For the next week, Bianca settled into a more comfortable routine, no longer walking on eggshells all the time. It was scary to admit she wanted something more with Grayson. It freaked her out completely actually, but it also cleared the air.

Grayson was more relaxed. He didn’t pressure her, nor had he said a single word about their huge confrontation. He stopped looking nervous all the time, though, which drew her attention to just how stressed he had been about her.

The truth was she hadn’t known him well enough to realize the anxiety she often witnessed wasn’t inherent in his personality. It was out of concern for her. She stopped flinching so often. She craved his contact more every day.

While they used to graze each other in passing in an almost believably friendly gesture, now they intentionally held hands. If they were on the couch, he put his arm possessively around her. If they were at the table, he set a hand on her thigh. If they were standing on the front porch staring at the bright sky, he cupped her face and kissed her lips. Not with the same passion as the one afternoon a week ago, but with enough emotion to let her know he was there, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

She grew comfortable in the knowledge that he cared enough to wait for her to work through the shit in her mind. It was becoming increasingly clear that he wasn’t going to suddenly lash out at her. And damn, but she’d spent a lot of time thinking about his words. He was right; she let her uncle have power over her he did not deserve. She still didn’t have a single idea how to cut that power off, but she was working on it.

A few days after her breakthrough, she’d summoned the courage to speak to Cindy again. After apologizing, she’d gotten another gentle lecture from Cindy. That conversation played over and over in Bianca’s mind too.

Cindy had a good point. Bianca was a strong woman. She’d learned and grown from her past. She would never permit herself to exist in an abusive relationship again. She was an adult now, with options. She had an education and a mind of her own. She would not be trapped by age or finances. She needed to trust herself on that front and live in the knowledge that although she couldn’t control the possibility that someone might hit her, she had the power to walk away.

After speaking with Cindy, she intellectually understood that Jorge Gonzales had still been controlling her nine years after she last saw him. That was fucked up. On the other hand, he’d left his mark on her, and she hated the physical reminder that lay in stripes down her back and butt. The scars kept her from every fully forgetting.

Which brought up a new concern. How would Grayson react to the scars? After he’d seen her naked, would he ever look at her through the same eyes again? On the flip side, did she have a choice? Not at all. She was so deeply involved with Grayson that not taking a risk was no longer an option.

The edge of fear was all that continued to hold her back because it certainly wasn’t lack of sparks. She was currently curled up on the couch in the basement with her head on Grayson’s lap. The lights were out, and he was flipping through the channels on the television with one hand while absentmindedly stroking through her hair with his other hand.

She didn’t care what channel he chose, nor was she paying attention. All her concentration was on how good it felt for him to hold her like this, touching her so gently. He took such care with her.

Every day she felt the pull to move this relationship further. Her body lit up every time he touched her in a way she’d never experienced. And she knew he felt the same way because she often caught him squirming to get more comfortable. She could easily glance at the front of his jeans to know he wanted her as badly as she wanted him. At night when he held her, she could feel his erection against her thigh or her butt or her belly.

He never said a word. He never pushed her. He also never kissed her quite like he had a week ago. He kissed her, and he did it often, but he never did it in bed, and he never did it with the same intensity of that first time.

Had she imagined the energy of that first kiss? She was certain she had not. She questioned his reasoning in her mind every day and had decided he’d used that kiss to show her how things could be between them. Now he was giving her the space to make the next move.

He might have been in the process of applying for sainthood.

No matter how many ways she twisted their new relationship status—dating but not intimate?—she knew the next step was up to her. It seemed he would wait for an eternity.

Half the time she figured it would be so much easier if he brought it up and pressured her, both physically and emotionally. She understood that kind of move—manipulation. A insecure part of her kept waiting for him to do something to make her feel small as if her thoughts and feelings didn’t matter. But it never happened.

Meanwhile, she closed her eyes as he settled on a movie she didn’t recognize. Undoubtedly something from the last decade neither of them would be familiar with.

Instead of paying attention to the screen, she concentrated on her body’s reaction to being near him, his hand on her head, his thigh firm beneath her cheek. Her breasts felt swollen, her nipples tight. She longed for him to cup them in his hands. A craving she barely understood but was clear as day.

As usual, she wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans. She had more options now that Cindy had selected some things for her from the store in town and also helped her choose a few items online.

As a result, Bianca now had shirts that were at least cut for a woman, jeans that fit her perfectly, and bra and panty sets that were far sexier than any she’d ever owned before preservation.

Grayson had kept a running tally of everything his parents and sister spent on either of them so that the moment they had their own steady incomes, they could pay his family back.

Right now, her feet were bare and she was squeezing her legs together. The downside of tight, fitted jeans was that they hugged against her sex also, often making her far too aware of her newfound desire to be touched there.

So, these days she had an ongoing war in her head between wanting to take the plunge and have sex with Grayson or ignore her body’s reaction, revert into herself, and stop the madness.

Her desire was winning. Every day she got closer to giving in to temptation. He obviously cared about her. She should be able to trust him.

She couldn’t seem to lie still. No position alleviated the fact that her sex was literally pulsing and her nipples demanded attention. One thing was clear, she didn’t need a sex education class to know what to do in that department. Her body knew. It was instinctive. And apparently when the right person came along, it happened whether she invited it or not.

For her, it was basic human instinct to have sex. All the parts were on board except her brain.

While she was warring with herself to say something and move this thing forward, Grayson’s phone vibrated on the end table. She lifted her head to set her chin on his thigh as he reached for it.

“Hello?” The phone was a burner. Few people had the number. No one was programmed in. And there was no way of knowing where a call might come from. A few seconds passed and then, “Dade, what’s up?” Grayson put the phone on speaker and held it between them so Bianca could hear too.

“I think we have a problem. You’re with Bianca, right?” Dade’s voice was serious.

Bianca pushed off Grayson’s lap to sitting. “I’m right here,” she responded.

“We have reason to believe someone in your family is trying to find you,” Dade said. “Are you in touch with any relatives?”

She jerked in her seat, her body going rigid, hands gripping her knees. He had to be mistaken. Please God. “Me? My family?”

Grayson turned to more fully face her, setting one large hand over her smaller one and squeezing.

“Yes,” Dade continued. “Spencer is feeding me information as fast as he can manage to hack into it, but it’s hard to know for sure what’s true and what’s not. There’s always the possibility that Blue Cell will start flooding us with false information out of fear that Spencer is still tracking them from afar. Which he is.”

“Give us more details, Dade,” Grayson growled.

Bianca felt the blood leave her face. She thought she might faint. She couldn’t breathe. Dade would not be calling them if he didn’t think his intel was credible.

Grayson stared at the phone between them, not meeting her gaze but still holding her hand with his free one.

“After weeks of inactivity, suddenly Blue Cell is pulling every detail they can about every one of us.”

“Great,” Grayson muttered sarcastically.

“What Spencer can dig up on all of us is bone-chilling. I’ve seen copies of his reports. His old employers pick someone to target and then go after that person hard.”

“And you think they’re targeting Bianca right now?”

“Among others. Yes. Spencer had put together a file on her and tracked down everyone in her family. He’d created such a file on all of us, but it would seem Bianca is on the top of their list.”

Bianca started shaking her head, half out of disbelief and half because she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to hear this.

“According to her file, Bianca left home at eighteen and never returned. Is that accurate?” Dade asked.

Grayson glanced at Bianca and then answered for her. “Yes.”

“Were you raised by your mother?”

“Yes,” Bianca confirmed with a shaky voice. She couldn’t even clear her throat to force out more words. But it turned out she didn’t have to. Dade had more information.

“Did you and your mother live with your uncle? Your mother’s brother?”

Bianca nodded, or at least she assumed she did. Inside, she was freaking out. Outside, she was shaking so badly that Grayson set the phone on the coffee table and wrapped an arm around her. He responded for her. “That’s correct.”

“I’m so sorry to drag your past to the forefront, Bianca, but I want to make sure all my information is accurate.”

“Go on,” Grayson said.

“According to Spencer’s investigation, your mother is still living with her brother in Mesa, Arizona. Though she rarely leaves the house and hasn’t been seen in a while, so I can’t confirm that definitively.”

Yeah, that sounded like her mother…

Nineteen years, though. Nineteen real-time years since Bianca had left that living hell. Her mother had been there for eighteen years before that too. That was a long time to live under the thumb of a tyrannical asshole.

How could anyone be that weak? It was one thing to stay while she was raising a child. It was another thing for her mother to stay because she wasn’t strong enough to leave even after her daughter fled. Why?

“Anyway, I hate to have to tell you this, but from what we can tell, Blue Cell made a connection with your uncle, who was all too eager to take money in exchange for removing you from the picture.”

“What the fuck?” Grayson nearly shouted. His grip on Bianca stiffened.

Bianca froze solid. Not breathing. Not blinking. Her worst nightmare had come to life.

The truth was, she’d gotten lax about the possibility of her uncle coming after her over time. With every passing year, she’d had more confidence he hadn’t cared that she left home without telling him and never came back. She’d imagined a scenario in her mind where he hated her so much he was glad she was gone and didn’t give a fuck. After talking to Cindy, she understood better now. What did he need her for if he still had her mother to bully? No wonder he’d never come after Bianca.

Since waking up from a ten-year hibernation, she hadn’t given much thought to the man at all. He wasn’t worth a moment of her attention. Jorge Gonzales might as well have been dead for all she knew or cared.

Even though he obviously still controlled her in a way she hadn’t realized—by keeping her from enjoying life to the fullest. She hadn’t honestly considered that he might hunt her down.

Apparently money talked, though. How much of a bribe would be enough to make her uncle salivate at the mouth and come after her?

“Yeah,” Dade continued. “I’m sorry. I guess you weren’t expecting something like this. It’s pretty obvious that for whatever reason no one can fathom, Blue Cell’s goal is to prevent us from ever working for Project DEEP again.”

“Why the hell would anyone want to do that? Our job is to save people. We’ve dedicated our lives to curing diseases. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to destroy that ability.”

They had known it was happening, though. After all, Dade had been working with Spencer for weeks now. Assuming the kid wasn’t yanking anyone’s chains, and he really was a double agent providing accurate information, then there was no reason to doubt the truth in Dade’s concerned words.

“I can’t answer that question yet, but I can tell you people have been paid to wreak havoc on us every step of the way from the moment Emily was revived. Nothing has been a coincidence. We are all in danger. At least now with Spencer’s help, we’re able to get one step ahead of the unknown enemy.

“Unfortunately, there’s no way to stop this roller coaster, Bianca. Your uncle has already been paid to eliminate you.”

“Jesus, Dade, this is serious shit.” Grayson’s fingers were gripping her hip too tightly, but her brain wasn’t firing messages to her body to get him to ease up. He was scared. He didn’t even know he was holding her so tightly.

And frankly, she was glad. Without him, she would be in a fetal position on the floor, rocking back and forth.

Dade kept going. “Obviously, it’s not rocket science to figure out where your parents live, Grayson, and if Blue Cell knows you’re paired up, I’m sure that information has been given to Gonzales. I would think he might start there.”

Yeah, Bianca was going to pass out. The voices coming from both men grew faint as she started falling to the side.

“Shit.” Grayson jumped up and lowered her to the couch. He grabbed the throw blanket off the back and tucked it around her, drawing her attention to the fact that she was shivering. She squeezed her eyes shut against the world.

Grayson grabbed the phone, took it off speaker, and brought it to his ear. “Bianca is pretty shaken up. I need to let you go. I’ll call you back after we discuss a plan.”

“I understand. I think your plan should involve getting the hell off your parents’ property ASAP.”

“Agreed. Talk to you soon.” He ended the call, tossed the phone on the coffee table, and turned back to Bianca.

She had her eyes squeezed shut and her lips pursed tight. Her body was shivering. Not surprising. He didn’t know all the details, but he did know that Jorge Gonzales had been personally responsible for destroying Bianca as a child. There was no reason to believe he wouldn’t hunt her down and finish the job if he was offered the right incentive. And apparently he had been.

Grayson sat on the edge of the sofa and set a hand on Bianca’s back. “We should leave, honey. I’m going to pack up our stuff and let my parents know.”

She flinched, her eyes opening as she had a surge of understanding. She gazed at him with crazed eyes, stretching out her folded body and licking her lips. She shook her head. “No. I’ll go. You stay. I’ll take the car and get as far away from here as I can. I’ll drive all night if I have to.”

He frowned. “What are you talking about? You’re not going alone. That’s crazy.”

She shoved him with her hands so hard that he stood to avoid falling on the floor. Next, she swung her legs around and jumped to her feet. “It’s not crazy. You didn’t ask for this mess. I never should have considered for a moment burdening you with my family’s problems. You have to stay here and protect your parents.”

He swung around to fully face her. “Protect them? They don’t need my protection. They’re perfectly safe. Your uncle isn’t looking for my parents, he’s looking for you.”

She shook her head vigorously. “And you don’t know my uncle. He’ll do anything to get to me, including hurt your family. You need to stay here in case he comes here. And he will. You know he will. Dade all but said he would.”

Grayson was going to have to work hard to get her to see reason. “Gonzales was paid to hunt you down. These people at Blue Cell aren’t messing around. They would have told Gonzales exactly what to do. No way the man is going to risk getting caught before he finds you in order to stop and mess with another family.”

Bianca turned and ran into the bedroom, still speaking nonsense. “You said yourself, I should get a new identity. You said Temple would be happy to set me up with one at any time. I’ll do it. I’ll get as far away as possible, change my name, and start a new life. No one else needs to get hurt because of me.”

He watched her rushing around the room, grabbing her things and tossing them on the bed. He wanted to stop her and force her to look at him and see reason, but she was a little unbalanced right now, rightfully so, and he never in his lifetime wanted to do anything that would even closely resemble hurting her.

She needed to get this out of her system, so he would just have to keep reasoning with her from the doorway. “When I suggested you change your name, I meant I would do so also. We would go together. And that’s still an option if you want to take it. In fact, I’ve always liked the option. You’re the one who shot it down.”

She turned toward him, a pile of T-shirts in her arms. She looked ready to pounce. “Because I’m not the sort of person to run from a problem, Grayson. I didn’t want to be the loser who decided she couldn’t take the heat and left town. We should be working our way toward Montana in order to fight for our lives with the rest of the team.”

“Are you listening to yourself, honey?” he asked gently. He still wouldn’t be opposed to her changing her name and fleeing with her life. With him, of course. Not alone. But her plan of heading toward Montana was also a good one. “Okay. Okay. So, we’ll go to Montana.”

She groaned and shook her head, dropping the shirts on the bed. “That idea was perfect…before we found out there was a hit on my head, Gray. Now I’m a danger to the team also.”

Ah, so he was Gray tonight. That was usually a good sign. “Honey, the entire team is in danger. You don’t have a monopoly on that. We’re all in hiding. We’re all targets. We can’t control whose turn it is, nor will we even know it every time. There could currently be something in the works to eliminate six of us at the same time. Montana is a big place. We can hide there. If it stresses you out to head for the same location as the rest of the team, we can hide together someplace else for a while.”

She shook her head. “I can’t ask that of you. It’s too much. We have no way of knowing how long we might have to hide. Months? Years? You can’t give up your life to hide with me. You need to work with the team to find out who is doing all this and take them down.”

If they kept talking in circles like this, he was going to be more confused than her. “Bianca, listen to yourself. Whether you went off on your own, which is totally not an option, or we went to Montana, we’re both going to be in hiding until we solve this. Together or alone, we’ll be watching our backs. Why the hell would we split up?”

She gave a frustrated growl and lifted both hands to rub her temples. “Because I don’t want to be the reason anything happens to you or your family. I can’t live with that kind of guilt. You have to let me go. You should stay here and protect them.” The steam was going out of her as her words grew weaker and slower.

He took the opportunity to step forward. He tugged her around the waist and threaded his hand in her hair so he could tilt her head and make her look at him. His other hand held her lower back against him. “You seem to have forgotten my promise to never let you go.”

She rolled her eyes. “That was before you knew I was putting you in danger. You have no idea what my uncle is capable of.” She shuddered.

She was right about that last statement. He didn’t know more than she’d told him. And he’d made a promise to her and himself never to pressure her. He took a slow breath. “Bianca.” He waited for her to look at him again. “I’m not leaving you.”

Her shoulders fell, and she lowered her gaze to his chest.

He eased his grip on her so she could hide her face against him, but he didn’t let her go.

“Okay. Let’s go then, before he finds us.”