a hand out to Sophie to let her up. When he touched her Joey took a step forward and Olivia stopped breathing. A literal ticking time bomb would’ve been less intense then the current situation. Connor had the knife in one hand and Sophie’s hand in the other. “Let’s go inside. I’ll be right behind you both.”

Unable to do anything else but follow instructions they both turned and walked into the house.

“You have to trust me. Do whatever I say.” Joey whispered.

The trek from the back of the yard to the back porch felt like it lasted hours instead of minutes. She turned her head back a few times to see Sophie obliviously skipping while holding Connor’s hand. And Connor, how different he looked—but still very similar. Still handsome, but now unhealthily thin, his long bushy hair half in ponytail half falling out messily. He had an arm full of tattoos and even had one by his eye. When her eyes went back to his face he winked at her but it looked nefarious—not at all like he’d done when they were younger.

“Open the door,” Connor instructed, and that was when a blur of movements happened.

She opened the door and walked inside and so did Joey. The moment that Sophie was inside, Joey shouted. “In her room, lock the doors, call the cops. Don’t open it for anyone but me!” At the same time as he turned, he tackled Connor to the ground. A loud, pained yell filled her ears as Connor’s head hit the floor. She hoisted her daughter swiftly and ran to her room, locked the door, and stumbled around for her phone.

“Are you okay, Sophie?”

Her daughter was now sobbing. “My ladybugs! What happened to your friend?”

“He wasn’t my friend, sweets. That was a bad man.”

“But Joey is with him. Where’s Joey? I want Joey!” She started to wail as Olivia dialed 911 with trembling fingers. There was a sound of gunshots and she wanted to go check up on Joey, but instead she gathered Sophie in her arms and hid in a corner of the room.

* * *

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“There’s a man in my house. There was a shot fired.” She said the address into the phone.

“And where are you right now?”

“I’m in the upstairs bedroom with my daughter.”

“Was there anyone else in the home?”

“Yes. My boyfriend, er, security guard. He’s here. He’s downstairs, actually.”

She could hear noises and typing from the other end.

“Is anyone hurt?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“Hold tight. Stay in the bedroom. We have officers two minutes out.”

“Okay, please hurry.” She bounced her knee up and down.

“Is Joey okay, Mommy?”

“I’m sure he is, sweets.”

It was time to get herself under control. It wasn’t time to have a panic attack. Not while her daughter was in her arms. And not while she was in the middle of a crisis. Except there was another bang. She knew the sound of a gun being fired and her she almost lost her grip on her daughter. Oh my God. What if Joey was hurt. Oh my God. She closed her eyes and began to pray and pray that she’d misheard, or that the bullet was not directed at Joey.

The sound of patrol cars became louder and louder and then there were noises from downstairs. She was about to pass out. Not knowing what was going on. The walls closing in on her. What she once thought was a huge bedroom now felt like a tiny cell.

A knock on the door startled her. “Ma’am, police. You okay in there?”

She didn’t answer.

“Ma’am? I need confirmation you are okay. Please open the door.”

Joey had told her to only open it for him. She was conflicted. What if Joey had gotten shot or worse . . . dead. What if this was someone working with Connor, trying to get in. Oh my God. And her daughter. Her hand trembled and she heard a noise coming from her phone which she had forgotten all about and was dangling from her arm.

A moment later there was more shuffling around and more noises coming from the outside the bedroom door and another knock. “Open up, Livie.”

It was Joey. Her entire body deflated and she ran to the door and swung it open and Joey walked in, two officers behind him. The moment he walked in she broke down sobbing, but was pushed aside by Sophie who jumped up. Without missing a beat, Joey caught her. She took his face in her hands and kissed his cheeks.

It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever witnessed.

“Hey, freckles. Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry I went to the far side of the yard.”

“We’ll talk about that later, okay? Right now, I need to know if you’re okay. Did that man hurt you?”

She shook her head no. “Good, good.” He reached forward and pulled Olivia closer. “You okay, darlin’?”

She nodded. Was she okay? She wasn’t sure. “I heard gunshots?” Her face broke into a sob. “I thought . . . I thought you were shot.”

“I’m okay. Connor’s not okay, but I’m fine.”

She didn’t hear anything else, because she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly and sobbed. “Oh my God, I’ve never been so scared. You could have been hurt.”

He held her to him just as tightly. “I was, actually.”

“You were what?” she said into his chest.

“Shot.”

“Shot!” She pulled away. “What?”

“Just a graze. I’m fine.” He pulled down his shirt collar and showed her where he was hurt, and she began to sob again. “Keep it together for a little longer, okay? I need you to be strong and go downstairs with me. The police need to ask you some questions.”

“Soph, can you do me a big favor?” Sophie nodded her head up and down. “Can you stay up here and watch a movie until me or your mom come back? I don’t want you to go downstairs, okay? If you go downstairs, I’ll be very upset with you.” Joey said.

“I don’t want you to be mad.”

“Then you’ll stay here?”

“Yes.”

“Good girl,” Olivia said, then tucked her daughter on the bed and closed the door.

“We’ll be right down, officers,” Joey said, and then they stood alone in the upstairs hall.

“She okay? Really?” he asked.

“Yeah, she’s fine. She was terrified something happened to you. So was I.”

He pulled her to him and laid his chin on her head. “Never, not in my whole life, not when I was in Iraq and I saw my entire team blown up, was I as scared as I was when I saw her next to that motherfucker.”

“Jo—”

“God, I wanted to kill him. I almost did.” He kissed the top of her head. “And you?”

“I’m fine. Shaken up, but glad you got him. This better be the end of this nightmare.”

“I love you, Olivia. I love you so much it scares me.”

She looked up. “I know what you mean.”

“Let’s go talk to the cops. Connor isn’t here anymore. He’s on his way to the hospital and hopefully jail when he’s recovered. We’ll have to wait to see why the hell Connor was here until he’s able to be questioned.”

“Okay. Let’s do this.”